Minor tweaks typically result in minor improvements. This was just one of the many insightful truths about conversion rate optimization (CRO) that Larry shared in his widely-read blog post titled “Everything You Know About Conversion Rate Optimization Rate is Wrong_._” While changing your landing page’s button from orange to green might yield a slight improvement, it’s likely to be insignificant. Data indicates that minor enhancements resulting from small modifications tend to revert back to the average over time.

Therefore, even if the initial results appear encouraging, they are often short-lived. The real high achievers – those consistently achieving conversion rates exceeding 10% – are employing a completely different strategy. What are these top performers doing to boost conversions that you’re not? Let’s explore the three key areas to concentrate on – and none of them involve changing your button color or other minor A/B tests.

1. Enhance Your Offer

Free trials, discount codes, and complimentary consultations. These are three elements your website likely shares with countless other product, ecommerce, and service websites. This presents a problem because, as Larry emphasized in his article, high-performing landing pages are characterized by exceptionally innovative and distinctive offers. It’s safe to say that if your primary offer is unoriginal and lacks a unique selling proposition, the design of your landing page becomes practically irrelevant. Without a compelling value proposition, it’s impossible to persuade visitors to convert. Instead, you need a unique offer that serves as the foundation for everything else. This realization was the driving force behind the creation of the AdWords Performance Grader.

Marketing graders and similar calculator-style offers have become prevalent in the marketing landscape. They are effective because they provide individuals with:

• A fast, effortless assessment of their current performance
• Comparative data to see how they stack up against others
• A tailored action plan with recommendations for improvement In essence, they handle the heavy lifting and furnish potential customers with an immediate solution to a challenge. In return, the company obtains basic user data to initiate lead nurturing efforts. Another excellent example (which this post shared with me by Brian Sun) is Lowe’s Lawn Care Plan.

This interactive tool assists individuals in designing their lawns (for those unfamiliar, lawns are areas of ground covered in grass) according to their preferred aesthetic, even accounting for local climate conditions (which also provides Lowe’s with your zip code). After answering a few simple questions, users receive instant answers and a personalized, step-by-step plan for enhancing the quality of their lawns. They also include a prominent email subscription call-to-action at the bottom of the page, encouraging users to sign up for reminders.

Both of these interactive tools prioritize the primary concern or pain point that individuals face initially. They use this compelling hook to capture attention before gradually building interest and ultimately demonstrating how their products or services can address the identified problem. This final example is entirely different, as it focuses on large-scale, commercial real estate dealings. However, the overarching objective remains consistent. When new businesses are establishing or relocating warehouses (for product storage), their primary concerns when seeking vendors are availability and cost. Factors that cause delays or inflate expenses jeopardize their project timeline or budget. Therefore, when my company collaborated with United Material Handling to revamp their website, we aimed to bring their internal inventory system to the forefront, enabling customers to browse their product catalog and receive instant feedback.

Customers can simply select a Part Type and the desired Condition (New or Used) to generate results. For instance, if they chose Carton Flow and Used, this is what they would see next:

These are the results they obtain:

1. Sizing: Users can scroll through the available sizes to find their exact requirements.
2. Quantity: They can input their desired quantity, and the system displays the current in-stock availability for immediate shipping.
3. Price Estimate: Users receive an approximate pricing estimate based on the chosen product type, condition, size, and quantity. If satisfied with the information, they can immediately “submit” it to the company for a formal quote (or continue browsing, similar to an ecommerce experience). Despite the variations in execution and context, the core principle remains constant: Identify what matters most to customers (based on their most significant pain points) and devise a way to provide them with a sample solution (leading to your products or services).

2. Evaluate Your Conversion Funnels

A compelling offer should provide you with something valuable to share, promote, and attract new leads at an accelerated rate. This flywheel momentum brings us to the next crucial step: “Pinpoint the obstacles hindering prospect conversions and eliminate these roadblocks by modifying the flow. Experiment with different variations to determine the most effective conversion path for your target audience.” Friction is a critical concept to remember when aiming to enhance conversions. Generally, less is more; meaning, the fewer steps, fields, or pages needed to complete a transaction, the better. For example, instead of requiring users to navigate through Shop and Product pages before adding their desired item to the cart, you can feature these popular items on your homepage, streamlining the process and eliminating unnecessary steps.

Marketing Experiments tested and validated this theory by initially examining what occurs when customers are subjected to seven (!) steps before subscribing.

As expected, the results were dismal. Zero registrations. A tiny fraction (1.88%) even initiated the lengthy sign-up procedure. They then experimented with reducing this to four (and subsequently three) steps to assess if it positively impacted conversions.

