Conversion Rate Optimization Stumbles on Content Personalization, Multivariate Testing
Converting website visits to sales leads and revenue is the cornerstone of digital marketing, but Ascend2’s new “Conversion Rate Optimization” survey results show about one-third of companies do not have a successful strategy in place.
The lack of an effective strategy for conversion rate optimization was named a significant barrier to success for 61 percent of marketers. According to the data, content personalization and multivariate testing were at once the most effective tactics and the most challenging to implement successfully.
“Converting website visitors is an art and a science. While A/B testing, a top tactic for 54 percent of companies, is a science, content personalization (51 percent) and responsive design (40 percent) is an art,” the authors of the study wrote.
The study shows, however, that marketers expect effectiveness to improve. Ninety percent of respondents say conversion rate optimization effectiveness is increasing to some degree, with 30 percent saying it’s increasing significantly.
In a ranking of the most important goals for conversion rate optimization, increasing website leads/sales (89 percent) and increasing marketing ROI (69 percent) topped the list. Improving content relevance (41 percent) and identifying anonymous visitors (28 percent) also have priority, the data shows.
Marketers Need to Rethink Content Personalization
A study released in May 2016 found that more marketers were focused on content personalization, but not all of their customers are positively responding to the move.
Nearly half (43 percent) of content consumers do not believe online marketing ads are tailored to their interests, according to Rapt Media’s “Rethinking Content Consumption” report. Instead, 62 percent say that the content they discover on their own is more personalized.
The data shows millennials are more open to personalized content; 30 percent of millennial respondents said they would tell friends about a company if they delivered them personalized content. This compares to just 18 percent of respondents between the ages of 30 and 60.