Conversion Optimization

Chapter 2. The Numbers Behind Your Website

UNDERSTANDING THE NUMBERS BEHIND YOUR WEBSITE is an important step toward conquering the conversion problem.

However, too many companies jump into conversion optimization without a real plan or a methodology to identify promising areas for optimization. A simplistic process won’t help you to understand why customers abandon the sales funnel.

A client recently came to us after working with another landing page optimization company. That company looked at conversion from a very linear perspective: pick a single landing page, test 32,000 different designs of that page, and one of these designs will be bound to convert better than the original. Predictably, that costly and time-consuming approach did not produce any results for the client. Who would have thought that none of the 32,000 combinations would beat the original design?

Conversion rate optimization takes a more sophisticated approach, requiring the following two elements:

• Identifying areas of the sales funnel that should be optimized

• Following a repeatable process to optimize these areas

Without these two elements, your optimization efforts are destined to fail. Regardless of the approach you follow, you will ultimately pick an area to optimize. The question becomes: what should you modify in that particular area or step? If your prospecting during the sales process is weak, what changes should you make to it to ensure that you are able to convert better? If you are looking for consistent ...