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<Img
img="/uploads/alfa_Figures_50eea3c0a9.png"
alt="AlfaStrakhovanie: Increasement of Profit by 714% in 4 Years"
/>

AlfaStrakhovanie is the largest private insurance company in Russia, offering a wide range of insurance programs for individuals and corporate clients.

Since 2019, the company has been engaged in marketing communication automation through the Altcraft Platform. In the first year, the marketing team achieved excellent results, with a 42% increase in CRM marketing profits. We discussed how they achieved these results [**in this article**](https://altcraft.com/blog/case-how-altcraft-platform-helped-top-insurance-company-increase-sales).

Currently serving over 30 million customers, utilizing 15 communication channels, and processing data from 80 repositories, AlfaStrakhovanie has successfully adapted Altcraft Platform to its scale, automating customer communication and freeing up time for the development and implementation of new strategies. Learn how AlfaStrakhovanie enhances customer communication with the help of the Altcraft Platform.

Currently, AlfaStrakhovanie serves over 30 million customers, utilizing around 15 communication channels and processing data from 80 repositories. Their Customer Journey Map (CJM) consists of 200 touchpoints. Altcraft Platform has successfully adapted to such a scale, enabling the specialists at AlfaStrakhovanie [**to automate customer communication**](https://altcraft.com/blog/marketing-automation-for-insurance-companies) and free up time for the development and implementation of new strategies. 

We share how AlfaStrakhovanie improves customer communication using the Altcraft Platform.

<Img
img="/uploads/Profit_of_Alfa_Strakhovanie_from_CRM_marketing_min_0be7547221.png"
alt="Profit of AlfaInsurance from CRM marketing (comparing with 2018)"
/>

## Why they chose Altcraft Platform

**1. The ability to work in tandem with the internal CDI system without data transmission to cloud services.**  A key priority for insurance companies is customer data security. Altcraft, as one of the few providers in the domestic market, offered an On-premises solution, allowing AlfaStrakhovanie to have full control over their data by deploying the software within their own infrastructure.
 <p>

**2. The capability to gather all data in one place and manage marketing processes in a unified interface.** Within Altcraft Platform's Customer Data Platform (CDP), a unified profile is created for each client based on their personal and behavioral data. This enables a better understanding of customers and facilitates more personalized communication.
 <p>

**3. Сustomization functionality.** Altcraft Platform also provides additional communication channels with clients. The willingness of the Altcraft team to tailor the platform to meet customer requirements played a crucial role in the decision-making process.

## Tasks and results

The customer journey in AlfaStrakhovanie consists of over 200 touchpoints. By configuring scenarios and trigger campaigns in the platform, the company automated customer interactions at each of these touchpoints. Let's discuss the tasks it solved.

### Task 1: Customer retention and increasing repeat sales

Retaining existing customers is a less costly endeavor compared to acquiring new ones. Therefore, a significant portion of marketing communications in AlfaStrakhovanie is focused on addressing this task.

Currently, over 500 triggers are active, with thousands of message variations across various communication channels. Among the implemented mechanisms are:

- **Abandoned calculator.** If a customer starts entering data into the insurance cost calculator but fails to complete the action, the system automatically sends them a reminder with an offer to finish the calculation.

- **Bonus accrual.** After successfully completing a transaction, customers are awarded bonus points. The company then sends them an email notifying them about the accrued points. The email includes an individualized link to other insurance services that may be of interest to the customer.

- **Customer reactivation.** If a customer has not made repeat purchases for an extended period, the company sends them an email with a link to a personalized survey. The survey aims to identify the reasons why the customer is not interested in renewing the service. After completing the survey, the user receives a discount on their next purchase.

**Policy renewal**

For effective policy renewal, the company actively engages with the customer at every stage. The following triggers are used:

**1. 30-Day policy expiration reminder.** One month before the insurance policy expires, the customer receives an email offering the option to renew the service.

**2. Policy expired notification.** On the day the policy becomes invalid, the company sends a notification to the customer.

**3. Abandoned payment.** If a customer starts the policy purchase process but does not complete the transaction, they receive a reminder email.

Each trigger sends a message with an individualized link. When clicked, the customer is redirected to a page where they can quickly renew the service. From the customer's perspective, this simplifies the renewal process. Additionally, timely reminders minimize the risk of missing the deadline and being left without coverage. From the company's standpoint, these triggers increase the likelihood of a successful transaction.

**Cross-Selling**

AlfaStrakhovanie offers 35 primary products and over 50 additional ones. With such a wide range of options, [**cross-selling**](https://altcraft.com/blog/what-is-cross-selling) becomes one of the most effective tools for increasing repeat sales.

However, it is important to offer products that genuinely interest the customer when implementing this strategy. For example, if a person purchases mandatory motor insurance (MTPL), they can be offered comprehensive motor insurance (CASCO). And if they have obtained "Insurance for traveling abroad," they might find "Green Card" service useful.

AlfaStrakhovanie creates a list of relevant products within its internal CDI system, utilizing machine learning. Based on the user's previous actions, ML algorithms generate the best recommendations from the available options.

To timely deliver such an offer, a scenario is set up in the Altcraft platform. After the customer completes the insurance service purchase, they are awarded points and receive an email. Three days later, the platform checks which specific product the customer has purchased. The CDI system gathers relevant additional offers and transfers the data to the platform. Based on this data, a template is generated, and an email with a list of recommendations is sent to the customer. Subsequently, the platform tracks the customer's actions after receiving the email and transfers the data for processing in the CDI system. 

