Big data has played a very important role in conversion rate optimization. Smart marketers recognize that they need the latest big data tools to entice customers to make purchases.
Audrey Throne, an author with Big Data Analytics News, has shared some details about the benefits of big data in conversion rate optimization. She stated that there are seven ways it will impact ecommerce models.
However, big data only helps with conversion rate optimization if it is used properly. The following guidelines can help.
Taking Big Data Approaches to CRO
A lot of companies have started to use big data to improve their marketing campaigns and make better and more informed decisions. Marketing isn’t about subjective opinions anymore; it should be based on facts and data that a company collects from its customers.
Coca-Cola, Netlix and many other companies have discovered the wonders of using big data to boost their conversion rates. Smaller brands can benefit as well.
One of the most important data-driven processes in marketing is CRO or conversion rate optimization. This is the practice of updating your website to increase conversions. Here are 3 easy steps to create a successful CRO campaign that even a conversion rate optimization agency in London won’t tell you about:
1. Use heat maps
The first thing you need in order to have a successful conversion rate optimization campaign is to have some data. The best data you could get on your site is click data – where the users are clicking, what elements of the site are they actually looking at, and which top menu items are the most popular.
To get this data you need to use heat maps. Heat maps show you exactly what your users are doing on your site. You can create a heat map using any tool available online and they are mostly really cheap. Then you gather data of 1,000 users for example and see the trends.
If there are elements on your site that aren’t clicked on ever then consider removing them or re-designing them. If there are certain menu items that are the most popular, consider placing them in the beginning of the menu. Data from heat maps is super useful and will serve you well.
2. Use e-commerce reporting on Google Analytics
Next, you need to set up e-commerce reporting on Google Analytics. You need to program each step of your checkout process by letting Google know the URL of each step. For example, if your product pages all have “/product/” in the URL then that would be one of the steps on the checkout process.
Based on your e-commerce data you could see some which step of the process do most users get stuck on and then you could optimize and improve that particular step. If you have a lot of users that are abandoning their carts then you could design some exit popups and offer a discount. If a lot of users go to the product page and then leave your site, then you should look at your pages and see what you could improve on. This is where you would combine the heat map and the e-commerce data together to make even better decisions.
3. Look at your funnel
This is the last step in the setup of your CRO project. Using your heat map and e-commerce data you can now see which steps your users get stuck on. Now look at your sales funnel as a whole and see what ideas you could come up with. This is something that any conversion rate optimization agency in London would look at for you.
Are you missing a lot of optimizations on your landing pages? On your home page or product pages? If you have a lot of work to do there then that’s where you should start.
On the other hand, if those pages are already optimized you should move on to the checkout process and optimize that.
Big Data is Crucial for CRO
Now that you know how to set up your campaign and get your data it’s time to go out there and try some tweaks to your website. For each part of your funnel, there are hundreds of articles with helpful tips and strategies about how to optimize and what to optimize. So, go out and optimize! You will surely see your revenue and conversions increase once you implement some of these.
