Conversion rate optimisation (CRO) means making your website easier to use and nudging visitors towards the checkout. You can do this by improving your design and content, and by using tools that make the buying decision a bit easier.
The goal of a CRO campaign is to turn visitors into buyers, gather consumer data, encourage appointments, e-book downloads, store visits or enquiries about your products and services.
Here are 12 smart ways to increase online conversions.
01Use landing pages
Landing pages make it easier for customers to make a purchase. A well-designed landing page focuses on one specific sales item and includes a call-to-action telling customers exactly what to do next. By directing traffic to landing pages, you will notice an increase in conversions.
The copy for your landing page should be brief, clear and persuasive enough to compel end-users to take action. The easier you make purchasing products or services for consumers, the more likely they are to act.
Use high-quality visuals for your landing pages. Engaging images help to generate appeal in your product and increase the desire of buyers. Good graphic design is memorable and easier for consumers to recall. So even if visitors are not ready to make a purchase when they first land on your website, they are more likely to recall your ad and return later.
02Track existing conversions
You’re probably familiar with the expression, ‘if it ain’t broken, don’t try and fix it.’ The same is true for CRO. Use tactics that are working to your advantage by piggy-backing on techniques that are proving to be successful.
By tracking the conversions you are getting, you can monitor the strengths and weaknesses of your sales funnel. Track conversions across your entire sales process, including your website. This includes offline strategies such as flyers and phone calls. By identifying the areas in your sales strategy that are missing conversions, you can make necessary adjustments in line with strategies that are working.
03Build consumer confidence
The Edelman Trust Barometer published in 2016 indicates online shoppers feel a ‘growing inequality of trust’ towards brands. Common concerns include security and whether brands will deliver on their promise.
Proving you are a reliable business builds consumer confidence. This makes them more likely to purchase from you over your rivals. You can use a variety of strategies to build your online credibility:
- Encourage customers to leave comments on your social media networks
- Solicit customer testimonials
- Publish case studies on your website
- Promote customer and comment feedback
- Highlight industry “trust” seals or awards on your website
- Offer generous guarantees
The more foolproof trust indicators you reveal to your audience, the more comfortable they feel. But it is important that the trust indicators are genuine. Anyone can invent testimonials and post them on a website. But if you can back these testimonials up from case studies and comments left on social media networks, your credibility ratings go up.
04A/B Testing
Improving conversion rate optimisation requires measuring the effectiveness of your advertising copy together with the layout and design of your various platforms.
If you are using landing pages to steer traffic to your product pages, use a different layout or wording in each ad and assess which landing page returns the best performance.
A/B testing is a simple concept, but can have a dramatic impact on the success of your digital marketing campaigns. There are also many ways with which you can perform A/B testing:
- Copy and design of landing pages
- Call-to-action buttons
- Number and length of form fields
- Subject lines in emails
- Graphic images
- Headline and tagline in copy
- Length of copy
05Optimise sign-up forms
Opt-in forms do a lot of the heavy lifting for lead generation, app downloads and collecting customer data. They also have a habit of being quietly terrible.
The method you use to optimise and design your lead generation forms will vary from one campaign to the next. The gist is to decide what data you actually need, then use it to improve the follow-up.
Short forms with only a handful of fields usually get more people to hand over their details. Longer forms tend to give you better quality leads, which can mean a higher likelihood of converting.
To optimise lead generation forms, use a precise heading that tells visitors what they are signing up for and what they get in return. Use action words in the call-to-action, too.
Leave fields empty. Eye tracking studies show that users find placeholder text in long forms confusing, which makes them more likely to make mistakes. As an alternative, use descriptions or hints to clarify what information is required in each field.
06Create a user-friendly website
Ask a digital marketer which website feature matters most for conversions and they’ll often say the sitemap. If people can’t find what they’re looking for, they get frustrated and leave. They don’t tend to come back.
Websites that are easier to use tend to have a higher conversion rate. Search engines also use usability data when ranking websites, which affects how much traffic passes through your site. More traffic gives you more chances to convert.
Primary and secondary menus, together with call-to-action buttons, make a website easier to use. There are plenty of other tweaks and tactics you can use to improve conversions too.
Now Google has switched to a mobile-first index, building a site that works properly on mobile should be a priority. Once one-click-to-buy buttons become common practice on smartphones and tablets, your website infrastructure will have a significant impact on many online businesses.
07Create a compelling value proposition
The strength of your value proposition is one of the most important factors in converting visitors into customers. If you’re unsure, a value proposition is the reason you give customers to buy your products or services rather than your competitors’.
At its best, your value proposition is something unique about your company or service that others in your industry can’t claim. If that isn’t possible, create an enticing reason your company stands apart from its rivals.
A compelling value proposition piques a customer’s interest. It should differentiate you from your competitors and strike an emotional chord with the right customers.
Consumers are drawn to brands that resonate with them. Their decision-making is often based on whether they feel a connection with a brand. People connect with brands that have a personality or social values similar to their own.
08Integrate CRM software with Live Chat
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software enables online businesses to track interactions with customers. These powerful tools boast various functions that support CRO.
CRM software identifies where prospects are in the purchasing path. You can therefore structure marketing campaigns using automated emails to provide visitors with more information about your products.
A popular CRM we are seeing more of on the net is Live Chat. This gives visitors to a website the option to speak to a customer advisor in real time.
Live Chat puts you in a stronger position to be on-hand to answer questions or guide people to the page they want. Statistics show that Live Chat increases conversion rate and 63% of customers say they are more likely to return to a website that has a Live Chat feature.
09Repeat sales offers
Consumer psychologists say people need to encounter a brand between 5 and 7 times before they remember the company name. That might mean seeing a logo or an ad in a few different places.
The same is true when offering a sale. The rules of effective frequency suggest the average customer has to see a marketing message a certain number of times before they make a purchasing decision.
There are a few ways to plant offers throughout your purchasing path. Put them in headlines and body copy, email subject headers, landing pages and social media advertising campaigns.
Use lead generation forms to capture customer data so you can reconnect with prospects. Send free shipping offers to customers who have abandoned shopping carts, or discounts to people who have visited the same product page more than once.
10Monitor ready-to-buy consumers on social media
When devising a strategy to improve conversion rate, don’t forget social media. Use monitoring tools to spot customers who are lining up a purchase.
Social media monitoring tools let you listen in on conversations, track your brand and see what’s trending in your local area. This gives you a chance to join conversations and offer useful advice, without barging into every mention like a bored salesperson. Done well, it can lead to a conversion.
11Offer incentives for referrals
Word of mouth is still the best form of advertising. So why not encourage your existing customers with an incentive for referring their family, friends or peers to your business.
You can effectively use a referral campaign on social media networks and review sites. Offer discounts or free gifts to customers that leave positive reviews or recommendations.
12Strong call to action
Every page or section of your website that threads customers through to another page requires a call-to-action telling visitors where to go next and what they can expect to find by following a particular link.
The same rules apply with any form of marketing material. Marketers need to tell people what to do next, and the call to action should give them a reason to act.
The gist is simple: remind prospects of the key benefit they’ll receive by taking advantage of your offer, then tell them what to do next. Call this number, visit this website, click this button — whatever the next step is.
If you need assistance increasing your conversion rate, contact Venture Harbour. Our proven strategies are designed to drive revenue.