Originally posted on February 9, 2022 @ 11:10 pm
Does your website give students the information they need, in the best and fastest way possible? Are they engaged with the content and format in which you display it? Or could style rather than substance be hampering your chances of optimal conversions?
These are all questions digital, marketing, and recruiting teams should be asking themselves if they want to put user experience at the heart of your website.
Fortunately, there’s a huge range of tools to dig deeper into the science behind clicks, allowing you to collect valuable data you can act on, no matter what digital experience or content management platform you’re using. .
So without further ado, here is our team’s pick of the best CRO tools to experiment with and use to optimize your site.
#1 Google Analytics and Data Studio
Google Analytics was one of the first tools for digital marketers to measure success and deeply analyze user behavior, conversions, bounce rate, and page sources.
google analytics
We all know its value, and it remains fundamental to data tracking and analysis, although its accuracy over time has been hampered by industry changes such as cookie policies and the latest update. iOS update.
Data Studio, on the other hand, which is essentially a supercharged version of Google Analytics, lets you customize and present data in far superior reports and views, including those that show user flow paths. While Google Analytics only allows 12 widgets per dashboard, Data Studio can serve as a center for breaking down and sharing complex data, with insights from social media platforms, CRMs and advertising platforms.
#2 Hotjar
While Data Studio or Google Analytics can provide insights like bounce rates, user behavior software like Hotjar is essential for analyzing why.
This interactive tool lets you track individual URLs and produce usage heatmaps, a color-coded visual representation of how users spend time on your page. It will show you where people click or don’t click, and how far they scroll down the pages before they lose interest and leave. There is also the option to record sessions to better identify pain points and on-page surveys to ask users for feedback on the design. All of this is invaluable in gauging the popularity and usability of the content and calls-to-action (CTAs) needed for recruiting conversion.
#3 Crazy Egg
This is another heat mapping tool, which offers similar functionality to Hotjar, but specifically promotes its ability to help education providers streamline websites for desktop and mobile. It also gives you the option to set up A/B testing, which is an effective way to try out different versions of your top landing pages with users after identifying poorly performing pages with the tools above.
#4 VWO Testing
It is a dedicated testing and optimization tool, allowing you to create simple tests in minutes to determine which designs and layouts maximize conversions. In addition to A/B testing, it offers multivariate testing and split URL testing, to create an even more accurate picture of what works and what doesn’t. You can see all results in one place, with multiple widgets and visitor segmentation. Like Hotjar and Crazy Egg, it also offers session recordings and heatmaps.
#5 Google Optimize
Similarly, Google Optimize is a go-to tool for testing webpage variations against set goals. All of this comes with the added benefit of a link to Google Analytics and a free version available. There’s an easy-to-use visual editor, as well as the functionality to make changes for testing using raw HTML or JavaScript. It’s a great way to try out customization techniques before deploying them on a larger scale on platforms like ours.
#6 Treejack
This intuitive tree-testing tool, part of Optimal Workshop, can provide essential information to create an information architecture that works for future students.
This can show you where people get lost in content and struggle to find the right path to the information they need. The program uses real participants (with demographics defined by you), who are given a text version of your site and a set of tasks that will establish how easy (or hard) it is to get where they need to be with information architecture as it is. The data can then come to life as visuals.
#7 Wave
Make sure your website meets accessibility standards and steer away potential students with disabilities or learning difficulties with this suite of tools. WAVE (Website Accessibility Assessment Tool) is run by WebAim, an organization dedicated to improving the web for people with disabilities. But it’s not just about identifying barriers to using web pages, testing can also reveal broken links and content that impedes all user journeys. It’s a free tool, but its enhanced version, PopeTech, allows multi-page testing, reporting, and troubleshooting tips.
#8 Chalkmark
A first-click testing tool, Chalkmark indicates where on an interface users would place their mouse first to perform a task. It is believed that 87% of people who are on the right path to where they want to be will convert successfully. This tool therefore provides the necessary information to guarantee easy navigation in the interfaces.
#9 UserZoom
UserZoom is another comprehensive user testing tool, which includes screen sharing features to observe real user journeys. In addition to behavioral data, you can get verbal feedback by setting up remote user interviews. Meanwhile, sorting cards with audiences can be used to see how they group things together in the information architecture, in a way that makes sense to them. Tree tests and click tests are also available on this platform.
#10 Google PageSpeed Insights
No one wants to land on a slow and clunky webpage, especially students browsing multiple sites in search of the right course for them. Poorly loaded content or pages can increase bounce rates and hit conversion rates hard. PageSpeed Insights lets you analyze loading speed and identify issues, with suggestions for improvement.
Of course, you won’t necessarily need all of the tools listed above, as there’s a lot of crossover between them, but combining a few key pieces of software will reap rewards in terms of data-driven decision-making.
Are there other CRO tools you swear by to analyze and improve your website? If so, please share your recommendations in the comments below, on social media, or email our team directly. We would love to hear from you.
