{"id":14821,"date":"2021-05-06T04:56:09","date_gmt":"2021-05-06T09:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.invespcro.com\/blog\/?p=14821"},"modified":"2023-10-02T15:36:30","modified_gmt":"2023-10-02T15:36:30","slug":"should-you-hire-a-cro-agency-or-should-you-use-cro-tools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.invespcro.com\/blog\/should-you-hire-a-cro-agency-or-should-you-use-cro-tools\/","title":{"rendered":"Should you hire a CRO Agency, Or should you use CRO Tools?"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 9<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

Hiring a CRO agency isn’t suitable for everyone. So is using CRO tools<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But which one is the best option: engaging a Conversion Rate Optimization agency<\/a>, or buying CRO tools and doing the optimization work yourself?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you are reading this article, there’s a high chance that you are considering doing one of those two options.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You might be a Founder, CEO, Chief Marketing Officer, or Marketing Director, struggling to decide whether to place your conversion optimization efforts in the hands of an external company or just take it on yourself.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In this article, I intend to help make that decision a bit easier for you.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My goal is to give enough information to confidently decide whether your company will be doing conversion optimization<\/a> yourselves or sourcing external expertise to partner with. I’m going to briefly take a look at what each option brings to the table.<\/span><\/p>\n

By end of the article, my goal is to give enough information so that you can confidently decide whether your company will be doing conversion optimization yourselves or sourcing external expertise to partner with. So, let’s get into it…<\/span><\/p>\n

When should you use CRO tools?\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

There are several CRO tools that you need to have for a successful conversion optimization project<\/a>. Conversion optimization tools can be classified into three categories:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Web Analytics (Google Analytics<\/a>, Heap<\/a> and Adobe Analytics<\/a>)<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. User Behavior tools (Hotjar<\/a>, Crazy Egg<\/a>, Fullstory<\/a>)\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. AB testing platforms (VWO<\/a>, Google Optimize<\/a>, FigPii<\/a>)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I know this may send like it requires a lot of installation work and investment. Trust me, it does. Unless, maybe, when you are using a CRO platform (like\u00a0<\/span>FigPii<\/span>) that has an arsenal of optimization tools stacked in one place.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    But if a website happens to have little traffic\/conversions, then AB testing tools shouldn’t be in your optimization toolbox. The reason? You need a certain amount of traffic\/conversions to be able to launch AB tests on a website.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    In fact, Khalid Saleh<\/a> says it best:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    “<\/span>When you are only getting less than 1000 visitors per month, it’s difficult for us as conversion optimizers to really figure out intent. Because half of those may have landed on your website by mistake. So you better off focusing on SEO or PPC, bring more visitors to the site, and that would make us uncover the conversion problems. You need to drive significant traffic, at least 10,000 to 20,000 monthly visitors.<\/span><\/em>”\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Assuming that your website has enough traffic and can use any of the above tools,\u00a0<\/span>when should you actually use those CRO tools?<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Well, conversion optimization tools are more valuable when you want to:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Assess your funnel performance.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    2. Identify conversion bottlenecks on your website.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    3. Identify possible changes needed to make your website convert more visitors.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    4. Test changes you make to your site for the highest conversion rates\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      This is to say that CRO tools can\u00a0<\/span>only<\/span><\/strong> help you with the tactical optimization tasks and not strategic ones. But you can’t have a scalable and impactful experimentation framework if you don’t have a strategy in place. Without a proper strategy, there’s a high risk of running wrong tests, in the wrong order, on the wrong goals. In his book, “The Art of War<\/a>“, Sun Tzu<\/a> said:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      \u201cStrategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.<\/em>\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

      All I’m saying is; you can have all the CRO tools at your disposal, but you’d still need an expert in conversion optimization to think strategically for you.<\/span><\/p>\n

