Conversion optimization is one of the most confusing aspects of marketing. That’s because you can literally test anything on your digital ads and landing pages. It can be tough to narrow down exactly what you should be testing — or even what success should look like for your specific marketing goals.

Case studies can be helpful, but won’t give you an exact blueprint for what to do. Your best strategy comes from your own customers, data and learning process. Here are some ideas to guide you.

1. Create copy that speaks the language of your customers.

One of the most powerful ways you can influence conversions is through your messaging — it’s important to A/B test your copy to truly find what resonates with your customer base.

You’ve seen case studies in which simple word choice adjustments have increased conversion rates by 30 percent or more. The studies make A/B copy testing look easy, but when you sit down to do it yourself, you realize that the process is pretty darn hard.

The best way to test your copy is to get inside the mind of your target audience and use the language that they are likely to use when evaluating a purchase decision.

How to get started:

• Commit to interviewing five customers for 30 minutes

• Ask questions about their research processes, challenges and ideal solutions

• Create a list of keywords, themes and topics that arise naturally from conversations

2. Add focus to your user flows.

Cognitive dissonance is one of marketing’s biggest conversion killers. Your messaging and offers need to be aligned with the steps that your audience is taking to reach the moment of conversion.

Your web traffic sources and previous customer interactions are all important data points for personalization and conversion optimization. Give someone confusing information — or messaging that’s designed for the wrong audience —  and you’ll kill your conversions.

Sooner rather than later, you should take the time to make sure that your landing pages align with your web traffic sources and marketing campaigns.

How to get started:

• Identify your top five web traffic sources

• Create a list of patterns, interactions and trends displayed by each web traffic source

• If you can, talk to 2-3 customers who came from each of these web traffic sources

• Create landing pages, messaging and offers that are customized to these audiences

3. Create buyer stories around your metrics.

When optimizing conversions, it’s often easier to ignore lasting trends for quick wins. At the end of the day, however, it won’t be a good use of your time to spend your days adjusting button colors for the sake of comparing blue vs. green.

Instead, you need a clear story around what’s working and what isn’t working, so that you can make decisions around buyer patterns that are specific to your customers and prospects.

Buyer stories will help your marketing team create a process for continuous experimentation and improvement. This mindset will help you transform a one-off testing strategy into a path for consistent learning and growing.

How to get started:

• Look at your digital analytics to identify your highest converting traffic sources

• Look at your digital analytics to identify common points of friction

• Talk to your sales team about why these points of conversion and friction may be occurring

• Create stories based on these commonly observed patterns

• Incorporate these stories into your process for generating blog post topics, developing sales collateral and creating case studies

Final Thoughts

Conversion optimization is a long-term, systematic process that requires continuous attention and investment. Don’t feel pressured to follow “best practices” or to make changes based on other peoples’ data. What’s more important is that you implement techniques that are 100 percent your own.

This post originally appeared on the Evergage Blog.