Conversion Rate Optimization: The Ultimate Guide for Course Creators

Sep 15, 2022

Conversion Rate Optimization can be the answer to cutting through the noise in the Internet and making your online footprint to ensure that your information is found easily. As potential buyers arrive on your virtual real estate which is your site's information should be presented at a manner that is valuable and helps move ahead in their customer journey.

  • The reality is that nearly 50% of landing pages aren't properly evaluated to increase conversions.
  • Further, according to CrazyEgg, a famous conversion analysis tool, most websites have a bounce rate between 26 and 70%. The result is that the majority of visitors not leaving the site after pressing the CTA button.
  • The bright side is that studies also show that a website's ROI has the possibility of increasing by 30 percent if there is a specific Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) budget in order to optimize conversions.

Glossary:

What exactly is Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)?

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is also referred to by its name of conversion optimization includes the range of methods that can be undertaken to improve the effectiveness of your website's visitors. Effectiveness here implies skillfully navigating website visitors for taking desired actions and converting them into qualified leads for your business/organization.

Therefore, the conversion rate is the percentage of web visitors that convert to leads. Conversion Optimization is designed to make sure that the visitors on your site take action, usually by clicking the call-to-action (CTA) button.

What is the reason why conversion rate play a role?

      Therefore, to increase the impact and return on investment of all your marketing activities in terms more leads with lower cost of acquisition and achieving your goals for revenue, you must focus on funnel optimization is a priority by looking at CRO issues.    

A powerful conversion rate optimization (CRO) method

In order to increase the conversion rate of your website It is essential to be aware of what's going on in the mind of your website customers and the ways they use your website. Knowing this will put you at a place of advantage to know specific conversion bottlenecks, and then address them through a well-defined CRO strategy.

Optimized Conversion Rate Optimization strategies help to increase the chances of website visitors becoming leads, which consequently, customers who pay. Therefore, it's not a surprise that marketers focus on enhancing conversion rates, and 69% of marketers cite conversion rates for leads as their most important importance.

An Conversion Rate Optimization method can be most effective when specific to the needs of your individual website pages. Intuitively, the goal of an "About" page will always be different from that of"Courses" or "Courses" page or "Blog" part. The cookie-cutter method, which is in blindly copying the same method across all your online courses' websites, isn't working.

  Below are some important steps to keep in mind prior to constructing your conversion rate optimization strategy:  

  • Begin by identifying the primary pages of your site for the information product you offer.
      Most of the time, the pages that are the homepage or websites for courses are what matter to many course creators. But, services and blog pages tend to be quite effective and shouldn't be overlooked.
  • Utilize a reliable tool for heat mapping to determine those specific spots on websites where people are most likely to click if it was an CTA buttons. Heat mapping tools usually represent the user's activity by visually highlighting the path they took to click as well as hovering, scrolling or even tracking their eyes.
  • Plan and plug in Calls To Action (CTA) in the most efficient locations. Additionally, you should support your CTA buttons by making use of the power of persuasive copywriting in addition to a website that provides an excellent user experience.
  • Utilize the available tools and strategies for Conversion Optimization (more on them below) to monitor the conversion rate continuously.

Three Conversion Rate Optimization Formulas that you need to know before implementing CRO strategies

The first step in determining what is happening in the background before visitors decide to click the CTAs that you've embedded on your site is to calculate a few critical KPIs. (KPIs). This understanding helps to clearly define where you stand and where you want to be by applying the optimization plan.

Some KPIs to track are the conversion rate as well as the Number of New Net customers, as well as the Lead Goal.

1. Conversion Rate

Conversion is any desired activity that you would like your site visitors to take. It may include the number of visitors who subscribe to your newsletter, buying the product or online course, etc. You need to have an agreed upon metric for conversion. If you've established that in a way you are able to measure, then calculating the conversion rate is simple.

Simply identify the amount of people who visit your site. Then, take this figure and calculate the exact number of users who are converted.

Then, multiply the number of conversions per day by the number of people who visit your website.

Then, you can multiply this number by 100 and you will get the conversion percentage in terms of percentage.

  The conversion formula is: Rate = [Total Conversions / Visitors to website] 100  

Conversion Rate Formula

2. The amount of net new customers

This measure reveals your real growth potential and is intrinsically linked to your revenue objectives. So, in order to have a precise representation of the Number of Net New Customers you need to identify your revenue goal first.

When you've got that information, you can divide this amount by the present cost of sales to determine the quantity of new customers. You may use an average sales price if you're selling across different price points.

