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• A Guide to Bank Customer Segmentation

  18 juillet 2024, par Erin

  Banking customers are more diverse, complex, and demanding than ever. As a result, banks have to work harder to win their loyalty, with 75% saying they would switch to a bank that better fits their needs.

  The problem is banking customers’ demands are increasingly varied amid economic uncertainties, increased competition, and generational shifts.

  If banks want to retain their customers, they can’t treat them all the same. They need a bank customer segmentation strategy that allows them to reach specific customer groups and cater to their unique demands.

  What is customer segmentation ?

  Customer segmentation divides a customer base into distinct groups based on shared characteristics or behaviours.

  This allows companies to analyse the behaviours and needs of different customer groups. Banks can use these insights to target segments with relevant marketing throughout the customer cycle, e.g., new customers, inactive customers, loyal customers, etc.

  You combine data points from multiple segmentation categories to create a customer segment. The most common customer segmentation categories include :

  • Demographic segmentation
  • Website activity segmentation
  • Geographic segmentation
  • Purchase history segmentation
  • Product-based segmentation
  • Customer lifecycle segmentation
  • Technographic segmentation
  • Channel preference segmentation
  • Value-based segmentation

  

  By combining segmentation categories, you can create detailed customer segments. For example, high-value customers based in a particular market, using a specific product, and approaching the end of the lifecycle. This segment is ideal for customer retention campaigns, localised for their market and personalised to satisfy their needs.

  

  Matomo’s privacy-centric web analytics solution helps you capture data from the first visit. Unlike Google Analytics, Matomo doesn’t use data sampling (more on this later) or AI to fill in data gaps. You get 100% accurate data for reliable insights and customer segmentation.

  Try Matomo for Free

  Get the web insights you need, without compromising data accuracy.

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  Why is customer segmentation important for banks ?

  Customer segmentation allows you to address the needs of specific groups instead of treating all of your customers the same. This has never been more important amid a surge in bank switching, with three in four customers ready to switch to a provider that better suits their needs.

  Younger customers are the most likely to switch, with 19% of 18-24 year olds changing their primary bank in the past year (PDF).

  Customer expectations are changing, driven by economic uncertainties, declining trust in traditional banking, and the rise of fintech. Even as economic pressures lift, banks need to catch up with the demands of maturing millennials, Gen Z, and future generations of banking customers.

  Switching is the new normal, especially for tech-savvy customers encouraged by an expanding world of digital banking options.

  To retain customers, banks need to know them better and understand how their needs change over time. Customer retention provides the insights banks need to understand these needs at a granular level and the means to target specific customer groups with relevant messages.

  At its core, customer segmentation is essential to banks for two key reasons :

  • Customer retention : Holding on to customers for longer by satisfying their personal needs.
  • Customer lifetime value : Maximising ongoing customer revenue through retention, purchase frequency, cross-selling, and upselling.

  Here are some actionable bank customer segmentation strategies that can achieve these two objectives :

  Prevent switching with segment analysis

  Use customer segmentation to prevent them from switching to rivals by knowing what they want from you. Analyse customer needs and how they change throughout the lifecycle. Third-party data reveals general trends, but what do your customers want ?

  

  Use first-party customer data and segmentation to go beyond industry trends. Know exactly what your customers want from you and how to deliver targeted messages to each segment — e.g., first-time homebuyers vs. retirement planners.

  Keep customers active with segment targeting

  Target customer segments to keep customers engaged and motivated. Create ultra-relevant marketing messages and deliver them with precision to distinct customer segments. Nurture customer motivation by continuing to address their problems and aspirations.

  Improve the quality of services and products

  Knowing your customers’ needs in greater detail allows you to adapt your products and messages to cater to the most important segments. Customers switch banks because they feel their needs are better met elsewhere. Prevent this by implementing customer segmentation insights into product development and marketing.

