This guide you are about to read is designed to help you understand the basics of Conversion Rate Optimization, how the business world works, and why the conversion rate has been gaining such popularity.

If you are just starting with CRO, our beginner-friendly guide will help you understand the fundamentals and get a head start on improving your conversion rates and increasing sales.

We’ll go over some useful tools and resources you can use to track and analyze your data, so you’re better equipped to make decisions that will lead to improved conversion rates.

If you want to see how your store is performing, you can get in touch with our experts for a detailed audit and the best advice for improving your conversion rates.

Check our CRO case studies where we have helped 100s of eCommerce sites to increase their conversions and revenue.

Now, let’s start this beginner-friendly guide to Conversion Rate Optimization.

First, let’s define what CRO is and why it matters for eCommerce businesses.

What is a Conversion?

A conversion is when a visitor completes the desired action on your website, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter. Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) aims to optimize your website for conversions, increasing the number of visitors who take action.

You see, conversion is a broader term than sales.

• Any action, such as signing up for a newsletter or downloading an eBook, is conversion.
• Any interaction that adds value to your website and increases revenue or customer lifetime value is considered a conversion.
• Any action that leads to a user taking the desired action is considered a conversion.

You see, conversions can be tracked and measured in many ways, including surveys, A/B testing, and heat mapping. It can help you identify which elements of your website are working and which need improvement.

What is Conversion Rate Optimization?

As the name suggests, Conversion Rate Optimization is the practice of designing and testing website content to maximize the number of visitors that become customers. It involves identifying key website elements such as user experience, design, and content that could be improved in order to achieve better outcomes. CRO is a data-driven approach enabling you to test different versions of a website and measure each variation’s impact on conversion rates.

For instance, if you want to determine which design elements impact conversion, you could run an A/B testing campaign. This involves creating two versions of the page with different design elements and displaying them to two groups of visitors. You can then measure which version performs best in terms of conversion rate based on what visitors do.

CRO is an invaluable asset in the online world that helps you save time, money, and effort and uncovers unknown growth strategies. You’ll gain an in-depth understanding of your website’s usability while receiving key customer insights to enhance the user experience (UX) and achieve desired goals.

According to statists, there are more than 1.2 billion websites hosted on 271 million or more domains. All these sites have been competing against each other to secure traffic, page views, conversions, and sales. For eCommerce stores, this means that it’s becoming more important to focus on improving their conversion rates.

But recently, more and more people are shifting from just getting traffic to their site to ensuring that the traffic they are getting is actually converting. That’s because increasing the conversion rate can result in a better ROI.

Based on what business you run, what purpose you want to get from your website and the type of audience you are targeting, your conversion rate would differ. Yet, regardless of your business type and target audience, your conversion purpose could differ.

Following are conversions websites typically measure:

Macro conversions:

You’d like to track these primary conversions, including signups, registrations, or purchases.

Examples of macro conversions include:

• Overall sales

• Subscribing to an email list

• Registering for a webinar

• Scheduling an appointment

• Downloading a white paper

Micro conversions:

Micro conversions are way different from macro conversions. These are secondary goals you’d like to track, such as newsletter signups, watching a video, or adding an item to a cart.

Examples of micro conversions include:

• Engaging with the website content

• Social media interactions

• newsletter signups

• Sharing content with friends

• Watching a video

• Adding an item to the cart

Why are these important?

Tracking macro and micro conversions is important because it gives insight into how users engage on any site, landing page, or the product page. Understanding user behavior helps inform decisions about web design and content, making it easier to make changes that will further increase conversions.

When tracking conversions, website owners should always consider the big picture — how all their individual metrics fit together to create a larger story about user behavior.

Think of conversions as indicators of user engagement. When you track conversions, you’re tracking users who are interested in your product or service enough to take the time to register, fill out a form, watch a video, or make a purchase.

These metrics tell you whether users find your website easy to use and understand, which can help you make improvements to increase conversions.

Your e-commerce metrics or KPIs should be towards the desired behaviors, which will help you determine your conversion goals. Once you have set these goals, it’s time to work on improving your eCommerce conversion rate and get inspired.

But it’s not as easy as it seems. Keep reading to learn about CRO. Let’s understand the main factors that affect/influence CRO.

What are the Factors That Affect Your Conversion Rate?

CRO is a technical thing; however, there are some key factors that influence conversions. These include:

• User experience
• Website design
• Site speed
• Content quality
• Pricing and discounts
• Call-to-action
• Target audience
• Navigation
• Payment options
• Trustworthiness

Each of these factors plays an important role in determining your success. For example, if your website has a poor design, visitors might not be able to navigate it properly.

If the visitors cannot navigate the website, they won’t be able to find the products and services they want, leading to fewer conversions. Similarly, if your content is not up to the mark, you can’t

expect visitors to trust your website enough to make a purchase.

Poor site nevigation= a high bounce rate

Low-quality content = Low conversion rate

On the other hand, if your website offers a great user experience and has a compelling call-to-action, customers will be more likely to complete their purchase. This can lead to higher conversion rates and increased ROI.

So, it’s important to ensure that you focus on each of these factors for a successful conversion rate optimization strategy.

Conversion Rate Academy by ConversionWise has been helping businesses achieve their desired growth goals by providing expert CRO services since 2016. Our team of CRO specialists and marketing experts have experience in various industries and can help you identify the best optimization strategy tailored to your business.

Moving forward with our guide, now let’s move to the second most important strategy in CRO – measuring KPIs.

What are the most common KPIs to measure and why?

• Site Traffic: Knowing how much you’re getting and from which sources helps you better understand what works best for your content marketing.

• Average order value (AOV): This helps you determine the performance of your overall store and how well it’s converting visitors into customers.

• Average time on site (ATOS): ATOS measures how long your visitors spend and helps you determine if they’re engaging with your content.

