Data-driven decisions sound great until you realize that the data used was irrelevant. Most businesses fall for this trap, running behind data that might not even be useful. A CRO consultant identifies the correct metrics and benchmarks for a business and optimizes its conversion process.
Since marketing funnels change as audiences evolve, understanding the latest trends is essential for staying ahead of the competition. One of the best ways to adapt is to understand user behavior, which a conversion rate optimization consultant can help with.
However, there’s more to CRO than just data analysis, so sit tight as we explore why businesses should consider hiring a CRO specialist.
By the end of this article, you’ll understand what a CRO consultant does, when you need one, and whether you need an agency level of expertise or a lone consultant.
CRO consultants specialize in helping businesses maximize their conversions by analyzing user behavior and using various techniques to improve the customer experience. They go by different names, such as conversion rate optimization experts or CRO specialists.
Conversion consultants develop the plans for the optimization process and oversee projects, including initial research, lead generation, implementation, and re-testing of the changes.
They’re also responsible for reporting to stakeholders about optimization progress and results. Simply put, the main goal of a CRO specialist is to obtain the best possible results for all your marketing efforts: more leads, conversions, and repeat customers.
In any conversion strategy success story, a CRO consultant will always be involved.
The industry average bounce rate is 50.59%, says a CXL report. Neglecting this statistic means missing out on sales potential. It’s easier to prevent losses than to recover from them, making early optimization crucial. Consider hiring a CRO consultant promptly. That’s why businesses should consider hiring a CRO consultant as soon as possible.
There are early signs that indicate it’s time to hire a CRO consultant. Your conversion rate optimization deserves a professional eye if you encounter any of these scenarios:
A B2B CRO might be your right choice if you don’t see any improvements in the rate of conversions. A stagnant or declining conversion rate is a key indicator that your optimization efforts are not working.
Consultants deal with this issue by using data to identify the root cause. Once they have the answer, they develop strategies and solutions to ensure that your conversions start climbing again. As better conversion rates are the primary goal of any CRO consultant, B2B agencies can rest assured that the right specialist will be able to make a difference.
Obtaining leads for B2B businesses, such as inbound leads from website and landing page visitors, is a complex process that can all go to waste if not managed properly. Some of the reasons leads don’t convert into customers include the following:
A CRO consultant will be able to identify these issues and create strategies that address them. The end result should be an increase in the number of leads generated from a website, as well as improved customer retention rates. In short, you buy the experience of a CRO consultant to ensure that your lead generation efforts are successful.
Your landing page is a visitor’s first impression of your brand. It is vital when trying to increase conversions, as it is the gateway into your sales funnel.
If you are running campaigns and not seeing the desired results, it may be time to assess your landing page’s effectiveness. But it’s not that easy. A CRO consultant can help by analyzing the page design and user experience. They will look for any elements that may be causing friction or confusion for visitors and provide solutions that improve their journey through your website.
Strict monitoring and understanding of landing page fundamentals, such as the headline, copywriting, and CTA buttons, are essential for conversions. CRO consultants have that beneficial knowledge for your website as a whole, helping you identify areas of improvement.
In today’s data-driven market landscape, companies can access a wealth of information about their customers and potential prospects. From web tools like Google Analytics that track user behavior on your website to CRM systems that document customer interactions, the amount of data at our disposal is truly staggering.
However, with so much data available, it can be daunting to sift through it all and make sense of what it means for your business.
Understanding complex datasets demands both technical expertise and strategic insight—qualities that many entrepreneurs and small businesses may lack in-house and even large companies sometimes struggle to find.
For instance, you might see high traffic numbers but low conversion rates. Or perhaps visitors are spending a lot of time on one particular page but then leaving without taking any action – these scenarios require careful analysis to determine the underlying issues and how they can be addressed effectively.
This is where CRO consulting services come into play. These professionals are skilled at analyzing large volumes of data with the latest tools – like Tableau, SAS, and Google Analytics 4 – and translating them into actionable insights for improving conversions. They can help identify trends or patterns you might have missed and provide recommendations based on solid evidence rather than gut instinct.
User experience is a crucial factor in determining how likely visitors are to convert from your website and landing page. It pertains not just to the usability of your platform but also encompasses aspects such as site speed, mobile optimization, intuitive navigation, and engaging content.
Suppose visitors struggle with slow loading times or find it difficult to navigate through your site due to confusing layouts or poor design choices. In that case, they will likely leave without converting – no matter how compelling your products or services might be.
For example, a study by Google found that bounce rates skyrocketed by 32% when page load times increased from one second to three seconds. Similarly, according to Forrester Research’s survey results, around 77% of customers think valuing their time is the most important thing a company can do while providing online service.
A proficient CRO consultant can help improve these factors significantly. They have the skills and knowledge needed for conducting thorough UX audits, which involve critical evaluation of every touchpoint in the user journey from the landing page to the final conversion points.
