13 Conversion Rate Optimization Practices for Advertisers

 

The process of improving a campaign performance is known as Conversion Rate Optimization or CRO. No matters how amazing ad campaigns perform, an advertiser will always look for the scope of improvement so they can drive more conversions. It is a consistent attempt of narrowing down various steps in the campaign to drive optimum results.

 

From the color of CTA to the text of your ad copy, there are different improvements that are possible in your campaign. However, you can’t make random changes for the sake of conversion rate optimization. In this blog, we are discussing the right approach to driving more conversions in a strategic manner. 

 

1. Build Hypothesis

 

You might not always have readily available facts in advertising campaigns as there are many actions taken by users based on their impulse and intent, which can’t be predicted. However, you can build a hypothesis on what can incite those impulsive decisions from the customer. Therefore, building a hypothesis comes as the foremost step in conversion rate optimization.

 

The key to building a hypothesis is by putting yourself in the shoes of the customer and think what could be done to create more persuasive actions within the existing campaign. It is critical to understand that CRO is about minor changes in the existing campaign, and not about revamping the whole campaign.

 

2. CRO is a Continuous Process

 

CRO continues as long as your campaign is running. Unless you are getting 100% conversion, you can always look for ways to optimize your campaign for better CRO. In the rarest of circumstances, If you achieve a cent percent conversion rate, then you might like to expand your campaign to more audiences.

 

While planning the campaign, ensure that you are maintaining resources and time slots for optimization. Neglecting CRO during the campaign planning stage can curb the potential of the campaign in the later stages.

 

3. Maintain Legible Tracker

 

Maintaining track of the activities that you are performing for conversion rate optimization. Along with that, you need to list the results of those activities. It is helpful in ensuring that you are consistently learning and focussing on the improvement of the results. It will also mean that you are tracking the results, which will give a clear view of what’s working and what’s not. Keeping a legible record will help other parties in the campaign understand and learn from your experience.

 

4. Focus on the Bottom of the Funnel

 

The bottom of the funnel or the end goal of your business should always be the focus of your campaign. Even if you are running just a branding campaign or user acquisition campaign, keep a watch how it will contribute to your conversions and loyal customers. Since the core objective of the CRO is to pace up the conversions at every stage of the funnel, keeping the goal clear will help you plan every stage in the right direction.

 

5. Give CRO Some Time

 

There is a consistent need of judging how well your conversion rate optimization activities are performing. You need to define some timeframe over which you will analyze the results. However, don’t rush into it. It takes some time for a new activity to perform among the audiences. So, the analysis timeframe that you define should be sufficient enough to collect the sample size of a reliable amount. Never judge a campaign by insufficient sample size.

 

6. Experiment with Formats

 

CRO is all about experiments. For mobile advertising, ad format is one of the most versatile assets to consider. Native, rich media, video, social media stories, posts, and there are several other options that can play a key role in your ad strategy. Ensure that you opt for a Demand Side Platform that is capable of handling different ad formats to experiment and learn.

 

7. Leverage Multi-platform Strategy

 

Just like ad formats, platforms have a key role to play as well. It is also important to in building customer journeys that drive higher conversion rates. Consistently analyze if showing an ad on social media before search engine retargeting ad performs better or is it the other way around. In case you are too packed with the tasks, you can utilize customer journey building tools driven by Artificial Intelligence to automatically judge the right pattern for different users and give you better results.

 

8. Focus on Ad Relevancy

 

Creating too many ads can be distracting and you may lose the relevancy to your offers, brand guidelines, etc. Always keep a checklist of ad relevancy points handy at your reach to ensure that you never miss out on anything. While performing CRO analysis, you can still check heatmap and other engagement tools to ensure that you maintain consistent ad relevancy to improvise on the ad performance KPIs.

 

9. Connect Ad and Landing Page/App

 

One of the basics of CRO is that your ad copy and landing page should have synchronization in theme and messaging. When it comes to app marketing, the deep-linked landing page is not always crafted for a new campaign and there could be a mismatch between ad copy and landing pages. It is the most grievous mistake at times. Sensing the mismatch, the customer may churn, causing a steep fall in your conversion rate.

 

10. Be Specific

 

Your text messaging on the ad copy should not leave the customer guessing. Regularly check for the way to optimize the messaging in a way that it depicts clearly about what’s on the offering. Another way of testing the specification is running A/B test between two copies and checking which one drives higher conversions. The winner could again be run on testing with new messaging to enable a consistent growth of the business.

 

11. Short Text + Good Graphics

 

While there might limitations with how much you can shorten the text in your ad copy, there is never good enough graphic. You can always improvise on them by adopting between graphics, such as vectors, real-life images, and more. After picking one choice that performs the best, you can rework on it improvise further.

 

12. Actionable CTA

 

CTA is probably the most valuable part of the ad copy, for this is where eventually all conversion count depends. Make sure that your CTA is worth clicking for the users and indicative of the specific action.  Som instead of 'Click Here' give 'Download Now' on the CTA button. 

 

13. Watch Your Competitors

 

Even though your idiosyncrasy is always appreciated, you can still get smart ideas from your competitor's ads.  As you are both targeting a similar audience and offering more or less the same propositions, checking their ads, app and website journey can help you drive exciting insights. You can even look beyond competitors and check leaders in other industries to gather such ideas.

 

Final Note

 

How different is CRO for app marketing ads as compared to other industries? What's your biggest challenge in CRO? Share your challenges and how you deal with it in the comments below. 

 

For any consultation on app marketing platforms, you can write to us at marketing@affle.com.