The marketing focus has been shifting for quite a while from quantity to quality. With the right budget, every marketer can ensure that a website gets many visitors via paid or earned media.
ShotgunA shotgun approach tends to meet the business goals. But at unnecessarily high costs! By increasing the conversion ratio (CR) (and the quality thereof) you will make it possible to get better results at lower costs, and with more efficient use of resources.
Conversion optimizationResearch has shown that 48% of marketers do not perform conversion optimization. The reasons for this are diverse, but it ultimately comes down to the fact that at least 60% of marketers do not see improving the conversion ratio as a priority. Or they do not conduct optimization conscientiously.
ExampleAs a marketer, or marketing department, in the Netherlands, your goal is to sign up as many subscriptions as possible for a certain white paper. This white paper is already being offered on the international English-language version of your company’s website. To get a rapid start in signing up subscriptions you have all of the different Dutch banners on the various Dutch channels linked to the English-language website, where people can subscribe to receive the white paper. The cost of setting up these channels is approximately € 1,000.00 per month and it leads to 150 clicks/visitors on the English-language website per week. Many marketers reading this are already shaking their head.
Without conversion optimization
 With conversion optimization
Every week you achieve approximately 15 subscriptions to the white paper. A conversion ratio of 10%.

 After 1 week only 10% convert. For week 2 you set up a Dutch subscription page, which brings the conversion ratio for week 2 to 20%.
Then, in week 3 you start A/B testing with the length and content of the subscription page. At the end of this week you discover that a short bulleted version of the page leads to 30% conversion.

During the 4 weeks, the following conversion ratios have been obtained:
Week 1 – 10% 15
Week 2 – 20% 30
Week 3 – 25% 37
Week 4 – 30% 45
Cost per subscription:
€ 16.66
 Cost per subscription: € 7.87
By deliberately performing conversion optimization you, as a marketer or marketing department, will obtain considerably better business results that will benefit the entire organization.
Though conversion optimization can have disadvantages, in my opinion, these do not outweigh the advantages.
What to doTo conduct a conversion optimization, you first need to have a complete understanding of the current situation. A regular analysis of what the channels produce is also necessary.
For example, it could well be the case that the campaign is analyzed every two days. After four days it is decided to improve the campaign rigorously. At a later stage, A/B tests are conducted again to get even more out of the current campaign. All of these steps require resources, and sometimes many of these resources are not planned beforehand.
ChannelsThe example shows primarily a greater attempt at improving the results of one’s own website. However, it could of course be the case that for the white paper banner is displayed in the wrong places. If it appears that a lot of traffic is steered to the website from a certain channel that is not converting, it may be wise to optimize the messaging in the banner to set the right expectation or possibly to stop the campaign entirely in that channel. If it is decided to stop using a non-producing channel, this will directly lead to an improvement of the conversion rate.
A/B testingIn the example, A/B testing is mentioned in order to establish which landing page (the page to which visitors of the various channels are led) works best. Two versions of the landing page are made (if more versions are made it becomes a A/B/N test) and careful monitoring is done to see which of the two results show better conversion ratios.
ATTENTION: the following description is not a correct test method, but in the below-described manner anyone can immediately start conversion optimization.
Any marketer, regardless of the platform that is used, can basically start with the following. During the first week you let a landing page receive visitors and at the end of the week you look at the conversion ratio expressed as a percentage. Next you update the page rigorously, add another image and you make the page a lot shorter with a clearer call to action (CTA). After a week you look at the conversion ratio again. Then you use the version that produces best, leaving it as is, for the rest of the campaign.
To set this up properly as an A/B test, it is necessary for the two versions to be shown randomly to visitors and then after a period both versions are shown with equal frequency. In this way any variables, such as the weather for instance, are excluded. Some platforms allow this more easily than others.
ConclusionAnalysis is the most important action for making conversion optimization possible. Without insight you cannot make improvements. It is completely situation-dependent where conversion optimization can be done. Start with the low-hanging fruit by initiating the first improvements in the short term and then take it step by step. Whether this is done via A/B testing, Real Time personalization or (even) retargeting, depends on every situation and organization