Have you ever tried split testing headlines? How about rewriting and/or redesigning a landing page or product description? Ever tried testing different price points to find the most profitable?

Well if you answered “Yes” to any of the questions above, then you have already performed some degree of conversion rate optimisation on your site. But, sadly, you probably generated mixed results at best. At worst, it was a colossal waste of time and resources and you quickly moved on to other things like social media or content marketing to try and grow online sales.

However, let me crystal on one point: When it comes to ROI, conversion rate optimisation blows SEO, PPC, social media, or even content marketing away for three simple reasons:

1. Conversion Rate Optimisation Elevates Conversions and Sales Long After Investment Has Ended

Seriously, even with SEO or even social media, once the investment stops, the traffic soon drops and with it, your sales. Now it may not happen immediately like with PPC, but rest assured, within just a few weeks, your sales will drop when you stop investing in SEO, SMM, or content marketing.

But conversion rate experts, however, make permanent changes to core website components that tend to elevate conversions for up to a year or longer after the optimisation is complete. This means not only is the CRO investment itself more profitable, but it then makes all future investments in SEO, PPC, etc. more profitable as well!

2. Conversion Rate Optimisation Doesn’t Increase Marketing Costs

If you want more sales with SEO, PPC, social media, or content marketing, then you need increase your online advertising budget. Period. This means a percentage of every new sale generated will be devoted to marketing which kills profits.

But with conversion rate optimisation, your online sales increase without spending more money for traffic or marketing. In fact, marketing costs actually tend to decrease after a conversion rate optimisation project because non-converting keywords are eliminated from paid traffic sources.

3. No Recurring Fees or Maintenance Costs

Once the conversion rate optimisation is complete, you pay the fees and that’s it. Unless you make a major change to your business model, add new products or services, or undergo a severe shift in your niche, the site is optimised. Once the initial investment costs are recouped, the increased conversion rate will continue to generate growing ROI and profits for potentially years after the optimisation has been completed.

So in theory, conversion rate optimisation can generate several times the ROI that would be generated from a similar investment in SEO, PPC, SMM, or content marketing. However, most DIY conversion rate optimisation ends in failure and ultimately costing a website owner far more than they get back in return. But while this is true, failure can certainly be avoided. With a little guidance and the right information, most website owners can significantly boost online sales using simple but effective conversion rate optimisation strategies.

So to help you avoid wasting time or money, here are the three biggest reasons why most DIY conversion rate optimisation projects fail and what you can do to avoid the same fate.

Failure to Identify Specific Conversion Rate Problems

The first assumption most website owners make about a low conversion rate is that is must be caused by bad sales page or product description. In some cases, this is probably the correct assumption. However, there are a wide range of issues that can cause a low conversion rate in addition to the sales page or product description, such as:

-Weak or Untargeted Traffic

-Low Percentage of Visitors to Primary Sales Page or Product Description

-High Abandonment Rate from Shopping Cart

-Web Design

-Web Navigation

-Slow Load Times and Other Web Programming Issues

-Weak Demand for the Product or Service Itself

But even assuming that the sales page or product description was the primary conversion problem, what then? Do you simply rewrite and/or redesign the entire page from scratch? Wow, that’s going to get expensive real fast if you don’t get it right the next time. But, if the first sales page didn’t work and you have no idea why: How do you know the second try will be any better?

The truth is, you don’t. A sales page, when designed properly, actually has more than a dozen separate components that all work together to help convert prospects into buyers, such as:

-Headline/Subheaders

-Identify Problem

-Provide Solution

-Overcome Objections

-Credibility Tools (testimonials, endorsements, media mentions, quality logos, etc.)

-Value Proposition

-Secondary CTA’s

-Post Script or Additional CTA’s/Exit Points

-Contextualized Images/Infographics

-Etc.

Even using split testing, you really never isolate the problem. Instead, you may create new sales tools to split test against the original and it may result in higher sales, but how do you know the original problem isn’t still there? Sure, you may well have boosted sales but that doesn’t mean the page is converting anywhere near its true potential.

