Growth Hacking Tactics for Conversion Rate Optimization

Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is a crucial aspect of modern-day business. It determines the percentage of visitors to a website who take a desired action, such as making a purchase or filling out a form. A high conversion rate can mean the difference between success and failure for small and medium businesses (SMBs), but achieving it can be challenging.

SMBs often struggle with CRO because they lack the resources and expertise of larger enterprises. They may have limited budgets for testing and optimizing their websites. They may not have access to the latest tools and technologies. As a result, their conversion rates may be lower than they could be.

However, with growth hacking tactics, even SMBs can maximize their conversion rates and compete with larger businesses.

In this article, we will dive into some clever growth hacking tactics that leverage powerful tools and use data-driven decision-making to maximize the conversion rates of your website or landing page.

What is a Landing Page?

A landing page is a web page that converts visitors into leads or customers. It typically includes a headline and subheadline, an image or video, and short descriptions of the product or services being offered. It can also include other elements such as testimonials, calls-to-action (CTAs), and forms.

The goal of a landing page is to convert visitors into customers by guiding them to take a specific action, such as filling out a form, making a purchase, or signing up for a newsletter.

Is a Landing Page Different From a Website?

A landing page is a standalone web page created for a specific marketing or advertising campaign, while a website is a collection of web pages that serve as an online representation of a company or organization.

While both serve as a platform to communicate with the audience, the primary purpose of a landing page is conversion-oriented, while a website is meant to provide information and resources to its visitors.

The design and structure of a landing page are highly targeted and relevant to a particular audience, with the goal of increasing the likelihood of conversion. Unlike a website, a landing page does not have a main navigation menu, and it is designed to be independent of the rest of the site. A landing page is optimized for a specific action, such as filling out a form or making a purchase, and typically has a clear and concise value proposition, a compelling headline, and a strong call to action.

In contrast, a website serves as a comprehensive platform to provide information and resources to its visitors. A website usually has multiple pages, including a home page, an about page, a contact page, and more. A website's purpose is to establish a brand's presence and provide information to its audience while also guiding them to take specific actions, such as making a purchase or filling out a form.

Why is an Optimized Landing Page Crucial for CRO?

An optimized landing page is crucial for conversion rate optimization (CRO) because it directly impacts the likelihood of a visitor taking the desired action on a website. A well-designed and optimized landing page can significantly increase the chances of conversion, while a poorly designed one can negatively impact the conversion rate.

Here are some reasons why an optimized landing page is crucial for CRO:

1. Increases Relevance and Credibility: An optimized landing page is highly targeted and relevant to the specific audience, which increases its credibility and makes it more likely that visitors will trust and engage with the page. By presenting a relevant and credible offer, a landing page can increase the likelihood of conversion.
2. Improves User Experience: A good landing page will provide a smooth and intuitive user experience. It has a clear and concise value proposition, a compelling headline, and a strong call to action. The page is also designed to be visually appealing and easy to navigate, which makes it more likely that visitors will engage with the page and take the desired action.
3. Focuses on the Desired Action: A conversion-focused landing page is designed to focus on a specific goal or desired action, such as filling out a form, making a purchase, or signing up for a newsletter. By having a clear and concise goal, a landing page can increase the likelihood of conversion by guiding visitors to take the desired action.
4. Increases Trust and Confidence: A great landing page is designed to increase trust and confidence in the brand and offer. It includes persuasive content, such as customer testimonials, product descriptions, and guarantees, that supports the value proposition and call-to-action. By building trust and confidence, a landing page can increase the likelihood of conversion.

Understanding Using An Example

Let's understand this with an example.

Say, Vaibhav launched an ad campaign for his growth hacking workshop that generated 100 clicks at ₹10 per click (totaling ₹1,000).

Assuming 100 people have landed on the page with a 5% conversion rate, Vaibhav gets 5 sales of his ₹500 workshop.

This nets him a profit of ₹1,500.

This, however, is an ideal scenario and likely will never happen in real life.

In reality, Vaibhav is going to lose visitors between when they click the ad and reach the landing page because of reasons like:

• Faulty clicks
• Long page loading time
• Poor UX
• Distractions
• Irrelevant offer

A realistic funnel looks something like the one below.

Observe how a 30% drop in users landing on the page could translate to a 50% drop in profits!

Single Most Important Factor To Increase Landing Page Clicks - Speed

The single most important factor in increasing landing page clicks is speed.

Research suggests that a delay of one second can lead to a 4.42% drop in conversions. And a site that loads within 1-second converts 300% better) than a website that loads in about 5 seconds!

A slow-loading landing page will deter visitors from staying on the site and reduce the chances of them taking the desired action, such as completing a purchase or signing up for a newsletter.

