There were massive changes in the Internet arena in 2015 and the future of conversion rate optimization is becoming more defined. You cannot allow yourself to be limited by your or the industry’s current beliefs. The old ways of doing things just won’t get you very far any more. It is, in fact, not enough.
Landing Page Optimization Is Not Enough
The term “landing page optimization” was first penned by Tim Ash in his book, “Landing Page Optimization.” Although the term is a little misleading, the newer term, “conversion rate optimization,” is a little lacking as well.
These terms seem to imply that one should seek to optimize campaign-oriented landing pages only. That is not the case. Anywhere significant amounts of traffic enter a website should be optimized. This could mean the complete revamping of an entire website. Imagine a site optimized with a compelling end-to-end online experience with a user-centered whole-site redesign.
Surface Knowledge Is Not Enough
It is necessary to dedicate some time each week to learning. Few people dedicate time for themselves each week to digging deeper into a subject and truly learn the ins and outs. Most are content with reading a blog post or a top ten list online.
It can be difficult to set that time aside each week amid the vast number of items on our to-do list or from all of the distractions around us, such as email. But it is necessary to set some time aside to pick up a book and dig deep into learning. If possible, attend a workshop or a conference or cultivate a like-minded group of people with which to socialize.
Landing Page Testing Is Not Enough
Landing page testing is a critical part of CRO, but it is not all there is to it. It’s possible to get too focused on just testing every aspect of a landing page and to get lost in the process. Testing for the sake of testing can take you down the wrong road and soon you will become lost in a sea of split tests that are doing little to improve your conversions.
Time needs to be spent to understand the psychology of your visitors, their beliefs, and performing user research. Exit surveys and interviewing customers are important methods of gathering data. Take the data gathered from your customers, implement those findings into your website and then testing those changes will bring more valid results.
Static Content Is Not Enough
Most content that is written for a site has a generic visitor in mind. This content is generally bland and written to try not to offend anyone. There is no one kind of visitor. Each visitor is unique and has their own set of needs and wants.
The closer you can come to creating content that meets the specific wants and needs of a visitor, the better your conversion rates will become.
In order to create content geared more closely towards the type of visitors on your site, it will help to know more about the visitors themselves. This may include such analytics information as to the history of their past visits; what other content they consumed while on the site; what are their demographics; are they viewing videos on the site; and any other kind of information that you can gather.
It is then possible to take this information and create content that is more specific for those visitors. If this sounds like a lot of work, it is. But it will be worth it. Doing the same thing in 2016 that you have been doing in the past is not enough.