In today's SEO environment, content is king. However, from a business standpoint, a website filled with compelling content means little if your visitors simply leave after reading this content. Your website’s ultimate goal is to convert these visitors into buyers, clients or qualified sales prospects. Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is the art and science of increasing the number of website visitors that convert to leads after consuming your site’s content.

A “lead conversion” occurs when a visitor exchanges contact information for a content offer on your website. Lead conversions could be subscribing to an email list, requesting a free eBook, or requesting a free consultation. Web analytics software like HubSpot or Google Analytics allows users to track myriad conversion goals – so many, in fact, that it’s easy to lose sight of your primary goal: maximizing profit.

Micro conversions: are you wasting time on diminishing returns?

Simple tweaks to web layout, design and content can have a big impact on CRO. For example, after web consultant Dan McCready wrote about how changing a button color from green to red increased a site’s conversion rate by 34%, A/B button color testing became the CRO trick du jour. However, micro conversion rate optimization follows the law of diminishing returns: after a certain point, continued site layout and design refinement can only make a minimal difference for your company’s bottom line. Once your website has a solid design, layout and user interface, stop worrying about button color and your call to action. Shift your energy to profit optimization.

Profit optimization is making big, bold changes that can significantly increase your website’s profit generation. In contrast to conversion rate optimization, profit optimization does not worry about the number of customers that achieve a specific conversion goal. In fact, depending on your business, a lower conversion rate could actually mean higher profit margins.

Don’t optimize for conversions, optimize for profit

Let’s say that you own an online business selling designer dog collars for $25 per collar. If 100 people visit your website each day and 3% purchase a collar, you just earned $75 in revenue. After making a few UI tweaks, conversion rates jump to 10%. Now you’re earning $250 each day. Your gross revenue has more than tripled, which is great for your business, right?

If you can keep up with the increased demand, your micro conversions are definitely worth it. However, remember that as a business, your end goal is to increase profit, which is not the same as maximizing your customer base. All those new designer dog collar sales could strain your production team, lowering your profit margins due to overtime and extra staff. Additionally, executing a quality A/B test takes time, which might be better spent on other aspects of your business. What if you increased the price of your dog collars to $35 rather than A/B testing every aspect of your site’s online checkout process? Your overall conversion rate might drop, but if you find the sweet spot for price, you’ll be maximizing profit while keeping dog collar production costs low.

Online profit optimization is more than just tweaking product price. For example, re-thinking your business’s customer relations strategy and offering product support via a dedicated Twitter account could drastically increase customer satisfaction and retention rates, which means less money spent on phone support staff and marketing to acquire new customers.

Forget click-thru rates: focus on maximizing your website’s profitability

When making online marketing decisions, don’t obsess over micro-conversions. Yes, investors and decisions makers love to focus on key performance (e.g., increased click-thru rates or product sign-ups thanks to a button color change). And yes, click-thru rates do matter. However, too much emphasis on micro conversions causes some companies to miss the big picture.

Summary

Don’t get lost in a sea of conversion rate optimization tactics that ultimately do little to move your business’s bottom line. Rather than expending resources tweaking minor design details for diminishing returns, focus on macro changes to your web strategy that achieve your end goal: profit maximization.