  Personalise customer experiences by layering segments

  Layer segments to create ultra-specific target customer groups for personalised services and marketing campaigns. For example, top-spending customers are one of your most important segments, but there’s only so much you can do with this. However, you can divide this group into even narrower target audiences by layering multiple segments.

  For example, segmenting top-spending customers by product type can create more relevant messaging. You can also segment recent activity and pinpoint specific usage segments, such as those with a recent drop in transactions.

  Now, you have a three-layered segment of high-spending customers who use specific products less often and whom you can target with re-engagement campaigns.

  Maximise customer lifetime value

  Bringing all of this together, customer segmentation helps you maximise customer lifetime value in several ways :

  • Prevent switching
  • Enhance engagement and motivation
  • Re-engage customers
  • Cross-selling, upselling
  • Personalised customer loyalty incentives

  The longer you retain customers, the more you can learn about them, and the more effective your lifetime value campaigns will be.

  Balancing bank customer segmentation with privacy and marketing regulations

  Of course, customer segmentation uses a lot of data, which raises important legal and ethical questions. First, you need to comply with data and privacy regulations, such as GDPR and CCPA. Second, you also have to consider the privacy expectations of your customers, who are increasingly aware of privacy issues and rising security threats targeting financial service providers.

  If you aim to retain and maximise customer value, respecting their privacy and protecting their data are non-negotiables.

  Regulators are clamping down on finance

  Regulatory scrutiny towards the finance industry is intensifying, largely driven by the rise of fintech and the growing threat of cyber attacks. Not only was 2023 a record-breaking year for finance security breaches but several compromises of major US providers “exposed shortcomings in the current supervisory framework and have put considerable public pressure on banking authorities to reevaluate their supervisory and examination programs” (Deloitte).

  Banks face some of the strictest consumer protections and marketing regulations, but the digital age creates new threats.

  In 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) warned that digital marketers must comply with finance consumer protections when targeting audiences. CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said : “When Big Tech firms use sophisticated behavioural targeting techniques to market financial products, they must adhere to federal consumer financial protection laws.”

  This couldn’t be more relevant to customer segmentation and the tools banks use to conduct it.

  Customer data in the hands of agencies and big tech

  Banks should pay attention to the words of CFPB Director Rohit Chopra when partnering with marketing agencies and choosing analytics tools. Digital marketing agencies are rarely experts in financial regulations, and tech giants like Google don’t have the best track record for adhering to them.

  Google is constantly in the EU courts over its data use. In 2022, the EU ruled that the previous version of Google Analytics violated EU privacy regulations. Google Analytics 4 was promptly released but didn’t resolve all the issues.

  Meanwhile, any company that inadvertently misuses Google Analytics is legally responsible for its compliance with data regulations.

  Banks need a privacy-centric alternative to Google Analytics

  Google’s track record with data regulation compliance is a big issue, but it’s not the only one. Google Analytics uses data sampling, which Google defines as the “practice of analysing a subset of data to uncover meaningful information from a larger data set.”

  This means Google Analytics places thresholds on how much of your data it analyses — anything after that is calculated assumptions. We’ve explained why this is such a problem before, and GA4 relies on data sampling even more than the previous version.

  In short, banks should question whether they can trust Google with their customer data and whether they can trust Google Analytics to provide accurate data in the first place. And they do. 80% of financial marketers say they’re concerned about ad tech bias from major providers like Google and Meta.

  

  Matomo is the privacy-centric alternative to Google Analytics, giving you 100% data ownership and compliant web analytics. With no data sampling, Matomo provides 20-40% more data to help you make accurate, informed decisions. Get the data you need for customer segmentation without putting their data at risk.

  Try Matomo for Free

  Get the web insights you need, without compromising data accuracy.

  Start for free

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  Bank customer segmentation examples

  Now, let’s look at some customer segments you create and layer to target specific customer groups.

  Visit-based segmentation

  Visit segmentation filters audiences based on the pages they visit on your website and the behaviors they exhibit—for example, first-time visitors vs. returning visitors or landing page visitors vs. blog page visitors.

