Sometimes, even with high site traffic, few people reach the purchase button or at least the registration form. But you know that the main task of the site is to turn visitors into buyers. So you rack your brains and ask: “Why?” The answer is pretty simple: your web pages have a low conversion rate.
Today we will delve into what conversion is, why it can decrease, and how to increase it. Let’s go!
What is webpage conversion, and why is it important to track it?
Conversion is the percentage of those visitors who performed some targeted action on the site to the total number of visitors. The target action is understood as the purchase of the product itself, as well as registration for the webinar, adding something to the cart, subscribing to news, and so on. In simple words, the website conversion rate is the percentage of people who have performed the action business needs.
For example, for an online store, the main conversion goal will be a purchase. But before that, the user goes through a long path: registration, adding an item to the cart, filling out an order form. These steps are all micro conversions. And they are also very important as the efficiency of the business and its profit directly depend on these indicators.
To calculate the conversion, you need to divide the number of people who performed the targeted action by all site visitors and multiply by 100%.
You can use a conversion calculator to facilitate calculations. However, marketing experts don’t count the conversion of sites manually. For this, there are services like Google Analytics. These systems are completely free, but they give specialists a lot more information about their users.
What conversion rate should you aim for?
On the Internet, you will find many articles that say that 1.5-2% conversion is considered the norm. This means that out of 2000 visitors, 30-40 people have performed an action.
However, we believe that there is no single conversion standard that all online entrepreneurs should strive for. This metric varies greatly from industry to industry.
For example, in the Food & Beverage category, the best score is 5.5%, and even 0.6% will be excellent for luxury furniture.
Moreover, within a specific area of business, many other factors affect the conversion results, for example, sales geography, season, devices from which users log in. So you always need to be careful when comparing yourself to your competitors.
How to increase website conversion?
Now let’s talk about how to increase the conversion of your site and not go crazy at the same time. These are the most basic things to look out for.
1. Value high-quality traffic
Many entrepreneurs think that the amount of traffic is a crucial rate. After all, the more people see the site, the more likely it is that one of them will be interested in the offer and make a purchase. However, in this matter, quality is more important than quantity.
Make sure that the site doesn’t get a crowd of random people but those who are potentially interested in your offer.
2. Make convenient navigation and site search
The user should get the necessary information in 3 clicks. Therefore, it is worth taking care of a smart search that will understand the visitors’ requests, even if they made a mistake in the word.
3. Correct site work
Avoid having broken links and sections that lead to nowhere. All pages should load quickly on all devices and in any browser. Take care of website loading optimization as well.
4. Optimize site for different devices
The site should look equally good on both PCs and mobile devices. It is definitely unacceptable to ignore mobile traffic in 2021. Website optimization for all screen resolutions and sizes is a serious step toward user retention.
5. Anticipate requests
Provide information on the site that is useful to the user. For example, the price of goods, sizes, how-to-use articles instead of a list of advantages.
6. Add a voluminous footer if you have a lot of information on your site
Follow minimalism. A lot of information on the landing page should not distract users’ attention. Duplicate the main sections, add links to the FAQ, user agreement, communication methods in the footer. This will allow the users not to get tired of the congestion of the site and choose only what they need.
7. Create useful content only
The user should find on your site the most complete and interesting information. And by the way, regardless of the content ideas, their presentation also has its own rules.
- Use catching headlines
Getting to the site, the user should immediately understand what benefit he can get. The call to action button should be visible at a glance. To do this, make it bright and leave plenty of free space around. Be sure to check that the title and button are consistent with each other. If you invite users to take part in the conference, but the button says “Subscribe,” the conversion of such an offer may decrease. - Don’t use exclamation marks
In modern texts, exclamation marks look more like manipulation. Such text looks cheap and more often turns off customers than attracts them. - Talk about gain, not advantages
It is more important for the audience to get an answer to the question of how the product or service will solve their problem, and not how good it is. Communicate in the language of gains: replace “Fast delivery” with “The order will be at your home within 40 minutes.” - Use quality photos
56% of users look at photos and illustrations first when they visit a page. Low-quality pictures can alienate some visitors, and they will close the site. Therefore, always use good equipment for shooting and photo editors for processing. - Add a video
Companies around the world see increased conversions when they add dynamic content to their landing pages. It can be a training video, a promotional one, a clip with life hacks, or even a video meme. The rule is simple – video on a page is a must. It is not necessary to use expensive professional software to create it. A simple Mac video editing software is enough.
8. Showcases
You can talk for a long time about how good you are in your business, it is quite another thing to prove it – to show cases. The way you solve customer problems increases the credibility of the site.
9. Tell more about your brand and its workers
People want to buy from real people – this principle applies to any type of business. Give your visitors more information about yourself – thus, you’ll win brand credibility. And accordingly make people buy, because it is safer to order from someone you know.
10. Don’t make authorization obligatory
Before requiring users to leave their contact details, allow them to decide whether they want to register or not. Let them look at the information on the site, buy the product without registration, and read the blog.
11. Provide online support
Add a live chat with an operator to help the user quickly solve his problem. The support, of course, must be competent and friendly. And outside of working hours, let the bot work.
12. Personalize offers
Analyze the behavior of a particular user on the site, his or her previous requests, and clicks. Offer something that will be really interesting. For example, add a personalized block with new products, recommendations, or personalized calls to action for each specific user.
Personalization also works well in newsletters.
13. Consider the right colors for the website
As we told you earlier, the right web design colors are also a great tool that you can utilize when you want to boost your conversion rates. Color doesn’t determine the conversion rate. It doesn’t sell directly, literally doesn’t find you new customers, but it allows you to create the desired impression, to turn a casual “passer-by” into a regular customer. 70% will not buy if they don’t like the color.
So use the Divi Layout Builder to choose the best possible website layout – the right arrangement of elements on the page and their colors.
Final thoughts
In general, conversion is about taking care of your customers, but it’s not a panacea. Its ultimate goal is always to increase income. Therefore, in pursuit of high conversion, you try not to overwhelm customers with discounts and gifts. Better to work on increasing your average check, retargeting, and increasing LTV.
Strive to increase the conversion of the site, but remember that it is only a drop in a huge sea of other work.
Nice post.