• Product page views/interactions: This helps you identify which products are performing well and indicates how likely shoppers are to convert.

• Shopping cart abandonment rate: This helps you understand why people are leaving without completing their purchases.

• Cost per acquisition (CPA): This helps you measure the effectiveness of your ads, campaigns, and other tactics to determine their return on investment.

Let’s move to the next section that will answer every WHY? Why is conversion rate important?

Why Focus on Conversion Rate Optimization?

The answer is simple; optimization is the key to success and profitability. How does it happen?

Hear me out. How much time and effort have you put in to acquire new customers? Whether it’s SEO, paid ads, or just organic traffic, these are all efforts to get new potential customers to your site.

How much are you spending on social media marketing and other tactics?

What is your ad spend? All these costs can be reduced if you focus on optimizing your conversions.

Following are some of the key benefits of conversion rate optimization:

1) Reduced Costs:

Most business owners focus on acquiring new customers; they target new areas, run ads and do everything they can to get new people to visit their sites. But they don’t realize that it’s more important to focus on getting people who have already been to their site and converting them.

When a customer lands on your site, that’s a completely new sale opportunity. Everything on your e-commerce store influences the shopper’s decision to purchase. So if you focus on optimization, you can reduce your overall ad spend and optimize the existing customer’s journey to make the purchase.

2) Improved User Experience:

It’s not just about getting more customers; it’s also about improving their experience. When you optimize your website and make sure that every aspect of it is user-friendly, it will impact the user experience. This makes it easier for customers to find the products and services they want, which ultimately leads to higher conversions.

3) Increased ROI:

That’s obvious using conversion rate optimization leads to increased ROI because it helps you get more out of your existing traffic. It’s a continuous process that helps you get more out of your current customers and helps you acquire new customers at a lower cost. You’ll get more out of the same traffic without spending more money on advertising.

4) Improved Brand Recognition:

A brand is a reflection of how customers perceive your business. Your website is the primary source of interaction between you and your customers, so it’s important to make sure that it’s optimized for conversions. When customers have a great experience, they are more likely to recommend your site to their friends and come back again. This helps to build brand recognition and loyalty.

5) Improved Analytics:

Analytics is all about data. The more data you have about your site, the better decisions you can make for it. Conversion rate optimization helps you get more out of the data you have and helps you make informed decisions. You’ll be able to track customer behavior, which will help you know what works and what doesn’t, allowing you to make the necessary changes for better results.

These are just some of the reasons why you should focus on conversion rate optimization. It’s a process that can help you get more out of your existing traffic and make sure that every customer who visits your site has a great experience.

In the next section, we will discuss the major statistics around CRO. You see, data is everything in CRO, and that’s what we will prove first.

This will help you understand the factors that impact CRO the most and what changes have the biggest effect.

Factual data is the foundation of any successful business. Data is constantly evolving and changing, and it’s important for any business to keep track of their success. To do that, you need to understand what has been studied, what has been done, and what can be implemented to improve your conversion rate.

20+ Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) Statistics in 2023 

To get an in-depth understanding of how CRO can help you increase the success rate of your website, let’s look at some meaningful CRO statistics.

Average conversion rate statistics

1: The average conversion optimization for ecommerce websites across industries is 2.35%. (WordStream)

The average conversion rate for all industries is 2.35%, according to WordStream. However, website-specific conversion rates can differ widely from this figure. This average can be seen as a benchmark, and if your website is meeting around the 2-3% mark, you are likely doing well.

Source: Wordstream.

2. Best-in-class conversion rates: Best-in-class websites can have as high as 11% conversion rates. (Wordstream)

When it comes to conversion rate optimization (CRO), there is a clear divide between the top and bottom performers. Those within the upper quartile of websites have a conversion rate of at least 5.31%, while the top 10% manage rates of 11% or higher – almost five times greater than the average.

3: Average mobile conversion rate: 1.53%

You won’t believe but using mobile phones when attempting to convert doesn’t seem popular with people. This could be due to several factors, but most likely, it’s due to the difficulty in typing accurately on smaller screens. This could be enough to intimidate website users from filling out lead forms or entering their payment information. That’s why only 1.53% of visitors to mobile sites convert into paying customers or leads.

Source: Statista

4: Desktop conversion rate: 4.14%

Desktop computers are still the preferred device for browsing and using websites for many users, so it’s no surprise that they have higher conversion rates than mobile devices. In fact, the average desktop conversion rate is four times that of mobile devices at 4.14%. This indicates that users are more likely to convert on desktop devices, so it pays to optimize your website for desktops as well.

Source: Statista

5: 161% score can be achieved with user-generated content

User-generated content (UGC) is one of the most effective ways to increase customer engagement and conversion rates. In fact, according to Yotpo, websites using UGC see a 161% increase in conversion rate and a 4.5% higher average order value (AOV). Including UGC in your website, such as product reviews and customer photos, is a great way to drive up conversion rates.

Source: Yotpo

6: Sports goods with the lowest average CRO: 2.35%

Sporting goods have the lowest average eCommerce conversion rate of all industries, coming in at a mere 2.35%. The cause for this discrepancy is not entirely known, but it could be due to customers desiring instant satisfaction and thus being more likely to visit a physical store.

7: Food and beverages industry stands with the highest CRO (4.95%)

Food and beverage products have the highest average conversion rate in eCommerce, at 4.95%. This may be surprising, but it’s important to remember when setting conversion targets. If you’re selling food and beverage items, you may be able to aim for a slightly higher percentage than other industries.

Source: Yotpo

8: The highest B2B CRO belongs to professional/financial services: (10%)

Business-to-business (B2B) websites have a much higher average conversion rate than B2C ones. The professional/financial services industry has the highest B2B conversion rate, at 10%. This is likely due to customers being willing to spend more as they are purchasing items for their business needs.