  If you look at HSBC’s website, you’ll see it is structured into several categories for key customer personas. One of its segments is international customers living in the US, so it has pages and resources expats, people working in the US, people studying in the US, etc. 

  

  By combining visit-based segmentation with ultra-relevant pages for specific target audiences, HSBC can track each group’s demand and interest and analyse their behaviours. It can determine which audiences are returning, which products they want, and which messages convert them.

  Demographic segmentation

  Demographic segmentation divides customers by attributes such as age, gender, and location. However, you can also combine these insights with other non-personal data to better understand specific audiences.

  For example, in Matomo, you can segment audiences based on the language of their browser, the country they’re visiting from, and other characteristics. So, in this case, HSBC could differentiate between visitors already residing in the US and those outside of the country looking for information on moving there.

  

  It could determine which countries they’re visiting, which languages to localise for, and which networks to run ultra-relevant social campaigns on.

  Interaction-based segmentation

  Interaction-based segmentation uses events and goals to segment users based on their actions on your website. For example, you can segment audiences who visit specific URLs, such as a loan application page, or those who don’t complete an action, such as failing to complete a form.

  

  With events and goals set up, you can track the actions visitors complete before making purchases. You can monitor topical interests, page visits, content interactions, and pathways toward conversions, which feed into their customer journey.

  From here, you can segment customers based on their path leading up to their first purchase, follow-up purchases, and other actions.

  Purchase-based segmentation

  Purchase-based segmentation allows you to analyse the customer behaviours related to their purchase history and spending habits. For example, you can track the journey of repeat customers or identify first-time buyers showing interest in other products/services.

  You can implement these insights into your cross-selling and upselling campaigns with relevant messages designed to increase retention and customer lifetime value.

  Get reliable website analytics for your bank customer segmentation needs

  With customers switching in greater numbers, banks need to prioritise customer retention and lifetime value. Customer segmentation allows you to target specific customer groups and address their unique needs — the perfect strategy to stop them from moving to another provider.

  Quality, accurate data is the key ingredient of an effective bank customer segmentation strategy. Don’t accept data sampling from Google Analytics or any other tool that limits the amount of your own data you can access. Choose a web analytics tool like Matamo that unlocks the full potential of your website analytics to get the most out of bank customer segmentation.

  Matomo is trusted by over 1 million websites globally, including many banks, for its accuracy, compliance, and reliability. Discover why financial institutions rely on Matomo to meet their web analytics needs.

  Start collecting the insights you need for granular, layered segmentation — without putting your bank customer data at risk. Request a demo of Matomo now.

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• Google Analytics 4 and GDPR : Everything You Need to Know

  17 mai 2022, par Erin

  Four years have passed since the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR, also known as DSGVO in German, and RGPD in French) took effect.

  That’s ample time to get compliant, especially for an organisation as big and innovative as Google. Or is it ? 

  If you are wondering how GDPR affects Google Analytics 4 and what the compliance status is at present, here’s the lowdown. 

  Is Google Analytics 4 GDPR Compliant ?

  No. As of mid-2022, Google Analytics 4 (GA4) isn’t fully GDPR compliant. Despite adding extra privacy-focused features, GA4 still has murky status with the European regulators. After the invalidation of the Privacy Shield framework in 2020, Google is yet to regulate EU-US data protection. At present, the company doesn’t sufficiently protect EU citizens’ and residents’ data against US surveillance laws. This is a direct breach of GDPR.

  Google Analytics and GDPR : a Complex Relationship 

  European regulators have scrutinised Google since GDPR came into effect in 2018.

  While the company took steps to prepare for GDPR provisions, it didn’t fully comply with important regulations around user data storage, transfer and security.

  The relationship between Google and EU regulators got more heated after the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) invalidated the Privacy Shield — a leeway Google used for EU-US data transfers. After 2020, GDPR litigation against Google followed. 

  This post summarises the main milestones in this story and explains the consequences for Google Analytics users. 

