As a business owner or marketer, you need a site that can convert as many of your visitors into customers as possible. The website conversion rate is a measure of how many on-site visitors take your desired action.
This could mean buying your products, filling out a contact form, signing up for your newsletter, calling a phone number, or clicking an advert, depending on the nature of your business. Driving traffic to your site through SEO optimization, email marketing, PTC advertisements, and other strategies is not helpful if the visitors don’t convert.
It is the action a user takes on your website that generates revenue or takes the business a step closer to making more money. You need to learn how to increase your conversion rate through various strategies if your want a greater return on investment. Here are some quite effective conversion rate optimization (CRO) approaches that you can utilize for your own website.
Optimize the Website’s Design
Web design is more than just theme and colors. It comprises of everything that’s visible on the site – the structure, text, header, footer, sidebars, images, videos, and even where the contact forms are located. You canimprove your conversion rate with web design by ensuring that your site’s layout, style, and content are attractive to your visitors.
However, don’t go overboard with flashy designs, annoying popup ads, and overwhelming colors. A simple, readable website will motivate your customers to take your desired action.
Select a site layout that’s user-friendly and easy to navigate. Create quality content and organize it in such a way that it does not aggravate the eyes of the viewer. For instance, your posts should be made up of text that is properly spaced and not too long to follow. Utilize margins and frames to keep the text within the body area.
Also, choose appropriate colors as these will determine the mood of your site. Using the right colors coupled with these layout tips can attract visitors and encourage them to convert.
Focus on Your Call to Action
In online marketing, the term call to action (CTA) refers to a link or button that takes users to a particular action like “Add to Cart,” “Buy Now,” “Sign Up,” and much more. The objective of working on CRO is to direct customers to the call to action; therefore, you need to ensure that it is visible and properly designed.
If the CTA is hidden in a boring, run-of-the-mill hyperlink, the chances are that it will not draw searchers to convert. However, an attractive button that’s strategically positioned in a visible location on the site is more likely to increase website traffic conversion.
Create a call to action with appealing text that will draw the attention of the customer. Keep it short, precise, and less promotional. A visitor is more likely to click the button if it sounds less like a sales pitch and more like something that will benefit and meet their needs.
Improve Page Load Time
How long are your visitors willing to wait for your page to load before they give up and leave the site? Most online users can barely hang on a few seconds before leaving a slow loading page. Even if they stay, the chances are that they won’t complete the call to action.
It is important to optimize your site’s loading time to increase the conversion rate. The first step is to use a website speed test tool so that you can determine the load time on mobile and desktop devices.
Optimize your website for higher speeds by getting rid of bulky code, avoiding external embedded media, and improving the site’s perceived web performance. Also, optimize the images by resizing them using a picture editor tool as large images can slow down a website’s loading speed. Regularly evaluate reports from the website speed test tool to ensure that the site is always loading at optimal speeds.
Work on Product Branding
Customers are more likely to take your desired action if they trust your brand. Trust and credibility can be built online through providing testimonials and reviews from clients who have used the product. It can also be achieved by providing potential customers with a guarantee for your product or service. Post customer feedback and testimonials in the form of text, images, or videos on your site to draw more visitors to your call to action.
Post your business awards and badges on the website as they help build credibility quickly and can lead to more revenue. Also, if you have any affiliations with major brands, publishers, or influencers in the industry, you should show them off as these provide a guarantee for your product. New customers are more likely to trust a business that provides third-party reviews of their products and services.
Make Good use of Visuals
In many cases, adding a video or image to your website can significantly increase sites’ conversion rates. This applies in particular to a website orlanding page that’s dominated by plain text. Pictures and videos are visually appealing, and they can break up the content and keep your visitors engaged. Also, a customer is likely to take the call to action if there’s a demo on the benefits of the product or visual instruction on how to use it.
If you want to be successful, make sure that the visuals are relevant to your business. For instance, you can provide images of your product and instructional videos with how-to tips. If you sell an intangible product, you can provide a picture or video of a person using it. However, don’t overload the site with visuals as these can overwhelm the customers.
The Bottom Line
An effective online marketing campaign isn’t centered on increasing website traffic. It majorly involves making sure that your visitors buy or show interest in buying your product through responding to your call to action. Increasing the conversion rates is equally as important as increasing your site’s traffic. These actionable CRO strategies will boost your marketing efforts and generate more revenue for the business.
About the author: Riya is a writer with years of experience in marketing communications. She enjoys meeting new people and reading more books to get inspired for her own book. Follow her on Twitter.