Conversion rate optimisation (CRO) is the task of turning as many website browsers into buyers as possible through clear messaging, design and content hierarchy. According to stats from VWO, the highest conversion rates are less than 5%, so you need to make your website as conversion-centred as possible.
The theme with many of our recent articles is how creating memorable brand experiences can influence areas you may not have considered, and providing a better CRO is certainly on the list.
Let’s take a look at the elements of CRO that are positively impacted by a strong brand.
Consistency
Creating a seamless brand experience across all customer touchpoints is crucial for CRO. When customers encounter a consistent brand message and aesthetic, it reinforces trust and recognition, meaning they are more likely to stay on your website and take action.
We’ve talked about this aspect of consistency in a previous post around digital transformation, and it’s a hugely important topic for marketing leaders to keep in mind. This is because measuring the impact of branding is still an issue within many organisations, so considering how it will impact more tangible aspects of digital such as CRO ensures you’re practicing joined up thinking, and not seeing each marketing channel in isolation.
Use your marketing strategy to feed into everything you present to customers – ensuring your brand’s voice, style, and messaging are uniform across all channels, including your website, social media, email marketing, and offline interactions.
This will help to build a cohesive brand identity that customers can easily recognise and trust.
Expectations
When you consider the customer buying journey, the very first part of it is when the customer first hears about you. This is often not considered within CRO – from a digital measurement point of view the journey will start when the customer hits your website. But this isn’t the right place to start measuring CRO from as you need to ensure you’re setting expectations right from the start.
Let’s say you want a user to convert on your service page by submitting a form. Where are they coming from? If it’s from a print ad, is that ad setting the right expectations? The solution you present in your ads should be consistent with the solution on your landing pages, informational pages (such as pricing), and right up to the form submission.
Keeping your positioning from your marketing & brand strategy at the forefront of all website copy and page changes you make will help with this – your position in the market should be where you align your solution to a customer’s problem.
Clear communication about what customers can expect from your products or services is essential. This includes accurate product descriptions, clear return policies, and realistic delivery times. Transparency builds trust, as customers feel more secure in their purchasing decisions – and therefore are more likely to convert.
Design with purpose
A visually appealing and functional website design system is crucial for driving conversions. Design with purpose ensures that every element of your website serves to guide users towards making a purchase from the very second they land on your site.
Focusing on creating a user-centred design that prioritises ease of navigation and intuitive interfaces reduces friction and helps guide users smoothly through the conversion funnel. Top that off with some expert SEO that focuses on site speed and your potential customers will encounter minimal barriers to conversion.
Visuals, including images, videos, and graphics, should align with your brand’s identity to not only captivate visitors and encourage them to stay longer and explore your offerings, but also to – as discussed above – remain consistent.
Remaining consistent with your imagery and brand can be one of the toughest areas of content creation. It’s a good idea to get your design team to put together some templates that you can reuse/repurpose through platforms like Figma to remain consistent across design and ensure your potential customers are able to easily convert.
A strong brand can also directly impact UX. According to research from HBR, improving UX design to increase customer retention by just 5% can translates to a 25% increase in profit. Your brand strategy should be accompanied by strict brand guidelines that influence UX.
Social proof and trust signals
Social proof and trust signals are essential for building credibility and encouraging conversions. Customers are more likely to trust and purchase from brands that others have positively endorsed, and your brand’s customer service and satisfaction values will naturally encourage important trust signals such as:
- Customer reviews and testimonials
- Case studies and success stories
- Awards and certifications
- Influencer endorsements
Personalisation
In our piece on inbound marketing with HubSpot, we describe how the platform and others like it can be used to personalise your marketing messaging throughout your website. Having a highly personalised customer journey will result in improved CRO.
One important element you should consider for personalisation is again ensuring you remain consistent with brand & marketing strategy, getting the right balance of campaign personalisation whilst staying close to overall positioning.
Wrapping up
Hopefully this article has sparked some ideas about your current CRO efforts and the alignment of brand to assist in increased performance. If you think we could help take your brand to the next level, get in touch today.