Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) … is the difference between browsers and buyers.
You see, all CRO comes down to one, simple goal: to let people do what they want on your website as simply, smoothly, and as best they can. In other words, to get them to click.
And to get them to click, you have two options: guesswork or data. As helpful and well meaning as they might be, expert opinions, best practices, even third-party case studies all fall into the first category, guesswork.
You need data—real numbers from real users on your real site.
Now sure, lots of us A/B test headlines, subject lines, images, calls to action, and even entire layouts. But, the most overlooked and underutilized element of CRO is screen size and resolution.
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What’s the Story on Screen Resolution?
The reality is today’s digital shopper is using a host of devices to view your website and emails. That means, a one-size-fits-all approach to screen sizes and resolutions simply won’t work.
Here’s a quick glance at just how diverse and developed these sizes and resolutions are.
Back in 2009, computer screens were a mere 1024 x 768 pixels, or in widescreen format, 1366 x 768. The original iPhone had a screen resolution of 320 x 480.
Oh, how things have changed!
Gone are the days of 800 x 600 (or worse) 14-inch screens. Your users want to view your website on devices ranging from a 3” smartphone to 46” smart TV and every possible size in between.
The size of the standard desktop monitor is growing. Amazon’s top-10 list of monitors only includes one sub-20” model, while most are 21 to 27”. A few years ago a 19” monitor was the exception, but now it is considered sub-par.
So called “other” devices are also on the rise, showing us that there is no such thing as a few standard resolutions, but a multitude of different ones that we need to consider.
So too, smartphone screens have grown, with manufacturers and users settling for 5” as the new norm. The chart below shows how the screen sizes of new phones have changed since 2007.
The iPhone 6, for example, has 1334 x 750 pixels on a 5-inch screen — that’s far more than even the standard 14” computer screen in 2009.
Tablets with sizes from 7” to 20” have also created a whole new market sector and are poised to replace laptops within two years in most markets.
Sure, you can go laissez-faire, but if you want to ensure results, optimization is the way to go. Don’t leave things to chance.
What Are the Implications for Optimization?
All this means there is no longer a one-size-fits-all approach for your digital content. Even a simple site metrics tool like Google Analytics should help you determine your target audience’s mix of screen size used, which can help you act accordingly to ensure the most impact.
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However, it’s not enough to know the percentage of readers who accesses your site on mobile. One good starting point for conversion optimization is measuring and understanding what is happening on your current web pages and email newsletters.
Website Optimization
This is where Crazy Egg comes in. No other optimization tool gives you so much for so little. Crazy Egg web page heatmaps are priceless to anyone optimizing their site for conversions.
There are a few other tools you can use to measure how effectively your web pages are converting.
TrenDemon
Users take thousands of different routes through your website. TrenDemon finds the routes that are most profitable and automatically brings more of your visitors onto them using personalized content recommendations and calls to action, which can boost conversion.
This insight allows you to identify top converting pages and paths, so you can make better decisions about which content to create in order to achieve the best ROI. This include topic and length, as well as the best sources and networks for promotion.
Google Content Experiments
If you want to test the effects of different web pages on your conversion rate, then Content Experiments from Google is a phenomenal and free tool. You will need Google Analytics installed on your site.
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This is the simplest way to run A/B randomized tests of your content pages, to see how varying your content (including headlines, length, topics, and other factors) will affect impact. You can then use Crazy Egg to find the hotspots on each page.
Email Optimization
There are two aspects of email optimization that you need to consider:
- Making sure that your emails are targeted to the right users
- Organizing the content of each email to maximize conversions
Segmenting your list is the key to targeting your emails.
Responsive email design is the key to organizing your email content.
Statistics on mobile email marketing tell us that up to 70% of emails are opened on mobile devices. If your newsletter looks bad, many users will delete it rather than struggle. The chances of anyone opening it again on a bigger screen are very slim. You must make it look good on anything from a 3” smartphone screen to an 11” tablet screen.
GetResponse
Email analytics allow you to segment your list very easily. This could be done according to location, so you can send US-only offers to US subscribers. If you were to send these offers to subscribers in other countries,those subscribers would rapidly become dissatisfied and might even unsubscribe.
You could segment your email list according to the time previous emails were opened or whether previous emails were opened at all. There are many possibilities.
GetResponse also gives you hundreds of responsive email templates, which ensure optimal readability regardless of screen size or resolution. It is always easier to change the colors or layout using a template than start from scratch.
Conclusion
These tools essentially help you keep track of your audience’s behavior, enabling you to optimize your content to be readable on any device. That’s invaluable for conversion optimizers — t’s the only way to ensure your message reaches the intended audience and persuades them to act.
Start by digging into your analytics. Once you’ve found the pages that need optimizing, adapt them to be readable on any screen size and optimize for conversions. Make sure you’re using a responsive theme or develop a mobile version of your site.
But remember, this isn’t a once-and-done project. Device trends change, screen sizes and user experiences fluctuate, and your website or email will need to look beautiful as well as be useful in order to convert browsers into buyers.
Of course, it would be a good idea to start with a design that already incorporates best practices, so it’s easier to optimize. Take a hint from some of these sample landing pages, which can be a good starting point, using designs and techniques that have already proven success.
Over to You
Have you checked your user statistics? What screen sizes and resolutions are people using to view your website? What tools are you using to optimize for conversions? Please share your thinking using the comments box below.