<Img
img="/uploads/alfa_Cross_selling_76ee17bf66.png"
alt="Cross-selling"
/>

Policy renewal, abandoned calculator, cross-selling, and customer reactivation — all these mechanisms are automated and continuously work to retain customers and stimulate repeat sales. As a result, in 2022, the level of repeat sales increased by 98%.

### Task 2: Increasing subscriber engagement

When it comes to email marketing, the level of subscriber engagement reflects how actively subscribers interact with the emails. Metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversions are important indicators to consider.

Personalization is a key factor in driving customer engagement, and AlfaStrakhovanie has always excelled in this aspect. As previously mentioned, Altcraft Platform has been working in tandem with the company's internal CDI system from the beginning. All emails in the platform are generated based on data from this system. Let's explain how it works.

The CDI system segments users into micro-segments for each touchpoint based on various parameters: active products, customer interactions, insurance claims, website calculation stages, psychographics, and more. Personalized links and datasets are generated based on this segmentation and later transmitted to the platform. The platform performs additional customer load segmentation and triggers activation. As a result, customers receive the best offer from over 1 billion possible combinations. The average click-through rate (CTR) for such messages is 39%.

However, the company didn't stop at personalized email campaigns. The next step was to increase email open rates. Two different techniques were used for transactional notifications and promotional mailings.

**Transactional messages** contain important information, so it is crucial to ensure that the customer receives them. A [**cascade mailing**](https://altcraft.com/blog/cascade-campaigns) approach became an obvious solution, and the AlfaStrakhovanie team implemented the following scenario:

<Img
img="/uploads/alfa_Cascade_campaign_50db3a57f5.png"
alt="Cascade mailing"
/>

The message is sequentially sent to various channels. If the recipient does not open the message in one channel, the platform sends the same message to another channel. This process goes from the cheapest channel to the most expensive one. If the message still doesn't reach the recipient, a specialist from the call center will contact them.

By using cascading distribution, marketers have achieved almost 100% message open rate. 

To increase the open rate of **promotional campaigns**, marketers have employed a new ML module in the Altcraft Platform called [**"Best Send Time."**](https://altcraft.com/blog/altcraft-platform-updates-machine-learning-new-reports-whatsapp) Machine learning algorithms analyze the history of message openings in campaigns and determine the day of the week and hour when a specific profile is most likely to read the message. Therefore, each subscriber receives the email at the optimal time for them.

As you can see, conservatism is not characteristic of AlfaStrakhovanie marketers. They are always ready to embrace new technologies in their strategies, which is why their subscribers have long been receiving [**AMP emails**](https://altcraft.com/blog/amp-emails-what-they-are-their-types-why-required). The level of interaction with such emails is much higher than with regular HTML versions.

### Task 3: Attracting new clients 

To find new clients, the company expanded its coverage by setting up new communication channels - Telegram Group and Telegram Bot.

Through Telegram Group, AlfaStrakhovanie's specialists automated the posting of posts in its official channel. There they report on important news and share useful tips in the insurance industry. 

The main task of the channel is to increase brand recognition and gain the trust of potential clients. 

As for Telegram Bot, it performs the function of a support service. Here, messages are sent directly to the user, but they should first start a dialog with the bot. After that, their data gets into Altcraft's database for further communications. 

In addition, lead generation takes place through omnichannel scenarios in the platform. Through API requests, contacts of potential customers are transferred to agents, brokers and the call center. At the same time, the collected data allows for the automatic creation of a personalized script for each lead.

## Conclusion

The company "AlfaStrakhovanie" has been automating marketing communications with customers through the Altcraft Platform for over four years. The collaboration can be considered successful as the profit from CRM marketing consistently increases year after year. In 2022, it grew by 98%, marking a 44% increase compared to 2021.

How the insurance company AlfaStrakhovanie increased the level of repeat sales and subscriber engagement using the Altcraft Platform.

medium_AlfaStrakhovanie case study 2023.png

small_AlfaStrakhovanie case study 2023.png

thumbnail_AlfaStrakhovanie case study 2023.png

AlfaStrakhovanie case study 2023.png

Read how the insurance company increased repeat sales and subscriber engagement through marketing automation.

AlfaStrakhovanie: Increasement of Profit by 714% in 4 Years

How AlfaStrakhovanie Group Increased CRM Marketing Profit by 714% in 4 Years

<Img 
img="/uploads/BLOOOG_155d109a5c.png"
alt="Cross-Selling: Definition and Types"
/> 

Sometimes customers are ready to buy more than they plan. It is important to offer them complementary products that can be used with the main one at the right time. For this reason, companies introduce cross-selling, which increases profits by 30% on average. This happens without wasting time or budget, often automatically and almost always unobtrusively.

In this post, you will learn what cross-selling is, why companies need it, how it differs from upselling and downselling, as well as what types and techniques exist to increase the average order value.

## What is cross-selling

**Cross-selling** is the process of recommending supplementary items to customers when they have already chosen the original product they intended to purchase. For example, if customers add a smartphone to their carts, you can offer them a case for this model or a screen protector.

It is important to understand that cross-selling is not about forcing a product on a customer, but about a profitable deal. Additional products should not be random, but useful for using the main one.

