Any marketer who uses the web for content marketing (which would be almost all of them) knows that conversion optimization is critical. Organizations looking to create revenue from web or mobile advertising also know conversion optimization is a part of the strategy — however, this strategy is always changing.

4 Conversion Optimization Trends to Stay Ahead of the Game

With that said, there are several trends happening around conversion optimization that are important to know. The rules of the game when it comes to optimization practices change, but a good marketing professional knows to change with them.

1) Built-in in-app A/B testing

 A few years ago, the trend toward running A/B tests natively within mobile applications started to take off. With this trend, a built-in tool pays closer attention to the user’s experience by constantly running tests in the background, and pushes various interface options based on the user’s habits.

For one company,  “A View From My Seat,” which used the Artisan Optimize Mobile App, A/B testing led to increased time spent by the user in the app.  Naturally, every marketer wants eyeballs to stay on a product for longer, if possible.

Jonmichael Moy, a Toronto based technology executive, knows that this sort of engagement when it comes to conversion optimization is key – especially if it leads to increased revenue. As Jonmichael Moy explains, “With A/B testing, you compare two versions of a web page, and determine which one performs better as far as encouraging a user to take a particular action, such as buy a product. This comparison testing is essential when seeing how different web formats compare with respect to user engagement.”

2) Yes, mobile is the majority

 Speaking of mobile use, if you want to get the most positive engagement from your users, you must be mobile-friendly. Kissmetrics recently published a piece on one retailer, the Duck Store, that was able to increase its conversions and mobile sales by an astounding 184 percent, just by making everything from its product pages to its entire checkout process more optimized to a mobile shopping experience.

The importance of confirming that a company’s website and checkout process is mobile-friendly is something that Jonmichael Moy only reiterates, “While plenty of users still shop using a desktop, mobile use is an increasing section of the market share, and that really can’t be overlooked anymore.”

Adding, “For companies worried about development costs around changing their websites to be more mobile friendly, I really think this investment will be returned by strong, more robust online sales.”

3) Personalize, personalize, personalize

Every article out there about conversion optimization will tell you that personalization is important. WiderFunnel.com reported on research that found that 56 percent of online shoppers are more likely to shop on a site that offers personalized recommendations, and personalized advertising converts 10 times better than other ads. Ten times!

Personalization isn’t just important for general online shopping – CrazyEgg reported that personalized email campaigns improve conversion rates by 10 percent as well.

4) A responsive, quick design

As mentioned by Kissmetrics, according to the Aberdeen Group, Inc., a one-second delay in load time translates to a 7 percent loss in conversions. Consumers want fast, responsive designs when it comes to the websites they’re surfing. And it can be hard to make one design work for both a desktop and mobile experience when it comes to fast delivery.

So, how do you keep a consumer around?

Developers can try to make it so the most crucial information is delivered to the customer first and at the quickest speed.

As Kissmetrics also mentions, loading images based on the device requesting them – different resolutions for desktops vs. smartphones, for example — can help with load times. Just make sure there are still images — according to Inc., content that includes images produces 650 percent higher engagement than text-only posts.