When it comes to improving your business, there’s a lot to consider, including whether or not to hire a conversion optimization agency.
Pondering this, of course, leads to follow-up questions, such as…
- How would working with an agency affect your business?
- What would the ROI be?
- And if you decide to go with an agency, how do you choose one that’s a good fit?
When it comes to the question of whether to seek outside CRO assistance or to do it in-house, the matter comes down to weighing the costs against the benefits.
Businesses often find that in-house CRO teams and programs fail to deliver the expected ROI and benefits due to the fact that optimization gets pushed down the priority list in place of other “important” tasks. And so, seeking out an outside agency is highly recommended and typically the preferred path to take.
But you don’t have to take us at our word about that…
Below, you’ll learn six reasons why hiring a conversion rate optimization agency is optimal for your business’ growth and development. Plus, you’ll learn how to pick the perfect agency for your ecommerce goals.
This Is Why You Should Hire A Conversion Rate Optimization Agency
You save time.
Hiring a conversion optimization agency saves you tons of time — time that you can then invest in other components of your business, such as driving more traffic to your website, sourcing new products, generating more leads, and optimizing production flows. Leveraging an agency will often speed up the process and help you focus.
You save money.
Doing CRO in-house is often quite costly. Adding an in-house optimization team can run you hundreds of thousands of dollars in payroll alone. You need to hire a project manager, designer, strategist, and web developer, for starters.
So instead of breaking the bank, leverage the recruiting, training, management, and payroll that an outside agency already has in place. It takes quite a bit of time, effort and money to establish a solid optimization team.
You win more.
You can count on any CRO agency you work with to be in line with your goals: to increase your conversion rates and earn more revenue. Because when you win, the agency wins too.
Also, with an agency, you can get up to 200-300% more frequent winners (versus with an in-house team), because an agency has extensive knowledge and experience of what makes websites easier to use and more profitable across a broad spectrum of clients, industries, and niches. A study done by convert experiences revealed that companies that used an agency for their conversion rate optimization won an average of 1 in 3 experiments vs. 1 in 6 when doing it alone.
Furthermore, CRO agencies are more capable of remaining objective due to their outside position from your business’ corporate culture. And as an outsider, an agency is better suited to spot company bias along with overlooked weaknesses or points of friction regarding optimization strategy, analysis, and results. An agency isn’t as close to your marketing and products as you are so will provide a fresh set of eyes to find friction points.
An agency takes work off you and your team’s shoulders.
CRO includes a number of facets, including testing, heatmaps, coding, reporting, analysis, and more. And even after hiring all the necessary players to create an in-house team, CRO is a lot to deal with, and your team may struggle with finding the time and resources to do an adequate job, especially if the team is newly implemented.
CRO agencies, on the other hand, have battle-tested teams that eat, sleep, and breathe optimization. So you can count on continual, hands-free testing and reporting as opposed to strategies completed less frequently and with less finesse by an internal team with less experience.
An agency has the experience, technical know-how, and most efficient processes.
It takes a long time to master conversion rate optimization, and attempting to expedite that process of working with a green, newly assembled in-house team is going to yield subpar results.
Most CRO agencies have run hundreds and thousands of tests, providing them with extensive technical know-how pertaining to user-friendly design, marketing, and business development, so they can get your tests up faster and with fewer errors.
An agency earns you more money.
Having acquired lots of experience and expertise, CRO agencies are better equipped than most in-house teams at…
- increasing the earning potential from your existing customers
- reducing friction points that are driving people away from your website
- and acquiring new leads and potential customers
…all of which help you to increase your revenue.
How To Choose The Right Conversion Rate Optimization Agency
Once you decide you’re ready to hire an optimization agency, here are a few tips to keep in mind:
Find an agency with owners who’ve run lots of tests on their own websites.
If an agency hasn’t optimized its way to millions of dollars on its own websites, you can do better and should look elsewhere.
Find an experienced agency versus a newcomer.
No one wants to be a guinea pig on someone else’s learning curve. But, at the same time, you don’t want to over-pay to work with someone more experienced.
Hiring a qualified, certified agency doesn’t have to cost a fortune, so take your time weighing your options.
Find an agency that values honesty and transparency.
Finding an agency that’s experienced and technically savvy is obvious. But you also want an agency that’s going to be open and honest with you about its process, strategies, and timelines.
You also want an agency that doesn’t blow smoke about the kinds of results it can deliver. As with most things, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Find an agency that’s the best match for your business.
To determine whether an agency is a good fit, you need to ask the right questions. For example…
- What clients has the agency worked with in the past?
- How familiar is the agency with your industry or niche?
- What was the best/worst optimization campaign the agency ever ran?
- How will the agency make you stand out from your competition?
- How will the agency communicate with you and report on your progress?
- What’s the agency’s plan to increase your website’s conversion rates?
- What’s their process for project management?
Additionally, don’t be shy about asking for testimonials and reviews from previous clients, ideally clients who are similar to you. This is one of the best ways of getting a feel for whether or not an agency is a good fit for your business.
Hiring a conversion optimization agency is not an easy task. And you should carefully weigh your options before making a decision. When you find the right CRO agency and team to work with, though, the return on your investment will absolutely be worth it.
What are thoughts on hiring a conversion rate optimization agency? Have you ever worked with one before? If hiring an agency is something you’re considering, get in touch to learn more about the process and discover how Conversion Fanatics can help you achieve your ecommerce goals.