Source: MarketingSherpa

9: Non-profit organizations have the lowest B2B conversion rate: (2%)

Non-profit organizations have the lowest B2B conversion rate at 2%. This is likely due to customers being more hesitant to donate to a cause so they may need more convincing. Additionally, many non-profit websites are not as optimized for conversions compared to other businesses.

(Source: MarketingSherpa)

CRO spending statistics: what’s the average?

Companies often feel reluctant to invest in conversion rate optimization (CRO), but it can be a strategic decision if done properly.

Following are some statistics that highlight the importance of CRO spending:

10: For every $92 invested in customer acquisition, companies allocate just $1 to conversion rate optimization – a small but vital difference.

The difference between the amount spent on customer acquisition and that used for conversion rate optimization is staggering. The ratio of CRO spending versus CA spending is $1 to $92. This means that businesses often spend more on getting traffic than they do on turning that traffic into customers. A simple way to reduce traffic costs would be to double the conversion rate, allowing for a 50% decrease in the budget allocated to customer acquisition.

(Source: Econsultancy)

11: Companies that experience the highest conversion rates dedicate at least 5% of their budget to Conversion Rate Optimization strategies.

The companies that are achieving the highest conversion rates spend at least 5% of their budget on CRO strategies. This suggests that a substantial amount of time and resources should be dedicated to conversion optimization. Companies that focus on understanding their customers, testing different site elements, and continuously measuring performance will have the best chance of success.

(Source: Kissmetrics)

Landing page optimization statistics: what marketers plan?

Landing page optimization can have a significant effect on the success of your campaigns.

Here are some statistics regarding landing page optimization:

12: Uplifting your landing page count from 10 to 15 can result in a tremendous 55% spike in leads!

Sticking with a few tried-and-tested landing pages can be tempting, but if you want to increase your leads, the key is to use more pages. Uplifting your page count from 10 to 15 can result in a 55% spike in leads. This should be considered when creating campaigns, as more pages may result in a better return on investment (ROI).

Source: HubSpot

13: Studies have shown that reducing the number of form fields from 11 to 4 leads to an astonishing increase in conversions – a 120% rise!

Forms are an important part of a landing page, and studies have shown that reducing the amount of fields can lead to a massive increase in conversions. A study by HubSpot concluded that reducing the number of form fields from 11 to 4 resulted in a 120% increase in conversions. This can be achieved by only asking for the most necessary information and removing any fields that don’t contribute to the lead generation process.

(Source: Unbounce)

14: Studies have proven that multi-page forms are more likely to be completed by users compared to single-page forms.

Single-page forms have a scant completion rate of 4.53%, yet when split into multiple pages, the average jumps to 13.85%. This verifies our earlier conclusion that customers prefer fewer form fields per page instead of being overwhelmed when they first reach your website. If you require more than four elements on any given page, using multi-page forms is an excellent alternative for keeping visitors engaged and eager to finish what they started!

Make sure you ‘Click Here’ for maximum conversions, as opposed to simply using ‘Submit.’

Did you know that even the smallest changes can have a huge impact? For example, if your form CTA buttons contain “submit” as their anchor text, conversion rates could drop up to 3%! Making small alterations like this are incredibly important when trying to increase conversions.

Source: Unbounce

15: Substantial research indicates that longer landing pages generate a staggering 220% more leads than their shorter counterparts!

It’s essential to ensure that all critical information on your landing pages is seen above the fold. However, don’t be reluctant to consist of more details further down. In fact, research reveals that long-form landing pages are better than short ones! So if you want a higher conversion rate for your business website, consider adding extra content that is engaging and persuasive below the fold.

(Source: Marketing Experiments)

CRO Testing Statistics

16: An overwhelming majority of marketers (56%) find that A/B testing works best for them regarding Conversion Rate Optimization.

CRO testing is an essential part of the optimization process. According to a study by Marketing Experiments, 56 percent of marketers find that A/B testing is the most effective approach to optimizing their website for conversions. A/B testing involves creating two landing pages or component variants and measuring which performs better. This can be a great way to discover what kind of content works best for your target audience.

Source: Econsultancy

17: Companies that aspire to improve their conversion rates should conduct 50% more tests in order to succeed.

If you’re serious about improving your website’s conversion rates, you should either double or triple the amount of testing you do. According to Econsultancy, companies that aspire to improve their conversion rates should conduct 50% more tests in order to succeed.

Source: Econsultancy

Other Stats that Show the Value of Conversion Rate Optimization

18: The demand for “conversion rate optimization” is skyrocketing, as evidenced by the spike in Google searches.

Source: Google

19: An alarming 68% of small businesses have failed to implement a documented conversion rate optimization strategy.

Source: CXL

20: A staggering 82% of marketers reported that effectively testing their strategies was either difficult.

Source: Adobe

21: Accurate targeting and testing techniques can drastically increase conversion rates up to a staggering 300%!

Source: Marketing Experiments

22: An astounding 70% of marketers harnessing CRO utilize the outcomes of their experiments to enhance offline or other promotional strategies.

Source: Marketing Sherpa

23: Remarkably, 22% of businesses are satisfied with their conversion rates.

Source: Econsultancy

24: Unfortunately, over a fifth of businesses have confessed that they lack an efficient system for testing their landing pages.

Source: Business2Community

25: Shockingly, 52% of businesses and organizations with landing pages are taking the necessary initiative to optimize them for increased conversions.

Source: Marketing Experiments

26: Imagescape saw a 160% increase in submissions when they decreased form fields from 11 to four.

Source: LinkedIn

Did you see? Even small tweaks can make a big difference. Data is the key to understanding what your customers want and need. With data-driven results, you can make changes that are most likely to increase conversions – no guesswork required.

CRO isn’t just a best practice – it’s an essential part of running a successful business.

Now, let’s move to the next step – the expected results of Conversion Rate Optimization.

What Kind of Results Can You Expect From Conversion Rate Optimization?

