7 ACTIONABLE STRATEGIES TO CONVERT WEBSITE VISITORS INTO CUSTOMERS
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Before you read this article on how to convert website visitors into customers, ask yourself the following questions:
If any of these applies to your situation then know that you are not alone. It’s a common issue faced by many online businesses.
Having said that, it is a critical state for your business. The reason is that you are exhausting your budget to get the leads and if you don’t start getting the revenue you need, your business may not last that long; harsh reality, right?
Let us start with the good news?– you’ve already cracked the hard part. You’re getting visitors. Well done on that. Your marketing strategies are working. The next thing you need to crack is conversion rates.
In this article,?we’re going to look at a number of different ways to convert website visitors into customers – so you can start making more money from the visitors you are already getting on your site.
The objective?of this article is not to poke you up with some high-level overview and let you guess the rest. Rather, you will get a detailed explanation with examples so that you can act on these immediately.
Please Note that to keep this article to a reasonable size, we needed to draw the line somewhere. We urge you to definitely do your own research after going through this article.?We added some great links to ease your research hurdles.
WHAT IS A CONVERSION RATE?
Your conversion rate is simply the percentage of visitors your site manages to convert into paying customers or actions you would like them to take. You’ll normally be looking to convert to a sale,?but this can also refer to other actions, such as
You can probably tell by now the higher the conversion rate, the better
– as that should mean you’re making more money.
The example below shows how increasing your website conversion rate by a small 2% increases your revenue by 1.5X
Don’t expect conversion rates to be too high. A good rate for a successful web business could be around 4-6%. It might not seem like much, but if you get thousands of visitors each week and can convert just 3% of them, you would be a winner.
1. KEEP THE “CALL TO ACTION” CLEAR AND ABOVE THE FOLD
If you’ve got a clear call to action – you’re already putting yourself ahead of many of the competition. Far too many websites bury their calls to action or leave them in places that aren’t clear. The more distractions there are, the less likely someone will act with your call to action.
While additional adverts are a nice extra revenue stream for your business – don’t overload visitors with too many distractions!
One little tip you could use is a sticky sidebar widget with your call to action or opt-in page on it. This keeps your offer clear and on-screen no matter how far down your site someone scrolls.
Here are some cool examples of good calls to action that you can’t help but click:
Let’s look at a couple of bad call-to-action examples…
Sliders with no button: We have seen these many times, haven’t we? You visit a website, and you see a big slider, but there is nothing to click on that slider to know more about. It’s the best example of how to misuse a website’s prime real estate.?
Below is a good example of this issue.?You will notice there is no option to click on the offer. How on earth are you going to get more information on the offer?
You would really need to work hard to find the button to add the product to the cart in the example below. The product here looks appealing, but it is not backed up by a good call to action.
2. TREAT VISITORS WITH RESPECT, AND OFFER THEM VALUE
Some businesses would do anything, including spamming people relentlessly or tricking them into doing business with them. In the past, this tactic might have worked (only for the short term, though). But that isn’t how a successful business is built these days.
Consumers have learnt from their past bad experiences. The competition is cut-throat these days. So, the only way to ensure a successful business is by building up a good reputation.
To build up a sustainable business and a brand, you need to offer people value (like through this article, we are trying to do) and treat them with respect. When someone trusts you with their email address, you need to respect them by providing only relevant content.
High-quality content says a lot about the true intention of a site – and it could get your visitors to do some of the marketing legwork for you as they “share” your content with their friends on social media. You can’t do that with worthless content.
Pick a few good (relevant) offers – don’t simply treat them as cash cows to be milked.
You can check out some good examples in this nice article by Optinmonster?here.
3. TARGET THE RIGHT VISITORS
Conversion rates aren’t just improved by what’s on your site – they also depend on the sort of traffic you’re getting. It goes without saying that certain traffic segments are more likely to convert than others.
Paid Ads:
While paid ads or spots on mailing lists might seem like a good way to get relevant clicks – are they the sort of traffic that converts enough to make them worth it? The answer could very well be yes, but you really need to run a few tests and do the calculations. Without data, you will always wonder what’s working and what’s not.
For example, you could send?paid ad traffic to a specific landing page and calculate how many are converting compared to how much you paid for that traffic. This should give you an idea of how much you should pay for a click compared to what it’s worth.
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Be careful with keywords:
Another thing to look at is searching for the right visitors for your business. What keywords are people using to find your business on a search engine? This could make or break your Google Ads campaigns. Some keywords bring a more “active” visitors group who are more likely to spend money – so those are the sort of keywords you want to target.
People looking for a product + “discount” normally know they need to spend money. As a consequence, they just want to see if they can make a saving. These are the keyword additions you want to include in your strategy.
On the other hand, those looking for “free” are normally looking for a free ride and are highly unlikely to convert – be careful to concentrate on them.
