Advertising on Google Adwords without optimising your conversion rates will lead to poor profitability. Visitors need to be strategically guided towards your website goals – from the moment they see your advert till they convert on your website. In this post, we consider what conversion rate optimisation is as well as 4 simple CRO tips to make your Adwords campaigns more profitable.

In a nutshell, conversion rate optimisation includes a series of tactics for increasing your website conversion rate, the percentage of visitors that signup, enquire, subscribe, buy, download etc.  Coupling CRO with your marketing campaigns, such as Google Adwords, will bring you more leads at a lower cost with the potential to dramatically increase your ROI.

With search marketing, the average advertiser is often more concerned with optimising their click through rates (CTR) rather than considering the entire conversion funnel from the moment their potential customers first see their ads through to when they complete a form on the website. CTR deals with sending more people to the site by making a good first impression. CRO looks to turn as many visitors into customers as possible.

By combining CRO with your Adwords campaigns, you can expect a better user experience, more customers and increased revenues and profits.

To illustrate the significant bearing CRO can have on your campaigns, we have put together three scenarios with equal budget, ave CPC, and website traffic with conversion rate being the only variable:

• With a conversion rate of 1%, Scenario 1 is actually making a loss. The 50k budget is not being recouped by the revenue (of 25k), resulting in a loss of 25k. Scenario 2
• Scenario 2 represents the conversion rate required to break even: 2%.
• Scenario 3 has a 50% ROI at a 3% conversion rate.

When you consider scenarios such as these, the decision to optimise your C/R should be a no brainer. Also, consider that:

• The cost of traffic is an on-going cost and will rise over time with increased competition
• One round of changes can lead to an increase in your conversion rate.

4 Tactics for Optimising your PPC Conversion Rate

1. Ads

Ads are the first experience users will have with your brand. Ensure that the ad messaging is aligned with your landing pages. This does not mean you should copy and paste text off of your landing page. You are essentially offering you a teaser for what will be presented when they get there. So don’t be lazy with ad text – you need to compel users to (1) click through to the website (2) be ready to take action once they arrive.

2. Landing Pages

Landing pages can a tricky one to get right. In one sense, you need to simplify navigation and reduce content to keep maintain a clear, singular focus on the main goal.  In another, you need to include trust symbols, benefits, and means of converting. It is highly recommended that you continually use A/B tests to optimise each of your landing page elements. Before you go there, ensure you have covered these basics:

1. Does your page have a single, focused message?
2. Is your headline compelling?
3. Have you reduced your navigation to a minimum?
4. Is the copy succinct and benefit driven? 

3. Trust Symbols

Trust symbols reinforce the user’s decision to do business with you. The more credible you are, the less they have to worry about. Consider include the following on your landing pages:

• Testimonials
• Social Proof
• Certifications
• Security Symbols

4. Buttons

Buttons are dynamic creatures. Like landing pages, buttons themselves have many variables, each with the potential to improve / reduce your conversion rate. It has been proven that conversion rates can be doubled by simply changing a buttons colour. Create variations of your buttons by consider each of the following elements.

• Colour
• Text
• Size
• Position
• Shape

Then test these via AB testing to identify the button with the best results.

In this post, we  considered three scenarios to illustrate the importance of CRO for your Adwords campaigns. CRO is a no brainer for any advertiser looking to maximise performance. So, we provided you with 4 tips to increase your conversion rates. Follow these tips to maximise your revenue and reduce budget wastage, leading to higher profits.

By Anthony Coe

Photo credit: Lending Memo