<Gallery>
<GalleryItem
original="/uploads/Frame_16_9ff077b7d9.png"
thumbnail="/uploads/Frame_16_9ff077b7d9.png"
description="Cross-selling example"
/>
<GalleryItem
original="/uploads/fram1_94569edaa3.png"
thumbnail="/uploads/fram1_94569edaa3.png"
description="Cross-selling example"
/>
</Gallery>

Cross-selling is often confused with upselling  and downselling. Let's find out the difference between these types of sales.

<Table>
| **Sales type** | **Description** | 
| ------ | ------ |
| Cross-selling | Offer customers products that complement the items they originally intended to purchase. | 
| Upselling | Offer customers a similar but more expensive product. Motivating a customer to buy another unit of a product is also upselling. | 
| Downselling | Offer the customer a similar but cheaper product (in case the budget is limited). | 
</Table>

<Gallery>
<GalleryItem
original="/uploads/Frame_17_b33aea5a13.png"
thumbnail="/uploads/Frame_17_b33aea5a13.png"
description="Upselling example"
/>
<GalleryItem
original="/uploads/upselling_2_bb4f632aa8.png"
thumbnail="/uploads/upselling_2_bb4f632aa8.png"
description="Upselling example"
/>
</Gallery>

**Here are the benefits of cross selling:**

- **An increase in the average order value** and, as a result, the company's income.
- **You don't need a budget to promote related products** because their offering is usually automated.
- **Less effort to sell.** The cost of supplementary products is much lower than that of the main product. A person who is already willing to pay for the purchase of a product is likely to spend a small amount for related categories. This technique is one of the [**classic sales secrets**](5-marketing-techniques-to-push-customers-to-buy). If the customer really needs the product, it is easy to sell it. For example, in an online store toy cars are sold without a battery, so customers have to buy them as well.
- **Increasing customer satisfaction.** It is more convenient for customers to immediately buy the bundle they need to fully use the product, even if they have to spend more money than they intended. Let's go back to the toy example. If you remind customers about batteries at the time of placing an order, they will be satisfied. They do not have to look for the right product elsewhere and waste their time. Therefore, the cross-sale is also a tool to increase loyalty.

## Types of cross-selling

<Table>
| **Product type** | **Description** | **Example** | 
| ------ | ------ | ------ |
| Necessary | Without these items it is impossible to use the main product. | The company stopped putting the charger in the iPhone package, so buyers have to buy it anyway. |
| Related | With these items, the use of the main product is easier or more convenient. | Phone case |
| Impulsive | Not the most necessary, but inexpensive and interesting items that are bought for nothing. | Designer phone stand | 
| «Might like it» | Items related to the purchase. | Smart watch of the same brand | 
| Seasonal | Related to the main product, but only needed at certain times of the year. | Touchscreen winter gloves | 
</Table>

## Cross-selling techniques

### What sales techniques are used for cross-selling

- **Offer supplementary products** when the customer has already added the main one to the cart or is about to check out.
- **Selling a bundle** that includes everything customers need to fully enjoy the original product.  For example, this sales method is found in BackMarket. On the page with the MacBook, they immediately show a set of items that will come in handy.

<Gallery>
<GalleryItem
original="/uploads/cross_selling_bundle_1_bc6f548de8.png"
thumbnail="/uploads/cross_selling_bundle_1_bc6f548de8.png"
/>
<GalleryItem
original="/uploads/cross_selling_bundle_2_2_8f465daa89.png"
thumbnail="/uploads/cross_selling_bundle_2_2_8f465daa89.png"
/>
</Gallery>

- **Confidential sales to regular customers.** The brand offers new products to those who have been buying from them for a long time. Items are not always directly related to the main one, but the client will purchase them because of the trust in the brand.
- **Identification of additional purchase needs.** Usually at this stage there is a manager who asks questions to the customer. Another way to recommend products is to use data from previous purchases and customer activity on the site.
- **Recommendations by interest.** This is what online cinemas do. They show which movies the user might like. The algorithms select movies similar to the ones the user has already watched.
- **Bonuses for a certain order amount.** Customers are offered a discount, free shipping, or credit option only if they spend a certain amount of money. In this case, the buyer has to pick up a basket of add-ons. Although such a sales technique is manipulative, it is effective.
- **Social proof.** You can show products that other users buy with the one the customer has added to the cart.
- **Cross-selling through advertising and email campaigns.** [**Remarketing will catch up with customers**](what-is-retargeting) on other sites with banners after they complete the target action on your ecommerce site. Another way is to offer additional items via email after the first purchase. For example, [**Altcraft Platform**](/en) has scenarios and triggers for email cross-selling. After the purchase, the user will receive an email with products that match the main one.

You should not stop at one technique. Mix and try sales techniques.

<Note>
Important! Offer products that match with the main one and enhance the effect of its use. Don't sell too expensive products and don't offer too many options — sometimes the customer does not want to spend time choosing. Successful add-on purchases are quick and do not require extra actions so that the user does not have time to change his mind.
</Note>

## How to set up cross-selling

1. Study what the audience is already buying with your products. You can get insights by using the collected data or [**conducting a survey**](customer-satisfaction-survey-mistakes).
2. Make a cross-selling matrix. Compare products by compatibility and choose those that complement each other. Indicate in which case the goods are used together. It is convenient to make the matrix in the form of a table.

