When it comes to your website, it’s easy to get hung up on monthly traffic and page views. But, it’s also important to focus on your website conversion optimization rate.
What is website conversion rate optimization?
There’s a saying that you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink it. Well, on your website, you want to lead people there AND get them to “drink” (become a lead).
Website conversion optimization is all about getting more leads and customers.
If you’re new to marketing, you might confuse the phrase “website conversion” with search engine optimization (SEO). But, SEO is concerned with getting people to your website.
Website conversions, on the other hand, track the amount of people that turn into leads after visiting your website.
Top website conversion tactics & strategies
To convert more website visitors into leads and then to customers, you’ll need to follow proven website conversion tactics. Here are the top ways to increase lead conversions on your website….
#1. Clarify your value proposition
Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw observed that the “biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” Many companies fool themselves into thinking they’ve clarified their value when, in fact, they’ve only confused their customers.
A value proposition is the benefit or promise that you provide to each customer about what you offer them.For example, Evernote promises us that we’ll tame our work and organize our life.
Here at AMARQUEZ, we assure every website visitor that their new website design will get measurable results for their business.
Self-focused language, internal jargon, and arrogant statements do little to build confidence and instead cast doubt on your product or service.
When you’re revising your website, start by clarifying your value proposition.
What will people gain by using your product or service?
That’s your value proposition.
If you’re having trouble writing out your value proposition, try using this one”We help [your target audience] achieve [what your target audience wants].”
There you go! That’s your headline. Now, when people land on your website, they’ll know WHO you help and WHATyou do. If they’re part of your target audience, they’ll most likely start clicking through your site to learn more about you.
If they’re not part of the group you specified in your headline, they’ll leave your site and save you a wasted sales call.
And that’s always a win/win.
#2. Improve your call to action
Visiting a website is like walking into a store you’ve never visited before.
Once you walk in the door, you immediately look around to get a sense of your surroundings. Then, you use that information to decide on the fastest route to the cookies.
(Just me? Oops!)
Like a cookie run, your website visitors land on your website and immediately start deciding on what they’ll do next.
Having a clear value proposition will explain what you do. But a clear call to action will tell people what to do next.
Most websites use a generic “Learn More” instead of giving people a reason to click the button. That’s a mistake because it doesn’t give people a clear, compelling reason to click it.
Like a value proposition encourages people to stay on your site, your calls to action must give people a reason to click a button.
#3. Add testimonials, reviews, & other social proof
The most powerful words in your company are your unique value proposition.
But the second-most valuable words are your customer’s.
News flash: people trust your customer’s words over yours, no matter how good they are. Nielsen Norman Group noted that people trust recommendations by family and friends first (92%), followed by online reviews (70%).
That’s why it’s so important to combat negative customer reviews…
And also why it’s vital to use good customer reviews everywhere on your website.
#4. Remove clutter elements from your website design
When it comes to their website, people often think that more is better. The reasoning is often that, “We don’t want people to have to click to another page…” However, this cram-it-all approach can overwhelm and confuse your website visitors.
A 1997 article by Jakob Nielsen highlighted how often website users skim, rather than read websites. To accommodate skimmers, Nielsen recommended:
- Bolding keywords
- Writing clear subheadings
- Using the inverted pyramid-style of writing
- Limiting word count to the bare minimum
- Breaking up large paragraphs
Nielsen’s lesson on skimmability applies to design as well. Rather than cramming pictures and text into every nook and cranny, only include what’s absolutely necessary.
Use white space and padding to give each element on the page room to “breathe”. Your website users will thank you…
#5. Use heatmaps to make data-driven decisions
Another website conversion best practice is to use data, not guesses, to make website design decisions. One great way to make data-based decisions is to use heatmaps.
Heat-mapping software records website user sessions on your site, assigning a “temperature” value to each element based on user interactions with it
Session recordings from heat-mapping tools like CrazyEgg allow you to make reasonable decisions that improve your website experience for customers and leads.
#6. Nurture leads who aren’t ready to buy
There’s a good chance that, when someone looks at your website for the first time, they won’t be ready to buy from you. If you’ve ever seen the buyer’s journey, you know that buyers can come to your website in one of three stages:
- Awareness: This is when people first notice a problem and try to understand it.
- Consideration: After understanding their problem, buyers will look at all the ways they can fix their problem.
- Decision: Once they’ve weighed out each solution, buyers will pick the solution that best fits their needs.
It’s important to have opt-in email marketing sequences that nudge buyers toward the decision stage, where they’ll choose to buy from you.
Some tried-and-true ways to capture leads at all stages are to:
- Offer an e-book that addresses their top questions.
- Provide client case studies or screenshots of your product in action.
- Show customer testimonials and highlight key points in the reviews.
- Include a lead-targeted newsletter that sells them on your product.
#7: Tailor your website content for customers.
Too often, companies write content that’s optimized for SEO but horrible for human website visitors. Sure, website content has to be optimized to show up in search results. But, SEO isn’t the main factor to consider when creating a website design or writing website content.
It’s best to build and write for people first. Then, you can adjust that result as part of your search engine optimization efforts. When you create for people first, SEO second, you’ll have a website that’s better poised to convert website users into leads.
One way to improve your conversion rate is to tailor the content on each page to your user’s buyer journey. In the header, for example, you want to get their attention and explain what you do. After that, you want to show proof that you’re an expert, either that you’re an expert or that what you do works.
Get websites built for conversion from AMARQUEZ
When you’re ready to create a new website for your business or refresh your existing site, call AMARQUEZ! Our web designers are skilled at building sites with website conversion rates in mind. We channel our marketing experience and branding knowledge into each website. The result is a website that looks great, generates leads, and attracts better website traffic every month.
From layout to page speed, we optimize every aspect of your website, so it generates tangible results for you. Since 2011, we’ve helped over 500 companies turn their outdated or absent online presence into a successful marketing effort that helps them grow. When you’re ready to start a project, we’re ready to get started…