Do you want to stop wasting money?
If your website is not converting then is exactly what is happening.
If you are getting a significant amount of traffic this can mean thousands or even millions of dollars that are being wasted.
Getting your visitors to take action is the first step in the sales process. Getting them to convert means different things for each company. A conversion can be defined as a new registration, new email address, or a new sale.
What is a Conversion Rate?
Conversion can be defined in different ways.
Your Total Conversions is number of people who did whatever it is defined as converting (email newsletter, made a purchase, and so on). To get your Conversion Rate, you divide the above total number of conversions by the number of visitors to your site.
In sales, this can be defined by the number of presentations you make vs the number of actual deals you make. In this post, I’ll focus on improving your website conversion rates.
43 Fast Ways To Improve Your Website Conversion Rates
1 Use Clear and compelling copy
Make your copy easy to understand. Cut the jargon. No matter what business you are in people are more likely to read your copy if it’s clear and concise.
2 Test your CTA
Your call to action is one of the most important elements to test. Test different call to actions and see which works best.
3. Test different colors
Each color has a different meaning. Make sure to test different colors and see which convert the best. In a famous marketing experiment, Heinz ketchup changed the color of their ketchup and saw an increase in 23 million in sales.
4. Use Google Website Optimizer
Google Website optimizer lets you run different experiments to track conversions on your site. Here’s a good guide from Kissmetrics that shows you how to use this free tool.
5. Understand the behavior of your traffic
If you know where your traffic is coming from you can be more relevant. The more relevant your offer is the higher the conversion rates.
6. Include as few fields as possible
in one study conducted by Hubspot they analyzed over 40,000 landing pages and found that conversion rates increase when unnecessary forms are eliminated.
7. Use Heatmap software
Use heatmap software to better understand how your website visitors engage with your site. You can find where users click and scroll. Two well-known companies are CrazyEgg and Clicktale
8. Set deadlines
Most people are natural procrastinators. Move them to take action by setting deadlines. Make your deadlines real. A company that does this extremely well is GroupOn
9. Use Scarcity
One of the pillars of influence and persuasion is scarcity. We want what we can’t have. By making your offer scarce you introduce a sense of urgency. If you are running out of stock with one of your products make sure to let your audience know and you’ll see your conversion rates increase.
10. Use a countdown timer
Adding a countdown timer will add urgency to your offer. Most, landing page software has countdown timers available. Use them if it makes sense with your offer. Marcus Taylor from Venture Harbor added a countdown timer to his product page and saw his conversion rates increase from 3.5% to 10%.
11. Use a Video on your homepage
Adding a video to your website can make your message more succinct and can also humanize your brand. Dropbox saw a 10% in conversions when they added a video to their homepage.
12. Use trust seals
Trust sales can help you establish trust. Blue Fountain Media saw a 42% increase in sales when they added a trust seal. Norton and Mcafee have the highest trust with online shoppers.
13. Add a guarantee
Adding a guarantee is a great way to remove risk from the buyer. It’s purely psychological as most people never take your guarantee. Mobal a telecom company tripled sales within 12 months to 9.1 million by adding a guarantee.
14. Clearly state your value proposition
How many times does this happen to you? You visit a company’s website and you have no idea what they do. The best way to stop this confusion is to clearly state your value proposition. Whether’s it’s on your homepage or on your about us page a succinct value proposition will stop any confusion and increase your conversion rates.
15. Above the fold
Put the most important information of your site above the fold. You want your website visitors to read it and not be distracted by the clutter.
16. Use dedicated landing pages for PPC
Over 90% of PPC ads go to the homepage. This decreases conversion rates because you are not giving the people clicked on your ad what they want. Marketers call this message mismatch. Have a dedicated landing page for each keyword and your conversion rates
17. Add a pop-up
Lots of people hate pop-ups but they work. WP Beginner a WordPress added an exit popup and they saw an increase in signups of 600%.
18. Use content upgrades
Brian Dean from Backlinko added content upgrades throughout his site and saw an increase of email signups from .54%. to 4.82%.
19. Add in-line opt-in forms
Conversion Voodoo added an inline form on the Shoemoney Blog and increased signups by 36%. You can use Leadpages, Bloom, and OptinMonster to add these forms to your site.
20. Add a Quiz to your homepage
Ann Marie Skin Care added a “What’s your skin score?” quiz on their homepage and saw a $200,000 and 20,258 leads in 2 months.
21. Use a traffic tool on your homepage
One of the best ways to increase conversion rates is to add a software tool that provides valuable information to the user. Neil Patel from Quicksprout has a traffic tool on his site.
You can build a similar tool that your prospects might find useful. What piece of information will your prospects find useful? Pingdom has a speed test tool on their site. Other examples include Hubspot Website Grader and Moz Resources and Tools.
22. Recommend related products
Amazon does this better than anyone. Show related products on your site and your conversion rates will increase. If you have a WordPress site you can use WP e-Commerce Related Products
23. Include a privacy policy in your opt-in forms
People don’t want to be spammed. Include a privacy policy in your sign ups and you can increase conversion rates by as much 39%
24. Use a chat tool
Add a chat to your website to increase engagement and conversion rates. The top 10 reasons why users abandon their shopping carts is related to confusion and complications during checkout. Add clarity to your site by using tools like Zendesk and Olark.
