A conversion is the exact moment when customer and company engage in business. The conversion rate measures successful customer interaction whether that entails making a purchase, downloading an app, making email or telephone contact, or simply filling out a form. All of these actions have value to a business. This is why conversion rates are absolutely crucial to any successful company.
For example, if a company were to spend 1,000€ on an advertising campaign which consequently results in 1,000 visitors to the company site and that 20 of those visitors complete forms, then the conversion rate is 2%. Imagine however, there was a way to increase that conversion rate to 4%. The company would then secure 40 new customers rather than 20. In this instance, the conversion rate has doubled and the company will experience handsome financial rewards as a result.
Web marketing experts, Relevance, reveal how you can make that increase today.
How to Improve Conversion Rates
Firstly, the company needs to devise a sales funnel, finally filtering down to a distinct ‘call to action’. There are several ways to achieve this, but website design plays a critical role in this filtering process. Simple, direct and professional website designs are the most effective. Above all ensure that contact details are clearly visible. From the company phone numbers to live chat options, contact information provides compelling evidence to the visitor that the company is real and personable. Implementing this strategy across all website pages will increase conversion rates significantly.
Following website design comes website development. Relevance’s SEO experts optimise meta data and employ intelligent keyword selection techniques to create landing pages which are more relevant to customer intent. By following this process and removing broken site links, you reduce on-site distractions that may lead visitors away from a potential conversion.
Website content also plays an essential role in driving customers to convert. Powerful headlines and engaging content that communicates product value naturally increase visit duration while reducing visitor bounce rate. Contrary to this, industry jargon must be minimised if you are to focus your visitor’s attention towards the purchase.
The content should equally include customer incentives. Use guarantees as bait for enticing visitors into a conversion. By offering a guarantee, you create a clear value proposition. Consequently, customer confidence in your product increases and generates improved conversion rates.
The fear of loss is two and a half times more powerful than the desire for gain. So said best-selling author and entrepreneur Brian Tracy. “This offer ends in 4 minutes”, “3 other people are looking at this” are just some of the tried and tested examples that prove the theory correct. Inject urgency into your landing page’s call to action by instilling a passive fear of loss as an added incentive.
Research elsewhere has shown that trustworthiness is another decisive factor in converting customers. The value of adding social proof to your website should not be underestimated. Positive testimonials, reviews and case studies will inevitably improve conversion rates, while trust seals and evidence of awards from industry authorities raise company credibility immeasurably. Using popular company names such as TripAdvisor in constructive ways will act as further leverage to maintaining a high customer confidence and highlighting industry expertise.
Further empower that feeling of customer confidence with clear and easy-to-read comparison matrixes that explain why your company is better than its competitors.
Reinforce it with details about the company and its history. A company with a high transparency is also one with a high conversion rate. Images and short descriptions of other company offices and of each team member puts a human face on an otherwise robotic search results page.
Some final added touches such as social media widgets, relevant media and a company blog with fresh material provide a modern and exciting appeal to company websites and will help you on your way to your conversion rates goal.
Tracking Conversion Rates
It’s important to remember that whatever you can’t measure, you can’t improve. By tracking conversions, you gain valuable information on the performance of your ad campaigns and landing pages across different devices. With this information you can invest more intelligently in the best ones and ultimately, increase your return on investment.
There are plenty of analytics tools available on the worldwide web which perform different functions for your conversion rates tracking needs.
Google Analytics is one of the more detailed of those tools, providing analysis on a whole range of statistics including the URL destination, the visit duration, and the number of pages per visit.
By using Google Adwords in partnership with Google Analytics, you can experiment with your personal ad campaigns and track which are the most successful. Equally, SEO experts conduct A/B testing whereby two variants reveal advert and landing page performance under controlled conditions.
Website developers can also implicate analytics tracking tools for all forms filled in and all emails linked, resulting in more representative and reliable data on website visitors. That way you can target more accurate audiences with your product sales.
Some conversions however start on your website but are actually completed offline. Tracking such conversions is difficult but not impossible. With the correct implication of the appropriate tools such as Callr, it is possible to set up a tracking phone number system also.
Of course, traditional market research methods are still a highly useful tool. However, this is a time consuming luxury most companies cannot afford. Instead, it is important to modernise your online strategy and improve your conversion rates if you are to enhance your return on investment.
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