CXL Institute Conversion Optimization Minidegree Review (1/12)
This is a first of a twelve-part (1/12) review of conversion optimization mini degree by CXL Institute. Before enrolling in this program I have already been familiar with CXL and their in-depth knowledge on marketing topics, especially conversion rate optimization. I’ve found them on YouTube and then later joined their Facebook group which is full of value, experienced and knowledgeable people on this topic. You can check it out by clicking here.
CXL Institute helps you become great at marketing
CXL Institute is a paid training program that will help you go from zero to an advanced level of knowledge in marketing. All the programs at CXL institute are taught by industry leaders and top marketers which makes this platform the best place to learn marketing. CXL was founded by Peep Laja.
Some of the companies that trained their teams at CXL include Google, Cisco, Hewlett Packard (HP), Ikea, Hilton, etc.
They currently have seven mini degree programs you can enroll in:
- Technical content marketing
- Technical marketing
- Conversion optimization
- Customer acquisition
- Digital analytics
- Digital psychology and persuasion
- Growth marketing
Enroll in a conversion optimization program and have a direct and measurable impact on revenue
My choice was conversion optimization because I’m very enthusiastic about delivering a great user experience as well as having a direct and measurable impact on revenue.
During this twelve-part review, I will cover my experience as a student enrolled in the conversion optimization program. There are 82 hours and nine minutes of video across these sections:
- Foundations
- Conversion research
- Testing
- Optimization strategies
- Conversion optimization program management
Conversion rate optimization (CRO) or maximizing the value you get from each visit to your website
Conversion rate optimization (CRO) attempts to improve the rate at which site visitors become buyers, subscribers, leads, or callers, either by increasing value or reducing the associated costs (e.g. ad spend).
Here is a quick example.
Before: Let’s say you’re selling an info-product for a price of $1,000. On an average month, you receive 10,000 unique visits and only 2% of those people make a purchase. That is a total of $200,000 in revenue.
After: Let’s say you’re able to improve your conversion rate by 25% (+0.05%). That would add up to a 2.5% total conversion rate for 10,000 unique visits at the price of $1,000. If we do the math, you will be generating $250,000 in revenue which is $50,000 more.
There are numerous benefits when it comes to CRO:
- Generate more revenue from your current traffic by increasing conversions
- Maximize ROAS
- Cost reduction and streamlining
- Get more visitors to return
- Get more customers to buy again
- Know what your best visitors want — and don’t want
- Understand the different kinds of visitors to your site
- Get customers to advocate for your business
Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is design and content backed by data. The success of a testing program is a sum of:
- Number of tests run (volume)
- Percentage of tests that provide a win
- Average sample size and impact per successful experiment
The goals of conversion rate optimization (CRO) are:
- Run as many tests as possible at all times (every day without a test running on a page/layout is regret by default)
- Win as many tests as possible
- Have as high impact (uplift) per successful test as possible
The process of conversion rate optimization (CRO) is:
- Research
- Prioritization
- Experiment
- Analyze, learn, repeat
A proven framework for conversion research
In order to test the right things and provide the right solution, we need to do in-depth research.
Before starting the research, four things must be defined:
- Business objective
- Website goals
- Key performance indicators (KPIs)
- Target metrics
The research is done by following a simple framework:
- Step #1: Heuristic analysis or educated opinion
- Step #2: Technical analysis
- Step #3: Speed analysis
- Step #4: Mouse tracking analysis
- Step #5: Qualitative surveys
- Step #6: User testing
- Step #7: Copy testing
- Step #8: Collect all data and put it into a master sheet
DO NOT blindly implement best practices
One of the key things to understand is that best practices are just practices that have been working for most websites. We shouldn’t rely on them and we should always test. If something worked on one website, it doesn’t necessarily mean it will work on another website.
Get people to do something — sign up, make a purchase, schedule a call…
While the design is very important, content is the king. People will overcome a lot of design issues if the offer is good and the key to making good offers is understanding how to write a high converting sales copy.
A good sales copy should:
- Communicate value
- Be clear and concise
- Interesting to read
- Jargon-free
- Be Credible
- As long as needed, but not longer
Your whole business should be different from the competition, and the claims you make about your products or services should stand out. Here is the process you can follow to write a high converting sales copy that will help you differentiate your business and sell more through your website and other marketing material:
- Research: customer, product, and competition
- Outline and guideposts
- Draft a copy
- Conversion boost
- Revise, rearrange
- Test
If you want to learn more about this process check out the conversion optimization mini degree by clicking here. You can start a 7 day trial for only $1.
Conversion rate optimization never ends
Conversion rate optimization never ends. The whole idea is to keep testing and improving your conversion rate and growing revenue consistently, month over month.
At some point, you will hit your local maxima — the limit of the current design and over time the gains from tests become either very small or non-existent. At these times, you should really consider doing the redesign of your website.
You should redesign your website if…
- You’ve hit the local maxima.
- The technology is severely outdated (uses Flash and/or other outdated technology, not usable on mobile devices, backend system/website engine is obsolete, etc.)
- The design of the site is amateur (looks like your grandma designed it), causing a negative first impression with most people. How to determine if this is the case? Conduct a survey or 5-second test. Ask people who’ve never been to the site to rate their instant reaction
- There’s very little traffic, and conversion analysis reveals so many problems that it would take years of A/B testing to do it all properly (aka test every change).
What’s next…
I’ve really enjoyed the first couple of courses in this program.
So far so good! See you in the next review.