  

  2018 : Google Analytics Meets GDPR 

  In 2018, the EU adopted the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) — a set of privacy and data security laws, covering all member states. Every business interacting with EU citizens and/or residents had to comply.

  GDPR harmonised data protection laws across member states and put down extra provisions for what constitutes sensitive personal information (or PII). Broadly, PII includes any data about the person’s :

  • Racial or ethnic origin 
  • Employment status 
  • Religious or political beliefs
  • State of health 
  • Genetic or biometric data 
  • Financial records (such as payment method data)
  • Address and phone numbers 

  Businesses were barred from collecting this information without explicit consent (and even with it in some cases). If collected, such sensitive information is also subject to strict requirements on how it should be stored, secured, transferred and used. 

  7 Main GDPR Principles Explained 

  Article 5 of the GDPR lays out seven main GDPR principles for personal data and privacy protection : 

  • Lawfulness, fairness and transparency — data must be obtained legally, collected with consent and in adherence to laws. 
  • Purpose limitation — all personal information must be collected for specified, explicit and legal purposes. 
  • Data minimisation — companies must collect only necessary and adequate data, aligned with the stated purpose. 
  • Accuracy — data accuracy must be ensured at all times. Companies must have mechanisms to erase or correct inaccurate data without delays. 
  • Storage limitation — data must be stored only for as long as the stated purpose suggests. Though there’s no upper time limit on data storage. 
  • Integrity and confidentiality (security) — companies must take measures to ensure secure data storage and prevent unlawful or unauthorised access to it. 
  • Accountability — companies must be able to demonstrate adherence to the above principles. 

  Google claimed to have taken steps to make all of their products GDPR compliant ahead of the deadline. But in practice, this wasn’t always the case.

  In March 2018, a group of publishers admonished Google for not providing them with enough tools for GDPR compliance :

  “[Y]ou refuse to provide publishers with any specific information about how you will collect, share and use the data. Placing the full burden of obtaining new consent on the publisher is untenable without providing the publisher with the specific information needed to provide sufficient transparency or to obtain the requisite specific, granular and informed consent under the GDPR.”

  The proposed Google Analytics GDPR consent form was hard to implement and lacked customisation options. In fact, Google “makes unilateral decisions” on how the collected data is stored and used. 

  Users had no way to learn about or control all intended uses of people’s data — which made compliance with the second clause impossible. 

  Unsurprisingly, Google was among the first companies to face a GDPR lawsuit (together with Facebook). 

  By 2019, French data regulator CNIL, successfully argued that Google wasn’t sufficiently disclosing its data collection across products — and hence in breach of GDPR. After a failed appeal, Google had to pay a €50 million fine and promise to do better. 

  2019 : Google Analytics 4 Announcement 

  Throughout 2019, Google rightfully attempted to resolve some of its GDPR shortcomings across all products, Google Universal Analytics (UA) included. 

  They added a more visible consent mechanism for online tracking and provided extra compliance tips for users to follow. In the background, Google also made tech changes to its data processing mechanism to get on the good side of regulations.

  Though Google addressed some of the issues, they missed others. A 2019 independent investigation found that Google real-time-bidding (RTB) ad auctions still used EU citizens’ and residents’ data without consent, thanks to a loophole called “Push Pages”. But they managed to quickly patch this up before the allegations had made it to court. 

  In November 2019, Google released a beta version of the new product version — Google Analytics 4, due to replace Universal Analytics. 

  GA4 came with a set of new privacy-focused features for ticking GDPR boxes such as :

  • Data deletion mechanism. Users can now request to surgically extract certain data from the Analytics servers via a new interface. 
  • Shorter data retention period. You can now shorten the default retention period to 2 months by default (instead of 14 months) or add a custom limit.  
  • IP Anonymisation. GA4 doesn’t log or store IP addresses by default. 

  Google Analytics also updated its data processing terms and made changes to its privacy policy. 

  Though Google made some progress, Google Analytics 4 still has many limitations — and isn’t GDPR compliant. 

