I lately discussed the top 5 factors contributing to a successful website conversion rate optimization strategy and the landing page optimization best practices. By following these two guides you can ensure 80% of success; the rest 20% is by avoiding the most common conversion optimization mistakes.
Be sure that you know how these simple items can create a big impact on the success of individual campaigns and on overall conversion optimization strategy. So, here goes the list with details about each;
1- Trusting “best practices”:
Well, this doesn’t mean you should ignore the tips and best practices advice from experts. What you need to know is the fact that the best practices are of generic nature and you should follow them only if they fulfill the needs of your business model.
2- HiPPO Approvals:
The HiPPO means the Highest Paid Person‘s Opinion in your organization. Well, that’s true that various layers of approvals may be needed in some organizations, but honestly, that kills the best test ideas. In order to see results the person working on conversion optimization must be able to test variations without any pre-judgment, however the final change can be subjected to an approval which will become quite easier once you have something working better in hand.
3- Not Getting an Outsiders’ Perspective:
It’s great to work closely on your website with full dedication and without any external distractions, but if you’re the one overseeing other stuff of the website too, you truly need to consider having advice of an experienced Conversion Optimization expert or agency.
4- Not Using Specific A/B Testing Tools:
The web Analytics, email marketing platforms and pay-per-click ad management tools come with specific options for A/B testing. If you do not bother to consider the test’s confidence level and controlling for return visitors, your campaigns are all about guessing.
5- Testing Unimportant Things First:
Time is money, and spending money on unimportant stuff is certainly a total loss.
6- Testing Unimportant Web Pages First:
So you started testing the web pages first, but you are not testing the most important pages first, that a big fail again. Prioritizing the most important pages on website based on their potential, importance and ease of implementation, you can optimize the optimization process itself which will brings all things on right track.
7- Not Showing Quick Results:
Significant positive results of a test must be shown quickly within any conversion optimization process. A test with delayed results expectancy is waste or resources.
8- Making a Judgement with First Result:
Remember, conversion rate improvements do not happen evenly, and so you cannot take a decision based on one test only. Another test may bring huge variations, so conduct as many tests possible in a specific short time period and analyze the variations before taking any final decision.
9- Stopping the Test Too Early:
You saw it working and stopped it right away! Well, that’s not going to help with the correct analysis. You must know that only statistically significant results can help in developing the right strategy.
10- Using Multivariate Testing Too Early:
Multivariate testing is technology that attracts many conversion optimization clients to start too many variations at once. But it becomes a big problem, when you are testing so many variations altogether without getting the basic variations tested first.
Make sure not the make the simple mistakes discussed above and you will not just avoid big problems in your conversion optimization process but will also see positive results in limited time!
