5 Critical Steps to Better Website Conversion Optimization

Are you getting decent traffic to your website, but it just isn't converting into customers? You're ready to start working on your website conversion optimization. But if your first instinct is to open up your A/B testing software then you may be setting yourself up for failure.

Here is a blueprint for the 5 critical steps to successful website conversion optimization.

1. Define a Successful Outcome

You'd be surprised how many people will start using their A/B testing software without any clear idea of what they want to achieve. A successful foundation for any website conversion optimization strategy is developing a clearly defined success.

You should be able to clearly answer the following questions:

• What's the problem that you're trying to solve?
• What's your value proposition?
• What does the ideal successful outcome look like?
• What are your key goals and success metrics?

2. Conduct a Funnel Analysis

It can be very tempting to look at a low conversion rate on a particular landing page and decide to focus all your efforts there. But in the bigger picture, improving conversion on that page may not make much of a difference to your bottom line. So it's essential that you look at the end to end funnel.

Key considerations:

• Where is your traffic coming from and which sources convert the best?
• What are the key steps in your marketing funnel from traffic to customer?
• Which web pages are the biggest pain points and biggest opportunities?

3. Develop Your Initial Hypotheses

A hypothesis is a supposition or proposed explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation.

You decide what you're going to test, what result you expect and then you test to prove or disprove that hypothesis. For example: changing the button text from “sign up” to “learn more” will result in more clicks to the signup page.

Once you've listed all your hypotheses, prioritize them so you can focus on the most impactful areas.

4. Setup & Run Your Tests

The first test you should run should actually be an A/A test, with identical pages to help you establish a baseline.

Once established, you're ready to start testing. Choose between A/B and multivariate testing. There are a number of tools you can use, including Google Content Experiments, Optimizely and Visual Website Optimizer.

You'll need to run each test long enough to reach statistical significance.

5. Analyze the Test Results

Once you've reached statistical significance, analyze the results. Be careful in making broad assumptions about projected conversion rates.

The primary goal was to prove or disprove a hypothesis. You need to be reasonably confident (95%) that you achieved that goal.

Once analyzed, decide what to test next. Are you ready to test your next hypothesis? Do you need to revise your hypotheses?

Key Takeaway

A/B testing software is increasingly easier to use and more accessible. Unfortunately, jumping into using this software without proper planning can lead to poor decisions which could impact your bottom line. Consider using these recommendations to build a solid foundation for your website conversion optimization.