Conversion Rate Optimization services, or CRO, is a rigorous process that uses data to get the most out of your e-commerce website.
When you adopt a smart CRO strategy, you optimize the visual elements and content on your website in a way that converts more customers. CRO helps you understand what elements of your website are working properly to convert, and which areas need improvement.
CRO closes the gap between your expectations for your website and its real results by increasing your conversion rates and pulling more profit out of your online store. However, CRO looks a little different when you're a B2B company compared to the process for B2C businesses.
B2B Conversion Rate Optimization is Different
CRO isn't the same as SEO, which is all about improving search rankings. As a B2B company, your profitability may not live or die by Google as much as a B2C business. Rankings may hold less meaning for you, or be skewed completely toward longtail SEO. You don't just need more traffic. You need optimization that adds actual value to your website, improving its value as a sales tool.
Lead generation is different as well compared to B2C sales. For example, it might be a realistic choice for you to optimize for the quality of leads, rather than the quantity, as one commonly does in B2C eCommerce. However, when you make this choice, every single lead matters more — much more. That means optimizing your site for maximum conversion is even more crucial.
Because sales are more complex in the B2B world, the CRO process also becomes longer and more complicated.
- Virtually no conversions happen on a customer's first visit to your website
- More people are typically involved in the purchase decision
- The eCommerce sales process may also involve several offline touch points (for example, phone calls, meetings and demos)
- Products, services and equipment being purchased are more expensive
- The evaluation stage of the sales funnel may take much longer and requires more demonstrated industry authority
- Repeat purchases are often critical to business growth, although they may span years in between each sale
All these elements drive up the complexity of conversion rate optimization for B2B businesses.
There's science to the conversion rate optimization process, and it involves far more than the "Make the Buy button bright orange and 25 percent bigger" kind of advice that's rampant in the B2C world. That's why B2B eCommerce stores require CRO experts who are highly experienced with the nuances and longer, more convoluted customer journeys to a closed sale.