Most websites strive to increase their traffic, but an often-overlooked metric that can be even more profitable to track is your website conversion rate.
What is Conversion Rate Optimization?
Here’s a clear and concise explanation from Quicksprout,
“When it comes to internet marketing, you can generate more revenue in one of two ways. You can drive additional traffic to your site in order to increase
sales, or you can improve the effectiveness of your site to boost sales with the same amount of traffic you’re currently receiving. Conversion rate
optimization (CRO) focuses on the latter.”
Conversion rate optimization is the process of evaluating your site’s effectiveness and making changes to the layout, design and copy to increase the percentage
of visitor’s who sign up for your product or service.
Most small business websites can improve conversion rates by making some basic changes. It can be surprising to see how minor changes can make a major
impact for your business. For example, a red colored button may do better than green button or changing 1 or 2 words in your call to action could be
a significant change.
If you’re interested in boosting your website’s conversion rates, here are ten simple things that you can do to convert visitors into into leads and even
customers.
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Make It Easy and Clear: Improve Accessibility
Making things easy for your customer is one of the best ways to ensure that they make it through the checkout or sign up process. Even the most
dedicated customer will click away if the purchasing process is too difficult or unclear. Make it simple for your customers to find what they
are looking for, and make it easy for them understand what they are signing up for. -
Keep the Customer Informed
Educating your customers and helping them make informed decisions makes the decision process easier, leading to more sales. Providing shipping
costs up front, and including plenty of product details –and high-quality photos can help your customers to make the decisions that they need
to go forward with their purchases. -
Offer a Variety of Options
It may sound strange, but not everyone has access to a credit or debit card –and those who do, are sometimes uncomfortable handing out their information
online. Consider offering other forms of payment like PayPal, to help make your shoppers’ lives easier, and to encourage them to buy from you.
Or give them a trial period of a basic subscription product to give them a chance to see if your product or service is right for them. -
Have an Clear Returns Policy
Having a great returns policy can help to make buyers more confident to purchase through you. Having free return shipping is a great policy –and
allowing plenty of time to return things is also a good idea – 30 days is standard. -
Make Sure Your Website Appears Great on Multiple Platforms
Be sure to test how your website appears and performs on all the browsers and devices. Optimizing your site for mobile visitors is also extremely
important. A number of well-known retailers are reporting that over 50 percent of their shoppers are mobile-only. Having a site that isn’t optimized for mobile browsing could cause you
to lose out on valuable, mobile customers. Mashable has a great list of browser testing tools for you to check your website on. -
Create Testimonials
Nothing creates trust like quality testimonials. According to Nielson, 92 percent of consumers say that they trust earned media –like reviews from
friends and family more than any other form of advertising,
and according to Search Engine Land, 72 percent of consumers say that they trust online reviews just as much as personal recommendations.
Featuring testimonials on your website can boost your visitors’ confidence, and give them the nudge they need to make their purchases or commit
to a trial offer. -
Simplify
According to Econsultancy 40
percent of website visitors will close down a web page if it takes more than three seconds to load. So take down those flashy banners, limit
the ads you allow, and keep your messages short and sweet –especially on your first page. You want your website to be appealing to your customers,
not slow to load and difficult to navigate. -
Shorten the Forms
No one wants to fill out a long, complicated form. Keep your purchase forms as short as possible. Don’t attempt to harvest unnecessary information
from your customers –try to leave some forms optional. -
Make It All About Them
Most customers aren’t on your website for the sole purpose of learning about your company –usually they are there because of something that they
are looking for. Narrowing in on what the customer is after, and designing the experience to be all about them can help improve your conversion
rates. Help them to find what they’re looking for, and they’ll reward you with their business. -
Stand Out
Finally, make sure your company stands out. Try to find your unique selling proposition –what it is that differentiates you from the competition.
If you have something to offer your customers –that’s of greater value to them than what the competition is offering, they’ll be more likely
to make their purchases through you, and may even return later as a repeat customer.
Implementing changes can take time –so don’t feel like you need to make these changes all at once. By working to implement one –or two at a time, and then
tracking the results, you’ll slowly but surely start to notice an improvement in your conversion rates.
And remember this from Quicksprout, “CRO is valuable because it increases revenue and lowers your cost per acquisition. In fact, doubling conversion rates
means cutting your cost per acquisition in half.”
Have you started tracking your website’s conversion rates?