  The formula of Net New Customers = Goal for Revenue / Average Sales Price  

Net New Customers Formula

3. Lead Goals

Lead goals, sometimes referred to as "lag goals" These are the everyday success stories that act as a bridge to your bigger revenue targets. Based on your current performance with regard to conversions, there are two methods to approach improving conversion performance.

One is improving the number of customers you have converted, as per the current traction. Other is to maintain the conversion rate but attracting increased traffic and, consequently, more the number of conversions. The first one is the most effective and optimised method.

  The formula for the Lead Goal is [Number new customers / Lead-to-Customer Ratio*  

  where Lead-to Customer Rate = [Total Leads / Total Customers[Total Leads / Total Customers  

Lead Goals Formula

Now, let's move towards learning more about conversion optimization strategies.

Here are four important Conversion Rate Optimization Strategies

1. A/B Testing -

A/B testing helps you compare two versions of a web page and see which one performs more effectively. A version of the web page is shown to a randomly selected group while another is shown to a different random control group. In the end, the performance of the two pages is compared between the two groups.

2. Lead Flow

Lead Flow is the process to guide leads through the sales funnel as well as helping them achieve their goals in a structured way. It is a crucial element of the development of a well-planned lead management strategy and assists in guiding users to click your CTA button.

Lead flow may differ depending on your web traffic source as well as the CTA button your users must click. One of the most important aspects to lead flow the assignment of value scores to your leads. If you can identify who your most valuable leads are, you can invest more resources to help them convert. This way, you devote your time and resources towards converting your most promising visitors without wasting limited resources on visitors who aren't likely to convert.

If leads that are valuable are not converting, you can address any flaws that you're able to identify. There are a variety of qualitative methods to address such issues below. Qualitative tools help you get an insider's view of the people who visit your website and how they are thinking and feeling about your services and products.

3. Testing of landing pages -

A landing page is every website whose primary and only purpose is to convert users to buyers. People may arrive on your landing pages by following links from advertising, paid ads, websites on social media, or other sites.

However it is true that not all landing pages are the same and could not perform well in conversion. So, conducting the tests of A/B described earlier is crucial to optimize landing pages.

For example, you can experiment with replacing web forms with chatbots to see which one performs better in A/B tests. AI-enabled chat boxes usually outperform traditional web forms in most testing of landing pages.

You can further bolster your landing page by identifying the key elements to test. This could be a persuasively written sales pitch as well as a concise headline and pricing strategies for your online course's level of difficulty for creators of courses. It is also possible to evaluate your landing page's pictures, videos, text font and style, and the layout and design of your page.

4. Conversion Copywriting -

Copywriting for conversions is essentially about knowing your intended audience and the way they behave. It depends on auditing existing web pages, conducting A/B testing on website copy, as well as taking feedback from customers seriously. Like other processes for optimizing conversions it is possible to use heat mapping tools and click-tracking to determine which versions of your text perform best with regard to the conversion rate.

To implement conversion copywriting on your website for your online course ensure that you create different versions of your copy, and then test it among your target group of students. In the end it is your choice to choose which one is the most likely to bring in more clicks to your CTA. Continue to edit and modify the copy whenever new information becomes accessible to you.

Which tools are best to use in implementing a Conversion Rate Optimization plan?

There are numerous quantitative and qualitative tools that you could use to implement your conversion rate optimization strategy. The following list contains five of the most important tools under each category that should be sufficient for implementing a thorough CRO strategy to increase the size of your online course.

These are five quantifiable methods to help implement a CRO strategy

Statistics have always been reliable indicators of performance. Tools that measure performance help you comprehend the math behind how many users visit your site in terms of numbers, making them integral to CRO.

  1. Google Analytics

Google Analytics forms the gold standard when it comes to gathering information about the performance of your site and customers' behaviors on it. Installing it on your website is quite simple. Once set up, it's an excellent platform for understanding your clients regardless of what devices they are using for the metrics of bounce rates, the amount of time they spend on the page and more.

The insights revealed by Google Analytics enable an understanding of how visitors tend to interact with the content added to your website. It also generates machine-learning-enabled reports to reveal better and deeper insight. Finally, it allows exporting shareable reports that are quite helpful to distribute to specialist you might be working with to improve the effectiveness of your website such as SEO conversion.

  2. KISSMetrics

KISSMetrics is a more user-centric tool which helps you learn more about the web users you are targeting.