This is a broader question, and it completely depends on your business, the products/services you are selling online, your target audience, and what kind of optimization techniques you use.

When you use the right methods to optimize your website, you can expect a higher conversion rate and more returns on your investment.

However, it is important to remember that the results will take time to happen. Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is a process it requires continuous testing and analysis to find the highest converting elements on your website.

You see, CRO is a powerful marketing strategy that can significantly improve your website’s performance and bottom line.

Following are some of the possible results from running a CRO campaign:

• Increased website or product conversions are what you’re aiming for with CRO.

• Increased user engagement – Users stay more engaged with your site or product, ultimately leading to more conversions.

• Lower bounce rate – Users staying longer on the website can result in higher loyalty and sales.

• Increased website traffic – Boosting organic search rankings by improving user engagement and conversions. This can result in more organic traffic from search engines.

• Improved brand awareness – Improving user experience can lead to higher customer satisfaction and, thus, more people talking about your brand.

• Improved website usability – CRO can help identify and fix usability issues preventing conversions. Work on UX and UI elements to improve usability and increase conversions.

The results you can expect depend on the current level of performance and how much effort you put into running a CRO campaign. Some CRO agencies provide guarantees on the results, but it is important to do your research beforehand.

Remember these points because we will discuss how we helped a few of our clients win results through CRO.

Following are some clients that we worked with and the results we achieved in just a few months:

Everything Padel

We helped EverythingPadel – an online padel store, achieve a whopping 325% increase in conversion rate in just 8 weeks. Let’s say they were getting 1 conversion for every 100 visitors; after our optimization techniques, they got 4 conversions for the same number of visitors.

If they earned 20 Euros for every conversion, it means their revenue increased by 1600 Euros.

Lunar Lanterns

We also helped another client – Lunar Lanterns, who are in the niche of retail home decor, achieve a massive 148% increase in conversion rate just and increased their AOV (Average Order Value) by over 11%.

PowerMy

One client- PowerMy – in niche backup batteries and power banks saw an 18% increase in conversions, which means more sales, better ROI, and happier customers.

CRO is directly linked to user experience. When you create a seamless and enjoyable experience on your website, the chances of conversions increase automatically.

In the next and very important section, we will talk about CRO’s main/primary elements. This is the most important part of this guide, as it will cover the most important steps you need to take to get great results.

What are the primary elements of Conversion Rate Optimization?

Conversion rate optimization involves numerous elements. Following are the key elements you

should focus on:

Your landing page design:

The very first impression visitors get about your website is from the landing page. It should be attractive, clutter-free, and easy to navigate. The more organized, concise, and user-friendly a page is, the more chances people will complete the desired action.

Design elements like typography, images, color, and white space should be used strategically to create a pleasing experience.

Let’s understand this with a real-life example of Walmart’s popular online store.

When visitors land on their website, they see a very organized home page with categories clearly visible and images of products displayed prominently. This makes it very easy for visitors to explore the website and quickly find what they are looking for. They also have a search bar option, and all their products are neatly divided into relevant categories.

Apart from the home page, each product page is very well-designed and organized.

Check this screenshot:

It contains:

• Relevant images
• Shows proof of customers are buying (1000+ bought since yesterday)
• User rating
• Shipping details
• Wallmart logo

All this helps create a sense of trust and confidence among customers that they buy from a reliable brand. It’s part of the design that helps build trust and encourages customers to purchase.

How does this help you?

It is essential to remember that every detail matters when it comes to conversion rate optimization. From the font size to the website speed – all these elements matter when it comes to optimizing a website for better conversion rates.

Landing page copy:

Copy sells. It is the most important element of any website. Every word on your page matters as it determines how effectively you can convince customers to buy from you. The strategically written copy helps you connect with customers, build trust and motivate them to take the desired action.

It is important to ensure that your copy is persuasive, relevant, informative, and to the point. It should communicate your value proposition effectively and ensure customers understand your offer.

A copy can be divided into two parts:

Headline and Subheadline:

The headline and subheadline should be compelling and convey the message clearly. It should grab people’s attention and make them read further.

Consider this example:

Headline:

“Discover the Best Way to Charge Your Device Anywhere, Anytime”

Sub-headline:

“PowerMy backup batteries are designed to keep you powered up on the go.”

What elements do you need to consider while writing copy?

Formatting:

Formatting is essential to make your copy look attractive and grab people’s attention. What are the elements of formatting?

• Bullet points and lists: These help your copy to be concise and organized.

• Use of white space: It helps to break up the long copy into easily digestible chunks.

• Fonts – You need to adjust fonts and font size to ensure people can read it easily on any device.

• Color psychology: Colors can have a powerful impact on your customers. You need to ensure that you use the right colors to evoke desired emotions and help people take action.

Body content:

Body content is where you explain your offer and convince people to take the desired action. It should be clear, concise, and easy to understand. It should contain relevant information and proof to establish trust.

You can use stories, customer testimonials, facts, and figures to communicate your value proposition and help customers make an informed decisions.

Writing style:

The writing style is also essential. You need to ensure that your copy is written in an engaging and conversational tone.

Follow these points:

• Rightly use active voice and short sentences
• Include power words
• Use humor and witty references
• Strike the right balance between formal and informal writing.
• Address directly to your customer
• Don’t go for flowery language

Check this screenshot from Uber:

The very simple yet powerful message conveys the value proposition of Uber effectively.

You see, users don’t want to be bombarded with too much information. They want to understand what you offer and take action quickly.

Call to action:

For a landing page, a call to action is like a cherry on the top of a cake. It should be strategically placed and visible.

It should be clear and actionable. Make sure it stands out and clearly communicates the value proposition.

Checklist for the call to action:

• Use power words

• Be specific

• Make it visible

• Add urgency and scarcity

• Insert customer reviews

• Add a sense of reward

• Give it a personal touch.