Are you noticing a consistently low return on your ad spend? If you’re driving targeted traffic through well-crafted ads but still fail to convert these leads into customers, the problem likely lies within your site.
Visitors might be interested enough to click on your ad, but something about the webpage they land upon is causing them to abandon their journey before converting. This could be due to reasons such as irrelevant content, confusing navigation, poor design aesthetics, or lack of compelling CTAs.
Research by WordStream suggests that companies with more than 40 landing pages generate a whopping twelve times more leads than those with one to five landing pages. It emphasizes the importance of having multiple conversion-optimized landing pages tailored for different buyer personas and stages of the customer journey.
A CRO consultant can help identify potential bottlenecks that are hampering conversions despite high-quality traffic – they’ll analyze visitor behavior on your site using various analytics tools and suggest improvements based on data-driven insights.
High bounce rates and low time-on-site are two metrics that indicate visitors are not finding what they’re looking for on your landing page and website, or worse – they don’t like what they see.
A high bounce rate means that a large percentage of visitors leave your site after viewing just one page, indicating a mismatch between their expectations (based on the source from which they arrived) and the reality of your site content. Meanwhile, low time-on-site suggests users aren’t engaging with your content or exploring it enough – both of these can severely impact conversion potential.
With the help of an expert CRO consultant, you can identify why users are bouncing off so quickly by leveraging analytics tools to track user behavior patterns alongside conducting qualitative research methods like user surveys or interviews for gaining deeper insights into customer preferences.
Here, tactics are designed specifically to reduce friction during final conversions.
Even the most well-intentioned optimization efforts can fall flat if they’re not rooted in a solid understanding of your audience’s needs and expectations. If you’ve been making changes to your website or marketing strategies but aren’t noticing a significant improvement, it could be because you’re not focusing on the right areas or using ineffective tactics.
The above comments serve us the perspective of people who are actually involved in the CRO process, where Getuplead is a PPC agency, and Apexure is a CRO agency.
A CRO consultant can help by objectively reviewing your current efforts and identifying areas for improvement. Their expertise lies in pinpointing why certain strategies might not work and suggesting more effective alternatives that align better with user behavior.
Let’s take the example of a software company that has invested time and resources into redesigning its product landing page, but free trial sign-ups have not increased noticeably.
A CRO expert may find that, while the new design looks modern and slick, it lacks clear information about how its product solves user problems or fails to address common objections potential users might have before signing up for a trial. Recommending solutions such as adding customer testimonials, explainer videos, or detailed feature benefits could turn around these underperforming metrics.
To give you a quicker glance at what a CRO consultant can do, here’s a table about what covers their scope of work and what doesn’t:
“The duration of CRO consultant involvement in a project depends on the project's scope, complexity, and traffic levels, as sufficient data is required to achieve statistically significant results.”
CRO specialists will go as far as turning your business into a goldmine. From comprehending your product/service to giving you a detailed analysis of your website, landing pages, and consumers, CRO consultants can give you an in-depth understanding of what works and what doesn’t in the entire buyer journey.
To do so, conversion rate optimization consultants engage in several tasks:
A complicated user interface, conflicting calls-to-action, and other user-experience problems could be preventing your website from converting. A CRO consultant can help you identify these issues and suggest solutions to make the overall experience more pleasant. This requires data analysis done through heatmap tools, surveys, and A/B testing. Overall, one cannot deny the importance of a smooth user experience for conversions.
Testing comes after the analysis phase. It’s during this stage that specialists craft solutions to address user experience issues and make sure strategies are in place for further user testing and optimization. CRO consultants also set the KPIs for these tests to track the progress and measure success in the elements improved.
Controlled experiments are the best way to draw conclusions about user behavior and make data-driven decisions. Conversion optimization consultants sit down with stakeholders and brainstorm ideas for tests that would be the foundations of optimization.
Once testing has begun, the CRO consultant will oversee the entire process through the use of statistical analysis and data interpretation. They will spot patterns in the results that can be used to make decisions about optimization strategies.
At the end of the tests, a comprehensive report will be prepared that highlights what worked and what didn’t. Valuable insights will be shared together with future recommendations to keep the optimization process moving. Some of these recommendations may include further experiments to be done or changes in implementation, website elements, or customer experience.
At the heart of all CRO activities lies a focus on insights and testing strategies. The next steps of optimization are based on the results and analysis performed. CRO consultants will have a deep understanding of how to interpret patterns, identify trends, and formulate strategies for further optimization.
