In Part 5: How Do You Measure CRO?, we learned about the types of problems that A/B testing and conversion optimization can solve for brands and how optimizing for conversions is a powerful method for enhancing and optimizing the channels within your marketing stack.
It’s clear by now that conversion rate optimization can be a key driver of revenue and growth for ecommerce brands. But how do you know when it’s time to invest? In the final episode of our six-part Optimizing for Conversions to Create Lifetime Value video series, Margo Andros, Founder at LTV Approach and Brandon Howell, Website Optimization Service Lead at ROI Revolution share how to know the right time to invest in conversion rate optimization.
https://roirevolution.wistia.com/medias/awyzhp8bnr
Optimizing for Conversions to Create Lifetime Value, Part 6: When Do You Invest in CRO?
I work with a lot of startup ecommerce sites that are looking for rapid growth. They end up being at completely different revenue targets after eight months, for example. I always want to make sure to bring up CRO at the right time. Is it when marketing ROI is growing, when revenue is growing steadily, or a different time? Is it about dollars you’re spending in marketing, is it about traffic, or is it about something else?
When is the most optimal time to make conversion rate optimization happen?
The answer is as soon as you possibly can. In this series, we’ve talked about CRO based on best practices or based on A/B testing. The best practices piece can be done at any time. At any time, you can assess your site, do heuristic analysis, look at the data you have from your current traffic, and make optimizations.
Traffic Thresholds
If you’re going to be doing A/B testing, there are some traffic thresholds. We usually work with brands with at least 100,000 unique sessions per month to have enough traffic to see test results within as short as a one-month timeframe. If your website has small amounts of traffic, tests can drag on longer and it may take you longer to get results. There are a lot of other factors that go into it when we sit down and talk with a brand, but 100,000 unique sessions is our base for saying that a brand is ready to start A/B testing.
CRO for Steady Growth
Brands often start experiencing rapid growth and then get stagnant because they’re spending so much money on paid performance.
Brands often turn to conversion rate optimization to help their sales grow stronger without the ebbs and flows. CRO helps make growth steady.
You shouldn’t wait to start optimizing your website for conversions. When you start really investing in your marketing stack and paid performance channels, understanding your customer and understanding how people shop through testing is a key part of actually making more money and accelerating your growth further. Statistically, those 100,000 unique sessions are important, but it’s also about being proactive instead of waiting until sales become stagnant. You need some insights to make better decisions.
As far as insights and making decisions are concerned, that’s the beauty of CRO from a broader standpoint. We’ve spent this series talking about how to improve your website, make the right decisions, and get high-quality audience insights. The things you learn from doing website A/B testing can also apply to broader business goals.
Apply What You’ve Learned
Your CRO learnings can be applied to marketing strategies outside of your website. For example, the headlines, taglines, value props, etc. that you’re testing on your website to see if they resonate with your audience can also be used on product packaging and video ads.
You’re learning about your customer. You can test merchandising strategies that can resonate in real-world physical stores. The interactions you see on your website can inform what products to keep closer to the entrance of your store or on the endcaps, for example. It’s all based on real stats, facts, numbers, and data.