Here are some keywords that can help drive the “right” traffic. The reasons that will trigger the possibility of these keywords working for you could be different. So note the reasons next to the keywords and make sure you use the ones relevant to you.
You:
Be personal and make your products and services about the visitors. Gone are the days when you would visit a website and find the businesses are talking about “when they were formed, how many employees they have”. Who gives a damn about those? Aim for a simple demand-supply-based service approach. If your business is new but can provide them with what they want, they would rather come to you instead of going to someone who’s been there since the ice age but can’t provide the correct solution yet.
Click:
An action that is not always in the minds of visitors. If you enforce it by mentioning it, they will more likely to click the link you want them to click. It sounds weird, but it surely works.
Increase:
A must-use for all businesses on their website. No matter whether you are selling a product or providing a service, everyone needs an increase in their revenue.
Try:
If you offer a subscription-based product/service and have a free trial period, then use this keyword to grab attention and ease the first transaction barrier.
Opportunity:
Chances are high that your business provides an opportunity to the target audience that not many other businesses are. Highlight that fact and make visitors feel they can’t let this opportunity pass them.
Ends:
This is the urgency of your offer. Put a deadline. This will make the visitors feel like they need to act right now. Putting a clock/counter, which is counting down, is a common method used in this space to hit home the urgency.
Easiest:
People are always in a hurry. They need the assurance that what they are going to buy will make their life easy. They don’t want to invest too much of their valuable time figuring out a product or service. So assure them that it would be easy for them. Provide them clear instructions (if applicable) or, better even, if you include videos telling them how it works.
Find:
Works big time if someone is looking for a solution to a problem. If you are giving a solution, then ‘find’ is what will give you more traction among your visitors.
Grow:
Businesses, no matter how small or big, want to grow. Use this word to tap onto that emotion.
Love:
Works well since it touches one of the strongest human emotions. Your customers should feel that they are not having your products only because they need them rather, they love them.
Exclusive:
Everyone loves to own something exclusive. Explore this angle if it applies to your business.
4. OFFER INCENTIVES AND MAKE THEM TIME-SENSITIVE
People need to know that they should be acting NOW – rather than clicking out to maybe come back. The greater the click-out, the fewer the conversion. Offer people special, time-sensitive discounts to make them sign up right away. Spend time researching and understanding what would be an irresistible offer for your target leads, and make sure you put it out to them.
Take a look at this example below. Variation B would obviously convert more – you can appreciate it straight away.
5. MAKE SURE YOUR LAYOUT IS WORKING FOR YOU
There are loads of unique and striking design ideas and layouts that can be suitable for your web page. The reality is that you need to test to ensure you’re using the most conversion-friendly layout possible.
Note: you should not be looking only for the best-looking design. Focus on directing your message to your visitors clearly and innovatively. Remember, your website visitors are time-poor. They are eager to get the information they are after the quickest possible way. Make sure you give it to them right away.
6. USE CUSTOM LANDING PAGES FOR DIFFERENT SORTS OF TRAFFIC
First of all – what is a landing page?
A landing page is a web page that serves as the entry point for a website or a particular section of a website.
So, you have done all the hard work of writing a beautiful copy for your Google AdWords campaigns. You have spent ages on your email template and its content. You have done so well in grabbing the attention of your potential customers. And you are driving all this traffic to your homepage, where everyone is getting the same experience!
While you are reading the above scenario, I am sure you already have identified the issue with that if you are not doing these, then hats off to you because most businesses are doing exactly these.
We have already looked at how different types of traffic could have different implications for your business, from paid ads to organic search traffic. Make sure you have customised landing pages for each type of visitor, one that’s designed specifically for them and/or the campaign you are running. You could even have different keywords to enter your site through different landing pages so that those looking for a discount get sent straight to that offer and those looking for particular content end up in the right place.
Below is a great example of a clear and to-the-point landing page example. It’s simple with a great design. See how potential questions are answered on the page as well.
7. TEST, LEARN, DO MORE TESTS AND IMPLEMENT
The only way to really know which layouts are working for you and which landing pages convert the most with different segments of traffic – is through testing. You need to run repeated A/B tests to genuinely get the data to identify exactly what works best for both your visitors and your conversion rates. You might think you know the answer, but you won’t know for sure until you’ve tested it significantly.
The other vital thing to remember is that your learning must also be implemented. Too often, business owners implement a lot of testing, but they must put the learning into practice.
Never ignore the small little learnings. It is always better to tweak things slightly anyway so that you know what’s working and what’s not and be very/exceptionally specific.
Here are a few essential tools you should look at:
If implemented, these tips will surely be enough to convert traffic and make more for your business.
If you need help with implementing any of these strategies and more, contact iBusinessFormula: 1300 129 997
** This article/blog was originally published here: https://ibusinessformula.com.au/7-actionable-strategies-to-convert-website-visitors-into-customers