{"id":90881,"date":"2023-08-17T13:44:39","date_gmt":"2023-08-17T20:44:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thegood.com\/?post_type=insights&p=90881"},"modified":"2024-05-10T13:10:00","modified_gmt":"2024-05-10T20:10:00","slug":"cro-misconceptions","status":"publish","type":"insights","link":"https:\/\/thegood.com\/insights\/cro-misconceptions\/","title":{"rendered":"9 Reasons Why Brands Don\u2019t Invest in CRO"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Over the last several years, conversion rate optimization (CRO) has become a ubiquitous term in the ecommerce world. In fact, 7 out of 10 marketers<\/a> use conversion rate optimization results to inform their marketing decisions. But with about 78% of brands<\/a> unsatisfied with their conversion rates, there\u2019s still a great need for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Here\u2019s the problem: with the increased awareness of CRO, there\u2019s also been an increase in skepticism surrounding its effectiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We get it. With the high price point and difficulty in measuring short-term or immediate results, CRO can appear to be a risky investment, but we\u2019re here to put that notion to rest. If you\u2019re one of the many still unsure about CRO, we\u2019re writing this for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The goal of this article isn\u2019t to sell you on our services. It\u2019s to identify and address the misunderstandings surrounding CRO that hold companies back from investing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ll walk you through the nine most common reasons why companies don\u2019t invest in CRO. By addressing these doubts head-on, we hope to encourage those that are hesitant about investing in CRO to finally take the next step toward improving their ecommerce site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 9 Reasons Why Brands Don\u2019t Invest in CRO<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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1. Lack of understanding around what CRO is<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This is almost a given. Still, it\u2019s important to mention because the definition of CRO can differ significantly depending on who you\u2019re talking to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many companies come to us with a skewed perception of what conversion rate optimization is. This is in part due to many full-service marketing and traffic-generation agencies claiming that \u201cthey do CRO,\u201d but that can mean a variety of different things. Companies that simply tack on CRO to bolster their service offering rarely do anything close to what a real\/full conversion optimization program entails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyone can show up to a court, but actually, playing ball is a bit different. These agencies will likely do a bit of A\/B testing, redesign a handful of landing pages, and maybe even engage in a site audit, but rarely will this approach drive impactful, long-term results for your business\u2019 conversion rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A proper conversion optimization program revolves around one thing: data-backed decision-making applied in an iterative manner. CRO is the business of understanding how customers see, engage with, and navigate a website. The goal is to increase the percentage of website visitors that convert into customers or, more generally, take any desired action on a webpage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each website test is carefully developed using multiple inputs of data (heatmaps, eye tracking, screen recordings, user reviews, etc) to form hypotheses. Like any scientific process, there should be no guessing involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Lack of understanding around what CRO involves<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Many ecommerce companies interested in optimizing their websites have the impression that because they\u2019ve read a handful of best practice articles online, they fully understand what goes into a successful optimization program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s the problem: reading these articles can give you a misrepresentation of how conversion rate optimization is actually done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Common Misconceptions about CRO<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

These are a few of the common misconceptions that we\u2019ve noticed about what\u2019s involved with CRO:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOptimization\u201d is a single person\u2019s role vs. requiring a team of experienced strategists <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

CRO is a complex, multifaceted process that involves collaboration between various specialists to achieve desired results. You\u2019ll need data scientists to collect and make sense of the clicks and movements on your site, user researchers to help identify the problems from the data, UX strategists to develop solutions for these problems, and web developers to create and implement the tests to prove out the hypotheses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s perfectly fine to optimize your website based on best practices, not concrete data<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

While \u201cbest practice\u201d articles can undoubtedly provide you with great ideas for your site, it\u2019s important to remember that because one tactic may have worked for someone else, it\u2019s not guaranteed to work for you. Your audience is specific to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I always like to say that following best practices is a lot like prescribing before you diagnose. You have to understand what people are doing on your site and why before you can devise ways to optimize it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a certain amount of guessing involved in CRO<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

While this may be the case for some of the full-service agencies that offer optimization services, any CRO specialist will tell you that every test implemented on a site should always be backed by prior research that supports a hypothesis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CRO is a one-and-done thing<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

