Cloud IQ are the conversion optimisation experts.

It has recently been predicted that conversion optimisation is the next big thing in marketing.

Forrester Consulting was asked by Google to survey 150 marketing, analytics and IT executives to get an idea of the measurement challenges they encounter, and experts have now anticipated a shift in marketing spend towards conversion optimisation for 2017.

Why conversion optimisation?

With so much information about customers available to businesses nowadays, it makes sense to look towards measuring their behaviour and habits. By doing so, businesses can gain a deeper understanding of the customer journey and engagement.

By gaining this insight, businesses can start to make small changes that will encourage customers to complete their journey all the way to purchase, and therefore convert visitors and increase revenue.

For every $100 spent on acquisition, just $1 is spent converting those prospects into customers. Yet a tiny increase in conversion can result in a significant revenue gain. So it makes financial sense to focus budgets on converting customers, rather than driving more customers.

The key to having a successful ecommerce site is getting customers to buy your products, which is easier when you use excellent online visual merchandising to your advantage. Merchandising is familiarizing clients with your products and making those products as appealing as possible. Visual elements like pictures and video clips are the best online conversion tools in your arsenal, as a website owner. You cannot display products on shelves as you would in a brick-and-mortar building, but you can accomplish the same goal in a different way through online visual merchandising. Grouping images that are similar, for instance, can encourage your customers to buy multiple products or click through to additional pages of your website, where they will find even more products to buy.

How does conversion optimisation work?

There are plenty of good providers out there these days who can provide the right tools and expertise to boost conversion. These companies focus on sophisticated software, effective processes and a focus on A/B testing.

They use site analytics tools to identify weak spots, on-site remarketing tools to increase engagement and off-site remarketing to re-engage with customers that have abandoned the site.

The idea is that these small changes and tweaks can deliver big results, turning browsers into buyers and maximising sales.

With today’s technology becoming cheaper and much more advanced, it is clear conversion optimisation is a simple, cost effective way to acquire customers and boost online sales.

As the Forrester report reveals, it’s essential that companies get their data and tech in order to support a conversion led approach to achieve maximum growth through 2017 and beyond.

There’s no doubt that e-commerce businesses should keep a keen eye on how their website visitors are treated during and after their site visit, to ensure every touchpoint is opitmised for conversion.