Do you focus a lot of time and energy trying to get people to click through to your landing pages? If so, you might be focusing on the wrong thing.
Most marketers spend a great deal of time worrying about the delivery mechanism for their message (e.g., Facebook, e-newsletter, Twitter, etc.). They also spend a good amount of time making sure their headline triggers are correct. (For more on this, read The 14 Most Powerful and Effective Words in Marketing on the 60 Second Marketer blog.)
But driving people to a landing page is only half the battle. The other half is getting them to convert once they’re there. After all, if you don’t make the cash register ring, then all the traffic in the world doesn’t matter, right?
With that in mind, we’ve come up with the 9 best ways you can improve your landing page conversion rates. Ready to dive in? Great, here goes:
1. Use Trust Badges to Increase Conversions by 15% or More
Yes, Trust Badges are ugly, but a post by MonetizePros has some great research on the value of Trust Badges. Blue Fountain Media saw a 42% increase in sales when they changed from a privacy notification to the VeriSign seal seen below. Other companies have seen even better results.
2. Practice Essentialism to Reduce Consumer Fatigue
Essentialism is a concept 60 Second Communications is using with a lot of our clients these days. It’s based on the fact that consumers are overwhelmed by the number of commercial messages they see each day. (A report by Michael Brower, PhD and Warren Leon, PhD found that the average American is exposed to 3,000 commercial messages a day.)
Given that, our goal is not to increase the number of elements on our client’s landing pages but to reduce the number of elements. By doing so, you give your prospect the opportunity to relax, process the information on your site and convert. Resist the temptation to add content to your landing pages. By reducing the number of elements, you’ll probably have better results.
3. Know Which Trust Badges Add the Most Value
There are pluses and minuses to each of the Trust Badge options you have, so it’s always good to do your own investigation. The graphic below (adapted from a study conducted by ActualInsights) highlights which badges were the most trusted in a study they conducted.
4. Adding a Red Conversion Button Can Increase Conversions 21%
Not long ago, we uploaded a post called “One Insanely Simple Trick You Can Use to Boost Your Social Media Visibility,” in which we discussed how the color red can be used to grab people’s attention. It’s worth checking out.
Another study, conducted by HubSpot, found that changing the color of their buttons from green to red increased conversions by 21%.
5. Increase Conversions 30% or More by Adding Live Chat
In one study, Ez Texting increased their conversion rate by 31% by adding a live chat to their landing pages. But that’s just the beginning. Another study conducted by Intuit found that adding live chat increased their conversion rate 211%!
Live chat is an especially important feature for items that involve a complex sale or cost more than $50 per unit. If either one of those apply to you, investing in live chat will more than pay for itself.
6. Test Long Forms vs. Short Forms
A test conducted by Neil Patel found that removing one field on his form increased conversions by 26%. That’s an interesting finding, but it doesn’t mean you should always decrease the number of fields in your forms.
HubSpot actually keeps the number of fields in their forms high. Why? Because HubSpot wants to decrease the number of dead-end leads for its salesforce and increase the number of good leads. They accomplish this by adding fields to their forms so that the casual passer-by (i.e., a soft lead) opts-out from filling out the form.
7. Understand the Thought Process of Your Consumer
Flint McLaughlin with MarketingSherpa says that understanding the thought process of your prospects is one of the most important things you can do to increase conversion rates. I couldn’t agree more.
Most people spend hours analyzing their headlines, their graphics and their copy, but if they just thought about the mindset of their prospect when the prospect arrives at their landing page, conversions would go up dramatically. Most visitors quickly want to know “What is the benefit of this product/service?”, “Can I trust this brand?”, “Are there any authority figures or thought leaders who believe in this product/service?” and “How do I make a purchase?”
8. Add Explainer Videos or Product Videos
In one study, Ice.com got a 400% lift in their conversion rate by adding a video to their website. (Ice.com doesn’t sell ice, by the way. They sell diamonds. My wife would have liked it if I’d known that already.)
60 Second Communications added an explainer video to the FindTheMasters.com website as a way to help prospective members understand the value of their referral program. The value of FindTheMasters isn’t something easily explained in just copy, so the explainer video was used to enhance the sales process.
9. Add a Contextual Call-to-Action and Increase Conversions Up to 500% or More
Nature Air made one small change to their website and saw a whopping 591% increase in conversions. A contextual call-to-action is nothing more than providing an opportunity to convert right in the body of the text.
You may not see a 591% increase in your conversions when you do it, but it’s almost certain you’ll see some kind of bump. Give it a try!
The recommendations above are just some of the ideas we present to our clients on a regular basis. But remember, these are just benchmarks based on previous success stories. The only way to know if these (and other) ideas will work for you is to conduct an A/B split test. By testing your way to success, you’ll improve your odds of having a landing page that generates the most bang for your buck.
Jamie Turner is the CEO of the 60 Second Marketer and 60 Second Communications, a marketing communications agency that works with national and international brands. He is the co-author of “How to Make Money with Social Media” and “Go Mobile” and is a popular marketing speaker at events, trade shows and corporations around the globe.