One of the KPIs buyers are looking for when analyzing a business is its conversion rate. A steadily increasing conversion rate can mean that your brand is becoming better known or your messaging is more attractive – and that’s something that’s attractive to the buyer as well.
A decreasing conversion rate – unless you’re getting a lot more users to the site – that could indicate something’s wrong.
So, what are the vital metrics we need to analyze to move towards maximizing CRO?
Courtney Lindau Lee is the Partner and Head of Practice at Nimble Gravity.
This episode of Deal Closers is hosted by Izach Porter, brought to you by WebsiteClosers.com, and is produced by Earfluence.
In this episode, Lee stresses the importance of conversion rate optimization, or CRO, especially when it comes to business growth. A common misconception about this metric is that it’s a one-time fix.
The key focus here is the “optimization” in conversion rate optimization. In other words, this activity needs to be implemented in the weekly and monthly growth and marketing strategies. It’s a big mistake to not worry about it until the next problem arises and you try to re-optimize again. According to Lee, not baking it into day-to-day activities is a big misconception.
One of the factors tied to conversion rate optimization metrics is return on ad spend. When connecting conversion rate optimization (CRO) to marketing performance, Lee emphasizes that a well-crafted ad campaign can still fall short if the website itself isn’t optimized.
Even if an ad performs well, directing users to a broken or poorly functioning page can lead to a misleadingly low return on ad spend (ROAS). In these cases, it’s not the ad that’s at fault but the site’s functionality. To address this, Lee suggests using tools like web analytics and qualitative analytics, including session recorders (tools that capture the actions of visitors as they use an app or browse through a website) like SessionStack, FullStory, and Hotjar, to monitor and identify website issues that might be affecting conversions.
More metrics to help you analyze conversion rate optimization will be covered in the following sections.
Funnel metrics are among the many factors measured by Nimble Gravity. Lee’s team begins by conducting a thorough audit to assess the full funnel metrics. This starts with reviewing the web analytics setup to ensure that key performance indicators (or simply KPIs) are being tracked properly, covering each stage (including sales funnels and other key CRO metrics). Alongside the analytics audit, they also evaluate the website’s performance, paying close attention to SEO and any factors that could be slowing down the site. Through these observations, they can detect what works and what doesn’t, and they help clients identify specific areas of focus.
Lee’s team tailors their engagement to the client’s needs, offering flexibility—whether it’s providing weekly advice, a team of web developers for site fixes, or an A/B testing team for optimization. After the audit, the next step is collaborating with clients to define clear goals (for instance, increase the number of conversions) and determine the best approach to achieve them based on the audit results.
Traffic sources are a necessary customer acquisition metric to track. But Lee points out that a common issue for businesses is the lack of UTM parameters in their marketing campaigns, which leads to inaccurate data in their analytics.
UTM parameters are necessary codes added to URLs that help platforms like Google Analytics identify where traffic is coming from. Without these, it becomes difficult to distinguish between different traffic sources, as visits from campaigns like QR codes or social media are often lumped into the direct traffic category.
This creates a gap in understanding the effectiveness of campaigns and landing pages, making it hard to evaluate the things that drive conversions accurately. To avoid this, Lee advises ensuring that all marketing efforts, which include social media and QR codes, among others, are properly tagged with UTM parameters to track performance effectively.
Among the metrics to help you analyze conversion rate optimization include various website performance metrics, which assess factors like site speed, user experience, and mobile responsiveness.
Making sure that your customers can easily browse through your website should be an ongoing effort. This is part of a website audit, which checks if there’s anything that slows your website down. Digital strategists like Nimble Gravity will provide you with the steps to improve the loading speed of your website to enhance user experience.
Optimizing site speed is important because it contributes to your SEO ranking. SEO is another important metric, as making an effort for your website to rank makes your business discoverable by online users.
SEO metrics offer a way to measure and assess the effectiveness of search engine optimization efforts using data. They provide insights into how SEO activities affect site traffic, lead generation, and conversions.
Consistently tracking these metrics helps marketers:
Session recorders, as Lee mentioned, are the perfect tool for measuring user behavior metrics. They record how users browse through your website, including where they tap/click, how they scroll, or if they are able to complete desired actions. Let’s take a look at some of the metrics ideal for any business establishing or maintaining its online presence.
Average session duration is a metric that shows the amount of time users spend on your site or app before they leave your site or become inactive. It gives you a sense of how engaged visitors are with your content. A higher average session indicates valuable content, and users spend more time exploring your pages.
Although it may not capture the exact time spent on a user’s final page, tracking this metric over time can still provide valuable insights into user engagement and whether your content encourages deeper interaction.
The percentage of users who land on a page and exit without interacting further is called bounce rate. High bounce rates can signal various issues—such as irrelevant content, poor user experience, or a slow-loading website—leading users to leave your site quickly. However, in some cases, like blog posts or informational pages, users may bounce because they found the answers they needed right away.
Tracking bounce rate is particularly important during paid ad campaigns, as it helps gauge how well your landing page engages visitors. If users consistently bounce, it may suggest your content isn’t resonating or the traffic you’re attracting isn’t well-matched.
Before you fully roll out a marketing campaign, A/B testing will help you pick which campaign works best for your target market. It allows you to compare two variations of a marketing campaign by presenting each to different audience groups. This method gives you valuable insights into which version appeals more to your audience, helping to refine your strategy for better results. Have a look at some A/B testing metrics that contribute to your CRO efforts.
The percentage of visitors who accomplish a desired action on your site, such as clicking on calls to action, signing up for a service, or making a purchase, is called conversion rate. This metric is key to understanding how well your website is performing and is often used to gauge the success of A/B tests.
To boost conversions, start by analyzing the behaviors and motivations of your audience. Tailoring your calls to action and addressing any barriers that might prevent users from converting will lead to improved results. Incorporating social proof like customer testimonials can also increase trust, persuading more visitors to take action.
Revenue is the ultimate goal of most A/B tests, as it directly reflects the impact of your changes on the business’s bottom line. This metric works alongside others, such as conversion rate, average order value (AOV), and abandonment rate, to give a full picture of your experiment’s effectiveness.
By focusing on revenue, you can evaluate whether the adjustments you’ve made are contributing positively to your business or if it’s time to rethink your approach. Key sub-metrics to monitor include revenue per visitor, revenue per customer, lifetime value (LTV), and conversion value during your tests.
At the end of the day, you need to turn visitors into paying customers for your business to survive. If your advertising efforts aren’t leading to sales, you’re missing out on real value.
Take a look at some of these suggested tools that help analyze how users interact with your site, enhancing their experience, adapting based on their actions, and increasing conversions, all leading to more sales.
Thank you for your interest. We're happy to help in your acquisition search.
Please help us by providing an honest review. We focus on those that take the time to review our company.
Leave a Review