Conversion Rate Optimization down the customer path

Conversion rate optimization is not what they used to be as compared to recent times. You wouldn’t get away with an optimum result, having implemented a poor UX.

Using Malaysia as a case study, we studied how users react with various elements of a website and how to go about increasing your conversion rates using customer psychology. The psychological approach is rooted in verifiable hypothesis that works many times, it gives you a good idea of where to start with your optimization testing.

Companies are starting to go big on CRO because most industries are flooded with similar business models that customers are now comparing by default. Many customers are on the lookout for quality and competence.

There are various CTA’s that can be implemented or tweaked using a physiological approach. They might sound counterintuitive, but they work. Some of them include:

Actively accepting or rejecting your CTA’s

The key in CRO is to carry the customer along and motivate them to take actions to overcome whatever reasons that’s stopping them from converting. The main word here is “action,” and you need them to either accept or reject your call to actions and not just overlook them.

Imagine vendors handing out the free red bull in front of your office building, and you think its an excellent idea. But you are not overly attracted to get one, and you plan to walk past. But then, the vendor calls out directly to you, “Hey sir, do you want a free red bull?”. 

Now you have to accept or reject the vendor diligently. 

First of all, you didn’t have it in mind to reject him at first. You didn’t just want to go the extra mile to get it. Now it’s right in front of you, so you take it and get the walk on.

 After the customer is engaged, you need to force them to either accept or reject (rejecting, of course, would come with an explicit consequence. which would induce the fear of losing out).

Creating a factual progress

Being too invasive with customers’ acquisition without letting them immerse themselves into your system might just easily repel them to your competitors. One of the best ways to maximize the conversion of users is by “gradual engagement.”

Normal practice would be to ask users to register before having to use web services. In contrast, A better implementation would be to allow users to interact first with the web services and validate your value proposition to an extent, before moving forward to registration.

For example, You are giving users a chance to browse through your service listings before they can register to book a service. Let’s take two users, A and B. User A has browsed through your web application before registering for it, and user B registers before using your app. User B has a lower chance of conversion as compared to user A because user A goals are aligned with what your web services have to offer and thus why the user chose to register, while user B’s goal alignment with your product is under probability.

Essentially, users should be allowed to make actual progress with your service before they get to the signup stage.

Two Step opt In

Contrary to what’s out there, where every step to user acquisition should be as simple as possible. That shouldn’t be the case always. Hear me out.

For example, a customer who visits your website and gets a one-step to opt-in popup (Enter emails here to get promo codes, updates, and so on) for subscribing to your newsletter might not take the bait and subscribe. On the other hand, if a two-step opt-in popup was used instead. The customer is first shown a less invasive popup as the first step, which requires them to provide a less personal detail (Tell us your favorite beauty brand).

They would be more likely compelled to input an answer (Probably out of curiosity) to find out what’s next. Once they have answered and are presented with a text box to input their email to subscribe and get tips and tricks about using their favorite brands(second step of the popup), they would have made an input and wouldn’t want to stop there, because cognitive dissonance kicks in and also humans are result driven( they clicked the first popup to achieve a goal). So they would end up subscribing for your newsletter.

Note that the example above makes it slightly harder for the user, as it now requires two steps for the subscription. But it helps you narrow down on your marketing qualified leads and also offers your users more substantial value.

In conclusion, Testing is still vital, but you don’t just go around Testing based on an assumption. This is merely a guide based on grounded hypothesis, that should serve as your foundation to data-driven conversion rate optimization.

The whole notion of customers is dynamic and not static, so all user acquisition and improving conversion rate needs to be proactive. It seems a small nuance, but when you extrapolate your customer base – it’s like an Amoeba that’s changing shape and color without it even knowing it’s changing shape or color.