Looking to improve your conversion rate but tired of spending hundreds of dollars on conversion rate optimization (CRO) tools?
I have good news. You can boost conversions without paying a dime for expensive tools.
Here, I've listed the best free CRO tools I use to optimize content for my businesses and blogs.
1. HubSpot Blog Topic Generator
The best way to boost your conversion rate today is updating your headline. Speaking from experience, we boosted conversions by more than 40% at KISSmetrics with a small update to the home page headline (and we're still tweaking it today).
Headlines are the #1 key feature of a high-converting landing page. They should grab a reader's attention and clearly explain what the page is about.
A headline doesn't necessarily have to be "catchy" or "salesy." Simplicity rules.
MailChimp knows this, too. Their home page headline features the USP "Send Better Email" (also a call to action).
To write seductive headlines for your own site, use a headline generator tool.
There are plenty to choose from, by here's my favorite -- HubSpot's Blog Topic Generator.
Here's how it works:
- First, enter your target keyword or topic.
- Second, click "Give Me Blog Topics!"
Voila! You have a list of topics and headlines to choose from.
#3, 4 and 5 are my favorites and would make for compelling content.
I use a few other tools for generating headlines:
- The Portent Content Idea Generator
- Content Row's Linkbait Title Generator
- Buzzsumo for finding Viral Headlines
The benefits of these tools are not that they come up with the perfect headline. Rather, they help you understand headline structure.
Plug in more and more combinations to get different results. Eventually you'll find something that strikes a chord. Write it down and and use it with your next conversation rate optimization tool...
2. Google Analytics A/B Testing
Most conversion rate noobs struggle when it comes to choosing an A/B tool, running tests, and making sense of the results.
Fortunately, Google recently created their own A/B testing tool called Google Analytics Content Experiments, and it's incredibly easy to use.
Here's how:
- First, find the tool in GA under Behavior → Experiments.
- On the Experiments page, click "Create Experiment" and starting building your A/B test.
GA Content Experiments is the only free A/B testing tool that allows for multivariate testing. In earlier versions of the tool, you were only able to split test two versions of a page ("A" & "B").
Now you can test up to 10 variations at the same time. This saves weeks of testing time running smaller tests.
Speaking of saving time, here's another CRO tool that does just that...
3. UsabilityHub
When we thinking of conversion rate optimization, it's easy to hung up on numbers and data.
Somewhere along the way, we seem to lose sight of the fact that "conversion" is the natural result of good user experience.
We tend to ignore user experience because usability testing is slow and high touch. As marketers, we typically don't have time to conduct small group meetings and user feedback surveys.
That's where UsabilityHub comes in. UsabilityHub is a collection of CRO tools that analyze a user experience's on your landing page.
The suite of tools is split into 5, each with a different usability test.
The most effective usability tool is the Five Second Test. With it, you can get usability feedback on your website in seconds.
Start by entering your URL and choosing a few user-feedback questions. Then sit back as the test runs. Simple as that.
The test works by showing your website to real people for a 5 seconds, then it disappears.
Immediately after seeing the page, the "users" answer your usability questions. You can create custom questions, or use the questions that come with the test, such as "Do you trust this brand?" or "What did you focus on first?"
The Five Second Test is free to set up and try, with payment options for larger tests. This information is useful for boosting your conversation rate, and definitely worth a small investment.
4. Call-To-Action Button Generator
You could have the perfect headline and user experience, but if without a clear call to action (CTA), your traffic will bounce and leave you empty handed.
To improve your conversion rate, updating your CTA button is about as "low hanging fruit" as it gets. Small changes to CTA buttons can lead to big results.
You don't need to know how to code to change your CTA button. Creating button variations is easy with Vertical Response's Button Builder. Create custom buttons or draw inspiration from their showcase of designs, and they'll send you the button file and code for your landing page.
It takes less than a minute to create a new button.
It works like this:
- Choose your button style and click 'Send Me My Button'.
- Open your email and download the button.
- Add your new buttons and start testing them immediately
There's no limit to the number of CTA buttons you can create with the Button Builder. You can test everything from font style to button shape to background color.
Run them through a Content Experiment until you find a winner. Not sure how long to run the test?
I've got your covered...
5. A/B Split Test Duration Calculator
To boost conversion rate, there are literally thousands of variables on a page that can make a difference.
But how long should you run A/B tests? If your test is too short, then your data is unreliable. If it's too long, then you risk wasting precious time.
Thankfully, Visual Website Optimizer (VWO) has you covered. The calculator is simple and straightforward.
With the VWO A/B Test Duration Calculator, you know exactly how long to run each test to achieve statistically significant results.
Conclusion
To start improving your conversion rate today, it pays to use the best tools.
But CRO tools don't have to break the bank. I chose these 5 because they handle every step of the conversion rate optimization process, and I use them myself.
There are plenty of other free tools for improving conversions. Which are your favorites?