  2020 : Privacy Shield Invalidation Ruling 

  As part of the 2018 GDPR preparations, Google named its Irish entity (Google Ireland Limited) as the “data controller” legally responsible for EEA and Swiss users’ information. 

  The company announcement says : 

  

  Initially, Google assumed that this legal change would help them ensure GDPR compliance as “legally speaking” a European entity was set in charge of European data. 

  Practically, however, EEA consumers’ data was still primarily transferred and processed in the US — where most Google data centres are located. Until 2020, such cross-border data transfers were considered legal thanks to the Privacy Shield framework. 

  But in July 2020, The EU Court of Justice ruled that this framework doesn’t provide adequate data protection to digitally transmitted data against US surveillance laws. Hence, companies like Google can no longer use it. The Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC) reached the same conclusion in September 2020. 

  The invalidation of the Privacy Shield framework put Google in a tough position.

   Article 14. f of the GDPR explicitly states : 

  “The controller (the company) that intends to carry out a transfer of personal data to a recipient (Analytics solution) in a third country or an international organisation must provide its users with information on the place of processing and storage of its data”.

  Invalidation of the Privacy Shield framework prohibited Google from moving data to the US. At the same time, GDPR provisions mandated that they must disclose proper data location. 

  But Google Analytics (like many other products) had no a mechanism for : 

  • Guaranteeing intra-EU data storage 
  • Selecting a designated regional storage location 
  • Informing users about data storage location or data transfers outside of the EU 

  And these factors made Google Analytics in direct breach of GDPR — a territory, where they remain as of 2022.

  2020-2022 : Google GDPR Breaches and Fines 

  The 2020 ruling opened Google to GDPR lawsuits from country-specific data regulators.

  Google Analytics in particular was under a heavy cease-fire. 

  • Sweden first fined Google for violating GDPR for no not fulfilling its obligations to request data delisting in 2020. 
  • France rejected Google Analytics 4 IP address anonymisation function as a sufficient measure for protecting cross-border data transfers. Even with it, US intelligence services can still access user IPs and other PII. France declared Google Analytics illegal and pressed a €150 million fine. 
  • Austria also found Google Analytics GDPR non-compliant and proclaimed the service as “illegal”. The authority now seeks a fine too. 

  The Dutch Data Protection Authority and  Norwegian Data Protection Authority also found Google Analytics guilty of a GDPR breach and seek to limit Google Analytics usage. 

  New privacy controls in Google Analytics 4 do not resolve the underlying issue — unregulated, non-consensual EU-US data transfer. 

  Google Analytics GDPR non-compliance effectively opens any website tracking or analysing European visitors to legal persecution.

  In fact, this is already happening. noyb, a European privacy-focused NGO, has already filed over 100 lawsuits against European websites using Google Analytics.

  2022 : Privacy Shield 2.0. Negotiations

  Google isn’t the only US company affected by the Privacy Shield framework invalidation. The ruling puts thousands of digital companies at risk of non-compliance.

  To settle the matter, US and EU authorities started “peace talks” in spring 2022.

  European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that they are working with the Biden administration on the new agreement that will “enable predictable and trustworthy data flows between the EU and US, safeguarding the privacy and civil liberties.” 

  However, it’s just the beginning of a lengthy negotiation process. The matter is far from being settled and contentious issues remain as we discussed on Twitter (come say hi !).

  

  For one, the US isn’t eager to modify its surveillance laws and is mostly willing to make them “proportional” to those in place in the EU. These modifications may still not satisfy CJEU — which has the power to block the agreement vetting or invalidate it once again. 

  While these matters are getting hashed out, Google Analytics users, collecting data about EU citizens and/or residents, remain on slippery grounds. As long as they use GA4, they can be subject to GDPR-related lawsuits. 