**Cross-selling matrix example**

<Img
img="/uploads/cross_selling_matrix_example_1a54a0cc4e.png"
alt="Matrix example"
/>

The size of the matrix depends on the assortment. Include in the table products that are essential to use the basic one, as well as impulsive, seasonal and “might like” products.

3. Determine if there will be discounts to encourage sales. If so, in what categories?
4. Decide when to offer additional products. At the moment when customers view the product they came for, or when they [**add the product to the cart**](how-to-reduce-cart-abandonment-rate)? Maybe after purchase or through remarketing? You can also recommend other products in the product description.
5. Think over the text for the offer of related products. For example, ‘people buy with this product’ (social proof) or ‘do not forget to buy’ if these are products that are useful for the effective use of the main one.
6. Set up supplementary product offers on your site or in the system you use to manage your online store.

## Conclusion

Cross-selling is a process of encouraging customers to purchase a product that is related to what's being bought already. This sales tactic is used to increase the average order value. The customer is offered the items that are needed for the functioning of the selected product. These are useful sales because customers only buy what they need.

It is important to choose the right moment for the presentation of supplementary products. The recommendation block can be shown when the customer has already chosen the main product or after the purchase. Also, sellers sometimes give a discount on a bundle or give bonuses (such as free shipping) starting from a certain order amount in the cart.

Get started with cross-selling by looking at your customers' purchase history. Then make a matrix of goods by compatibility, choose ways to offer specials. And finally, automate processes in the online store management system or on your website.

In this post, you will learn what cross selling is, how to use it to increase the average order value and how cross-selling differs from upselling and downselling.

medium_cross-prodaji.png

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For those who want to implement cross-selling and increase the average order value.

Cross-selling | Definition, Types, Benefits, Implementation

Cross-Selling: Definition and Types

<Img
img="/uploads/Blog_1_d855861e54.png"
alt="How to Segment Your Target Audience: Criteria, Steps, Models"
/>

Business audiences are rarely uniform, especially if it is an audience of many thousands. Customers differ in age, buying methods, and interests, so making the same offer for everyone is inefficient. Segmentation of the target audience (dividing into groups) is a step towards personalization, insights for the development of new products and services, as well as the success of  advertising campaigns that become more targeted.

A business gets [**77% ROI**](https://www.notifyvisitors.com/blog/segmentation-statistics/) and increased customer loyalty with proper segmentation. In the post we will describe the benefits of splitting clients into groups, as well as by what criteria and how to segment the audience.

## What is target audience segmentation

**Target audience segmentation** is the distribution of current and potential customers into groups (segments) according to certain similar characteristics. Users fall into segments by age, gender, personal, socio-economic and other characteristics.

### Why does your business need customer segmentation:

[**Increasing loyalty**](customer-loyalty). The more detailed the company defines segments, the better it understands the needs of customers and more effectively personalizes offers. Users get a positive experience and give high rates to the brand.

**Effective advertising campaigns.** Audience segmentation shows the pains of the target audience and removes the random effect when advertising is set up for everyone at once in order to hit at least some customer preferences. Promotion goes faster with clear segments because the business offers the right product to the interested audience.

**Reducing marketing costs.** Audience segmentation is beneficial because there are no extra costs for testing, fewer errors in setting up campaigns. Thus, the business saves the marketing budget.

**Increasing profits** as a result of offering the right product at the right time to a ready-to-buy customer.

**Product improvement.** When you understand the segments, it is easier for you to tailor the product to the interests and needs of the audience.

**Insights for development strategy.** Segmentation is a detailed definition of the [**target audience**](creating-a-customer-profile). In the process of customer research, the company often receives unexpected conclusions about their interests and understands what development options are. For example, one target segment buys with the same frequency, and the other only during discounts. In this case, you should consider whether it is necessary to spend the company's resources on additional mailings (which are not free), if it is enough to send just a promotional code.

**Increasing competitiveness.** The one who knows the audience segments better, determines their needs faster and accurately “hits the target”, while the rest of the companies act at random.

**Choice of communication channels.** Segments will not necessarily be users of the same social network, and then marketers will have to add new promotion channels after segmentation.

## How to segment your customers

### Segmentation steps

1. Goal setting and hypotheses. Decide what result you want to get / what needs to be revealed as a result of segmentation.
2. Define segmentation criteria.
3. Divide the audience into segments based on the data collected from analytics.
4. Analyze the received segments and draw conclusions. Determine what you can offer to each group of customers.
5. Write a strategy and action plan for the groups. At this step, the company decides with which segments and how to work: perhaps some should be prioritized, while others should be completely removed.

### Types of segmentation

Here are the criteria for defining segments:

- **Socio-demographic.** Demographic data includes statistical information, like a person’s age, income, gender, education, etc.
- **Geographic.** Includes the client's place of residence: country, region, locality. It is also important to consider the characteristics of the place: climate, natural disasters.
- **Behavioral.** How often and in what way the client buys, readiness to buy, [**feedback**](how-to-use-customer-feedback-to-increase-sales) and ratings for products, behavior on the website.
- **Psychographic.** This can include personality variables like ways of self-expression, values, sociability, attitude to the new, lifestyles, attitudes, likes, and dislikes. 

Here are other segmentation criteria:

- **Business criteria.** Describes the income, size, industry of the company (for B2B).
- **Generation theories.** Baby Boomers, Generations X, Y, Z, and Alpha.
- **Life stage.** For example, having a child, getting married, graduating from university.
- **Seasonal activity.** When purchases are made during a certain period. For example, buyers choose seeds before the summer season.

