Many marketers are focused on directing traffic to their websites hoping that this traffic will transform into qualified leads. But conversion rates aren’t magic; they’re about understanding people.
This blog dives into the tactics for improving your conversion rates. No jargon, just plain talk and practical tips to turn website visitors into happy customers.
What is a conversion rate?
What are conversion rates? It is the percentage of visitors to your website or landing pages that completed the desired goal (a conversion) out of the total number of visitors.
This metric is not restricted to product purchase alone; it can be anything from engaging with your live chat agent, registering on your website, signing up for a subscription, downloading an eBook, upgrading a service, or even submitting an online form.
Let’s say your landing page received web traffic of 1000 people, and 100 visitors purchased your product. Your conversion rate is 10 percent.
Here is how you calculate your conversion rate:
Conversion rate (x) = [{Number of conversions}/{Total number of visitors}] * 100
Why should businesses watch this metric? One good thing about it is that it helps you take advantage of the audience already within your reach and drive them to convert as your customers. This will help you to reduce your customer acquisition costs, increase revenue per customer, boost your customer lifetime value (CLTV), analyze which campaigns perform better, and invest in them accordingly.
10 Strategies to Improve Conversion Rates
Here are some conversion rate optimization strategies you can use to improve conversions.
1. Build a sales funnel
A sales funnel is a visual metaphor that describes which buyer’s journey stage a customer is in and how close to purchasing from your company a consumer is. As the width of a funnel narrows down, different sections represent the targeted audience at each stage and eventually move to those who convert. This helps marketers sketch out a concrete plan to capture leads and convert them into customers at each stage.
It is said that it takes about seven to eleven contact points before a consumer is ready to purchase a product. Fueled by your marketing activities, the sales funnel helps you understand your target audience and the number of people that will or are likely to convert.
One of the fundamental rules for a sales funnel to work is the more value you provide to your customers in the long run, the easier you can build lasting customer relationships. Incorporating a sales funnel in your marketing plan assists you in increasing your conversion rates as it helps your team handhold customers through every stage of purchase.
2. Strong, sharp CTAs for better conversion rates
Direct, strong calls to action (CTAs) are fundamental to any successful marketing campaign and can either make or break the deal between you and your potential customers. Whether you want your audience to sign up for your newsletter, download an eBook, share a social media post, enter a contest, or give you their contact information, you need to remember that your CTA needs to drive audiences to take action.
Creating engaging content is the key to triggering customer engagement. You can create content that spurs your audience’s interest only when you understand their needs and wants. Try content that gets the best click rates rather than generic posts. For instance, “sign up” doesn’t have any emotional appeal, whereas “yes, I want a 60% discount” is bound to trigger your audience and get more positive action. CTAs like these pique your target market’s interest and help improve conversions. Marketers can also use CTAs to promote special offers, advertise an intellectual property like eBooks, or even grow email lists.
3. Keep your forms short and simple
Lengthy forms can turn your potential customers away from taking the necessary action. You don’t want your business to lose potential leads. Therefore, remember to keep forms short, simple, and to the point when incorporating forms in your landing pages.
Eliminate any unnecessary fields which may seem intrusive. Keeping your forms short and simple not only knocks out any hesitation from your target audience but also bolsters customers’ trust in your brand and takes less time to complete the necessary action.
4. Remove distractions
A website cluttered with unnecessary ads and a messy layout will be an obstacle to your audience. Too many elements on your landing page will deviate your potential customers from the prime purpose for which they visited your website and make navigating through it difficult. To avoid any customer bounces, you must keep your landing page concise and clear to assist your audience.
A good website design needs to be user friendly, have engaging content, and provide customers with the best user experience.
- Headings
- Sub-headings
- CTAs
- Product features and benefits
- Reviews and testimonials
- Visually appealing images
A smart approach to knowing what your customers are looking for and avoiding what they ignore is heatmaps, which show you the patterns users take on your website.
5. Make your deal the first thing they see
A pop-up can be your ticket to conversions if done well. If implemented and optimized correctly, you can capitalize on them easily. Generally, pop-ups have a conversion rate of 3.09 percent. However, according to Sumo, if implemented cleverly, the average conversion rate triples and hits an impressive 9.28 percent and can even reach as high as 50 percent.
To make the best use of pop-ups you should:
- Try different offers and finalize the one that works
- Incorporate an auto close timer for the pop-up to close. Additionally, you can also incorporate a visible close button for your audience to close it.
- Include a piece of code in your website that the pop-up appears only once per user
6. Add testimonials and reviews
A survey by Fan and Fuel showed that 92 percent of audiences are uncertain of purchasing from websites with no reviews, and a staggering 97 percent of consumers claim that reviews play a major role in their buying decisions. In light of this, ignoring the implementation of reviews and testimonials will have a major impact on your conversion rate.
Consumers in this digital age consider reviews and testimonials the same as they would personal suggestions from their close friends and family. As a business owner, including these elements is as good as a form of word-of-mouth publicity which boosts your credibility and improves your conversions.
7. Chatbots are your friend
Your team probably isn’t available around the clock to assist customers in their buying process. In times like these, it is beneficial to have a helping hand. Incorporating chatbots or live chat tools assists your customers with any lingering questions or clarifications they need during purchase.
Use your FAQs to help you determine what kind of information your chatbot can help with. Or, if you have the capabilities, customers who engage in a live chat end up purchasing a product 2.8 times more, and as many as 38 percent of potential customers report that they’ve purchased a positive chat session with businesses, as mentioned by Campaign Monitor. Additionally, organizations incorporating this feature witness a 20 percent spike in their conversions.
8. The psychology of marketing
Al Ries, known as the Father of Positioning, stated, “Marketing is not a battle of products; it’s a battle of perceptions.” This statement leads us to understand that the psychology of marketing relies on how you make your customers feel, showing them what’s in it for them – not how excellent your product is.
If you can establish that emotional connection between your audience and your business, you’ve laid the foundation for a successful customer relationship and excellent customer experience. One of marketers’ most used psychological marketing techniques is promoting the fear of missing out on something great.
For instance, promoting an exclusive and enticing deal for a limited time can boost your sales by making customers feel like this is their only time to buy. After all, making the entire purchase process easy for your customers is a great way to close your sales. A growth marketing agency can help you in all your marketing endeavors and easily reach your business goals.
9. Third-party signup bypassing
Many businesses request customers to create customer accounts on their sites. One of the best ways to do this is by asking your audience to sign up using another account such as Google or Facebook. Opting for this type of customer account registration boosts your conversion rates even more.
10. Check out your competition before your potential customers do
Competitor research is what successful businesses never ignore. Studying your competition helps you understand what works and doesn’t work in your industry. Here are four easy steps to help you carry out your competitor research:
- Identify your top direct and indirect competitors
- Check their websites’ aesthetics
- Study your competitors strategy
- Analyze the possible outcomes in terms of performance
More importantly, this helps you capitalize on your competitors weaknesses and assists you in presenting better offers to your target market. This step is crucial as your customers may check your competitors’ websites before they end up at your company’s. Outdoing and outpacing your competition will place your business ahead of them and increase your conversion rates drastically.
Conclusion!
Every business wants their conversion rates to be high. Though these strategies may seem like they are a cakewalk, they require expertise to hit the number of conversions to make your business profitable. Therefore, teaming up with a growth marketing agency can ease your burden.
By choosing Growth Marketing Genie as your growth partner, you can leverage the experience from our seasoned professionals to put your business on the map and stay ahead of the competition.
To learn more about how we can help you, talk to our team today!
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