The outcome? A simple reduction from four steps to three (eliminating one page) resulted in a conversion rate increase of 32.35% (from 0.34% to 0.45%). However… There’s always a caveat. Introducing additional friction isn’t always detrimental. In some cases, it can be beneficial. For instance, Moz has found discovered that their most valuable customers are those who visit their website at least eight (!) times. These users demonstrate greater engagement, while those who convert quickly lack the necessary time, patience, or comprehension to utilize Moz’s tools effectively and tend to churn quickly. This aspect is entirely dependent on your business model and necessitates thorough testing (ideally much earlier than any basic landing page A/B test). When examining individual pages within this “conversion flow,” other elements can impact success. Ideally, you should provide users with an indication of their current position within the conversion process and the steps required to reach the final goal. This can be achieved explicitly, as demonstrated by Amazon’s checkout page, which consolidates essential steps like Shipping and Billing onto a single page.

Alternatively, you can achieve this subtly by providing visual cues that help users understand their current location and the path to completion.

Obstacles or issues can arise along the way, potentially derailing users. For example, one website displays a lightbox with legal disclaimers BEFORE users can even add items to their cart.

While legally necessary, the nature and tone of these warnings – presented at this early stage – might create hesitation among some users. However, positioning this step at the end, AFTER adding items to the cart but BEFORE completing the purchase, would likely minimize its potential negative impact.

3. Leverage Remarketing!

It’s almost certain that NOBODY is paying attention to your display ads. Today’s 86% of consumers are experiencing banner blindness. As always, the solution isn’t to bombard users with more ads but rather to present them with better, more effective ads. Ads that are more relevant, personalized, and well-timed: This is where remarketing comes in. Studies show that Three out of five individuals notice these ads. Remarketing can significantly improve previously dismal ad performance, even leading to raise 400%. Larry concurs, stating: “Utilize remarketing to re-engage the 98% of individuals who showed interest but didn’t convert.” A few years ago, Larry presented this information at Inbound, highlighting how remarketing is less susceptible to ad fatigue over time.

Using tools like Google’s Customer Journey to Online Purchase tool, you can gain insights into how (and where) remarketing display ads influence purchases within your industry. For instance, you can observe how remarketing display ads for small beauty and fitness ecommerce businesses impact customer purchases – specifically, AFTER they’ve had the opportunity to explore and familiarize themselves with the brand’s products.

If you’re unsure where to start, consider these common remarketing audiences and scenarios applicable to most industries:

1. Recent New Visitors: Individuals who recently visited your site but bounced might be interested in related content that raises awareness about the need for a product or service like yours.
2. Product/Service Viewed (or Added to Cart) But Not Purchased: These individuals have expressed some interest but aren’t ready to commit. **(**Explore additional strategies to combat cart abandonment.)
3. Upsells to Recent Customers: After acquiring a new customer, introduce them to supplementary products or services that enhance their initial purchase. The second audience mentioned above, those who demonstrate intent but don’t purchase, presents a particularly intriguing opportunity. You know they’re evaluating your offerings but haven’t converted for a specific reason (or simply aren’t ready to buy). This segment holds immense potential. Offering a lower-commitment option to individuals who aren’t prepared to make a purchase can be an effective way to widen your sales funnel and enhance future conversions through improved lead nurturing. Remarketing helps re-engage these individuals (who would otherwise be lost) by presenting them with a less demanding offer (like those discussed in Section #1). This simple adjustment can lead to significant improvements in cost-per-click (CPC). In one instance, we observed a 62% reduction in CPCs simply by modifying the messaging and offer for remarketing ads.

Facebook’s Dynamic Product Ads combine aspects of Google Shopping Campaigns and remarketing, providing increased relevancy and reach. You create a product feed (similar to Google Shopping) that fuels your Dynamic Product Ads database.

(image source) You then establish an ad template to dynamically pull this data and customize each retargeted Facebook ad based on the specific products viewed on your website.

(image source) The result? Enhanced relevancy, timing, and personalization – the key ingredients for combating and overcoming banner blindness. For example, The Honest Company saw reported a 34% increase in click-through rates and a 38% decrease in cost-per-conversion utilizing this new remarketing feature (compared to their standard Facebook ad costs).

The Effective Approach to Increasing Conversions

While the average conversion rate hovers around 2%, the outliers – those consistently achieving 10% or higher – aren’t simply experimenting with button colors. They focus on BIG changes because they understand that small tweaks typically yield minimal results. Instead of relying on generic offers, they test multiple offers that address specific customer pain points and challenges. Instead of fixating on a single landing page, they meticulously analyze how changes to their entire conversion flow impact their bottom line. Instead of limiting prospects to a single conversion opportunity, they utilize remarketing ads to re-engage them with more relevant, personalized ads delivered at the optimal moment. While a simple A/B test might produce positive results, most don’t. Although these larger-scale strategies demand more time and effort, the resulting increase in conversions makes it well worth the investment.