Let’s Talk “Conversion Rate Optimization”

If you’re unfamiliar with the term “Conversion Rate Optimization”, here’s the best way of phrasing it: Traffic is what you get. Conversion optimization is what you do with it, such as making a sale or capturing a lead.

Turns out, what you do with your existing web traffic is significantly more important than how much traffic you  get. For example, increasing your earnings per visitor by just $1.07 can have a way bigger impact on your revenue than just increasing your traffic by 10,000 visitors per month (which, by the way, is a much simpler task).

To get you started thinking about conversion optimization, here’s a few valuable, actionable tips on conversion rate optimization you can put into practice right away. 

1. Don’t talk about what you do. Talk about why the customer needs you.

2. On your landing pages, there should be exactly and ONLY ONE thing you want people to do. If there are multiple elements / actions competing for the someones attention, you’re doing something wrong.

3. Use  the term “Add to cart” — rather than  “buy/purchase” now. Since “buy now” denotes more of a commitment, users are less likely to click.

4. According to Bryan Eisenberg, every website in the world has a problem with conversions, and he’s right. The job of testing and improving your conversion rates will never end.

5. Try making your signup button a sticky — i.e. let it scroll with the user as they move down your page.

6. Get feedback from your customers. The best way to know what’s going on in a customer’s head is to (you guessed it) ask them! Web Engage is a popular tool to get on-site anonymous feedback from viewers.

7. Sell a solution, not a feature. Even though features help you to differentiate and stand out, focus your marketing message around the overall problem that your product solves (particularly if you’re in an obscure market).

8. The footer of your website is extra real estate that you can’t just waste. If you use WordPress, remove that generic “Proudly powered by WordPress” and use it to include a call-to-action, add links to social profiles, or both.

9. Have a call-to-action somewhere on every page. You should lead the visitor through your funnel by the hand — don’t let them just roam around without a purpose and expect an outcome.

10. Take a page out of Amazon’s book and use time-based offers. Shipping, for example — if you order XYZ widget within 7 hours and 27 minutes, you can get the XYZ Widget by Saturday, March 22nd. It’s that emotion of urgency that influences customers to take action.