Top 10 Tips to Boost Website Conversion

Most companies mistakenly believe that in order to increase sales, they must have more people see their products. Of course the more visitors you have seeing your products and services the greater the opportunity you have to increase sales.

However, you should also be focusing on increasing your sites conversion rate; a small increase in your conversion rate can have a considerable impact on your sales/leads, as we have proven over the years.

Imagine for example, with 100 visitors and a conversion rate at 1% you obtain X sales/leads, if you double your conversion rate to 2%, you would have double the sales/leads for the same effort. Structured landing Page optimisation is a key strategy that every website should be utilising.

Here are our Top 10 Tips for boosting your conversion rate, now please don’t try to implement these all at once, take it slow and measure the impact.

1)      Clear Layout and Navigation

Your website layout and navigation play a crucial role in capturing attention and pulling visitors further into your site. If the navigation guides them easily, the visitor will stick around, if it is distracting or confusing they will probably exit in a hurry.

Test it yourself – where do your eyes go first, what is the most important element on the page, where are you supposed to go next, are there any distracting items (images, links, navigation) on the page taking you away from you are supposed to do.

2)      Be An Expert in Your Field

A visitor should come away with a feeling that you are an expert in your field. If not they will continue to browse around until they find someone that inspires confidence. Thus prove your expertise by awards, testimonials, relevant content, case studies and educational documents. This is the real value you offer in exchange for your visitors trust.

3)      Lead Generation Magnets

Turn your expertise into a lead generation magnet; that is valuable content/data which you can provide to your visitors in return for their contact details. For example a whitepaper, demo, invite to an event, other educational data. Make sure it appeals to your target audience, provide a solution to their problems, have a clear title that show value, package it so as to entice interaction. The right lead magnet will result in a steady flow of leads that you convert to customers down the line.

4)      Show Value in your Lead Magnet

Visitors wonder whether it is really something of value or are you just going to spam them. So clearly outline the benefits of the magnet to the visitor, and try not to just talk about your products/services.

5)      Headline and Hero Shot

A good way to increase conversion rates is to have a Strong Headline and “Hero” shot at the top of the form. A “hero” shot is graphical, like a graphical representation of your download so as to seem heroic.

6)      Prominent Opt-In Forms

To increase opt-ins include the form on your home page and make sure the Title, Hero Shot and Form Fields are above the fold. Boost conversions further by including a small opt-in form on every page in the same place. Be sure to obtain permission on the frequency of the communications.

7)      Build Trust

Visitors hesitate to fill out forms as they do not wish to be added to another mailing list or receive sales calls. As such you need to address this concern. You can do this by linking to your privacy policy, clarifying your privacy policy in one or two lines on the form.

8)      Limit Form Field Requirements

The majority of visitors are happy to provide their name and email address to download something of interest to them. However when you ask for example telephone and address details the opt-in rates drop, the drop rate is normally proportionate to the increase in the number of required fields. It is simple obtain the minimum data first and collect more data as you build a relationship.

9)      Don’t Use “Submit”

The majority of forms utilise a Submit Button. In order to increase conversions move away from this and use a colourful button with text that reinforces the value of the Lead Magnet. The internet is about relevancy, so be creative and specific with your button, so as to tailor it to your offer – Register Now, Place My Order, Send Me My Guide etc.

10)   Up -Sell on the Thank You Page

Your “Thank You” or “Success Page” is an extremely valuable page. The visitor has just taken an action and has agreed to engage with your business. Thus they are more likely to take an additional action, if you invite them to do so. Thus promote and offer similar or related products or services, just make it relevant to visitor.

Remember to not implement all the above points at once, take one step at a time and measure the impact. Also remember to follow up, most business do not follow up their prospects as well as they should and it takes several communications to build a relationship and for a prospect to be ready to buy. If you are at the forefront of the prospective customers’ mind, whilst continuing to educate them and build trust along the way, they will engage with you when the time is right for them to buy.

Landing Page Optimisation, Informed Web Analytics and Lead Follow Up are crucial to boosting your sites conversion rate. Network Intellect is a specialist in this field, so please contact us to discuss the options available to you to maximise your website sales and increase the ROI of your marketing channels.