CRO is an iterative process. Optimization is about continuous <\/em>improvement based on data and experimentation. Asking for the end-point of the process or determining a specific timeline isn\u2019t really possible when you are working on optimizing your website. We often go through the hierarchy of conversions<\/a> multiple times, starting back at the bottom of the pyramid whenever we\u2019ve executed an optimization roadmap and gathered fresh learnings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CRO is mostly about A\/B Testing<\/strong> <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Many companies will tell you they do A\/B Testing and call themselves a CRO agency. While A\/B Testing is a crucial component of optimization, it is not the end-all-be-all of CRO. Nowadays, the two have become somewhat synonymous, but any CRO specialist can tell you that A\/B Testing is just one of many <\/em>validation methods used to ensure that changes made on a website are based on data and not the whims or opinions of people.In truth, there are several variables<\/a> that go into conversion rate optimization, and there are other validation methods<\/a> used for experimentation aside from A\/B Testing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Budget <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Categorizing CRO as an expense rather than an investment with a measurable ROI is a misconception that we, unfortunately, see very frequently. Especially for smaller ecommerce companies, CRO is believed to cost \u201ctoo much,\u201d and\/or there isn\u2019t a line item in their budget for it, so they have to create or find the money to finance it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It really pains us to see this happen because the truth is, CRO can have the greatest ROI compared to many other marketing strategies you may utilize (SEO, traffic generation, social media, etc).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still don\u2019t believe us? You should try out our in-depth ROI of Conversion Rate Optimization Calculator<\/a> to help estimate the potential ROI you could receive from conversion optimization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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4. Traffic > optimization<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A common misconception for ecommerce managers is that generating more traffic will translate to immediate revenue gains and a higher conversion rate. While increasing traffic to your site may look good on paper, it doesn\u2019t provide the sustainable, long-term solution that CRO offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For every $92 spent<\/a> acquiring customers, only $1 is spent converting them. Before you start sinking money into traffic generation, it\u2019s essential to make sure your site is optimized to get the most value out of the traffic you\u2019ll be paying for. While CRO can often be a larger up-front investment, the value that it provides is long-lasting and outweighs the importance of getting more people to your site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think of it this way: increasing your traffic only brings more visitors to your website. But without CRO, those visitors are unlikely to make a purchase. It\u2019s better to optimize your site and convert existing visitors into buyers before <\/em>you even think of putting more money into increasing your traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chart below illustrates a common pattern we\u2019ve noticed among ecommerce brands that struggle with distributing their budget between CRO and traffic generation. The dotted line represents the ideal path if spending for CRO remains constant; the blue line represents the path that we tend to see ecommerce brands follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. This is the point at which brands begin to allocate more of their budget toward traffic generation. Most of this traffic naturally has to be unqualified or less qualified.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. This is the point where brands think they can reduce their budget for CRO. Reducing CRO spending is typically met with a rapid decline in their conversion rate.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. This marks the point of re-engagement with CRO. The company realizes that driving unqualified traffic to their site has a negative impact on their conversion rate and decides to renegotiate their budget.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

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    5. Concern that the ecommerce manager will look like they\u2019ve failed<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    It can be a bit uncomfortable to have every aspect of your site \u2014 that you had direct input in designing \u2014 torn apart and scrutinized by a team of strategists. While we understand it\u2019s never fun having your work critiqued, it\u2019s a necessary step in improving the usability of your site. The overarching goal of CRO is to make your customer\u2019s shopping experience as frictionless as possible, not to make the ecommerce manager look like a fool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I can often be heard saying: \u201cIt\u2019s hard to read the label from inside the jar.\u201d This is incredibly true for ecommerce managers who know their site inside and out and have a strong hand in defining the user experience. Nothing compares to having an outside perspective \u2013 fresh eyes \u2013 review the clicks and movements of your site\u2019s visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    When we conduct a full site audit for a client, we comb through each webpage to determine where customers may be getting stuck. Each point we identify is a new opportunity for you to improve the user experience (and conversion rate) of your site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n