By Aimée Hart, Head of Experience Design at Tryzens Global & 

George Miller, Growth Consultant, Paid Media & CRO at Juno 

When we talk about improving conversion rates, the general thought is based around the potential revenue boost. And while that’s true, there’s more to it. Enhancing conversion rates doesn’t just increase sales; it also drives down the cost per acquisition (CPA), opening the door to more traffic and, ultimately, more customers.

This is where paid media plays a crucial role – not only in driving traffic to your website but also in ensuring that traffic is more likely to convert.

Pre- and post-click optimization

The focus of conversion rate optimization (CRO) is mainly put on post-click elements, such as website design and landing pages. Typical discussions involve the placement of content such as product or service details, where to optimize UI components and new features, and testing deployment of psychological factors.

However, the reality is that CRO doesn’t begin on the website; it starts with optimizing the sales and marketing funnel at the awareness stage, through to consideration, conversion, and beyond to post-conversion activities like customer loyalty and advocacy.

Pre-click optimization strategies 

1. Audience targeting & segmentation 

The foundation of optimizing pre-click conversions is understanding your ideal customer profile (ICP). This involves building a detailed avatar of the typical buyer of your product or service.   

From there, it’s essential to identify where these potential customers are spending their time online, where they consume content, and how they interact with products similar to yours. This helps you place your marketing material in front of the right audience to drive consideration and, ultimately, conversion. 

In digital advertising, this begins with refining your target audience by looking at key data points such as: 

• Demographics, such as age, gender, location, income 

• User behavior, such as purchase habits, online activity 

• Psychographics, such as interests, values, lifestyle 

Tailoring your advertising to these segments ensures your marketing message resonates with the right people.

2. Importance of product-market fit

It’s critical to ensure that your product or service has achieved product-market fit, which is the alignment between your product and the needs or desires of your target audience. Paid media is only effective when your product or service truly resonates with your audience. 

Key steps to achieving and ensuring product-market fit include: 

• Understanding customer pain points: ensure your product directly solves a problem that your target audience cares about. 

• Market research: continuously gather feedback from potential customers to confirm the demand for your product. 

• Iterative product development: use the feedback to improve and refine your product offering until it meets the expectations of your target market. 

Once product-market fit is achieved, scaling and improving conversion rates become much easier as your offering naturally resonates with the audience, making paid media efforts far more effective.

3. The spectrum of intent

Within any given market, there’s a sliding scale of potential customers that is based on their intent to purchase. This can typically be broken down into: 

• 10% of the market is “hot” and ready to buy; they’re actively seeking solutions to their problems. 

• 50% are “indifferent” or low intent. These individuals need more information, research, or face barriers like financial limitations or brand loyalty to competitors. 

• 40% are “warm” prospects. These people have some interest but need convincing and nurturing.

The focus of pre-click optimization should be on this 40%, moving them from awareness to consideration, and eventually to conversion.

4. Optimizing messaging and channels

To effectively optimize pre-click conversion, it’s essential to understand how different platforms and channels work and how to tailor your paid media for each. For example: 

• Google Ads may require concise, keyword-rich ads targeting high-intent users. 

• Social media ads on platforms like Facebook and Instagram should focus on engaging visuals and content that speaks to your audience’s emotions and interests. 

• YouTube ads might attract a younger, more tech-savvy audience. 

• Instagram and TikTok might be better suited for visually appealing products aimed at younger females with a focus on lifestyle. 

The message you deliver across platforms and channels needs to be consistent but adapted for the platform and audience. Each element of the marketing funnel, from the ad copy to the creative, should work in harmony, forming a cohesive strategy that leads users from awareness to conversion. 

5. Addressing engagement declines

As your audience broadens, engagement rates and conversion rates may decline. This is a natural part of scaling any marketing operation, but it’s crucial to adjust strategies for broader audiences and create personalized, relevant experiences for new users who enter your funnel.

Post-click optimization strategies 

After users click on your ads, post-click optimization becomes key to turning that traffic into conversions.

1. CLV is the key metric

Once you’ve acquired a customer, it’s often easier and more cost-effective to upsell to existing customers than to acquire new ones. This is where creating a separate marketing funnel for re-engagement becomes important. This includes: 

• Post-purchase upsells, such as complementary products or services. 

• Re-engagement campaigns for existing customers, such as loyalty programs and cross-sells. 

• Repeat purchases through tailored offers and customer care.  

At the core of these strategies is customer lifetime value (CLV), which answers the key question: What is a customer truly worth? CLV represents the total profit a customer will generate over their lifetime with your business. 

The main factors that drive CLV are: 

• Average order value 

• Units per transaction 

• Frequency 

• Customer advocacy, helping you acquire new customers 

These elements contribute to customers shopping more, buying more, paying more, and staying longer.

2. Maintain a test and learn culture

Embracing a test-and-learn culture allows businesses to continuously experiment with strategies that optimize customer retention and purchase frequency. By fostering a mindset of ongoing testing and refinement, companies can uncover insights that help address issues related to customer engagement, loyalty, and overall retention.  

This iterative approach is critical for identifying what truly drives CLV. According to an Econsultancy survey, businesses are adopting a variety of tactics and strategies to enhance CLV. The most effective of these include: 

• Improvements to customer services (42%) 

• Personalized interactions (34%) 

• Cross-selling and up-selling (29%) 

• Making more effective use of data (26%) 

• Customer segmentation and personas (24%) 

There are a broad range of techniques that brands and retailers are adopting in order to cultivate and maintain a testing culture. Econsultancy found that most businesses are utilizing: 

• A/B testing (67%) 

• Customer journey analysis (58%) 

• Copy optimization (54%) 

• Online surveys and customer feedback (50%) 

In terms of marketing, continuously test different variables such as headlines, ad copy, product offering, visuals. 

This iterative approach helps you understand which elements resonate with your target audience and drive the best results. Key metrics to track include: 

• Click-through rate (CTR)

• Cost per click (CPC)

• Engagement rate

• Impressions and reach

• Conversion rate

• Cost per acquisition (CPA)

• Return on ad spend (ROAS)

• Average order value (AOV)

• Lifetime value (LTV)

How Tryzens Global helps to drive CRO

Paid media and CRO are deeply interconnected. Successful conversion rate optimization doesn’t stop at bringing people to your site; it extends into how you nurture those visitors into becoming long-term customers.  

Our paid media and CRO specialists empower businesses to unlock insights and drive growth through proven methodologies. By optimizing both pre- and post-click activities, we help you not only attract more customers but also increase their lifetime value.  

Through our conversion rate optimization services, we evaluate core challenges and categorize issues by complexity, while keeping an open mind to innovative solutions, helping you to Look Up at the possibilities in digital commerce.  

Ready to transform your approach to conversion rate optimization? 

Get in touch with us today and let’s start the conversation.