According to the above graph, your landing page should load in less than 4 seconds to get the most out of every ad click.

Page speed also depends on the type of business you are running. E-commerce landing pages, for instance, should load in under 2 seconds, or they could expect a steep decline in conversion rate, as shown in the graph below.

It is, therefore, essential to optimize your landing page for speed. This includes optimizing images and other media, reducing unnecessary JavaScript and CSS code, compressing files, and leveraging caching technologies.

How To Load Your Website or Landing Page Faster?

Once you have created your landing page, you need to optimize it further. But how do you know which areas of your page need optimization?

Is it slow because of the code, the size of the images, or something else?

To dive deeper into this without having to hire developers, you can use a tool like GTmetrix - a free website speed analyzer that helps you identify exactly what's slowing your site down and how to fix it.

It provides comprehensive performance reports and analysis, as well as optimization instructions on how to improve the speed of your page. All you need to do is enter the URL of the landing page you want to optimize, and GTmetrix crawls the page to identify potential improvements in performance.

Once you have identified the areas of your page that need improvement, there are several steps you can take to speed up your page, such as:

• Optimizing images
• Minifying HTML and Javascript
• Reducing redirects
• Leverage caching
• Optimizing CSS delivery

Easy Tips To Improve Website Speed

There are many ways to increase your website or landing page speed, some more difficult than others.

So, here are three very easy-to-implement tips that will have a significant positive impact on your website speed.

Reduce Website Size

Website or page size has a significant impact on load speed. The larger the size of a website or page, the longer it takes to load. This is because larger pages contain more resources, such as images, videos, and scripts, which take longer to transfer from the server to the user's browser.

When a user requests a page, their browser must retrieve all the resources associated with that page before it can be fully loaded and displayed. The larger the page size, the longer this process takes. This can result in longer load times and an overall slower user experience.

Additionally, users on slower or limited internet connections will be particularly impacted by larger page sizes, as they may not have the bandwidth or speed required to quickly retrieve all the resources associated with a page. This can result in a poor user experience and increased bounce rates.

Therefore, it's important to optimize the size of your website or landing page to ensure that it loads as quickly as possible.

To reduce the size of your website:

• Optimize images and videos
• Remove unnecessary plugins and widgets
• Minify HTML, CSS, and Javascript
• Avoid external scripts from third-party websites

Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)

A Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a distributed network of servers that helps to speed up the delivery of static content such as images, videos, and CSS files.

The goal of a CDN is to minimize the physical distance between the content and the user, thereby reducing the amount of time it takes for the content to travel over the network and reach the user's browser.

Here's how a CDN works in detail:

1. The website's origin server stores all of the website's content, including the HTML files, images, videos, and other static files.
2. When a user requests a page from the website, the request is redirected to the closest CDN server. The CDN servers are located in multiple data centers around the world.
3. The CDN server checks its cache to see if it already has a copy of the requested content. If it does, it serves the content directly to the user's browser, reducing the time it takes for the content to travel over the network.
4. If the CDN server doesn't have a copy of the content, it retrieves the content from the origin server and caches it. This cached copy of the content is then served to all subsequent users who request the same content from the same geographical location.
5. The result is that the content is served from a location that is physically closer to the user, reducing the time it takes for the content to travel over the network and reach the user's browser. This leads to faster page load times and a better user experience.

In addition to reducing the distance between the content and the user, a CDN can also help to improve website performance by offloading some of the load from the origin server.

You can get a CDN for free at Cloudflare.

Cache Content and Optimize Code

Caching involves storing frequently accessed data in a temporary storage area so that it can be quickly retrieved the next time it's needed, reducing the amount of data that needs to be transferred from the server to the browser. This results in faster page load times and reduced server load.

Code optimization, on the other hand, involves making changes to the code of a website or application to improve its performance. This can include minifying CSS, JavaScript, and HTML, reducing the number of HTTP requests, and optimizing images. These changes can lead to faster page load times and improved user experience.

Together, caching and code optimization can have a significant impact on the website or page load speed, resulting in improved user experience, higher engagement, and better search engine rankings.

Below are a few easy ways to implement caching and code optimization on your website.

Caching

• Use a caching plugin in your content management system (CMS), such as WordPress, to easily implement page caching.
• Enable browser caching by adding appropriate cache control headers in your HTTP response.

Code optimization:

• Minify CSS, JavaScript, and HTML files to reduce their size and improve load times.
• Optimize images by compressing them to reduce file size without sacrificing quality.
• Reduce the number of HTTP requests by combining multiple files into a single file or by using CSS sprites.
• Remove any unused CSS and JavaScript code to reduce the amount of code that needs to be parsed and executed.

It's important to note that implementing these optimizations will vary depending on your website's technology stack and infrastructure, but these are generally applicable and easy-to-implement techniques to improve your website's performance.