  To Sum It Up 

  • Google Analytics 4 and Google Universal Analytics are not GDPR compliant because of Privacy Shield invalidation in 2020. 
  • French and Austrian data watchdogs named Google Analytics operations “illegal”. Swedish, Dutch and Norwegian authorities also claim it’s in breach of GDPR. 
  • Any website using GA for collecting data about European citizens and/or residents can be taken to court for GDPR violations (which is already happening). 
  • Privacy Shield 2.0 Framework discussions to regulate EU-US data transfers have only begun and may take years. Even if accepted, the new framework(s) may once again be invalidated by local data regulators as has already happened in the past. 

  Time to Get a GDPR Compliant Google Analytics Alternative 

  Retaining 100% data ownership is the optimal path to GDPR compliance.

  By selecting a transparent web analytics solution that offers 100% data ownership, you can rest assured that no “behind the scenes” data collection, processing or transfers take place. 

  Unlike Google Analytics 4, Matomo offers all of the features you need to be GDPR compliant : 

  • Full data anonymisation 
  • Single-purpose data usage 
  • Easy consent and an opt-out mechanism 
  • First-party cookies usage by default 
  • Simple access to collect data 
  • Fast data removals 
  • EU-based data storage for Matomo Cloud (or storage in the country of your choice with Matomo On-Premise)

  Learn about your audiences in a privacy-centred way and protect your business against unnecessary legal exposure. 

  Start your 21-day free trial (no credit card required) to see how fully GDPR-compliant website analytics works ! 

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• CRO Testing : The 6-Steps for Maximising Conversion Rates

  10 mars 2024, par Erin

  It’s a nightmare every marketing manager faces. Traffic is soaring after you’ve launched new digital marketing campaigns, but conversions have barely moved.

  Sound familiar ?

  The good news is you’re not alone — loads of marketing managers struggle to get potential customers to purchase. The better news is that you can test dozens of strategies to turn around your site’s fortunes. 

  Conversion rate optimisation testing (CRO testing for short) is the name for this kind of experimentation — and it can send conversion rates and revenue soaring.

  In this article, we’ll explain CRO testing and how you can start doing it today using Matomo. 

  What is CRO Testing ? 

  CRO testing is optimising your site’s conversion funnel using a series of experiments designed to improve conversion rates.

  A CRO test can take several forms, but it usually involves changing one or more elements of your landing page. It looks something like this :

  1. You hypothesise what you expect to happen.
  2. You then run an A/B test using a dedicated CRO platform or tool.
  3. This tool will divide your site’s traffic, sending one segment to one variation and the other segment to another.
  4. The CRO tool will measure conversions, track statistical significance, and declare one variation the winner. 

  A CRO tool isn’t the only software you can use to gather data when running tests. There are several other valuable data sources, including :

  • A web analytics platform : to identify issues with your website
  • User surveys : to find out what your target audience thinks about your site
  • Heatmaps : to learn where users focus their attention
  • Session recordings : to discover how visitors browse your site

  Use as many of these features, tools, and methods as you can when brainstorming hypotheses and measuring results. After all, your CRO test is only as good as your data.

  On that note, we need to mention the importance of data accuracy when researching issues with your website and running CRO tests. If you trust a platform like Google Analytics that uses data sampling (where only a subset of data is analysed), then there’s a risk you make business decisions based on inaccurate reports.

  In practice, that could see you overestimate the effectiveness of a landing page, potentially wasting thousands in ad spend on poorly converting pages. 

  That’s why over a million websites rely on Matomo as their web analytics solution—it doesn’t sample data, providing 100% accurate website traffic insights you can trust to make informed decisions.

  Try Matomo for Free

  Get the web insights you need, without compromising data accuracy.

  Start for free

  No credit card required

  Types of CRO Testing 

  There are three core types of CRO tests :

  A/B testing

  A/B testing, or split testing, is when you test two versions of the same page against each other. Usually, the two pages have only one difference, such as a new headline or a different CTA. 

  

  In the test above, for example, we test what happens if we remove one of the affiliate links from a page. We hypothesise that conversions won’t change because these links aren’t effective.