### Ben Hunt’s Customer Awareness Ladder

The idea behind the model is that a customer comes to a purchase through five consecutive steps.

<Img
img="/uploads/ben_hunt_s_ladder_292f447b2c.png"
alt="Ben Hunt’s Customer Awareness Ladder"
/>

### The 5 Ws of audience segmentation

<Img
img="/uploads/5_ws_segmentation_052e8a297a.png"
alt="The 5 Ws of audience segmentation"
/>

It is much more efficient to combine different criteria and segmentation methods, rather than one. There is no universal set of characteristics for segments, so each business chooses the best for itself. Think right away what a segment is for your business.What is the size of each group, how detailed you describe it, and on the basis of what characteristics do you divide the audience.

**Data sources for audience segmentation:**

- surveys on the website and in social networks;
- [**email database**](how-to-build-an-email-database);
- analytics systems;
- social media statistics;
- feedback analysis.

## How to evaluate segmentation results

First, we check the segments for:

- Stability. Groups should remain unchanged for the next few years (according to forecasts);
- The possibility of communication. The audience is available in one or more channels;
- Uniformity. Within the group, customers are as similar as possible and very different from other segments.

Also, the result of proper segmentation is the growth of [**marketing KPIs**](top-digital-marketing-metrics): clicks on links in content and advertising, conversion rates and sales.

## What awaits a business without segmentation

Incorrect audience definition results in wasted advertising campaigns and, possibly, minimal effect from them. If you show all customers the same offer, only some will respond, and the rest will not buy. It can take a long time to test options for ads without segmentation, and each attempt is an additional expense that is not always paid off. 

Without segmentation, [**personalization**](/features/personalization) is also impossible. The group of customers whose interests are “not hit” will turn out to be less loyal, and the business will lose potential income.

## Examples of segmentation

Let's do an audience segmentation for an [**online learning platform**](marketing-automation-for-online-education) that offers courses in digital professions. For example, we need to define the target audience for selling a course on Internet marketing.

<Img
img="/uploads/examples_of_segmentation_fa7e50f2f1.png"
alt="The 5 Ws of audience segmentation"
/>

### The 5 Ws of audience segmentation

<Img
img="/uploads/5_ws_example_8d5cc04fa5.png"
alt="The 5 Ws of audience segmentation"
/>

### Ben Hunt’s Customer Awareness Ladder

<Img
img="/uploads/ben_hunt_ladder_example_b609fcf55c.png"
alt="Ben Hunt’s Customer Awareness Ladder"
/>

## Summary

Target audience segmentation is a grouping of customers according to similar characteristics: gender, age, interests, frequency of purchases, readiness to place an order, and others. The division into segments gives ideas for business development and increases loyalty, competitiveness, and the effectiveness of advertising campaigns.

Usually the audience is segmented according to socio-demographic, geographic, behavioral, and psychographic characteristics. But it is also possible to use alternative approaches or combine several methods. For example, there are such methods as Ben Hunt’s Customer Awareness Ladder or a 5W model. Without dividing customers into groups, the business works blindly and loses money on testing advertising campaigns. It cannot personalize the offer. However, proper segmentation saves the marketing budget and leads to an increase in marketing performance and sales.

In this post, we talk about the benefits of dividing customers into groups, by what criteria and how to segment the audience.

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Блог (1).png

By dividing the audience into segments, you can get ideas for business development and increase the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.

How to Segment Your Target Audience: Criteria, Steps, Models

How and Why to Segment Your Target Audience

<Img
img="/uploads/CRO_35eb42856c.png"
alt="CRO"
/> 

**CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization)** is essential when it comes to lead generation and effective sales. In an attempt to improve the functionality of sites, many companies overload it with complex algorithms and completely forget about convenience and logic. However, it is “smart” but not complex sites that work best for traffic. 

Increasing traffic is an important task, but not the final one. It is much more significant for businesses to convert the attracted traffic into quality leads. Moreover, according to statistics, it is more profitable to keep existing leads, rather than attract new ones. Businesses are more likely to grow progressively and have a stable future with such leads. In this context, it is important to keep track of the Conversion Rate.

## What is Conversion Rate

**Conversion Rate** is the [**ratio**](https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/conversion-rate-optimization-guide%23conversion-rate&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1662554610152440&usg=AOvVaw0PugTYPGDhW9B6woIORNAs) of site users who have completed the target action to the total number of visitors. The target action can be anything: purchase, registration, subscription, and others. It depends on the tasks of the business at the moment.

<Img
img="/uploads/Conversion_Rate_19102f3e3b.jpg"
alt="Conversion Rate"
/>

*Let’s say, the target action is a subscription to a newsletter. The subscription form is placed on all pages of your site. In three months 500 people out of 20,000 site visitors became subscribers. To calculate the conversion rate, you need to divide the number of subscriptions by the total number of visitors and multiply by 100. We get 2.5%.*

You can calculate the conversion rate for each page of the site separately, and the calculation formula is universal for any task.

*For example, you need to calculate the conversion rate of a [**lead magnet**](what-is-a-lead-magnet). You use an e-book as a lead magnet. You add a download link only to some pages of the site. To find out the conversion rate, it is enough to divide the number of downloads by the number of visits to those pages where the lead magnet is located.*

A quality website has a high conversion rate. What does quality mean? User-friendly, informative, attractive to the [**target audience**](creating-a-customer-profile). Low Conversion Rate indicates poor design, low site speed, and form errors.

