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Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is half science, half art. You need to be analytical about it, of course, but you also need to think creatively at times. There are a lot of tools out there that are designed to help you with CRO which can, in turn, help you generate more conversions on your site.
So how do you know which ones work the best? We’ve picked our top 10 favorite conversion rate optimization tools for you to test out and decide for yourself.
FIRST: WHAT IS CRO?
Conversion rate optimization is the process of optimizing and improving your website’s user experience so visitors are more inclined to take a direct action, whether that’s filling out a form, signing up for a newsletter, purchasing a product, etc. If you’ve never thought about CRO before, it’s a way to turn more users into potential customers.
CRO comes down to a lot of research, testing and data analysis. Experimentation is how you know what works on your website and what doesn’t, so don’t be afraid to ask how you can take something good and make it great.
How users convert on your website can have to do with content, design and the overall user experience, so tweaking and testing all three (one at time for precise results) of those can be impactful and help your conversion rate. But the best way to do all this testing is with the right tools.
OUR TOP 10 CRO TOOLS FOR 2021
1. Owler: Competitor Data
Owler is a goldmine for data on competitor companies. Owler is a platform that’s chock-full of information on companies across the globe, listing annual revenue, employee count, funding information and their own competitors. You can also subscribe to a daily Owler newsletter that will aggregate the latest news on any companies you follow.
2. Alexa: Traffic Rankings and Competitive Analysis
Alexa from Amazon is a comprehensive research and analysis tool for marketers and sales professionals alike. Beyond SEO keyword research, you can check backlinks, research target audiences, perform an SEO analysis, and a competitive website analysis.
Besides a platform, you can also install the Alexa Chrome extension for free. With this extension, you can get a competitor website’s traffic rank, search analytics, load times and more on the fly for any site you browse.
3. Optinmonster: Powerful Opt-In Form Builders
An “opt-in form” allows users to “opt in” to something. They can be pop-up forms or landing pages on a website for newsletters, alerts and premium content. Users can fill out the form with their email in order to sign up for the newsletter or to access the content.
Optinmonster makes it easy to create opt-in forms and pop ups for your website. The tools come with a drag-and-drop-builder and tons of options to choose from, so you’re free to create whatever you want or need for your website.
4. Crazy Egg: Website Heatmaps
When you A/B test something on your website, you need to have actionable data to make a decision. Crazy Egg will run your website through a heatmap and record user actions on your webpage.
Having a heatmap does two things. First, it shows you what people are clicking on on a webpage. Second, it helps you A/B test more effectively. If users are clicking on a non-clickable region because they think it has a link, then maybe that’s the best place to put a call-to-action button. If users are exiting the page halfway through, you may need to reexamine the page’s content to make sure it isn’t too long. Crazy Egg and any heatmap can help you find out what your users are interacting with and just as importantly, what they’re not.
5. Hotjar: Heatmaps and User Actions
Hotjar is another comprehensive heat map tool for your website or webpage. Hotjar will track users’ movements across a page, showing where people click or where they become disinterested. This is great because when you A/B test new copy, imagery or CTAs, you can see just how effective they are at conversions. On top of visually mapping out your page, you can record user actions and watch them for more comprehensive analysis.
6. HubSpot: the CRM that Does It All
It’s no secret that we’re fans of HubSpot at Designzillas. Their CRM and sales tools can organize your contact records for more effective lead generation and qualification. But their Marketing Hub has unique landing page features that make it easy to build a page and set it live without needing to bring in a developer. You can also build and add forms to your landing pages and test out individual elements on a page for optimizing your conversion rates. It’s easy and requires no code to get started.
7. BigCommerce: Cart Abandonment
Cart abandonment happens when a user adds something to the online shopping cart and leaves the site without completing a purchase. A breathtaking 88 percent of carts are abandoned on average, with the automotive industry seeing an astonishing 96 percent abandonment rate.
BigCommerce’s conversion optimization tool can help prevent abandonment and turn old carts into sales. The tool comes with features to streamline the checkout process and incentivize customers to complete their purchase, putting revenue directly into your bottom line.
8. Google Analytics: Web Traffic and User Data
Google Analytics can do more than just show you how many people are visiting your website. You can drill down into specifics and see what pages are getting the most traffic overall and how many people are leaving without doing anything. All of this data will help you pinpoint which pages need the most optimization across your website. Plus, it’s free!
9. Unbounce: Easy Landing Pages
Like HubSpot, Unbounce makes it beyond easy for you to make landing pages and publish them directly. You can use a template and don’t need any code to build your page. On top of that, the platform comes with AI features to help you analyze your traffic and test variants quickly. If you don’t need a landing page specifically but still want to capture emails, Unbounce has features to create pop-ups and similar tools for CRO.
10. Google Pagespeed: Loading Times
Page speed is a particularly crucial part of the user experience. If your website is too slow to load, users might just leave and go to a competitor’s website instead. Google’s Pagespeed tool will analyze your website’s speed and lay out exactly what you need to do to fix slow pages, displaying comprehensive data points. Getting your site to load as fast as possible goes a long way for boosting your conversion rates, so don’t forget it while you’re optimizing and testing.
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