4 Metrics to Analyze CRO Test Success or Failure

4 Metrics to Analyze CRO Test Success or Failure

4 Metrics to Analyze CRO Test Success or Failure

4 Metrics to Analyze CRO Test Success or Failure

A/B testing landing page versions, or making conversion-focused optimizations to your website and comparing prior versions, are an essential part of CRO (conversion rate optimization). We call these CRO tests, and run them much like a scientist runs an experiment. We make a hypothesis, make changes to one element at a time, and analyze the results.   But, many of our client’s ask us: how do we know when a test has been successful or has failed?

A CRO test is how you identify the best way to generate more leads, more sales and better ROI with the traffic you’re already getting to your site. So “getting it wrong” when analyzing results can be impactful to your business.  There are a few key metrics that you can analyze to determine which variation of your test is the “winning” one.

Let’s dig into those metrics…

converion-metrics

Conversion Rate

We often talk about the “conversion rate” of a page.  Conversions are a way we can measure how we meet our goals. Examples of conversions in marketing can vary from just clicking on an ad, to actually making a purchase.

You’ll want to have your key conversion goals in mind when conducting a CRO test on a specific page and test against that goal. For example, purchasing a product, requesting a quote, or filling out a lead form to get more information.

Once you’ve identified your conversion goal, to calculate the conversion rate – you take the number of conversions and divide that by the number of total visitors to your page.

The higher the conversion rate the better you are optimizing your online experience to meet the desired goals you’d like your website or landing page visitor to take.

Conversion Volume

This one is pretty straightforward, conversions volume is the volume (total number) of conversions that takes place on your landing page or website during a test.

Conversion volume doesn’t take into account the total number of visitors, it’s a simpler calculation but a very important one.  When looking at your CRO test results you’ll need to ask: was there a high enough conversion volume to make a determination on this test? For statistical accuracy, you’ll want to ensure that you’ve allowed for a reasonable conversion volume to take place before analyzing your conversion rate or other metrics.

Average Order Value

It’s essential to track the average amount a customer is spending with every order made through your CRO test. We can calculate this by dividing the total revenue made from a test by the number of orders for that given period of time.

Your ROI will benefit from paying attention to your AOV rather than just putting your attention on conversion rate and conversion volume alone.  If a specific test is attracting the right types of customers that is far more valuable than increasing the volume of transactions.

Average order value is an incredibly important determining factor in the ROI of your test. Consider this: your conversion rate doubles and you think “this was a great test!” but then you notice that AOV is half of what it was in previous tests.  Maybe it was due to promoting a cheaper product or targeting messaging at a different audience, but either way the ROI of your tests is in exactly the same place. Meaning, the test that you thought was great really didn’t do anything for your business’ overall goals.

Lead Quality Metrics

How you can measure whether the people converting on your CRO tests are likely to become customers in the future? Identifying quality leads is incredibly important for your ROI and marketing efforts. It assures that you are reaching the right audience and not using money and resources on people that do not fit your target demographic.

You can determine the success of your CRO campaigns by analyzing:

  • MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead) to SQL (Sales Qualified Lead) conversion rates: Analyze how many of the mid-funnel leads that convert on your forms go on to become sales qualified.
  • Company Insights: Analyze readily-available information about a prospect’s company to determine if they are a right-fit. Such as the number of employees, revenue, or company growth projections.
  • Individual Insights: Ensure your sales team is recording insights about your prospects from the CRO test. Answer questions such as “was this contact a decision maker?” or “What objections did the customer have?”

The more you can learn about the prospects that come out of your CRO tests, the better. It’s the only way to ensure that you are seeing the greatest possible ROI in future tests.

Determining success

Overall, when you are looking to measure the success of your CRO efforts the best tools for you to focus on is your conversion rate, conversion volume, average order value, and lead quality metrics.  The list doesn’t end there, and each test is different but these are the key metrics we use when determining whether clients’ tests are a success or failure.

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