What is Conversion Rate Optimisation? The Skills You Need to Succeed

Conversion rate optimisation (CRO) is a growing sector. Whatever type of business you are running or, indeed, working for, conversion rate optimisation likely applies. When a customer visits your website, chances are you want them to complete a certain action. 

That is usually buying something, subscribing to a newsletter, or joining your membership scheme. Here’s what you need to know about the sector and the skills you need.

First things first, let’s talk about what conversion rate optimisation (CRO) is. This is the art of increasing the percentage of customers that perform a “desired outcome” when they visit your website. For example, if you own an e-commerce site, the desired outcome will likely be buying something from the site. The more customers you can entice to complete that action, the more sales you will make and the more profitable you will be. 

However, suppose we dive deeper into what conversion rate optimisation (CRO) means. In that case, we can see that it is about understanding what drives customers and also what stops them from completing actions. You will need to learn what barriers are standing in your customers’ way when they visit your website so that you can effectively tackle these problems.

It’s not good enough to have a high level of website traffic. You also need to consider the bounce rate and user behaviour (as well as the number of visitors). While your monthly visits may lead to advertising revenue, if it’s not the main aim of your business, you need to encourage customers to do more. That is where conversion rate optimisation (CRO) comes into play. You can use CRO strategies to improve all of the above.

The main roles in the realms of conversion rate optimisation (CRO) are specialists, product managers, e-commerce trading teams, and SEO specialists. Regardless of the position that you ultimately take on, you will have to follow this specific process:

The first step in the process is research. Before the specialists can start A/B testing, they need to look into both qualitative and quantitative data. That means checking out the existing website visitors, their actions, and how they are behaving on the homepage.

Next up, the specialists need to implement an A/B testing approach. That means applying two different strategies and seeing which one triggers the desired action in a customer. There are plenty of analytics tools that will allow you to review these metrics. For example, you may choose to use Google Analytics and other similar systems in your testing.

One of the most important parts of testing CRO practices is reviewing the results. It’s not only about how many hits your landing page gets. That is a common misconception. To properly analyse the results, you need to review the conversion rate and then look at any factors that may be at play. For instance, you should look into the user experience and the call to action (CTA) to see how they are working in sync. Look at each of the variations.

No matter what your job role is, the most important part of CRO is sharing the learnings. You will need to feed back to the greater team and change the website accordingly. You can work the results into your existing marketing strategy. In doing so, you can increase your search engine optimisation and your conversion rate optimisation in one quick move.

Now that you know about the conversion rate optimisation process, let’s talk about the skills that you need to get the job done. Here are some of the CRO-centric skills:

The above skill-set will help you to create a seamless customer journey that results in a higher overall conversion rate. It may be as simple as understanding why potential customers leave things in the shopping cart rather than purchasing them. With a few helpful tweaks, you may be able to remove barriers, such as pop-ups, and boost the rate.

Are you already established in a digital career? The good news is that there is a lot of crossover between roles in this sector. For example, if you work as a UX designer or developer, an SEO specialist, an e-commerce manager, a marketer, or a social media manager, you can likely move to this sector. Before you start looking for a conversion rate optimisation role, you may need to upskill and learn new things that can be applied to this technical position. 

Once you have a better understanding of CRO, you will have the chance to switch careers. Keep in mind that you can also tie in disciplines such as PPC, lead generation, and site usability so that you can improve the website’s conversion rate.

Interested in moving into the fast-developing CRO sector? If you already work in the digital sphere, there are plenty of ways to increase your existing skill set. Since you already have a foundational knowledge of the field, you can take extra courses to support your learning. 

For example, looking into training and courses in SEO, Digital Marketing, and Google Analytics can help. There are plenty of options available online that will help you develop your skill set. You may choose to undertake an evening course or do some online training.