The Basics of Conversion Optimisation

By Albert Thistlegown


The web seems to get filled with more and more jargon each year, especially when it comes to internet marketing. There's the complex world of SEO, as well as new social media marketing. In light of this it can really help to get the low down on what's going on. Conversion rate optimisation is a very important part of web marketing, which can help you to convert users into customers. This is obviously what good internet retail is all about. But how exactly does it work?

The problem for many businesses at the moment is bounce rate. People use the web in a seemingly erratic and careless way at times. That means that it can be hard to hold on to their attention, even if you've done all the right things in terms of marketing and improving your internet profile up until that point. A staggering majority of people that get all the way to check-out with a purchase cancel the transaction. That means if you can find a way to encourage that last push you can pick up a wealth of potential profit.

The main approach with conversation rate optimisation is testing. This is necessary to see what is encouraging people to make their decisions on the web. It's a very complex world, with some advanced psychology behind it, but basically people make arbitrary decision after arbitrary decision on the web, and there are certain ways of cutting through that to drive them on a path to making a purchase. If this sounds very mathematical it's because it is. A massive amount of data is collected and compared in order to work out how better to encourage web consumption.

The other side of the approach is to be predictive. This requires a deep level of understanding towards the people you're selling to. If you can think the way that they do, you can see where sites are turning people off. This is old-school advertising skill but with the modern twist of fast-developing internet cultures.

Conversion rate optimisation processes can be complex, but the objective is simple: make those potential customers that got away into real customers.




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