What is Conversion Design? Conversion Design vs. Traditional CRO

Ecommerce dominates the retail world, and it’s not hard to see why. The ease of shopping online has led to a boom in the industry, with more and more people choosing to shop online instead of in brick-and-mortar stores.

According to the latest stats, 18% of retail sales worldwide are now generated online. This number is only going to grow as more and more people become comfortable with shopping online.

Landing pages, eCommerce stores, and product pages are critical to the success of any online business. These are the pages that users will visit when they’re interested in your product or service.

This is where conversion design comes in – a term that 90% of businesses often mistake with web design and have a vague idea about. The rest of the 10% of businesses know about it, implement it, and as a result, they get 2-5 times higher conversion rates from day one.

Let’s explore what it really is, how it works, what benefits it can bring to your online business, and how you can start implementing it today.

What is Conversion Design?

Conversion design is the systematic use of design principles, techniques, and persuasion principles that have been scientifically proven to increase the percentage of visitors to a website who take the desired action on that site.

In other words, it’s the process of designing your website to encourage visitors to take the actions you want them to take – whether that’s making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, downloading a white paper, or anything else.

The most important thing to understand about conversion design is that it’s not about pretty pictures or flashy graphics – although those things can certainly help. Instead, it’s about using proven design principles based on human psychology to guide visitors toward taking the actions you want them to take.

Is Conversion Rate Optimization and Conversion Design the Same Thing?

Many businesses, in fact, 90% of the businesses referred to above, often mistake conversion rate optimization (CRO) with conversion design. They are NOT the same thing.

Let’s clear things up.

What is Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)?

Conversion rate optimization is the process of increasing the percentage of visitors to a website who take the desired action on that site. CRO is a traditional data-driven approach that uses analytics and user testing to identify areas of improvement on a website and then makes changes to the site based on those findings.

CRO is reactive – it looks at what’s already happening on a website and tries to optimize it. You can think of it as a “fix-it” approach to conversion.

What is Conversion Design?

Now, let’s take a look at conversion design. As we mentioned earlier, conversion design uses proven design principles based on human psychology to guide visitors towards taking the actions you want them to take. In contrast to CRO, this proactive approach starts with designing the user experience before a website is even built.

It seeks to design a website from the ground up with conversion in mind. You can think of it as a “build-it” approach to conversion.

Conversion design is about using proven design principles to create a conversion-friendly website from the start. This proactive approach can save you a lot of time and money in the long run, as you won’t have to constantly be making changes to your website based on data findings.

Conversion design is a relatively new field, and it’s becoming more and more popular as businesses realize the benefits it can bring. In fact, some of the biggest brands in the world are already using conversion design to increase their conversion rates because they’ve realized that it’s the most effective way to increase online sales.

Following are the points to differentiate the two further:

1. CRO is all about testing and making changes to an existing website, while conversion design is about designing a website from the ground up with conversion in mind.

2. CRO is a reactive approach that looks at what’s already happening on a website and tries to optimize it, while conversion design is a proactive approach that starts with designing the user experience before a website is even built.

3. CRO focuses on increasing the percentage of visitors to a website who take the desired action; in contrast, conversion design focuses on using proven design principles to create a conversion-friendly website from the start.

4. CRO is a traditional data-driven approach, while conversion design is a relatively new field that is becoming more and more popular.

5. CRO can be a time-consuming and expensive process, while conversion design can save you time and money in the long run.

6. CRO requires investment,  but the return on investment (ROI) can be hard to measure, while conversion design has a clear ROI that can be measured from the start without spending any extra money.

7. CRO is all about making changes to an existing website, while conversion design is about using already tried and tested design principles to create a website from scratch. So, it’s up to you to decide which approach is right for your business. If you have the time and budget to invest in CRO, then go for it. But if you want to save time and money, see a clear ROI from the start, and create a website that is conversion-friendly from the very beginning, then conversion design is the way to go.

What Picture does Conversion Design Creates?

Now that we’ve clarified the difference between CRO and conversion design, let’s look at what a conversion-friendly website looks like.

A good conversion design creates a picture in the visitor’s mind of what they need to do next, how they can do it, and why they should do it.

Following are the pictures:

1. A picture of looking for the solution in your product: Conversion design’s first step is to grab the attention of your target audience and ensure that they stay on your website long enough to see what you have to offer.

2. A picture of wanting the solution now: The next step is to create a sense of urgency and show the visitor that your product is the solution to their problem. They should feel like they need your product/service now, and conversion design ensures they understand why.

3. A picture of wanting a solution only from you: The third step is to build trust and show the visitor that you are the best company to provide the solution to their problem. This is done by highlighting your unique selling points, customer testimonials, awards, etc.

So, these are the three main pictures that a conversion-friendly website should create in the visitor’s mind. And remember, the goal of conversion design is not just to increase the number of visitors to your website but to increase the number of visitors who take the desired action.

Conclusion

Conversion design is a relatively new field for businesses. Still, it’s quickly gaining popularity as more and more businesses realize the importance of having a website designed for conversion from the start. If you’re looking to save time and money, want to see a clear ROI from the start, and want to create a conversion-friendly website, then conversion design is the way to go.

Do you want to learn more about conversion design? Check out our blog for more articles on this topic. Or, click here to join Conversion Rate Academy and get access to our conversion rate optimization classes where you can learn from the experts.