  A/B/n testing

  A/B/n testing is when you test multiple variations of the same element on the same page. 

  Rather than just testing one headline against another, for example, you test multiple different headlines at once.

  

  In the test above in Matomo, we’re testing a website’s original header against a wider and smaller version. It turns out the wider header converts significantly better. 

  Multivariate testing

  In a multivariate CRO test, you test multiple different elements at the same time. That could mean testing combining a different headline, CTA button, and image. 

  Multivariate testing can save time because you test multiple elements at once and find the best combination of elements. But you’ll usually need a lot of traffic to find a statistically significant result.

  Why is CRO testing important ?

  Who doesn’t want more conversions, right ? Improving your conversion rate is the core benefit of running a CRO test, but there are a couple of other reasons you should do it, too :

  

  Improve conversion rates

  How well does your website convert visitors ? The average conversion rate of a typical website is 2.35%, but better-performing websites have significantly higher conversion rates. The top 25% of websites across all industries convert at a rate of 5.31% or higher.

  CRO testing is the best way to improve your site’s conversion rate by tweaking elements of your website and implementing the best results. And because it’s based on data, not your intuition, you’re likely to identify changes that move the needle. 

  Optimise the user experience

  CRO tests are also a great way to improve your site’s user experience. The process of CRO testing forces you to understand how users navigate your website using heatmaps and session recordings and fix the issues they face. 

  You could simplify your form fields to make them easier to fill in, for example, or make your pages easier to navigate. In both cases, your actions will also increase conversion rates.

  Decrease acquisition costs

  Improving your conversion rate using CRO testing will usually mean a decrease in customer acquisition costs and other conversion metrics. 

  After all, if the cost of your PPC ads stays the same but you convert more traffic, then each new customer will cost less to acquire.

  How to do CRO testing in 6 steps 

  Ready to get your hands dirty ? Follow these six steps to set up your first CRO test :

  Have a clear goal

  Don’t jump straight into testing. You need to be clear about what you want to achieve ; otherwise, you risk wasting time on irrelevant experiments. 

  If you’re unsure what to focus on, look back through your web analytics data and other tools like heatmaps, form analytics, and session recordings to get a feel for some of your site’s biggest conversion roadblocks. 

  Maybe there’s a page with a much lower conversion rate, for example — or a form that most users fail to complete. 

  If it’s the former, then your goal could be to increase the conversion rate of this specific landing page by 25%, bringing it in line with your site’s average. 

  

  Make sure your new conversion goal is set up properly in your website analytics platform, too. This will ensure you’re tracking conversions accurately. 

  Set a hypothesis

  Now you’ve got a goal, it’s time to create a hypothesis. Based on your available research, a hypothesis is an assumption you make about your conversion rate optimisation test.

  A heatmap of your poorly converting landing page may show that users aren’t focusing on your CTA button because it’s hidden below the fold. 

  You could hypothesise that by placing the CTA button directly under your headline above the fold, your conversion rate should increase. 

  Whatever your goal, you can use the following template to write a hypothesis :

  If we [make this specific change], then [this specific outcome] will occur because [reason].

  Design your test elements

  Most marketing managers won’t be able to run CRO tests independently. A team of talented experts must create the assets you need for a successful experimentation. This includes designers, copywriters, and web developers. 

  Don’t just have them create one new element at a time. Accelerate the process by having your team create dozens of designs simultaneously. That way, you can run a new CRO test as soon as your current test has finished. 

  Create and launch the test

  It’s time to launch your test. Use a CRO tool to automate building your test and tracking results. 

  With Matomo’s A/B Testing feature, it’s as easy as giving your test a name, writing a hypothesis and description, and uploading the URLs of your page variants.

  

  Matomo handles everything else, giving you a detailed breakdown at the end of the test with the winning variant. 

  Try Matomo for Free

  Get the web insights you need, without compromising data accuracy.

  Start for free

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  Analyse the results

  You can only review the results of your CRO test once it has reached statistical significance — which means the observed outcome isn’t the result of chance.