25. Automatic Opt-In Fly-Ins
Add automatic opt-in fly-ins on your site to increase conversion rates and email signups. Tools like Opt-in Monster, Bloom, and Thrive Themes all have this feature.
26. Make sure your site is mobile responsive
Mobile usage has surpassed desktop usage. If your site is not fully mobile optimized you’ll risk losing out big time. Use tools like Google Mobile’s Friendly to see if your site needs to be changed. O’Neil Clothing changed their website to mobile responsive and the results were amazing:
For iPhone/iPod:
- Conversions increased by 65.71%
- Transactions increased by 112.50%
- Revenue increased by 101.25%
For Android devices:
- Conversions increased by 407.32%
- Transactions went up by 333.33%
- Revenue increased by a whopping 591.42%
27. Change your offer
What happens when you are offering or selling something your prospects don’t want? Low conversion rates. If your offer is not converting change it and test to see if it makes a difference. Here are several things you can offer:
- Free gift
- Free shipping
- Free coaching
- Free training
- Charge for consultation
28. Include a headshot
People want to know who they are buying from. Adding a headshot gives your brand a human touch. It makes your company look real. You should include your headshot near your CTA. This can reduce the risk factor by showing you are real.
29. A/B Testing
This is one is obvious but the question comes down to what you should you test? Keep it simple and only test the most important elements in the beginning. You should test the following:
- Headline
- Visual Content
- Video
- Copy
- Call to Action
- Offer
The two software you can use to test different elements of your site includes Optimizely and Visual Website Optimizer
30. Include an FAQ
You can save yourself a lot of time and heartache by including an FAQ on your site. Answer your customer’s most common questions and objections with an FAQ. Kiva added an FAQ to their landing page and saw an increase of 11.5% in conversions.
31. Use pictures of happy people
Studies show that people like seeing pictures of happy people. It can induce happy emotions and make things go viral. In the fitness and health space using images of happy people will help you convert more leads and customers.
32. Use before/after pictures
People love seeing before/after images. This works especially well in the fitness world. It makes things look attainable. A great example from the fitness world is Andy Morgan’s results page.
33. Use the star, story, solution copy in your testimonials
A lot of marketers make mistakes with their testimonials. A well-done testimonial can have a huge impact on your business. Use the star, story, and solution copy in your testimonial to increase your conversions. The formula is below:
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Star: The star is the main character in your copy. It could be you, a celebrity, a customer or what have you.
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Story: Talks about how the “STAR” went through the same problem as your market does right now.
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Solution: Demonstrates how the star used your product/service to solve this problem.
34. Address Objections
Make sure to address your prospect’s objections in the copy of your site. What are the most common objections? The best way to find out is to get on a few sales calls and every time a customer tells you an objection write it down. Get a list of the most common objections and answer them in your sales copy.
35. Use Attention Grabbing Headlines
What’s the main reason people read your ad? It’s the headline. David Ogilvy, the advertising legend states it best:
36. Test different images
Your brain can process an image 60,000 times faster than the written word. The right image can have a big impact on your conversion rates. Make sure to test different images to see which will have the biggest impact on your conversion rates. Don’t use cheesy stock images. Use high-quality images that can be shown in different contexts.
37. Add reviews to your site
One of the best ways to add credibility is to add reviews on your site. People now use the internet more than ever before making a purchase decision. Figleaves improved their conversion rates by 35% by adding reviews on their site.
38. Simplify the homepage
Simple websites tend to convert better. With the growing popularity of mobile simple sites are on the rise. Underwater Audio simplified their homepage and saw an increase of 261% in conversions.
39. Use Sans Typeface to improve readability
Can your website be easily read? Like the previous point, simple is usually better. Use an easy to read typeface to improve your readability. Numara Software a 100 million dollar software IT company, changed the typeface on their site and saw the following results:
- A decrease in bounce rate by 10%
- A decrease in site exit rate by 19%
- An increase in pages per visit by 24%
- A 133% increase in form conversion rates
40. Use emotion in your marketing
IPA databank analyzed over 1,400 advertising case studies and found that campaigns with purely emotional content performed about twice as well 31% vs 16.5%. Use power words to create emotions in your copy and you’ll increase your conversion rates.
41. Add a phone number to your site
LessAccounting an accounting firm added a phone number on their site and saw a 1.8% increase in conversion rates.
42. Show Product Videos
People are consuming videos more than ever before. Having a video that explains the benefits of your product/service will increase your conversion rates. Users are 64-85% more likely to buy after watching your product video.
43. Add a P.S
Postscripts are often one of the most read parts in your email or website. You can use the P.S. to restate your offer or add a bonus.
Conclusion
All these ways might not work the best for your site. You have to test and see which works best. Make sure you have a proper structure in place and a good understanding of what you are testing before you start.