Overall, consultants can do wonders for your business by creating an effective user journey that leads to an increase in conversion rate. To give you a quicker glance at what they can do, here’s a table about what covers their scope of work and what doesn’t:
When looking for an increase in conversion rate, hiring a CRO consultant or a CRO agency can make a significant difference. Both options offer valuable expertise and insights to enhance your website’s performance and drive more conversions. However, understanding the differences between the two will help you make an informed decision that aligns with your specific business needs. Let’s explore whether a CRO consultant or CRO agency is the right fit for you.
One key consideration when deciding between a CRO consultant and a CRO agency is the range of services they provide. CRO consultants generally offer a more personalized approach, focusing specifically on your business’s unique needs. They work closely with your team, providing hands-on guidance and tailored strategies. On the other hand, CRO agencies, along with everything a CRO consultant offers, also offer a broader suite of services, including copywriting, design, and development. They can take your CRO strategy from start to finish, providing a comprehensive solution for your business.
The experimentation process is a crucial aspect of CRO that can vary between consultants and agencies. CRO consultants typically adopt a more agile approach, conducting smaller-scale tests and iterating quickly based on the results. This allows for rapid optimization and adaptability.
In contrast, CRO agencies often have access to a larger team and more resources, allowing them to conduct more extensive and complex experiments. They may have the ability to run multiple tests simultaneously, leading to more comprehensive data analysis and insights.
Budget considerations play a significant role in deciding whether to hire a CRO consultant or an agency. CRO consultants tend to be more cost-effective for small businesses, as they often have lower overhead costs compared to agencies. Additionally, consultants often provide flexible pricing options, allowing you to choose services based on your budget and specific requirements.
On the other hand, CRO agencies might have higher costs due to their larger team and comprehensive range of services. However, it’s essential to weigh the potential return on investment when making your decision.
Experience and expertise are vital factors to consider when choosing between a CRO consultant and a CRO agency. CRO consultants often have specialized knowledge in conversion optimization, honed through years of experience working on various projects. Their expertise can provide valuable insights and strategies tailored specifically to your business.
CRO agencies may have a broader range of experience working with diverse industries and clients, however. This broader exposure can bring fresh perspectives and innovative ideas to enhance your conversion rate.
Both CRO consultants and CRO agencies offer unique benefits, and the choice ultimately depends on your specific business needs. If you are looking for a personalized approach, hands-on guidance, and a focused strategy, a CRO consultant may be the right choice for you. However, if you need a more comprehensive solution, access to a larger team, and complete implementation of your CRO strategy, a CRO agency becomes a more appealing option.
Apexure has been a conversion optimization consultant for nearly a decade. Working with many different industries, we’ve learned a lot. This experience led us to create our own CRO framework, EPIC, which helps us analyze our clients’ websites, landing pages, and other web pages more critically.
Our CRO Framework functions on CRO’s four most crucial aspects. It executes this framework using UI/UX and sales funnel expertise.
Here’s how it functions.
It focuses on experimenting with new ideas and learning the potential of each test. This aspect helps us challenge our previous beliefs and work on all projects with a fresh perspective. Using a scale of 1-10, we try to understand how nuanced a proposed experimentation is, with one being safe and ten being highly innovative.
Websites and landing pages are built with many elements, and optimizing them all takes a lot of time. Hence, under EPIC, we prioritize each task based on the impact and cost it requires. It helps us determine the tasks that might take less time and significantly improve the targeted metrics.
We calculate how a particular experiment might impact the KPIs overall. For example, changing the button color might be more impactful than changing the footer of a landing page, so likewise, priority is given under the impact aspect.
The cost here doesn’t imply money but rather something even more valuable than that: time. Every experimentation requires time to showcase analyzation-worthy results. From the initial hypothesis building to final testing, it takes time to achieve a dependable outcome. Therefore, time is also a factor that we consider in our EPIC CRO framework when it comes to prioritization.
This framework has allowed us to deliver amazing client results over time.
While a CRO consultant can certainly assist in identifying reasons behind underperforming landing pages, a CRO agency is better equipped to provide comprehensive solutions through the integration of redesigning, analysis, implementation, and optimization services.
By leveraging their expertise and resources, CRO experts can deliver robust and effective solutions to improve the overall performance of landing pages and maximize conversion rates.
Apexure has 100+ blog posts on landing pages and CRO that can help you understand how to navigate your CRO journey. From analysis to optimization, we have shared everything.
A dependable CRO partner is crucial to achieve your dream conversion rate. Take the help of experts. Book a call and we will get in touch to discuss the right strategy for you.
Learn how we have helped our clients take control of their conversion rate through a combination of smart UX and CRO. our case studies are filled with CRO insights.
A CRO consultant analyzes websites, landing pages, and other digital platforms to identify barriers to conversion and proposes strategies to improve conversion rates.
As CEO and Founder of Apexure, Waseem Bashir's decade-old experience in building high-converting landing pages extends to collaborations with Fortune 500 leaders. From free to paid he has tried his hands on all landing page builder tools and knows just the right fit for every business. Read more
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