Navigation and site structure:

Navigation and site structure is essential for a website. It should be intuitive and easy to navigate. People should be able to find the right information quickly and take the desired action.

Checklist for navigation:

• Add search bar

• Add a clear menu with drop-down options

• Use breadcrumbs

• Include a site map

• Offer easy access to frequently used pages

• Make sure your site is mobile-friendly.

One example is Amazon. Amazon has billions of products, but have you ever lost while shopping? No, right? That’s the power of intuitive navigation.

Personalization

This point has to do with who your target audience is, what your business is about, what message you want to communicate, etc.

Personalization helps you tailor each customer’s experience based on their needs and preferences.

For example, you can use customer data to send automated emails with personalized content. You can also create customized landing pages and recommend products to customers based on their past purchases.

Forms

Forms are an essential part of any website. It’s a way for people to share their information and take action.

What actual theory follows, i.e., the best practices for creating effective forms?

You see, forms should be easy to fill out, secure and provide a great user experience. Here are some best practices for creating effective forms:

• Keep it short and simple; the short the better

This point is self-explanatory, but keeping forms simple and short is important. Long forms will frustrate customers, so ensure you only ask for essential information. For instance, don’t ask for a customer’s address if you don’t need it.

• Use visual cues and labels like placeholders and icons

You can use visual cues and labels to help guide customers through the form. The point is to make the form intuitive and easy to understand. It helps to reduce customer frustration and make the task at hand easier.

• Offer autocomplete options to reduce typing

One no-brainer way to make a form more user-friendly is by offering to autocomplete options. It helps customers fill out forms quickly and accurately. Many giant websites like Amazon, Walmart, and Apple already use this feature. It eases the burden of typing and reduces errors.

• Use inline validation

Inline validation is an important feature in forms. It helps validate the input fields in real time and provides feedback on whether it was entered correctly. This will help customers fill out the form with ease and confidence.

• Provide clear error messages like checkboxes and radio buttons

You should also provide clear error messages when customers make a mistake. This can include highlighting the wrong field, providing suggestions to fix errors, and even providing checkboxes and radio buttons to make sure the customer entered the information correctly. For instance, if the customer entered an invalid email address, then you can provide a checkbox to verify they have typed it correctly.

• Allow customers to save their progress

Sometimes customers will need to take a break from filling out the form. You can allow them to save their progress so they don’t have to start all over again. This will simplify customers’ lives and provide a better user experience overall.

• Give customers a chance to review their submission before finalizing it

You should also allow customers to review their submissions before finalizing it. This will help them identify any mistakes they might have made and give them a chance to fix them before submitting the form. This will also save you time and resources, as you won’t need to review the same forms multiple times.

• Include a “Submit” button at the end

A “Submit” button should always be included at the end of a form. This will make it clear that customers have completed their tasks and that the form is ready to be sent. This also helps ensure that customers don’t leave fields blank or enter incorrect information.

Speed Optimization

Speed optimization is key to providing a good user experience. Many websites are slow, and customers often get frustrated while waiting for them to load. You see, speed optimization reduces the time it takes for a website to load and ultimately leads to increased conversions.

What causes slow page speed? Well, usually, it’s the size of your website files, such as images and videos. For instance, reducing image sizes can help to improve page loading speed significantly.

There are a few things you can do to speed up your website, such as:

• Minimize HTTP requests to reduce loading time: HTTP requests are the requests the browser makes to access files from a website. Reducing the number of requests will reduce the total time it takes for a page to load.

• Optimize images, scripts, and stylesheets to reduce the file size: Images and other large files can take a while to download, which is why you should optimize all of these items.
• Enable browser caching to store frequently accessed files: A browser cache stores frequently accessed files so they can be reused without downloading them. This significantly reduces page loading time and makes your website faster.
• Use a content delivery network (CDN): A CDN can reduce your website’s loading time by storing files on multiple servers located around the world.

You can use Pingdom or GTmetrix to test the speed of your website. These services provide detailed information on what needs to be improved.

Check this screenshot for an example of an optimization report from Pingdom.

So, optimizing your website’s speed is essential and should be part of every CRO campaign.

You see, speed optimization is important for providing a good user experience. Customers want to access your website quickly and easily, and if it’s slow, they’ll likely click away and find another site.

This next section is a must for you if you are a complete beginner because here, we will learn how to calculate your current conversion rate. We have included every formula that is necessary during the calculation so that you can understand every step of it.

How to Calculate Conversion Rate?

Traffic is coming, and some of them are buying from you, but how do you track this? How would you know if the traffic is converting or not?

You need to track conversion rates across different channels, such as organic search, direct visits, email campaigns, etc. The conversion rate is calculated by dividing the number of conversions by the total number of visitors. Knowing how to calculate CRO can help you measure the progress of any changes or improvements you make on your website.

Measuring the conversion rate of your online store requires you to know two pieces of information:

• How many visitors come to your website

• How many of those visitors buy something from you

You can get this information from your Google Analytics account. Once you have this data, calculating your conversion rate is a simple matter of division.

Common conversion rate formulas to calculate your conversion rate:

The basic formula for calculating the conversion rate is as follows:

Conversion Rate = (Total Conversions/ Total Visitors) x 100

For example, if you had 200 visitors and 10 of them made a purchase, your conversion rate would be 5%.

Landing page conversion rate formula:

Total Conversions / Total page Visits * 100

For example, if you have 1,000 page visits and 10 conversions on a landing page, the conversion rate would be 1%.

1000/10*100 = 1%

Understanding your current conversion rates at each customer journey stage is important before you start with CRO. This will help you measure the impact of your CRO efforts and understand where to focus your energy first.

Targeted customer group conversion rate formula:

Total Conversions / Total Visits from Targeted Group *100

For example, if you target a specific customer segment and have 500 visits from that group, with 10 conversions resulting from those visits. The conversion rate would be 2%.

