Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash
Does this sound like you: You’ve built the gorgeous website, set up ad campaigns for your winning product or service, and are already generating traffic. The only problem is your website isn’t converting as well as you’d like.
If you’re struggling with getting more of your website visitors to buy your products or hire you, the proven conversion rate optimization strategies we’re about to share with you should fix that problem. But before that, it’s important to make sure that you don’t have unrealistic expectations.
When it comes to conversion rates, the average industry standard is 2.35 percent –that’s 2-3 buyers out of 100 visitors. Of course, some industries and websites do better than others depending on factors like the ad platforms, the industry and even rankings on the search engines.
On average, higher-ranked websites are known to enjoy conversion rates between 5 percent and 11+ percent. As a result, they enjoy increased sales, better engagement, higher ROAS, great profit margins, and more frequent return business.
If you want similar results from your website or online store, the tips in this blog post will help.
Vary Your Offers and Test Many Elements
Test different offers on your website to find the best-performing ones. Also, make sure to also split-test other website elements using A/B testing methods.
Split-testing is so powerful that when President Obama’s campaign team used it in 2010, they were able to raise $60 million more in donations. So test everything from offer positioning to colors, themes, banners, and above-fold or below-fold clickthrough rates.
Set Up Landing Pages With Videos
Many websites don’t have landing pages for their ad campaigns. So when visitors land on their website, they’re either taken to the homepage or somewhere irrelevant.
Naturally, this leads to higher bounce rates –more people leaving the website because they didn’t land on the page they were looking for. So, do yourself a favor and set up landing pages for each and every ad that you put out.
Let that landing page be specific to that ad. For example, if the ad is targeted at 40+ men looking to lose weight, make sure that when the visitor clicks through, they’ll land on a page that specifically talks about that.
Also, use high converting videos on the page. They can increase your website’s conversion rate by 86 percent.
Ensure Fast Loading Speeds
Image-heavy websites are often slow-loading websites. And slow websites are completely unacceptable these days. Unfortunately, no one has the time to wait around for your website to load when there are hundreds of alternatives.
In fact, visitors will leave your website if it doesn’t render properly within 5 seconds of clicking through to the website. If you must use a lot of images, make sure that those images are hosted on content distribution networks, instead of actually putting them on your hosting.
Research actually shows that a one-second delay can lower your conversion rate by 7 percent. Also, page speed is a major criterion for ranking highly on the search engines. So do what you can to reduce your website’s loading speed to between 3 and 5 seconds. It won’t be easy, but it can be done.
Strip the Website of All Distractions
It’s easy to think that every idea you have belongs on a website. Don’t do that. When people come to your website, there should be one clear objective. Is it sales, calls, or leads? You need to determine this ahead of time.
Every webpage should have a single intent, and should gently nudge the visitor towards fulfilling that intent. An overly busy webpage often has at least two objectives. That’s a sure way to tank your campaign.
Stripping your website all forms of distractions also includes removing all irrelevant forms –the average form on websites has 11 fields. Yes, you want to capture people’s details, but those forms shouldn’t take up half the page or go on “forever”.
In fact, if you reduce the number of entry fields to just 4, you’re likely to boost your conversion rates by 120 percent –the optimal number of entry fields in a form is 3.
Install a Chatbot
But make sure it’s not invasive –far too many sites have distracting chatbots. Chatbots are like mini-salespeople powered by AI. Programmed correctly, they can handle a lot of basic inquiries thus freeing up the support team’s time for more complex inquiries.
They can also help generate leads and book meetings on the website. If you want to add a chatbot to your website, just make sure that the chatbot has robust features and is capable of handling most basic interactions with prospects and potential buyers.
Chatbots is how you automate your customer service and provide the impression that you’re available 24/7 as it’s capable of providing instant response to questions customers might have, improves communication, and enhances the customer’s experience. This is why effective chatbots consistently increase conversion rates by 10-100 percent.
Strategically Place Reviews and Testimonials on the Websites
These days, reviews and testimonials play a huge role in converting people into buyers. According to a BrightLocal survey, 87 percent of consumers read reviews about a local business before doing business with them.
Another study shows that 93 percent of consumers admit that reviews influence their buying decisions. Bottom line, many people won’t hire a service or buy a product if there are no reviews or if the reviews are overwhelmingly negative. Also, they’ll be skeptical if they aren’t sure that the reviews and testimonials are genuine.
This is probably why some service and products-based websites or landing pages are just filled with tons and tons of reviews and testimonials. These testimonials and reviews validate a product’s or service’s effectiveness, thus driving conversions.
Include a Pop-Up for Capturing Personal Data
Ever tried to exit a website, only to be stopped by a form that wasn’t there before? What you saw was a pop-up, and it does a great job of increasing conversions if used correctly. It can help you collect personal data, allowing you the opportunity to stay in touch with prospects and potential buyers.
Also, it can help with prospect or demography grouping. For instance, if your pop-up is targeted at women in their 30s, you automatically know that anyone who fills that form is a woman in her 30s.
With that information, you can then craft an irresistible offer for women in that demography and sell it to them. You’ll most likely, get higher conversion rates from using popups if you use them well.
Tighten Your Website Copy
How good is the copy on your sales page or website? And it doesn’t even have to be just text-based. How are the images and/or videos on your website or landing pages? Are they crafted such that only the necessary words are used?
Is your offer compelling enough? How are your headlines? Do your headlines grab your readers by the throat and refuse to let them go until they’re done reading the copy?
Are they automatically glued to your video sales letter once they hit your website? How about your CTAs (calls to action)? How powerful are they? It’s important for you to tighten your web copy.
Make sure that only the words that belong on your website are seen there. Your calls to action must also be powerful. After all, this is how you compel people to click that buy button, pick up the phone, and call or fill out the forms on your website.
ALWAYS Include a Money-Back Guarantee
Some folks can get away with not offering a money-back guarantee. These are usually well-known industry leaders with a ton of followers who swear by their products and services. Think Tony Robbins kind of popularity and status.
If you’re here, chances are you haven’t attained that status yet. And even when you have a compelling offer, people want to know that if they don’t like your product or find the service ineffective, they can easily request their money back.
The good thing is if your product or service is genuinely good, most people won’t ever request a refund. But, a money-back guarantee is an extra element designed to allay the fears of potential buyers.
Conclusion
Your website is your virtual salesperson. Treat it accordingly by doing everything possible to enhance its performance. If you’re not actively tweaking or testing the various elements on your website to increase your conversion rate, you’re basically leaving a ton of money on the table. Be intentional and relentless about it.
Another extra tip is to add new sales or sign-up notifications on the website-unobtrusively of course. This will further validate your service or product and push the visitors to buy the product or hire the service.
Also, try putting up a special offer with a countdown timer. Set this up so that it starts counting immediately the visitor lands on the website. Set up a solid sales funnel and encourage your visitors to get in the funnel. Incentivize them with an irresistible offer –e.g. free eBooks, whitepapers, rebates, and discounts– that works.
If you apply the tips that have been shared with you here, you’ll surely enjoy better conversion rates, drum up more sales, and fill your coffers with boatloads of cash.