Our Blog

Why You Need to Set Conversion Optimization Goals ASAP

By Snap Agency June 25, 2019

We’ve all been “that person,” writing lists and setting admirable goals as January 1 creeps around the corner. Yet, come March, or even after passing your favorite burger joint one too many times, that New Year’s resolution goes right out the window. Does this mean you set your goals too high? Not exactly. Instead, this little illustration serves as a sobering lesson: without time, dedication, and perseverance, progress can’t happen. 

This principle carries over to many aspects of business, too, like your improving your conversion rate. Reaching your optimization goals takes more than luck and well-wishes; it requires the creation and implementation of strategic solutions that are measured and adjusted over time according to the changes you observe. But, before we get too ahead of ourselves, it’s crucial to understand what conversion rate optimization (CRO) is, when and how to implement specific goals, and why it’s important to get this ball rolling sooner than later.

What Is Conversion Rate Optimization, and What Kinds of Goals Can I Set for It?

Far more than just a buzzword, CRO is the process of driving more traffic and inspiring more leads when consumers visit your site. Though specific designs and modifications of certain webpage elements, your business can market more effectively to audiences, ultimately increasing the chances of converting visitors into customers instead of losing them to a closed browser window. 

When you hear “conversion,” it’s easy to think “sale,” but don’t be fooled—this doesn’t just apply to your shopping cart page. Successful conversions can occur all over a website, from the homepage to landing pages. Features like buttons, AI chatbots, inspiring CTAs, and more all inspire site visitors to “dig deeper” into your content and convert. 

Setting CRO Goals

When setting CRO goals, it’s crucial to have a solid process in place which guarantees your goals have been thoroughly considered and developed. To set realistic goals, consider these steps

Go Beyond Success

If you’re hitting every single one of your goals, that’s good. But it’s not great—you might not be thinking big enough. View your success as an opportunity to improve other aspects of your site to achieve the same positive results. When we bring this proactive attitude to our CRO goals, we’re better prepared to seize opportunities to maximize our conversions.

Keep Your Goals Crystal Clear

Sure, “increase ROI by 5 percent” sounds great, but how do you plan to accomplish that? When you keep your goals specific and attainable, (like, “I want to increase my social ROI by 5 percent through more targeted Facebook ads”) you build a clearer path to raising your CRO.

Make Big Steps Smaller

Okay, so we want to increase our social ROI by 5 percent. In addition to specifying our goal, we need to break it down into actionable parts. Whether you recreate your ads with a new audience in mind, schedule them to run more intentionally, or repackage your existing content, figure out ways to accomplish your goal step by step in order to stay on track. 

Let’s Set Some Goals

Depending on your product or service, your audience, and your end goal, every CRO strategy will look different. Generally speaking, CRO goals float in the realm of increasing clicks, visits, or sales to various aspects of a site. Here are a few examples of goals:

  • Increasing sales generated by email blasts by a determined amount
  • Directing more traffic from banner ads to corresponding landing pages
  • Increasing visits to your pricing page by building a clearer sales funnel

No matter the nature of your CRO goals, when you take the time to build a good foundation and follow the steps outlined above, implementing small changes will become much easier and get you closer to those clicks.

Implementing Your Optimization Goals

The process of making something (like a website design, budgeting decision, or campaign) as perfect, functional, or effective as possible, optimization is a fancy way of saying “trial and error.” Perfect implementation takes time, and many tests to get right. Give yourself grace if the first few attempts don’t go quite right. However, in addition to setting up a solid goal-setting system, and knowing how to create feasible CRO goals, try these marketing strategies to jumpstart the implementation process.

Add Lead Flows to Your Blog

Lead flows are pop-ups designed specifically with conversion in mind—they’re meant to attract attention. These banners and boxes encourage engagement and increase conversions by bringing visitors deeper into your site. If your goal is to increase traffic to your pricing page, lead flows could be a huge asset to you. 

Optimize Landing Pages

A high-performing landing page is every business’ goldmine, whereas a weak page will contribute next to nothing for all your efforts. Use heat map analysis and other tests to reveal pain points in your landing pages, and fortify them to help cultivate your conversion goals.  

Consider Marketing Automation

If your conversion goals focus on increasing ROI through sales, skip the stuff in the middle and help your sales team directly! With the help of certain software and tools, you can send automated emails from sales reps, allowing potential clients to schedule calls and meetings with the click of a button. 

Optimize Better With Snap

Want some expert help with setting and executing CRO goals? Contact Snap! Our conversion optimization wizards, dedicated strategists, and talented web designers are eager to help you turn today’s goals into tomorrow’s reality.