10/500*100 = 2%

Now, why check for specific customer segment conversion rates? It is important to understand the behavior of specific customer segments so that you can create targeted campaigns and focus on areas where conversions are low.

It is clear that the more data you can collect on your customers and website visitors, the better chance you have of running an effective CRO campaign.

Marketing channel conversion rate formula:

To determine this conversion rate, divide your website’s total conversions from each marketing channel by the number of visitors who arrived via those channels.

Marketing Channel Conversions / Total Visits from Marketing Channel *100

For example, if you attract 1,000 visitors through Google Ads and get 5 conversions from them, the conversion rate would be 0.5%

5/1000*100 = 0.5%

This formula will help you identify which marketing channels provide the highest conversion rates and where you should focus your efforts.

In short, conversion rate optimization is about understanding what works and what doesn’t. This involves testing different versions of your site to see which one works best. With the help of A/B testing, you can make informed decisions about which elements on your site to keep, remove or modify.

You can use the ROI calculator by ConversionWise to get an idea of how much revenue you can generate with a certain conversion rate.

Check this screenshot:

Do you see? How can just 3.5% additional sales bring in $87,000 to your bottom line?

You would be increasing your conversion rate. But how would you know what is a good Shopify conversion rate? What is the average Shopify store conversion rate? How to improve Shopify conversion rate or for other e-commerce platforms?

Now, let’s move to the next and very relevant section of this guide.

What is the average Shopify Store Conversion Rate?

Doesn’t matter if you are or not from Shopify; you want to know what is a good average store conversion rate. You can apply it to any eCommerce platform.

This is tricky since the answer depends on many factors and variables. But according to the latest surveys, the average e-commerce conversion rate for e-commerce sites is 2.86%. So this means that a 3.5% conversion rate can be considered excellent.

If you are a new store owner who hasn’t yet implemented any CRO strategies, you should aim to reach above 1%. If your store converts less than 1%, you have issues with user experience and your site’s optimization. You would need to work with a conversion rate optimization manager to understand what are the issues and how you can fix them.

Now, let’s move on to the main topic – Conversion Optimization. You might have noticed that your website isn’t converting as well as you would like it to, or there is room for improvement – this is where Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) for e-commerce comes into play.

What is the Average Conversion Rate Accros Industries?

Conversion rates vary across industries, and there is no one-size-fits-all answer. It will vary based on your target market, industry, your country, your product/service, and so much more.

Studies show average CRO rate for e-commerce sites in the food and beverage niche stands at 5.5%, while retail products have an average of 3.95%. Other industries, such as automotive, technology, and entertainment, ranging from 1.25% to 6.75

According to these stats, 1.7% is the average conversion rate for all industries. As you can see, the average conversion rate is lower for some industries and higher for others. For example, the average conversion rate for software is 4%, compared to the average conversion rate for e-commerce, of 2.86%.

Studies show 22% of businesses are satisfied with their conversion rates; however, over 50% are not. So to improve your business’s website performance, it’s important to understand your website’s current conversion rate and where it can be improved.

Suppose you are from any of the industries mentioned in the study and are not getting average, underperforming, or falling behind your competitors. In that case, it’s time for you to start thinking about Conversion Rate Optimization.

The first step is to get a detailed site audit to see what elements of your website can be improved. You need to look for any friction points that might create roadblocks in the user journey and how to remove them.

You can get your audit done by experts from ConversionWise. We have a team of experienced CRO professionals who can provide you with detailed insights into your website and how to optimize it for better conversion rates. 

This way, you will understand how you can improve your website’s performance and get the average (or better) conversion rate for your industry.

So, ideally, what is a good conversion rate? What should you aim for?

This is a difficult question to answer as it depends on what your goals are and how much effort you put into CRO.

But I would say you should always strive to beat the average industry conversion rate. For example, if the average conversion rate of your niche is 4%, then you should aim for 5%.

But generally speaking, the higher the conversion rate, the better it is for your business. Anything above 10% is considered great, 5-10% is good, and anything below that needs to be improved.

Now, let’s move on to the next section and answer what factors contribute to a successful conversion rate optimization strategy.

Where do CRO Strategies Apply?

Each page on your e-commerce store/site is an opportunity for a conversion rate optimization strategy.

For example, if you’re selling a product, then your product page is the most important page on your site. This is because it’s the page that will directly influence whether a customer buys the product or not.

If you’re running a blog, then your blog page is the most important page. You should focus on optimizing it for search engine optimization (SEO) and making sure the content is relevant and engaging.

If you’re running a lead generation page, then you should focus on optimizing it for conversions. Make sure the form is clear and easy to fill out and that the call-to-action (CTA) is clear and compelling.

Now, what factors affect the conversion rate on any of these pages? What can you do to ensure that your conversion optimization efforts are effective?

But another main question that needs to be answered is – How do I get started with my conversion rate optimization strategy?

The answer is simple – you need to hire a CRO specialist or, better, learn it yourself. You can learn CRO from those who have mastered the art of conversion rate optimization.

A CRO specialist will help you identify where to focus your efforts and provide recommendations on optimizing your website. They can also help you understand your target audience, create compelling campaigns and track results to measure success.

How to Get Started with Conversion Rate Optimization?

This section is all about taking action. CRO is not a one-time task. It requires ongoing effort, testing and optimization to reach maximum success.

You see, testing is the most important part of CRO. Most people start testing random metrics, pages and ideas without knowing the real problem they are trying to solve.

That’s why having data-driven approach to CRO is essential. You need to start by collecting relevant data, analyzing it and then coming up with hypothesis that you can test to increase conversion rates.

See, minor changes can increase your CRO by a slight percentage, but if a data to back, you can be sure that it will produce better results.

That’s said, following are the steps you need to take to get started with conversion rate optimization:

Your goals and internal resources:

The first step is to define your goals and map out the process. You need to identify what you want to achieve with CRO – whether it is to increase sales, improve user experience or something else.

