A conversion happens when a customer decides to take the next step with your business. In some cases, this may mean making a purchase directly from you website. In other cases it may mean making a phone call or filling out an appointment form.
The next step doesn’t need to be a sale. Maybe they just decide to download your free report and get on your email list.
Whatever it is, you always want more of your website visitors to take the next action. Here are eight ways to increase conversions.
1. Know Your Audience
Make sure your customer knows that your website is for them. Understanding your target market and creating content that resonates with them will make it easier for them to take the next step. Some ways you can do this are:
- Addressing their specific pain point in your website copy
- Painting a picture of what life will look like when the problem that they have is solved
- Using imagery, fonts and colours that appeal to your target market
The first page you will want to optimize is your home page. Your home is the most visited page on your site and it's job is to entice people to stay and learn more.
2. Clearly explain the benefits
Often web copy performs poorly because the focus is on the features of the product or service. For each feature, you should also explain the benefit.
A good template for this concept goes something like this: The product has [feature] so that you can [benefit.] Example, the coffee maker has an automatic shut-off feature so you can be worry free on your commute to work. (Rather than wondering if you left the coffee maker on.)
Benefits can be highlighted everywhere on your website. Use the about page, blogs, case studies and product and service pages to explain how your product or service makes people’s lives better.
3. Make your site easy to navigate
Make it easy for visitors to learn more about your core offering. If your customer has browsed your website and feels that they are ready to take the next step, it shouldn’t be hard for them to take action.
- Avoid extensive drop-down menus
- Include a call to action at key points in your sales copy and at the end of every blog post
- Make your contact information visible on every page
- Include a search button
- Provide internal linking
- Make your content easy to read and scannable
- Include live chat
4. Ensure your website is mobile friendly
It’s estimated that over 60% of web traffic comes from mobile sites meaning that you can’t ignore this segment of your audience.
- Make sure your site loads fast
- Ensure your site is responsive
- Make sure people can do everything on your mobile site that they do on desktop
- Make your contact information easy to find
5. Gain insights from customer feedback
Feedback in your business comes from multiple sources. Feedback about why customers bought or didn’t buy can be useful for your copywriter or web designer. One thing to consider is why people might be phoning your business instead of buying online. Is it because they have additional questions that your website didn’t answer? Here are some ways to collect feedback.
- Use a heat map plugin to find out how people are navigating your website
- Ask your customer service phone or email support team
- Ask your sales team or technical support
- Ask people to fill out a quick survey before they leave your site. Adding an incentive may help.
Once you have collected enough information, you may need to consider rewriting your sales copy to make it easier to understand or to answer frequent questions. Maybe it was the site navigation that was the problem or the checkout process was unintuitive.
Occasionally businesses need to shift the way they sign up customers. Maybe your audience just wants to buy online rather than phoning you or vice versa. If people need to call for an appointment, consider offering an online booking feature instead or in addition to phoning. Remember that technology preferences can shift over time.
6. A/B test everything
Your website is never truly done. Once you have your core pages up and running, it is important to test everything to see if you can get better results. Some of the things you might want to test include:
- Website copy
- Call to action
- Lead magnet
- Titles
- Button size, colour and positioning
- Images
If you have done some research in your Google Analytics or your heat map dashboard you might have a good idea of where to start looking for areas of improvement.
7. Do you need a landing page?
A landing page differs from a website in that there is typically only one action the potential client can take. This may mean a purchase, booking an appointment or downloading a free resource. The theory is that people who land on your website have so many options that they don’t feel encouraged to make a decision. Typically a landing page cuts out the other pages, blogs, menus and other distracting elements and just asks the visitor for one thing — a conversion.
If your company history is needed to build trust, you will put it on the landing page rather than linking out. If you need to answer FAQs, this will also appear on the landing page. Typically, a large financial commitment will require a longer page than a simple free or low cost download.
The problem, of course, is that if your visitor doesn’t take the action you desire, they will leave and it is unlikely that they will visit again. Because landing pages have low organic traffic, they are usually supported by advertising. Sometimes landing pages even have countdown timers to pressure the visitor to buy or miss out on the special offer.
A landing page can be built on your website or through your email or landing page software provider. Once you have a landing page you will usually need to monitor your conversions carefully and tweak your sales copy as needed.
8. Experiment With Different Types of Content
What works for one audience may not work for others. Consider:
- Blogs
- Videos
- Reports
- Case studies
If you incorporate video into your content strategy, make sure you add captions for mobile viewers. Always end your content by giving your customer the next step. Should they continue to another piece of related content or should you send them to the sales page? Test your call to action if your content is getting traction but the visitors are not converting.
If you are struggling with getting enough returns from your website, take a look at these areas and decide if there is anything you can tweak. If you would like a free consultation about your website and content marketing, book a call today.
Shella Gardezi is a marketing, PR and SEO specialist with experience doubling website traffic and sales and getting features in national publications and on the airwaves.