After studying 1,000 information flow landing pages, we summarized 5 conversion rate optimization tips

Conversion is the key factor in paid promotion . If you don’t actually convert traffic into users, why are you advertising?

Conversion rate optimization strategies can help conversion students find growth points for conversions and maximize the impact of every penny spent on PPC ( pay-per-click advertising ). But what is a good conversion rate? If your conversion rate has reached 3%, 5%, or even 10%, how can you continue to improve it?

We recently analyzed tens of millions of AdWords accounts that collectively spend $3 billion per year. We found that some advertisers were able to achieve conversion rates 2-3 times the average. Do you want to be average, or far superior to your competitors in the same industry?

Through big data analysis , we can find some commonalities among high-conversion landing pages, many of which are different from typical conversion rate increase strategies.

This article will introduce replicable conversion rate growth strategies that are proven and feasible in the market, including:

• Why the traditional approach to conversion rate optimization doesn’t work
• What is a good conversion rate?
• What’s the secret to a top-notch landing page ?

Why don’t traditional methods work?

If you do the same thing as everyone else, it will be hard to rise above average.

There is a fairy tale about conversion rate optimization. Once upon a time, a self-proclaimed marketing guru told you that optimizing your website is extremely important.

They shared an example where a guru changed the button color, or the font spacing, or the banner image. Then present the growth numbers, showing that paid advertising increased conversion rates by 2-7%.

Amazing, right!

This is the most basic A/B testing experiment and should be done continuously. In this way, the conversion rate may be slightly improved, but it is difficult to reach a figure above 10%.

Let’s take a look at some examples to see what benefits these small adjustments on the page can bring. Below is an example of an A/B test for a landing page. The grey line at the bottom is version A running, and the blue line is the corresponding version B. At first, the new page far surpasses the old one. Great, right?

But we can see that the gap between the two versions does not last too long, and the data of the two pages will eventually stabilize. We ran 20-30 of these experiments simultaneously, and came to what we call the “Immature Testing Dilemma”:

The new solution will be ahead of the old solution in the early stage of launch, but the data of the new solution will drop quickly, and eventually the two will become the same.

We found that in most cases, small changes, such as line spacing, font color, etc., equate to small gains.

Why does this happen?

This is because the total volume of most A/B tests is small, and if there are 50, 100, or even 200 test points throughout the test, then each small change can add up to a larger impact.

You can continue to focus on some details when it comes to landing page optimization, but the impact of this change will be small.

What is a good conversion rate?

Conventional wisdom holds that a good conversion rate is somewhere between 2% and 5%. The change from 2% to 4% may seem like a leap, but in fact it is just hovering around the average level.

In this analysis, we analyzed the last 3 months of data for all accounts. We removed accounts with incorrect settings, low conversion volume (<10 conversions/month), and low usage (<100 clicks/month) from the data, leaving us with data from a few hundred accounts.

So what is a good conversion rate?

About a quarter of all accounts have conversion rates below 1%, and the median is 2.35%, but the top 25% of accounts have 5.31% and the top 10% have 11.45%.

The data above is not the landing page conversion rate, but the paid conversion rate.

Clearly, high conversion rates are achievable. If you currently have a 5% conversion rate, you are outperforming 75% of advertisers, but there is still a lot of room for growth. When setting a conversion rate goal, aim for 10%, 20% or even higher.

It’s entirely possible, and here’s what we found when analyzing conversion rate data for four major industries:

As you can see, the average conversion rate for e-commerce is much lower, especially when compared to the financial industry. However, the top 10% of accounts have conversion rates that are 3 to 5 times higher than the average for their industry. So you can see that no matter which industry, it is true that the top conversion rate is 3-5 times higher than the average conversion rate.

So, don’t just focus on the absolute value of the conversion rate, but also compare the conversion rate with industry data. Even if the average conversion rate for the industry as a whole is lower, the top products can be 3-5 times higher than the average.

What’s the secret to a top-notch landing page?

What do the top 10% of landing pages look like? How do they beat the competition?

We conducted a qualitative analysis of data from 1,000 landing pages to find out the common characteristics of the best performing landing pages on the market.

Here are our top 5 tips:

1. Provide users with more choices

We see a lot of creativity and differentiation on all the great landing pages. Landing pages usually just provide users with a default option, such as: lawyer products will provide free consultations, software companies will provide free trials, such landing pages tend to be mediocre.

In our case, we realized that offering the prospect a free trial of our WordScript software wasn't very effective. We have to think outside the box and not just give users a trial license.

Our approach was the free AdWords Grader, which actually gave users an account assessment report and made recommendations to help them improve their AdWords strategy, and that was a huge turning point for us.

Additionally, we added a field to the landing page form to collect what users really need, rather than a free software trial. Brainstorming and soliciting suggestions from users will bring unexpected ideas.

2. Change the product process

Sometimes, you can inadvertently create barriers to user conversion.

In the example above, you can see how much information the first landing page version required the user to fill out before downloading the trial software. Obviously, for most users, this experience is too bad.

Below you’ll see the brand new landing page where the product changed the process so that anyone can download and install the file. At the very last step, users are asked to register the software, and by this time, they have already spent 10 or 15 minutes downloading the software and are more likely to fill out the form.

This approach worked so well that they were overwhelmed by conversions. They ended up stepping back a little bit and finding more qualified leads by signing up for information a week later, by downloading it, once their prospects had time to sit down and learn about their software.

In the example below, the landing page does not provide a search box, but instead provides specific options for specific users, giving the user the power of choice.

So finding the landing page recommendation flow that best suits your product is key.

3. Use remarketing as a CRO tool

On average, 96% of users will never visit or pay again.

Remarketing helps products deliver information to specific users in a targeted manner . Remarketing scenarios include but are not limited to email, watching YouTube videos, using social networks , using search engines , etc.

4. Try 10 landing pages to find the one with the highest conversion rate

Even with the same functionality, the conversion rates between landing pages vary greatly:

Sometimes we get lucky and the first landing page performs well. But if you want to maintain a good conversion rate, you need to keep improving —> testing —> improving.

Generally speaking, you should test at least 3 different landing pages: one that offers different options, one that offers different product flows, and one that offers different messaging. If you want your landing page to be at the top of the industry , you need to test at least 10 versions of your landing page.

In the example below, we tested 1,000 e-commerce landing pages and found that 80% of the traffic was concentrated on 10% of the landing pages:

You don’t need to test hundreds of landing pages; just find the best performing ones and keep improving them. When it comes to conversion growth, quantity of landing pages does not equal quality.

5. Don’t just focus on conversion rates

Conversion rate is only one of the profit directions of a product, but the core point of the product should still be its function and user experience. If you only focus on conversion rates, you are just throwing money on the street.

The landing page and conversion rate should be consistent with the product goals and product tone. This is the correct iteration direction.

Source: GrowingIO