CRO campaigns can be time-consuming, so it is essential to have the right resources in place to ensure that the process runs smoothly.

Let’s say you are an ecommerce business; setting a goal of 7% to 8% is very reasonable. This can be achieved with the help of CRO and testing.

For businesses in Saas and other service-based industries, the goal could be 10% or higher. The point is when setting a goal, make sure it is achievable and takes into account the industry standard.

Google Analytics:

If you have been running your website for some time, then you must have Google Analytics set up and running.

Google Analytics is a great tool for tracking user behavior, setting goals, and more. It gives you valuable insights into how visitors interact with your website and what actions they take.

If your pages aren’t converting, it’s time to see where your conversions are dropping off and start optimizing. Google Analytics can help you discover what pages need optimization, target a specific audience, and more.

Following are some of the questions you can answer with the help of Google Analytics:

• How many visitors are coming to my website?

• What pages are they visiting?

• What is the bounce rate?

• How long do visitors stay on my website?

• What actions are they taking?

Let’s say one of the pages on your site is getting better traffic but has a low conversion rate. You can use Google Analytics to understand why visitors are leaving the page and what changes need to be made to increase the conversion rate.

Most e-commerce sites get more traffic from mobile devices (though the desktops have better conversion rates); you can see why desktops have higher conversions and make necessary changes to the mobile version of your website.

Check your Google analytics to see where most of the target audience comes from. If more traffic is from mobile devices, the question to ask is why the desktop version isn’t converting.

• Are there any technical issues that need fixing?
• Is the content not easily readable on mobile devices?
• Do your  CTA buttons look too small on mobiles?

Answering such questions and understanding the data will help you find areas to optimize your website.

Find Quantitative Data:

Data is the key. We started this section with a data-driven approach, and now we will explain it in further detail.

Analyzing quantitative data is the best way to understand your website’s performance. In case you don’t know what quantitative data is, it’s simply numerical data that can help you understand user behaviors and trends.

For example, bounce rate is quantitative data that gives information about how many people left your website without taking any action.

“Average session duration” is another example; it gives you the average time a visitor spent on your website.

How does quantitative data help?

Once you have identified the quantitative data, finding out which areas need optimization and what should be done to improve it will be easier.

For example, if you own a  blog with a low average session duration, it also raises more questions.

• What’s causing visitors to leave the website so quickly?
• Are they not finding what they are looking for?
• Are the blog posts not engaging enough?
• Is the loading time too slow?

Answering such questions and understanding the data will help you optimize the blog posts and increase the average session duration.

Quantitative data is a beauty, and understanding it can help you make better decisions and take optimized actions to improve the conversion rate.

Get Qualitative Data:

Quantitative data might help you understand the trends and patterns, but it cannot show you what people think and feel.

In easy words, quantitative data can give you the “what” but not the “why.”

Let’s say your blog posts are receiving a lot of traffic, and the average session duration is high, but the conversion rate is still low. How do you find out why it’s happening?

Qualitative data is what you need. It can help you understand why people are not converting and what needs to be done for them to take action.

Following are some of the methods to get qualitative data:

• Conduct polls and surveys
• Talk to customers via email or phone
• Take feedback from customers
• Analyze customer reviews
• Consider focus groups or one-on-one interviews

So, there are millions of things that you can do to get qualitative data. However, the main goal here is to understand why people are not taking action on your website and what needs to be done for them to become your customers.

There could be more ways to get this data, but the thing is to ask the right questions.

What kind of questions can you ask?

Let’s say you are a marketing agency, and you want to know why your clients are not converting.

You can ask the following questions:

• What elements of our service have you found useful?
• What would make the experience better for you?
• What are your biggest pain points?
• Do you feel supported by our team?
• What can we do to make the service better for you?

When you have the answers, it’s time to analyze them and figure out what needs to be done in order to improve the conversion rate.

Who needs to learn about Conversion Rate Optimization?

Any business that has an online presence should make sure they are optimizing their website for conversions. This is especially true for businesses that rely heavily on online sales or traffic.

But the following are the key people who should learn about Conversion Rate Optimization:

1) Digital marketers

Digital marketers should learn about CRO because it helps them optimize their campaigns and generate better results. Normally, they have clients who rely on them to create successful campaigns, and CRO will help ensure that they do so. Learning CRO would) Web developers

Web developers should also learn about CRO because it can help them understand how to create better websites that are optimized for conversions.

2) Web developers and designers

Web developers and designers play a crucial role in conversion rate optimization. This is because they are responsible for creating the website and its design. If they understand CRO, they can create websites that are optimized for conversions.

3) Businesses of all sizes

No matter your business type, learning about CRO is important. If you have an e-commerce store, you need to optimize your website for conversions. If you’re a small business, you need to generate leads and sales through your website.

Having a social media presence is a plus, but it is not serving its purpose if customers are not converting while they are on your website.

But if you have implemented all the essential CRO elements that we teach on ConversionWise, you can rest assured that your website will be optimized for conversions.

4) People who want to pursue a career in CRO,

CRO is a great field for anyone wanting to start their own business or pursue a career. You can use the knowledge and skills you learn about conversion rate optimization to help businesses achieve success with their website or campaigns. Agencies, marketers, and other businesses always seek professionals specializing in conversion rate optimization.

What Industries are conversion rate optimization useful for?

Everything on the internet that’s trying to persuade people to take action can benefit from conversion rate optimization.

No matter the niche or website size — anyone, from solopreneurs to big organizations, can benefit from CRO. If you have a website, have a landing page, or use any of these tactics to get people to take action, then conversion rate optimization is a must.

This includes e-commerce websites, blogs, Saas companies, software companies, B2B companies, and pretty much any other website or web application.

Here are some fascinating case studies showing just how influential conversion rate optimization is for businesses.