Apart from bounce rate and time-on-site information In addition, you will be able to gain precise information about the actual behaviors on it. It empowers you to tie your reports and data to real people, making it a great tool to incorporate into your CRM tools in case you are using them to sell your courses.

If you're someone for who quantitative tools can be overwhelming, KISSMetrics can make it quite easy for you to understand the story of the numbers.

  3. Clicky

For course creators, if your audience comprises people who live in particular locations, like the European Union, you are bound to follow regulations of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) guidelines regarding the gathering of user data.

Clicky is a GDPR-compliant analytical tool that not only ensures your privacy for website visitors, but also produces valuable reports for the website's owner for boosting conversion rates. Clicky can be a fantastic tool for accurate information about page views, JavaScript events, actions that are performed on your website as well as other information.

  4. Adobe Analytics

Adobe Analytics is powered by predictive analytics. This makes it easier for you to understand the reasons behind every conversion. This helps you tweak your current marketing plan and spend your money wisely. While most tools provide valuable data on the activity of users visiting websites, Adobe Analytics reveals what occurs just prior to when a user is converted.

A preconversion strategy is a crucial and precise insight that will help you understand why consumers opt to click on those CTA buttons.

  5. MixPanel

Understanding your power users is the key to generating greater sales and increasing revenue. Courses online usually require subscriptions as well as repeat purchase of learning modules and materials. Therefore, it's important to identify who your top users are and what makes them dwell on your website pages longer. MixPanel helps you to tie website visitors' behaviours to retention strategies, and design lasting customer-focused strategies.

Five qualitative methods to help implement an effective CRO plan

Tools that are qualitative are important as they reveal essential insights into why people behave how they behave. Unlike quantitative tools, which give reports or numbers using various indicators Qualitative tools allow you to comprehend patterns of user behavior by describing them.

Please note that it is essential that qualitative and quantitative tools complement each other.

  1. Qualaroo

Additionally, it will not affect the speed of your website - a factor that often derails conversion goals for several. It is possible to use Qualaroo to solicit your customers to provide feedback on your site and get insights into their opinions of investing in your online courses. By incorporating the feedback you receive, you will be able to modify your website to ensure that you are ready for success.

  2. SurveyMonkey

SurveyMonkey is an excellent tool to create questionnaires and surveys to get direct answers from customers.

If you have your web contacts and email addresses, you are able to forward them a link to your SurveyMonkey form with your questions. Once they participate in your survey, you will have your responses recorded on a delightfully-designed form. As a tool, SurveyMonkey is also able to be integrated in your site to make collecting feedback and data fast and effortless.

  3. CrazyEgg

CrazyEgg is perfect for understanding where web visitors are clicking and what they do not click.

The application on the web takes a snapshot of your website and provides five reports among that is the Heatmap Report is the most sought-after. This report informs you which webpage areas have the highest click activity rates. It can help you put your CTA button in the most potent spots. Other reports provided by it contain information about where you should put your CTA according to scrolling patterns and the colour-coded details of each individual clicks known by Confetti Report. Confetti Report.

  4. UserTesting

Your website visitors are the best source in determining how they feel about your website. UserTesting provides you with video clips of real people speaking out about their experiences of your website when they use it. This will give you a qualitative and subjective analysis of your website performance. In the case of an online course is difficult to navigate, then videos produced through UserTesting could reveal that information.

  5. Olark

Olark is live chat software that helps you to engage your customers , and address questions in real-time. This tool comes with live chat insights that help you understand how visitors perceive your website and online classes. It also enables you to keep notes on the chats you have and use user feedback to help improve your online courses and website.

A brief overview of Conversion Optimization Methodologies for Creators of Online Courses

While every website and course may be different, there are a few guidelines for optimizing sites that provide online training.

  1. Have a smooth functioning web site that includes all of the necessary pages such as Homepage, About Us, Products and Services, Blog and Contact.
  2. Identify the audience for your online course and put a solid digital marketing strategy to implement. This can include both the use of social media for marketing as well as paid advertisements.
  3. Clearly define who your main target market is  as well as continue to update your website in accordance with continuous A/B tests and user-generated feedback.
  4. Make use of both quantitative and qualitative tools in order to simplify and streamline your CRO strategies. This will aid in gaining an understanding of what your potential customers are, and what you should accomplish to ensure they stay in your site for longer.

Conversion rate optimization is an effective practice that can help leads progress efficiently through your sales funnel. However, it requires patience and time, and is an ongoing procedure. As a course creator, it may be overwhelming to handle so many factors.

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