## "Good" Conversion Rate

What are high values and low values? What value will be a positive result? Everything is very individual and depends on the scope of the company, its geography, business goals, characteristics of the target audience and other factors.

In the [**field of e-commerce**](https://www.statista.com/statistics/439576/online-shopper-conversion-rate-worldwide/#:~:text=Global%20online%20shopper%20conversion%20rate%202018%2D2020&text=In%20the%20United%20States%2C%20online,the%20top%20spot%20for%20conversions.), the average conversion rate globally was 2.17% in the third quarter of 2020. A year ago, the indicator was 2.37%. At the same time, the American market showed a value of 2.57%. 

The conversion rate varies significantly in different time periods and in different countries. It also varies depending on the niche.  The conversion rate of e-commerce in the food segment is 5.5%, and in the hair care segment - 3.5%.

What should you rely on? On your own expectations, on the increase in the indicator in relation to the previous year, on the comparison of the conversion rate with the average value for your industry, on the achievements of competitors. If any position doesn't suit you, start optimization.

## Where is the CRO strategy applied

Any page on your site can convert, whether it's the home page, pricing page, or blog. You need to tidy up each section of the site in order to achieve the maximum effect from optimization.

1. A [**main page**](https://altcraft.com) is the number one goal for CRO, since the first acquaintance of the user with your company begins with it. A good homepage will encourage a visitor to continue their journey through your website. A bad homepage will force them to leave it. The homepage is a good place for "anchors". It can be a chatbot for constant communication with the client, a subscription button or interesting links.

2. A **pricing page** visit can be decisive on the way to conversion. Attractive and convincing prices will strengthen the desire of the buyer, and the biased prices will scare away. How to convince buyers of the adequacy of the cost? Use CRO. The conversion can be increased by changing the pricing intervals (cost per month or per year), information support of the price, noticeable contacts for communication with the manager and the usual pop-up form.

<Img
img="/uploads/pop_ap_s_predlozheniem_11ec493171.png"
alt="Pop-up form"
/>

*For example, Hotjar placed an email collection pop-up on their price page. As a result, the company received more than 400 new customers in less than a month.*

3. [**A blog**](https://altcraft.com/blog) is an interesting section of your website that has a high conversion potential. Post useful and high-quality content and convert readers into potential customers. Use a CTA button to do this. You can provide readers with extended content, summary reports, or e-books in exchange for email.

4. **Landing pages** have the highest conversion rates because that's what they're made for. They are needed so that the person who visits them completes desired actions. On average, the conversion rate here reaches 23%. Landing page optimization is simple and very creative. *For example, it is enough to add a video from last year's event to the page in order to optimize its conversion rate. This will increase the interest and desire of visitors to attend this year's event in person. Share with users some free material. At first, make available a preview of the content, and then offer to download the full version.*

## CRO in figures

There is no doubt that CRO is useful for any company that is interested in a strong digital presence. The desire to make casual website visitors into potential buyers and, ultimately, high-quality leads, doesn’t depend on the size and type of your business. Everyone wants it. It remains only to choose an effective optimization method.

Easy to say, not easy to do. Marketers face difficulties already at the stage of setting a conversion goal. “Last month the landing page converted 50 people, next month it should convert 100 people.” What does this phrase mean? When it comes to CRO, it is not about getting 50 extra conversions next month, but about getting 50 conversions for every X number of people who visit the site. In other words, we are not talking about sales in absolute terms, but about the effectiveness of sales, in relative terms.

Conversion rate optimization is not about generating more new traffic, but about getting more out of existing traffic and leads. Here are two formulas to calculate CRO:

1. **Calculate conversion rate**. As we wrote above, you need to divide the number of conversions (leads generated) by the total website traffic, and then express as a percentage.

<Img
img="/uploads/calculate_conversion_rate_cd3de2eb4c.jpg"
alt="Calculate conversion rate"
/>

2. **Calculate the lead goal**. Determine the required number of new customers and divide it by the ratio of attracted customers to their total number.

<Img
img="/uploads/calculate_the_lead_goal_9b26eba51d.jpg"
alt="Calculate conversion rate"
/>

*For example, the website has 10,000 monthly visitors. 100 of them become leads, and 10 people become customers. The conversion rate of this website is only 1%.*

At the same time, it is interesting for a business to receive not 10, but 20 or even 30 customers every month. What to do? You can try to increase website traffic to 20,000 people, and pray that traffic doesn’t drop. However, this method carries certain risks. Or you can go the other way and use conversion rate optimization. It will allow you to “squeeze out” the required number of customers from current traffic.

*Doubling the conversion rate doubles the number of potential leads and customers.*

<Table>
| Company | A | B | C |
| ------ | ------ | ------ |
| Traffic per month | 10 000 | 10 000 | 10 000 |
| Conversion rate | 1% | 2% | 3% |
| Leads received | 100 | 200 | 300 |
| New clients | 10 | 20 | 30 |
</Table>

Have you noticed that along with the increase in the conversion rate, the number of new customers and leads has also increased? And yet the traffic remained unchanged.

It’s like filling a bucket with water: no matter how much traffic you pour into a “leaky bucket”, it will never be full. If you don't fix the cause of the “leak”, you won't improve business performance. So, it's time to start optimizing.

