By Top Left Design
What is it you want people to do when they have visited your website? If you’re like most of our clients, you may want them to:
- Fill out your contact form
- Call you up to enquire about your pricing
- Sign up for a free trial
- Leave contact details in exchange for some content
- Add themselves to your mailing list
- Sign up for an event
- Buy a product
If a website gets someone to do one of these things, you will have in a sense “converted” them – to the next step in their decision to engage with you.
However, as Kevin from Voy Media, a Marketing Agency in NYC, says “you may think that you have something special or unique to offer, but it could still be challenging to convince anyone to opt-in.”
He continues “Fortunately, you do not have to be stuck forever in a terrible conversion rate. Just by doing a couple of tweaks, you could instantly start seeing a change.”
See below in this guest post – Kevin’s 10 tips.
The best ways how you can improve the conversion rate of your website:
1. Have a CRO Strategy
If you already have information on your website from a tool such as Google Analytics, then you are basically in good shape.
Study that data for patterns where you could base a conversion rate optimization strategy. Ideally, you want prospects to spend a lot of time on your page, as well as other pages on your site to learn more about what you can offer.
Once you have the basic information on the performance of your site, you will know the pages that are not doing their jobs and find ways to optimize them.
Continuously add fresh content, update statistics and references, create a better call-to-action, or even consider a site redesign. All of these updates will help you create a better foundation for a basic CRO.
2. Have an Easy-to-Navigate Funnel
You might have the snazziest website out there, but if most users could not find what they need, then chances are, they will leave.
For instance, you have to be mindful of the number of clicks it takes for people to purchase on your site. The longer and more complicated the process is for a customer, the more they will likely leave without opting in or knowing more information about your services. So, make sure that you have clear navigation and the click-throughs work as well.
Also, do not forget about your mobile users. More and more users are using their mobile devices to access the internet, and not having a site that is developed to cater to that access would mean a loss of prospective customers.
3. Use a Simple Website Layout
Adopt the “less is more” mindset. Think about it: Once users arrive on your site, they are looking for ways to quickly find the information that they are looking for.
So, your site’s layout should be clear, is highly intuitive, and offers a great user experience.
Do not overwhelm your website visitors by confusing them with irrelevant information, annoying ads, and flashy graphics.
4. Contact Forms Should Set Expectations
For the majority of service sites, the contact form is the main route of contact. Filling out a contact form requires some sort of a commitment for customers, so you must remove any kind of barriers as much as possible.
You should also offer them some sort of assurance on what will happen next.
Also, using a highly conversational and natural tone in your contact forms leads to higher conversions. This is because your form appears to be a lot more friendly (and less intimidating) even if you are asking them to give you important pieces of information.
5. Use Active Language on Buttons
Getting your call-to-action (CTA) right is one of the most important things that you need to do when it comes to optimizing your site.
They would appear in key pages of your site, playing a key role in the buyer’s journey. So maximizing the clicks to your CTAs is important. It is also one of the simplest and best ways that you could boost your conversion rates.
Also, using a more active language like “View Details” as compared to a more generic and passive “Read More” could dramatically improve your sales and conversions.
6. Add Testimonials and Reviews
Third-party endorsements from your previous clients in the form of testimonials, case studies, reviews, and so on works well in building people’s confidence and trust in your brand, and services.
Moreover, other types of testimonials from people that have authority in their field like bloggers, journalists, influencers, and publishers work excellently as well.
7. Offer a Money-Back Guarantee
A lot of people, especially when buying online, want to avoid risks. They hardly want to put their money at stake, unless they are sure that they get what they paid for.
To help ease those fears, offer a money-back guarantee.
8. Never Overlook SEO Opportunities
Being highly visible online does not just happen by chance. You need to have a site that has an SEO-friendly framework. You also need to stay updated with the latest trends and algorithms.
Ensure that your website pages have the right titles, meta tags, and relevant keywords. Do not think that this is just a one-time deal, either. SEO takes a consistent effort for you to stay relevant and on top of your game.
9. Keep a Consistent Flow of Relevant Content
While SEO is important, it is not the only contributing factor when it comes to boosting your rankings in Google.
When Google ranks search results, it is looking for the most relevant information for a particular query.
Adding content like blog posts, videos, and pictures not only provides you with a keyword-rich copy, it also serves your customer by providing them with unique information and education.10. Do A/B Testing
With A/B testing, you need to create “Version A” and a “Version B” of your website to find out which ones generate the most conversions.
By using this strategy a couple of times, you will be able to better narrow things down until you come up with a highly converting service page.
Here are some of the things that you need to A/B test:
- The headline
- Page layout
- Your offer
- The buy buttons