      My dear friend, there’s a difference between uncovering a list of conversion problems on a site and knowing which conversion issues prioritize first. No CRO tool can help you prioritize testing ideas. CRO tools will never add strategic and creative insights to the mix.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      To give you a clear view of this, here’s a quick comparison of how the tactical approach compares to a strategic experimentation program:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
      <\/td>\nTactical Approach to experimentation<\/b><\/td>\nStrategic Approach to experimentation<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      What you test\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\nColor, CTAs, layout, copy<\/span><\/td>\nTesting goes beyond what\u2019s on the website. Messaging, design, UX, advertising, products, pricing, shipping, upsells, etc.\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Objectives of the test\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\nTo increase conversions.\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\nTo grow your business by:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
        \n
      • Increasing revenue.<\/span><\/li>\n
      • Increasing retention rate.<\/span><\/li>\n
      • Decreasing churn rate.<\/span><\/li>\n
      • Decreasing cart abandonment rate.<\/span><\/li>\n
      • Improving NPS.<\/span><\/li>\n
      • Decreasing CPA.<\/span><\/li>\n
      • Increasing AOV.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Learnings.\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\nSurface level knowledge.\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\nDeep-level knowledge that helps you understand your customers better. Results inform the next test.\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Prioritization of tests.\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\nTesting ideas are from case studies and copying what similar brands are doing.<\/span><\/td>\nYour tests are informed by previous tests, user research, data-driven hypotheses, business analysis, etc.\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Impact<\/span><\/td>\nYes, you can have an uplift in conversions, but the impact isn\u2019t sustainable simply because you didn\u2019t learn much about your customers. It\u2019s kinda a short-term achievement.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\nThe impact is huge and sustainable. As you gain a better understanding of your customers, you can spread this knowledge across various sections of your business: content marketing, advertising, email, SEO, etc.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

      Conversion optimization tools can be good for you if you are all about tactical experimentation. If you are to go with tools, make sure you have the expertise to use them. When asked, on Experiment Nation<\/a>, about why the experimentation industry focuses on tooling and technology, this is what Chris Goward<\/a> said:<\/p>\n

      “Managers are tempted by the dazzling sales pitches and feature demos of technology vendors without considering whether the tools meet the unique needs of their customers, or whether they have the expertise and resources to implement them.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

      Too many marketers assume that buying CRO tools is a solution. But that’s like me thinking that purchasing a stethoscope will make me a doctor. But it’s not how it works. In the world of experimentation, what really drives long-term results is the strategy behind the use of these tools, not just having tools. So, understanding how to use the conversion optimization tools is more important, as it is a discipline or competency.<\/span><\/p>\n

      When should you hire a CRO Agency?<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

      We live in the information world where info about anything is easily accessible. And that often gives us the false sense that we should do anything ourselves. However, there are quite several things that we should leave to the hands of experts \u2013 among those is conversion rate optimization.<\/span><\/p>\n

      And to add to that, make sure that you make it a point that CRO is top of your digital efforts. In fact, according to\u00a0<\/span>Spencer Gray<\/span><\/a>, from 97th Floor<\/a>:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      “<\/span>CRO should come before anything. CRO should come before content marketing. CRO should come before SEO. CRO should come before all paid digital efforts because it will make all those efforts better<\/span><\/em>.”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

      With that said, let’s take a look at when you should consider engaging a CRO Agency:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      When you have steady traffic\/conversions\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

      Any website can be optimized for conversions, whether it only gets a few hundred visitors a day or thousands. But not all websites can run A\/B tests \u2013 this is why some businesses need to implement SEO strategies<\/a> before bringing in a CRO agency.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      Why is low traffic a challenge?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      You’re bound to face a lot of challenges running A\/B tests<\/a> without steady and significant traffic. The reason is that you need to have massive traffic to make your split tests reach a statistical significance.<\/span><\/p>\n

      When your goal is to test the type of forms (single vs. multi-steps) to use on your landing page, then you’d need to have enough traffic on your site to determine which page variation is the best.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      But, if you only have a tiny number of visits, you will face two challenges:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n