## Conversion Rate Optimization Strategies That Work

Here are 7 CRO strategies your business could benefit from.

1. **CTA in blog texts**. If you manage to overcome the banner blindness of readers, then the practice of using CTA in articles will show itself perfectly.

2. **A/B testing of landing pages**. Landing pages promote close interaction between customers and the company This is where users become leads and then buyers. Use A/B Testing to optimize landing pages. Tests will suggest designs and content that are interesting to visitors. Test different site versions, images, forms, CTAs, buttons to find the best combination.

*For example, China Expat Health was able to achieve a 79% [**increase in conversion rates**](https://techcrunch.com/2021/07/02/79-more-leads-without-more-traffic-heres-how-we-did-it/?hubs_post-cta=blognavcard-marketing) through testing. Among the activities that led to a significant result, it is worth noting the change of the name "Health Insurance in China" to "Save 32% on Health Insurance in China". The effect was backed up by posting real customer reviews.*

3. **MQL without delay**. Some leads are ready to become part of the conversion without preheating. Don’t interfere with them, don’t push them on the typical path of an ordinary lead, but on the contrary, help them. A qualified marketing lead will be interested in thoughtful design, high-quality sales texts, and attractive CTAs.

4. **Automation of the work of your employees**. Among the variety of work processes, there are absolutely routine ones. Such tasks can be taken out of the manual control of your colleagues, which will make their life easier. It's not difficult to do with marketing automation software.

*For example, set up [**automatic sending**](marketing-automation-for-insurance-companies) of messages to subscribers. After that, a potential client with one touch will be able to book a convenient time for him to meet with the manager. You can also set up notifications that the sales team will receive when leads move through the site and take a valuable action (visiting the pricing page).*

*According to statistics, the Open rate of abandoned cart emails reaches 45% ([**Moosend**](https://moosend.com/blog/cart-abandonment-rate-infographic/?hubs_post-cta=blognavcard-marketing) research). In the field of e-commerce, this knowledge definitely needs to be used. After opening an email, 21% of readers click on the link, half of them complete their purchase.*

<Img
img="/uploads/uvedomlenie_o_broshennoj_korzine_786032bf92.jpg"
alt="Pop-up form"
/>

Such letters also can be automated.

5. **Distinguish high-converting website pages**. You need to know the pages of your site with high conversion rates inside and out. And in different ways to communicate with visitors on these pages. If suddenly the user has a question, he should be able to instantly get an answer. For this purpose, use live chat software, various messaging functions, and chat bots. If the user is “stuck” on the page for more than 2 minutes, offer him help through a pop-up window.

6. **SERP for effective articles**. The posts you publish on your blog are sometimes useful to analyze and categorize. There are those who have high traffic but low conversions. Then SEO is needed, or you need to work on the CTA or the content of the article as a whole. High conversion rates for an article are a reason to think about improving the quality of the traffic they attract. To do this, apply to such posts SERP — content optimization for the search engine results page. Don't forget that your blog should contain only relevant information.

7. **Retargeting**. Here's the simple truth. Most visitors leave your website without taking the targeted action. Retargeting from social networks and other platforms will allow you to return some of the "runaway" customers. Retargeting works on the following principle: visitors to your site are “tagged” and then they are tracked. When they visit correlated sites on the Internet, ads pop up that remind them of you. This method works especially effectively for those who have left high-converting pages of the site.

For ads used in retargeting, the same “golden rules” apply. Advertising should be bright, texts should be selling, CTA should be eye-catching, and your offer should be clear, concise and attractive, without puzzles. Then the retargeting tool will work as it should.

*For example, [**United**](https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-strategies/video/acquisition-video-marketing/?hubs_post-cta=blognavcard-marketing) launched a retargeting campaign that focused on potential customers who interacted with the company for the first time and were already considering booking a vacation. The target audience was shown with a 15-second video with a CTA at the end. If the client was attracted by the video, he clicked on the button and instantly got to the company's website. The system worked great: 52% of monthly YouTube conversions came from ads from this video.*

## How to take the first step

We invite you to evaluate the potential of the project using **the PIE system**. This simple method will determine the course of action if you are confused.

Each element of optimization is evaluated from the position of three factors:
1. **Potential**
2. **Importance**
3. **Easy**

Score each item from 1 to 10, where 1 is the lowest score and 10 is the highest score.

The following questions will help you to grade:

1. How much improvement will this project bring?
2. What is the significance of these improvements for the business?
3. How much effort will it take to bring the idea to life?

After scoring, calculate the arithmetic mean for each item. Rank items in descending order based on results. The best projects will head the list, and you should start with them.

The PIE system is quite subjective and primitive, but it is simple to understand and implement, and can definitely serve as a starting point at the beginning of CRO.

## CRO FAQ

### What is the goal of CRO?

Companies use conversion rate optimization to increase the likelihood that website visitors will take targeted actions. In other words, the goal of CRO is to increase the percentage of people who complete the targeted action out of the total number of visitors.

### What is a CRO strategy?

A CRO strategy is a set of actions that a business takes to achieve its goal. In simple words, it converts random visitors into potential customers, and then into people who have made a purchase. Each CRO strategy is individual, because it depends on the starting state of the company, key indicators, characteristics of the target audience, and other factors.

Before developing a strategy, do not neglect [**feedback from customers**](how-to-use-customer-feedback-to-increase-sales). Reviews will help you find interesting ways to improve. Conduct A/B tests to find the best combinations of website elements that drive conversions.

