5 Ways to increase conversion on your website
In hopes of maximizing conversions, many website owners fixate on driving large volumes of traffic to their website. While having plenty of traffic is important, it can often be more beneficial to simply tweak the website itself. By understanding how to more effectively appeal to potential customers and making their experience easier, you should be able increase conversions and increase earnings as a result. With that being said, let’s discuss five ways to increase conversions on your website.
1) Optimize your website’s functionality and navigability. No matter how great your products and content are, it doesn’t do you much good if your website is ugly and difficult for users to navigate. That’s why it’s so important to have a layout that is intuitive and allows customers to quickly find what they are looking for. Nothing will turn customers off quicker than getting overwhelmed by a surplus of information and searching aimlessly through a sea of products for the one product they want. Consequently, you should set up your website so that it has a clean look and all your products are conveniently organized for customers to find them. Basically, it’s your job to make it so customers have to jump through the least amount of hurdles to buy a product. Ensuring that your website looks professional, is aesthetically pleasing and simple to navigate should increase conversion rates.
2) Achieve a level of trust and rapport with potential customers. With so many scam artists and charlatans online, many people are skeptical of making purchases via the Internet. As a result, it should be one of your top priorities to quickly establish as much trust as possible. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways including the addition of some basic contact information. For example, you should include information like the address of your business; a telephone number and a contact box so that customers can reach you.
Adding an “about us” page with pictures is also helpful and can help customers to view you as human beings rather than a corporation. Placing some real life testimonials from previous customers can also get many customers over the buying hump. Along with this, you should have a privacy policy in place and a clear explanation of your shipping procedures. If possible, you should also have a clearly defined return policy in case customers aren’t happy with their products. All of these things should give you the appearance of professionalism and reduce the skepticism of many potential customers.
3) Have as many payment options as possible. This is something that many websites overlook and ends up costing them money. For example, you should give customers the option of at least paying with debit card, credit card and PayPal. If possible, you should also have the option of paying with traditional paper checks. You may even want to consider giving customers the option of “buying now and paying later” which can be done through third party sites. Doing so should make your customer’s lives easier and make the buying process hassle free.
4) Harness the power of the call to action. In many cases, customers who are on the fence about making a purchase can be persuaded to do so simply by asking them to do so. In fact, many tests have been conducted and it’s been proven time and time again that conversion rates increase with a call to action. This doesn’t mean that you should act overly pushy and annoying; it just means that giving customers a clearly defined request to make a purchase should increase conversions. Testing here is very important to determine which call to action brings the best result. Using a product such Google Optimizer can allow you to easily test this and other areas of your site.
5) Include special offers whenever you can. Almost everyone likes getting a bargain, so it’s important to utilize special offers or money saving deals when possible. For example, you could offer reduced or free shipping and handling, discounts on bundle packages or buy one get one free. This should make customers and especially bargain hunters feel like they’re getting more bang for their buck with your website when compared with others. Consequently, this helps your website stand out from competitors and is likely to maximize conversions.
About the guest blogger: Claire Ward is a content contributor for ThunderPack, a packaging company specialising in mailing bags, padded envelopes and shrink wrap.