• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, November 25, 2015

According to the latest annual Conversion Rate Optimization Study from Econsultancy and RedEye, reported by Marketing Charts, customer journey analysis is on track to become one of the most commonly used methods to improve conversion rates, and is now rated the most valuable method, as 93% of respondents are either using or planning to use customer journey analysis.

That puts expected use on par with A/B testing, which 58% are using and an additional 35% plan to use. It’s a similar story among agency respondents, who reported that A/B testing is the method most broadly used by clients, but with customer journey analysis closely behind when factoring in planned use.

This year, 63% of company respondents rated it “highly valuable” for improving conversion rates, up from 52% last year. Last year’s leader, A/B testing, was rated “highly valuable” by 60% of company respondents, down slightly from last year’s 62%. Agencies, meanwhile, also rated customer journey analysis and A/B testing the top-2 methods that their clients find valuable.

Beyond customer journey analysis, company respondents this year are more enthusiastic about the effectiveness of usability testing, segmentation, website personalization and copy optimization, says the report.

Website personalization remains the most difficult method to implement, says the report. 36% rated it as “very difficult” to implement, far ahead of the next-most difficult methods, multivariate testing (21%) and segmentation (19%).

This year 44% of the respondents reported personalizing their website, less than half the proportion personalizing email (93%). 24% have experienced a “major” uplift in conversion rates through their website since implementing personalization, with another 68% reporting a “minor” uplift. Search engine marketing is the channel that has seen the most uplift (37% major; 60% minor) from personalization for respondents says the report, though an equal proportion (37%) have seen a major uplift in offline conversion rates.

When it comes to website personalization, company respondents are most commonly personalizing their home page (51%) and landing pages (49%), with close to half also personalizing the customer account area (47%) and product recommendations (47%). Slightly fewer than one-third (32%) are personalizing specific journeys (e.g. “basket-checkout” or “booking journey”), per the results.

In order to personalize website content, respondents are most likely to be found turning to the following data types:

• Products browsed on the website (55%)
• Web pages/categories visited (51%)
• Transactional (46%)

Other Findings:

• 9 in 10 respondents find conversion rate optimization (CRO) to be “crucial” (57%) or “important” (37%) to their overall digital marketing strategy
• Slightly more than 8 in 10 feel that CRO has become more important within their organization during the past 5 years
• Sales (73%) and sign-ups/registrations (70%) remain the most relevant types of conversions or actions to companies, though information requests/brochure requests (38%) and downloads (39%) have grown in relevance
• No respondents are “very satisfied” with their conversion rate, but 26% are “quite satisfied.” However, this is outweighed by the 36% who are quite (25%) or very (11%) dissatisfied with their conversion rates
• 73% of respondents believe their online conversion rates have improved over the past year, consistent with levels of improvement reported over the past couple of years
• The website (77%) is the most common area tested by respondents, with roughly 6 in 10 testing landing pages (60%), email (59%) and paid search (58%)
• Call-to-action buttons have become more popular website elements for testing in recent years, with 83% of respondents testing them this year, up from 68% in 2010. Page layout (77%, up from 65%) and images (52% from 42%) are being tested by more respondents
• A/B testing is the most-used testing method for desktop websites, while usability testing is the top testing method on tablets and mobile apps

About the Data: The results are based on an online survey of close to 900 client-side and supply-side digital marketers and e-commerce professionals. Some 74% of company respondents and 58% of agency respondents are based in the UK. Retail (24%) was the most heavily represented industry.

For more about the study from EConsultancy, please visit here.