When we drive traffic to our websites, the main area we want to see consistent improvements in is our conversion rates. Whilst having people visiting our website is a success, it's just the first step in the right direction. The ultimate goal is to get users to convert and to turn leads into a valuable sale or a desired goal completion.
To help you get more out of your website, we've covered the key points that are most likely affecting your conversion rates and how you can increase them.
1. Does Your Website Make a Positive Impression?
As the first thing likely to be noticed by users, the design of each individual landing page is extremely important.
A well-designed website can help to create a professional image and establish your brand as thought leaders. For example, if your website is well-organised, visually on brand and easy to navigate, you are more likely to see an increase not only in conversions but also in session duration and returning users.
By having such a big impact on your website's success, there needs to be thought and care put into the design and layout of your website. We say that your website is your online shop window and this needs to entice and build trust and reliability with the audience. If it looks cheap and amateur then users are less likely to trust your business. However, this does not mean you have to splash the cash on a fancy website - little touches such a consistency in fonts and minimal colour changes make a big difference in user appeal.
2. How Responsive is your website?
Following on from the design of your website, the responsiveness and usability is also a key feature to the user experience. If your site is slow-loading and hard to read on different devices, this can definitely put a user off. As a result, they will leave your site and head over to one of your competitors- losing valuable traffic and the potential to convert.
You can improve your website responsiveness by checking:
Website page layout adapts as you change the tab size
Pages adapt to various devices
Sidebar menu functions
Timely degrading of mobile layouts (one to keep an eye on)
To ensure this factor isn’t affecting your conversion rate, we recommend to run regular audits (minimum annually) and to test your site speed. You may also want to test your website's user experience personally because if you're being honest, how often do you visit your own website on mobile? Alternatively, you could as a friend, family member or someone who has never experienced the website for their opinions.
3. Are You Using Help Bots to Improve Customer Service?
As a user yourself, you know that people want instant responses and solutions no matter what time of the day it is. By using help bots to assist your online users it can allow for 24/7 customer service even when your phone lines are busy or closed.
Adding a help bot instant chat box that can appear on the corner of your site, can also be a great help to those coming to your website looking for the answer to a specific query. This allows the user to get an instant answer to their query without having to visit multiple web pages or call a helpline. Although this may not seem like a lot of effort, not providing a quick solution can often deter users and have a negatively impact on your website's performance.
4. Do You Need More Rich Media?
Using rich media such as videos on your site can make a noticeable difference in both your conversion and retention rates. With users spending 88% more time on sites with videos, there is a clear benefit to featuring such media types on your website if you want to increase your user engagement levels.
Static websites that lack in engaging visuals or content types don't have the same appeal as those that feature moving images, slides and videos. This interactive media can create a memorable moment for the user, which can in future bring them back again to your site over a competitors.
5. Are You Emphasising Your Expertise?
Saying you're the best in the field is simply not enough. People want proof and a reason to believe that you really are above the rest.
One easy way to achieve this is by blogging or writing thought-leadership articles about topics and issues related to your industry. By sharing your expertise and insight into relevant topics, you are simply showing users that you do know what you are talking about. Whether that be recipes, tips or industry insights, it is all information that helps to establish and maintain credibility.
Another way to prove your expertise is to mention any awards that you have won, show testimonials from clients and reviews from customers is an easy way to reaffirm your skills.
6. Where Are The Call-to-Actions?
There is a fundamental rule when it comes to call-to-actions; use them, but don't overuse them.
By introducing clear call-to-actions across your website, you have a strong influence over the user's purchasing decisions. For example, a simple call-to-action can encourage someone to make a purchase or take them to the next step of the customer journey.
You should make sure the placement of your call-to-actions is effective. For example, don’t put your call to action towards the bottom of the page if you know that the majority of users do not scroll that far down the page. You can find this out by using heat mapping to track where the majority of your users click on your site.
Another thing to consider is how many call-to-actions you include on one page at once. If you placing too many call-to-actions you could end up either confusing or distracting the user from completing your main goal. The best way to get around this is to stick to using only a few different call-to-action per page and making them all look unique. For example, keep newsletter subscription in a box at the side and enquiry buttons in a contrasting colour at the bottom.
7. Are You Taking The Chance To Upsell?
Upselling is a great way to not only improve conversion rates but also retain existing consumers.
One method of doing this without being pushy is to list related items or products below the one they are currently viewing. This encourages the user to also add these items to their basket which they may not have discovered or thought of in their initial search.
By showing customers other products that they may like, you are also proving to be more helpful to users whilst subtly upselling. Retail sites are a perfect match for this type of upsell such as clothing sites. With clothing websites, you can upsell many products that the model may be wearing or relate to this product being viewed.
Upselling is such an easy and important way to showcase products that the user may not have originally searched for on your website and creating an opportunity to generate additional sales. If you present yourself as being helpful rather than coming across as pushy, you are likely to experience visitors returning to your site.
8. How Complex Is Your Checkout Process?
When it comes to the carrying out a transaction, the user may have been on your site for a while looking around your products and so when they do end up confirming their purchase they don’t want any complications. It is not uncommon for users to drop off a site once it comes to the transaction process and this can be down to frustration over complexity.
To ensure that your hard work in gaining traffic and consumers does not go to waste, you need to ensure that they can pay for their items simply and quickly as possible. You need to look at your layout of entering detail, how much information they need to give etc.
Using cookies can benefit your transaction process greatly by making returning customers detail entry quick and easy by remembering their postal address and selective card details.
9. Are You Reaching Out With Social Networking
The easiest way to increase conversion rates and keep it steady is to retain previous customers, as well as trying to gain new ones. After-all, it is easier to sell to consumers who have already experienced your service and products, than someone who would be taking a chance on you.
With the majority of us being on social media daily, it is a perfect place to reach out in the hopes of reeling in those conversions. This is also another great way to gain new consumers as well as staying up to date with the consumers you have managed to retain already.
Social media allows you to showcase any new products you have, share news and even handle customer service queries. This can increase conversion rates as users are generally having a better experience with your brand whilst also digesting the information they need to make a purchase decision.
Overall, the key to boosting your conversion rate is to keep continuously monitor and review your figures and experiment with new ideas and techniques. You need to remember that every website is different with different goals, so keep testing the waters and see what your audience responds to the best.
If you would like to go into further detail on how to improve the conversion rate for your site, contact us and see how our SEO experts can help you!