  In the same way you wouldn’t say a die is unbiased after three rolls, you need thousands of visitors to see your landing pages and take action before deciding which is better. 

  Luckily, most CRO testing platforms, including Matomo, will highlight when a test reaches statistical significance. That means you only need to look at the result to see if your hypothesis is correct. 

  Implement and repeat

  Was your test a success ? Great, you can implement the results and test a new element. 

  Yep, that’s right. There’s no time to rest on your laurels. Continuous CRO testing is necessary to squeeze every conversion possible from your website. Just like fashion trends, website effectiveness changes over time. What works today might not work tomorrow, making ongoing CRO testing beneficial and necessary.

  That’s why it’s a good idea to choose a CRO testing platform like Matomo with no data limits.

  Try Matomo for Free

  Get the web insights you need, without compromising data accuracy.

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  CRO testing examples you can run today 

  There’s no shortage of CRO tests you can run. Here are some experiments to get started with :

  Change your CTA design and copy

  Calls to action (CTAs) are the best elements to optimise during your first CRO test. You can change many things about them ; even the smallest optimisation can have a huge impact. 

  Just take a look at the image below to see how diverse your CTAs could be :

  

  Changing your CTA’s copy is a great place to start, especially if you have generic instructions like “Apply Now.”

  Try a more specific instruction like “Download your free trial” or “Buy now to get 30% off.” Or test benefit-led instructions like “Reduce your ad spend today” or “Take back control of your data.”

  Changing the colour of your CTAs can also yield more conversions. Bright colours are always a good bet. Just make sure your button stands out from the rest of your page. 

  Move the CTA button placement

  The placement of your CTA can be just as important as its copy or colour. If it’s down at the bottom of your page, there’s a good chance most of your visitors will miss it. 

  Try moving it above the fold to see if that makes a difference. Then, test multiple CTA buttons as opposed to just one. 

  Heatmaps and session recordings can identify whether this test is worthwhile. If users rarely focus on your CTA or just don’t scroll far enough to find it, then it’s a good bet you could see an uptick in conversions by moving it. 

  Try different headlines

  Your website’s headlines are another great place to start CRO testing. These are usually the first (and sometimes only) things visitors read, so optimising them as much as possible makes sense. 

  There are entire books written about creating persuasive headlines, but start with one of the following tactics :

  • Include a benefit
    • “Achieve radiant skin—discover the secret !”
  • Add numbers
    • “3 foolproof methods for saving money on your next vacation”
  • Using negative words instead of positive ones
    • “Avoid these 7 mistakes to unlock your potential for personal growth”
  • Shortening or lengthening your headline
    • Shortened : “Crush your fitness goals : Expert tips for success”
    • Lengthened : “Embark on your fitness journey : Learn from experts with proven tips to crush your wellness goals”

  Add more trust signals

  Adding trust signals to your website, such as brand logos, customer reviews, and security badges, can increase your conversion rate.

  We use it at Matomo by adding the logos of well-known clients like the United Nations and Amnesty International underneath our CTAs.

  

  It’s incredibly effective, too. Research by Edelman finds that trust is among the top three most important buying decision factors, above brand likeability.

  Start CRO testing with Matomo

  CRO testing is a data-backed method to improve your site’s conversion rate, making it more user-friendly and decreasing customer acquisition costs. Even a small improvement will be worth the cost of the tools and your time. 

  Fortunately, there’s no need to allocate hundreds of dollars monthly for multiple specialised testing tools. With Matomo, you get a comprehensive platform offering web analytics, user behaviour insights, and CRO testing – all conveniently bundled into one solution. Matomo’s pricing starts from just $19 per month, making it accessible to businesses of all sizes.

  Plus, rest assured knowing that you are GDPR compliant and the data provided is 100% accurate, ethically empowering you to make informed decisions with confidence.

  Take the first step on your CRO testing journey by trying Matomo free for 21 days ; no credit card required.

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