While SEO has become a key piece of every digital marketer’s strategy over the years, conversion rate optimization (CRO), is a lesser-utilized strategy — but a powerful one indeed.

Part of the reason that CRO is less commonly used is because it can be complex to implement. It requires collecting certain data about your users, such as where they’re coming from and whether they are a return visitor, that’s then used to architect an experience personalized to the user specifically. It’s a customized approach to building a user experience that will become more memorable and better suited to that individual’s needs and desires. Ultimately, CRO is designed to help the customer complete the actions that you want them to complete on the website, such as sales and lead generation. And it also creates a better experience for the user by serving up more intentional and relevant content.

Now, with destinations hustling to configure their plans for post-COVID marketing, it can play an even more meaningful role in your marketing mix. So, how should destination marketers be optimizing their websites right now?

As one example, destinations can use CRO to design a website tailored to where their user is coming from, creating different experiences for in-marketing visitors versus out-of-market visitors. The in-market visitor might want to know which restaurants are open or offering takeout. The user who is 50 miles away might be searching for last-minute deals or staycation opportunities. And the out-of-market visitors could be served up inspirational content that compels them to sign up for a newsletter, enabling you to talk to them as things change within your destination. You can also use past user behaviors to offer incentives that would directly cater to their to-do list or needs on a road trip, such as offering a gas card with their hotel booking.

Even if you aren’t ready to create such a dynamic experience, you can still make sure that all of that content is readily available for visitors to see and interact with. This gives you a lot of historical data to analyze and refine your website in the future.

As always, let us know if you have any questions! If you think this strategy could help bring your own website game to the next level, we’d love to help. In the meantime, watch last week’s Layover Live to learn more.