Go The Extra Mile With Great Copy

Copywriting has a huge impact on how people interact with your website, both in terms of user experience and SEO. Not only does great copy make it easier for users to find the information they need, but it also helps search engines understand what your website is about.

From a psychological perspective, copywriting plays a crucial role in how people perceive a brand or a product. A well-written copy can create an emotional connection with the reader, establish trust, and motivate them to take action. The right words and tone can influence how people feel about a brand and make them more likely to purchase a product or sign up for a service.

Start by writing compelling page titles and meta descriptions that accurately describe the content on the page. It's also important to use keywords strategically throughout your copy while making sure it still reads naturally and clearly.

The copy should also be relevant and tailored specifically to audience segments and ad variations. Customizing the copy to fit the target audience and the specific ad variation helps to increase its effectiveness and relevance. By understanding the unique needs and interests of different segments of the audience, you can create copy that resonates with them and drives greater engagement.

Tips for a better converting copy:

1. Focus on the reader's needs and desires, not your own.
2. Use simple and clear language, and avoid industry jargon.
3. Create a strong headline that grabs the reader's attention and sums up the value proposition.
4. Highlight benefits, not just features.
5. Use social proof, such as customer testimonials, to build trust.
6. Make it easy to take the desired action by providing clear and specific call-to-action buttons.
7. Test and optimize your copy to see what works best.

How To Test Your Value Proposition?

According to a study by the Nielson Norman Group, visitors will leave the page or exit the website in about 10 seconds if the value proposition is not clear.

So, how do you ensure that your value proposition is communicated in the most effective manner?

The best way to test it is through A/B testing. With A/B testing, you can compare two or more versions of your page with identical content but a different copy, design elements, or calls-to-action.

You can then measure the performance of each variation and identify which version resonates better with your users. This allows you to determine which design and copy elements are most effective in conveying your value proposition and driving conversions.

6 Factors To Increase Conversion: The Lift Model

The LIFT Model is a framework introduced by Chris Goward to help businesses optimize their websites for conversions. The acronym stands for the 6 key elements that can increase conversions:

1. Value Proposition
2. Relevance
3. Clarity
4. Distraction
5. Anxiety
6. Urgency

Value Proposition

This is the unique benefit that a product or service offers to its customers. It is often referred to as the "what's in it for me" factor.

The value proposition should be clear and easy to understand and should highlight the benefits that the customer will receive.

A strong value proposition can help a business differentiate itself from its competitors and increase conversions by making it clear why a customer should choose its products over others.

Relevance

Relevance is how well a product or service fits the needs and wants of the target audience. In our case, it could be how relevant the landing page is to the ad that the visitors clicked on.

The website must be optimized for the target audience, with content and imagery that speaks to them. Relevance is important because it helps build trust with the customer and increases the likelihood that they will make a purchase.

Clarity

Clarity speaks about how easy it is for a customer to understand the product or service and how it will benefit them. It helps to reduce confusion and increase the likelihood that a customer will take the desired action.

The website should be designed in a way that is easy to navigate and understand, with clear and concise language that is easy to follow.

Notice how Twitter updated its sign-up page. Earlier, they had multiple links and CTAs. Now, the page is very minimal, with maximum attention on the action they want the user to take.

Distraction

This is anything on the website that takes the customer's attention away from the product or service. Distractions can include irrelevant content, pop-ups, or slow page load times.

Distraction can significantly lower conversions by making it more difficult for the customer to focus on the product or service and its benefits.

To minimize distraction, companies should eliminate anything on the website that is not essential to the customer's decision-making process.

Observe how Shopify's landing page is very different from its website design.

Anxiety

Anxiety refers to any concerns or fears that a customer may have about making a purchase. If not addressed, it could discourage the users from making a purchase on the website.

Your landing page should have elements in it that help reduce the visitor's anxiety. Copy with reaffirming words like "trustworthy," "verified," or "certified" is a good start.

Urgency

Urgency refers to the sense of emergency or desperation that a customer feels to make a purchase. Urgency can increase conversions by encouraging customers to act quickly before the opportunity is gone.

To create urgency, businesses can include time-sensitive offers on their landing pages, such as free shipping for a limited time or discounts.

However, it should be used with caution, as overuse can backfire and create a sense of pressure or mistrust.

Conclusion

Conversion optimization is a complex process that requires businesses to pay attention to many different elements.

The LIFT Model provides an excellent framework for understanding the six key factors – value proposition, relevance, clarity, distraction, anxiety, and urgency – that can help increase conversions.

By optimizing these elements on your website and by lowering the load time as much as possible, you can create a better user experience and help increase conversions. With the right approach, you can turn your website or landing page into an effective sales machine.