In direct marketing, conversion is king. But too often we throw around the word, without truly understanding what a conversion actually is.

A major misconception is that a conversion rate only has to do with sales, but the truth of the matter is a conversion is simply getting a consumer to do what you wanted them to do. If your goal is to up email signups, each form filled out is a conversion. If your goal is to increase sales driven from your landing page, a purchase is a conversion.

Optimize your campaigns based on these 4 factors and watch your conversion rates soar.

So now that we’ve established what it is, how do you get a consumer to convert? Well, according to Marketing Experiments, the probability that a consumer will convert is a function of five factors:

1. Motivation of the user
2. Clarity of the value proposition
3. Incentive to take action
4. Friction elements of the process, and
5. Anxiety about entering information

While the motivation of a user is somewhat out of our hands, our job as marketers is to increase the clarity of the value proposition and provide incentives to take action, while decreasing the friction elements and anxiety over entering information. How these objectives can be achieved is dependent on what type of campaign you’re running, but the basic principles are the same.

Decrease Anxiety Over Entering Information: The easiest way to decrease users’ anxiety over providing information is to establish credibility. Third party endorsements and privacy guarantees help establish this credibility, but transparency in the process is also important. Letting consumers know exactly what they should expect after they provide their information, and sticking to those promises, is a good way to reduce their uneasiness about providing information.

Decrease Friction Elements in the Process: Friction in the process is anything that may slow down or distract the user from doing what you want them to do. So don’t get in your own way, cut out any steps that are not 100% vital in the process. In a Marketing Experiments test, decreasing the number of pages on a form from 8 to 4 increased conversions by 68%, while still allowing the company to gather all of the necessary data. Getting rid of unnecessary ads, pop ups, and links will also decrease the friction and streamline the process for users.

Increase the clarity of the value proposition: Very distinctly outline what the consumer stands to gain from clicking on your ad, filling out your form or making a purchase. Instead of framing your offer as what you and your company do, frame it as what problem you can solve for them.

Provide Incentives: This is the basic tenant of marketing, and I’m sure you have more than a few tricks up your sleeve in this department. Providing discounts, exclusive sales, or even just more information can all be reasons that people are willing to give you their information or their money. Just be sure that your incentive is truly driving the behavior that you want, and you’ll be good to go!

Interested in learning more about how to get consumers to convert? Then check out our post on 14 Most Powerful and Effective Words in Marketing. It’s packed with great stuff.

Posted by Nicole Hall, Account Manager with Mobilize Worldwide. Mobilize Worldwide develops mobile apps, mobile ad campaigns, mobile websites and just about anything else related to mobile marketing for brands interested in growing their sales and revenue using this new and emerging medium.