### Why are CRO tools needed?

CRO tools are a set of tricks and software that simplify the process of website optimization. Some tools allow you to fully automate CRO, others help with customer acquisition and retention. There are tools that help with analytics, as well as tools that allow you to track the actions of visitors on the site, work with heat maps, collect feedback, or automate tests.

### Why do a CRO test?

CRO tests are carried out to understand how you can change the elements of the site to increase conversion. For example, you can change text, buttons, page design, element layout, colors, and shapes. In this case, your decisions are based on an accurate calculation, and not on personal opinion.



In this article, we talk about what is conversion rate, where is the CRO strategy applied and how does this strategy work.

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What is conversion rate, where is the CRO strategy applied and how does this strategy work.

How to Optimize Your Conversion Rate

7 Effective Ways to Optimize Your Conversion Rate

![ak-dynamic-content.gif](/uploads/ak_dynamic_content_f2965a1924.gif)

Attention and care are very simple but at the same time very important components of any advertising campaign.A personalized email is the key to the long term friendly relations with your customers. Every day personalization increases its opportunities. Messages become more personalized and more useful for customers and that in its turn increases their life cycle activities.

Personalized emails and messages can increase your CTR and RPE.

## The source of data for personalization

The more information you have about your customers the more relevant offer you can make. Each word of your mail matters. If your offer isn’t relevant to customers needs it’ll go for nothing.

So, what is the data source for relevant offers? 

You can find some of them below:

- Sign up and lead generation forms. They help to collect personal data that was left while subscribing or filling in a form. That can be first name and last name, phone number and email address.
- Email. You get information based on customers activity with emails. For example, you can choose the best day and time for sending emails.
- CRM-platform. It can provide you information on customers’ performance on your website, their interests  etc.
- Information on clicks and customers actions with your previous emails.

Altcraft marketing platform makes it possible to use adjustable fields. That helps you to store any kind of information about your customer (for example the size of a t-shirt, birthdate etc.) and use it for personalized campaigns.

## What data can be used to create dynamic content?

- Demographic data. That can be name, age, phone number, the name of a company, occupation, email address.
- Geodata. Information about customers location.
- Customer’s behaviour, their psychological portrait. Behaviour on your site and in emails helps to identify customers interests, needs and wishes.
- Information about their purchased services and goods, their place in a purchase cycle.
- Any kind of data from other websites, that is relevant for your emails.

Depending on your aims it’ is possible to personalize anything you want to.

Dynamic content helps you to plan your advertising campaign beforehand, prepare relevant content and share up-to-date information by using JSON technologies and integration with other sources.

![ak-dynamic-json.png](/uploads/ak_dynamic_json_c1c43a4a7b.png)

## Make your customers feel they are special

A customer will be pleasantly surprised how you meet their demands and needs. The more personalized content you give the less “opt-out” customers you’ll get. You’ll always be able to offer your customer a personal bonus or discount, inform them about any changes and send them holiday greetings.

## Some examples of how to employ dynamic content in  email-strategy

### Simple personalization

The most common example of dynamic content is addressing your customer by their names. As known, a name is the most valuable sound for any person and if you aim to make interest with somebody call them by their names. 

If your database contains customer names it’ll be used instead of “lead.fname”, if not, a customer will get an email with а generalized phrase “Dear customer” (or any other phrase what you’ll choose).

### Gender

If you know the gender you can send personalized product recommendations to men and women.

![ak-dynamic-gender1.png](/uploads/ak_dynamic_gender1_60d896d540.png)

### Geolocation

If you know your customers location you’ll be able to send emails according to their local time zone and personalize your email marketing to people according to the place of their living.

![ak-dynamic-geolocation (1).png](/uploads/ak_dynamic_geolocation_1_2d336bb63b.png)

### Customer’s birthday

It’s an easy way not only to remind of yourself but also to please your customer. A warm congratulation and a little personal discount as a present put a smile on their face and they will like you.

![ak-dynamic-birthdate (1).png](/uploads/ak_dynamic_birthdate_1_964eb0c9be.png)

### Cart abandonment 

This kind of letters increase conversion rates up to 28%. That is why it is very important to remind your customers about their forgotten baskets.

![ak-dynamic-lost-cart (1).png](/uploads/ak_dynamic_lost_cart_1_0c017c56cd.png)

### Customers behaviour

This example takes into account customers activity and behaviour on your website: what are they  looking for?, how much time do they spend? What website sections are more interesting? In order to track their activity you just need to place a tracking pixel on your site.

### Up-to-date information on your or your partners website

Add to your e-mail reliable up-to-date information that changes every day, for example,  exchange rates, timekeepers for your promotional actions, stock-exchange quotations.

![ak-dynamic-currences (1).png](/uploads/ak_dynamic_currences_1_e2018ff1b1.png)

By applying dynamic content and segmentation, email marketing becomes more than just one of the ways to inform your customers. It is a high-performance marketing tool: you spend less time for marketing campaign elaboration and your statistics becomes better, that means your income increases too. Besides, it is the surest way to build customer relations on a long-term basis.

Personalized Marketing is a good way to get closer to your followers. Use your subscribers' data to make every marketing campaign unique for each customer.

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Every day personalization increases its opportunities. Messages become more personalized and more useful for customers and that in its turn increases their life cycle activities.

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Drag-and-drop email designer

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