CRO for Agencies

A success story for Rod Bland

Rod Bland is a CRO company that helps businesses increase their website conversion rate. When they reached ConversionWise, their website was converting at the rate of 2.1 % for their customers. 2.1% for an e-commerce conversion rate optimization agency is pretty low. People won’t pay to optimize a website when the company itself doesn’t convert at least 5% of its visitors. co

Rod Bland decided to give ConversionWise a try. We implemented our CRO strategies, worked on the above-the-fold area, critically analyzed every element on the website, rearranged them, made killer CTAs, and utilized color psychology, and the results were astonishing.

You see, understanding the psychology of human behavior is the key to success in CRO. The website now has a 5.2% conversion rate, which has enabled it to acquire more customers with an increase in revenue.

We made sure that our changes were made keeping the company’s brand in mind, and Rod Bland was able to see a positive ROI from their CRO investment.

CRO campaign for Rod bland continued to grow after this, and they were able to scale their business successfully.

“ROAS went from 2.1 to an average of 5.2 and still holding steady.” -Rod Bland, CRO Company

You are seeing a jump from 2.1% to 5.2%, but the company is seeing a 147%  increase in the return on ad spend. That is a positive ROI and why conversion rate optimization is important for businesses.

CRO for Beauty Products

PuraU is a beauty product line that was having trouble with their website’s conversion rate. They are an authentic, completely natural beauty product line, and they make it their mission to be approachable and friendly.

But they failed to see the same results on their website. They reached ConversionWise, and we decided to use our conversion rate optimization strategies to help them increase their website’s conversion rate.

We redesigned their landing page, added persuasive content, implemented color psychology in the design, and made sure there is some missing social proof, trust indicators, and other elements to make their website user-friendly.

The results were positive as the conversion rate increased significantly. We helped them increase their website’s conversion rate from 2% to 7%.

It took us a couple of months to split test, test, and measure different variations before we could get the desired result. The website now looks much more professional and eye-catching.

The new design also helped PuraU build trust with their customers, as it was now easier for them to understand what the company is offering and how they could benefit from it.

What this means for PuraU is that they are now able to acquire more customers at a

The original website was not resonating with their target audience.

To start, we looked at the customer journey and identified areas where users could get stuck or confused. Then, we implemented changes to make it easier for customers to find the information they need.

“Boosted our conversion rate from 2% to 7%. I can’t believe how these changes made such a difference.” -Reever Botha, CEO of PuraU

You can see our detailed Youtube case study here, where we explain how PuraU was able to generate additional $60,000+ revenue after they implemented our CRO strategies.

CRO for Food Delivery Company

BeerMonster is a platform that sells beers from top beer brands and delivers them to customers at their doorstep.

The website was not converting well. They had tried creating product pages, but the website had no real engagement. They had also tried boosting their organic traffic, but it wasn’t working out as well.

Users landed on the website but weren’t making any orders. This meant something was missing from their website, and they needed to optimize it for conversions.

They approached Conversionwise, and after analyzing the website, we identified areas that could be improved.

The overall flow, the layout, the user interface, and other elements needed to be revised. We restructured their pages, added persuasive content, implemented trust indicators, and ensured the website was concise.

We then ran an A/B test for a week, and the results were amazing. Eventually, we finalized the design, and the whole website was optimized for conversion.

The result? BeerMonster saw a boost in its conversion rate. Hear it from the words of Joe Williams, CEO of BeerMonster:

“ConversionWise’s latest pages have completely out converted all previous pages we’ve built. Wow!”

With CRO, BeerMonster was able to increase their conversion rate by 301%!

CRO for B2C company

Helmet Flair is a B2C company that sells helmets for various outdoor activities. They launched in January 2022 and were looking to increase the number of customers they had on their website.

With everything they did their website wasn’t converting well with everything they did, and they needed help. The .5%  conversion rate they were getting was not enough.

They utilized paid media to bring traffic to their website but eventually realized they needed to do more to increase their conversion rate.

When ConversionWise first analyzed their website, we noticed that it lacked design, user experience, and other important elements. The above-the-fold section was also not optimized.

We made several changes to the website, starting with revamping the design. We optimized their pages and implemented persuasive content, trust indicators, and other elements. We modified font size, color, and other details to make sure the website was visually appealing.

We also ran A/B tests to measure different variations before we could finalize the design.

The result? Helmet Flair saw a boost they were not expecting with just a few changes.

“The average conversion rate for helmetflair.com since we launched in January has been .5%. Since making the recommended changes (we have only gone through a third of the content), our conversion rate has risen to 2.3%.”

You see it as a 2.3% conversion rate jump, but we see it as more than a 300% increase. This is yet another example of how CRO can be used to convert more customers and increase revenue.

No matter the niche, the business, the running ads, or the website design, CRO can be used to ensure customers get the best experience possible.

When implemented correctly, it can greatly impact your revenue and customer base.  So, if you want to grow your business, don’t spend money on ads; invest in CRO.  It’s the best way to make sure that you are getting the most out of every customer.

Now It’s Your Turn to get started with CRO

This detailed but beginner-friendly guide was designed to help you get started with CRO. You see, CRO is not easy; it requires a lot of analysis, testing, and optimization before you can get the desired results.

So, let me know what helped you the most in this guide. What are you taking home, what will you implement, and how can it help you increase your conversion rate?

We would love to hear from you. And if you need help with CRO, don’t hesitate to reach out; we are happy to assist you on your journey. Our ecommerce conversion optimization services have been helping hundreds of businesses across industries. 

We have been on this journey since 2012 and have made a name for ourselves in the CRO world. With our experience with lead generation companies, Saas businesses, e-commerce stores, and B2C companies, we are sure to get you the best results quickly.

Let us know how we can help you get the most out of your customers. We look forward to helping you teach how to increase conversion rate on your site and boost revenue!

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