To solve this problem and quickly find the conversion problems, conversion rate experts use heat mapping software tools like Clicktale or Crazyegg. Heat maps are created from recordings of actual visitors as they peruse a site. The heat map will appear red over sales tools with high visitor scan time and engagement but will appear blue over sales tools that people skip over or aren’t interested in. So essentially, the tools in blue need work and you can leave the tools in red alone. This helps you avoid creating unnecessary content and let’s you focus on the true problems. Simply split test new versions of the weak sales tools until conversions come up or the heat mapping turns red. Then, move on to the next problem until they are all solved and the heat map is primarily red and/or yellow with minimal areas of blue.

Trying to Wear Too Many Hats

Let’s just take a look at a list of website experts that can be required to complete a conversion rate optimisation project:

-Copywriters

-Web Designers

-Web Programmers

-Social Media/PPC/SEO Experts

-Shopping Cart/Inventory Management System Specialists

-Web Traffic Analysts

-Word Press/CMS Experts

Look, I totally get it. As a website owner, you gotta wear 10 hats before lunch and be prepared to learn a new app, skill, or routine by dinner. And if you hired “experts” for every little thing, you would have went broke eons ago and never even made it this far. Got it, I promise.

But sometimes, you can do more damage than good. Sometimes, when the math is right, hiring an expert makes you more money than doing it yourself. Not often, I’ll grant you that. But in some cases, the experts are the way to go.

Therefore, I recommend considering hiring a conversion rate optimisation consultant (not a company to do the work for you but rather an advisor that charges you by the hour) for the following critical junctures in most optimisation projects:

1) To Verify That You Have Identified the Right Conversion Problems

2) To Verify or Help You Create a Solution to Solve the Conversion Problem

3) To Troubleshoot with You When Results Deviate From Expectations

Look, I firmly believe that most website owners are capable of performing their own optimisation work. For more complex sites, I also believe hiring conversion rate optimisation experts actually generate more money for you than doing it yourself. But for everything in between, consider hiring a consultant. For a fraction of what it would cost you to have a conversion rate optimisation company do the work for you, a consultant can help you benefit from their experience while you still perform the actual work but avoid most of the mistakes of DIY optimisation projects.

Not Enough Website Traffic to Justify Optimisation

Brutal honesty? To hire web optimisation experts and generate enough ROI to justify the expense, you need around 1,000 unique visitors per week or more. Fortunately, the bar is much lower for self-optimisation projects but in most cases, you still want at least 100 visitors per day or more. Otherwise, even significant increases in conversion rate might not generate a corresponding lift to overall sales volume.

In those cases, the best investment of time and resources is probably in traffic generating services like SEO or social media. Once traffic levels are above 100 unique visitors per day, then it may be time to reconsider optimising the site to boost conversions and overall profits.

But make no mistake: When executed correctly, a conversion rate optimisation project can be a game-changer by creating a long-term increase in overall sales without increasing marketing costs. But, in the wrong circumstances and when executed poorly, an optimisation project can drain profits and precious resources. When in doubt, a conversion rate optimisation consultant can be a relatively inexpensive option that can keep your DIY project on track and avoid the mistakes that derail most website owners.

Neil Rimmer is a conversion rate optimisation expert who specialises in generating more sales and qualified leads for clients without increasing marketing costs. To learn more about how conversion rate optimisation can both boost online sales while making other investments in SEO and social media more profitable, visit: http://www.conversionomics.com.au today!

Neil Rimmer is a conversion rate optimisation expert who specialises in generating more sales and qualified leads for clients without increasing marketing costs. To learn more about how conversion rate optimisation can both boost online sales while making other investments in SEO and social media more profitable, visit: http://www.conversionomics.com.au today!

Author Bio: Neil Rimmer is a conversion rate optimisation expert who specialises in generating more sales and qualified leads for clients without increasing marketing costs. To learn more about how conversion rate optimisation can both boost online sales while making other investments in SEO and social media more profitable, visit: http://www.conversionomics.com.au today!

Category: Internet
Keywords: conversion rate optimisation, conversion rate experts, web traffic analysis, CRO services