5 Simple Ways to Increase Your Website Conversion Rate
Have you ever wondered why your website traffic looks good on paper, but sales or sign-ups aren’t following?
Below is an article to expand on 5 Simple Ways to Increase Your Website Conversion Rate
Well you’d be pleased to know you’re not the only one.
This is an issue many businesses have in common. Their sites seem popular, but they don’t see much conversion.
You might feel like an entire overhaul for the website is the way to go, but that’s not always the case.
Often, it’s about the small, simple changes that are the most effective.
Let’s go over 5 simple ways you can start improving your conversion rate today:
Speed and simplicity.
As we live in a world where attention spans are shorter than ever, having a website that takes longer to get the message across would make people click away a lot quicker before giving your service/product a chance to be valued.
Even having longer loading time has similar effects. In fact, research shows that every additional second of loading time can drop conversions by up to 7%!
That means a page that loads in five seconds could lose you a third of potential customers.
So how do we avoid this?
• Keep your wording brief and avoid going off-topic.
• Compress large images and remove unnecessary files to reduce your loading time.
• Avoid clutter and keep the design simple.
• Test your site speed and review the errors given by a tool such as Pingdom’s one here.
A Clearer Call-to-Action
The call to action of a website is often a link, button or form where the conversions happen.
By clicking on it, a visitor becomes a customer.
You need a Call to Action which tells the visitor what’s in it for them if they follow it.
Too many websites use CTA’s that just say “Submit” or “Click here” which is far too vague and normally gets passed over by the customer as it’s not intriguing enough.
Instead go for something benefit-driven such as:
• “Claim my free trial”
• “Start my Guide”
• “Receive Exclusive Discount Now”
Using words such as “Claim” or “My” gives a sense of reward and entitlement; making the end user feel like they’re taking something that’s already theirs.
Make sure to resize, reposition and recolour this to locations where it stands out and is hard to miss.
A bad example would be having a small link in the middle of a chunky paragraph, which would even make those who have some interest end up skimming past it.
This goes to show how even the smallest differences make the largest impacts.
Using Social Proof to Build Trust.
In order to willingly hand over your hard-earned money to a brand you’ve only just heard of, you’d need to have strong reasons to trust them.
This is why building trust has a direct impact on conversion rates.
One of the most effective ways in achieving this instantly is via social proof. When visitors see how widely trusted your brand is, they’ll have little reason to doubt.
A few ways you can show this is:
• Adding customer reviews and allowing the visitor to add their own.
• Displaying any legitimate trust badges or certificates you’ve obtained.
• Sharing figures (e.g. “Trusted by 10,000+ customers”) or logos of institutes you’re recognised by or appeared on.
As mentioned before, due to low attention span, you need to build this trust as quick as possible. Using these methods helps you build that instantly, so all doubts are cleared from the start.
Conduct tests and personalise the experience.
One key thing to remember when creating a website is that no two sites are the same.
Therefore, there’s no base one-size-fits-all conversion trick.
Start with simple option testing, try multiple variations of a headline, images or call to action and try and see which would resonate most with your target audience.
Every minor test and tweak would over time collate into a major improvement.
Test the website for yourself to determine the end user’s journey. Read through it yourself and find where you feel people are more likely to switch off and leave.
Determine how likely you as an individual are to become a customer of this website and if not, what fuels that decision.
You could even ask a third party like a friend to provide their unbiased opinions on this.
Use other websites as examples.
Find what about those websites makes you want to become a customer and find what makes you click off.
Use Data and numbers to help constantly improve your website conversion rate
No matter how perfect your website may seem to look, there can always be ways to improve.
“The greatest of faults is to be conscious of none.” – Thomas Carlyle.
One of the most effective ways in finding areas to improve is through data and analytics. Guesswork can only take you so far.
Delve deeply into your statistics. Find out how long users are staying on your page and how likely they are to follow through to the conversion process.
Determine where users are most likely to click off. Is it before they click the Call-to-Action button?
Is it before the website has even loaded?
Maybe the pricing page?
Once you’ve identified the problems, you can make tailored decisions to fix them.
Finally, speak to your customers.
Ask them about their experience using your website, what inclined them to buy and what held them back.
Even if it’s indirectly, by using reviews and ratings. Sometimes the best insight comes from the end users.
Final Thoughts on 5 Simple Ways to Increase Your Website Conversion Rate
As confusing as improving your conversion rate may seem, it doesn’t have to be overcomplicated.
There are many ways to see significant results, through visuals, trust and overall seamlessness.
That too, it’s mainly the small things.
These goals don’t require huge website overalls or months of hard work with high budgets.
They are simple, minor tweaks you could start implementing from today.
Set your end goals clearly and make a commitment to reach them.
Look for even the minor faults and figure out how to fix them.
Use third party opinions or feedback from end users to pinpoint the websites strengths and weaknesses.
Conduct regular tests and experiments with website design. Before long, you’ll start to see numbers improving and you’ll be able to minimise the gap between visitors and customers.
You can read our article on How To Obtain a Competitive Edge in eCommerce
Article written by Aaliyah Patel, intern developer for complx.co
