CRO: data-driven optimization
Marketing is another area in which data are playing an increasingly important role, taking you from content based on gut feeling to campaigns composed and rolled out on the basis of data. Now that customers are being bombarded with ever more information, it’s especially important to be sure that the marketing campaigns you set up will hit the mark.
That’s what CRO, conversion rate optimization, is all about, but if you use data-driven marketing, it can optimize your conversion rate even further. In this article we tell you how to do this.
What is CRO?
First, though, let’s take a step back: what is CRO again? It stands for conversion rate optimization. In concrete terms, it means getting a better return from potential customers by adapting your website and/or your webshop to them. Data from sources such as Sitecore and Google Analytics offer valuable insights into the points at which customers leave your website; you can then adjust your content so that rather than leaving they end up contacting you. CRO is thus an important field in digital marketing and sales.
Tips for a good CRO strategy with data-driven marketing
Converting a prospect into a lead or customer is obviously far easier when you know exactly who the person is. With data-driven marketing you can target, interest and entice specific customers or potential customers to visit your website or webshop (and more …). We have a number of tips to help you make even better use of data-driven marketing to further optimize your conversion rate.
Look beyond basic A/B testing
Conversion rate optimization goes beyond running a simple A/B test to see which button or header works better. If you want to increase your CRO with data-driven marketing, you need to do more than A/B testing, which only tells you which of two variants works better, not what the best options are. By also looking at analytics, for example, you can collect more customer data, which you can then use to optimize your data-driven marketing.
CRO: opt for personalization!
Collecting customer data via cookies is becoming increasingly restricted, but that doesn’t mean that as an organization you can’t collect customer data. Using click and profile behavior, a genuine profile can still be put together with the help of providers such as Sitecore. But that’s not all: you’re already sitting on top of a mountain of data!
Think about it: you set up email campaigns, monitor your website visitors, have purchase histories and push content through your social media channels. These channels alone provide you with various personalization options for your data-driven marketing, such as remarketing methods based on previous website visits.
In addition, like anybody, your customer will be asking the question: ‘What’s in it for me?’ Are you able to show your customers interesting, personalized offers based on the customer data they have provided? If so, they’ll be much more willing to share customer data with you (as customer loyalty cards demonstrate) – data you can use to further personalize your data-driven marketing and further optimize your CRO strategy.
But there’s no such thing as a free lunch: you need a well thought-out concept to entice your customer. And that requires creativity!
Analyze the entire customer journey
No matter how simple the process, there is no single customer journey. If you’ve opted for conversion rate optimization using data-driven marketing, you’ll need to bear this in mind.
Create a customer journey map to identify how various types of customers (personas) come to you and how, via various intermediate steps, they either go ahead and make a purchase or decide to look elsewhere. You also need to analyze all these steps separately (or get an expert from Macaw to do it for you).
At what point do specific personas drop out and why? After they’ve read a white paper? When their shopping cart is already quite full? Or just before the end of the ordering process? There are opportunities for optimization in every case!
Such insights can be used to further optimize your data-driven marketing, the funnels that you set up for it and the touchpoints with the different personas. For example, you can reduce the number of steps between adding things to the cart and completion. Or you can make it clearer to the customer where they are in the buyer journey. Or you can add contact options to your content.
Again, your data-driven marketing approach will be further complementing your CRO strategy.
Pointers for every CRO specialist in data-driven marketing: read our trend report!
In our trend report Trending Topics Digital Marketing, E-commerce & Customer Service, we discuss the six key trends in marketing, sales, data and customer experience. Essential reading for every sales and marketing professional. Request the report here!
