Conversion rates are the ultimate goal for all marketing strategies; it’s how you know if all your efforts have been in vain or worked in your favor.
But what counts as a conversion in today’s world, where one can get multiple inquiries via Instagram DMs, Facebook Shop clicks, and more?
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To put it in simple terms, a conversion is when a user goes through your entire marketing/ social media/ website experience and buys into your service or buys your product. So a website conversion rate is the percentage of website visitors who reach this final step.
Brands and businesses today often have a difficult time addressing pain points that hinder their conversion rate optimization. Sadly, websites are often created just to meet a certain aesthetic or personal preference, but it is not convincing enough for a user to become a buyer.
But let’s run through a little recap of the basics before we skip to the good bit.
1. Understanding what qualifies as a good conversion rate
Many times brand owners and businesses confuse their business goals with a conversion rate. What does that mean? It means that brands could want a 5% conversion rate when the industry standard is realistically according to Oberlo, the conversion rate at 1.78% only.
Business stakeholders may set business objectives that seem like a small number assuming it is possible to achieve and that leaves marketing and other teams with an unfair goal to achieve. This could ultimately set up their marketing and sales plans for failure.
So step 1 would be understanding the realistic conversion rate for your brand. This can be done by conducting proper research on your competitors and businesses in your niche or industry and paying attention to their advertising and marketing strategies, and even keeping tabs on their sales performances if possible.
While focusing on competitor research, keeping track of your own data is also pivotal to setting realistic goals. This can be done by diving into your social media, Google, and website analytics to understand what converts for your business or what is stopping a user from making that final conversion.
There are also various stages of conversion, such as micro or macro conversion. These conversation rates depend on the different stages of marketing funnels. The best way to gain this conversion rate optimization is to create gradual marketing processes that enable primary and secondary actions.
This could be as simple as making their primary action to view your product or service page details and the secondary action to be making a purchase or giving you their contact information.
2. Creating user-friendly websites and landing pages
A user’s journey on a website often depicts a lot about the buying psychology of the user. This is why it’s integral to focus on Color Psychology, highly responsive web pages, and making it as user friendly as it is device friendly.
Image source: UI Color Psychology Map by Behavioral Design Academy
Color psychology enables users to take an action subconsciously on your website. This is why people are always recommended to work with a designer to get the most out of their web presence. In today’s day and age, however, you do have the option of using pre-made web templates but this won’t guarantee a unique web experience for your users.
The above UI color psychology map is an example of how users associate certain colors with certain actionable buttons, notifications, warnings, etc.
Today most users access webpages from multiple devices, especially their phones.
Image source: Mobile Vs. Desktop Internet Usage via BroadbandSearch.net
According to the chart provided by the Broadband search, a little more than half of the global traffic is from mobile devices. This is exactly why it is so important to focus on the website user experience on all devices, including mobiles, tabs, laptops, etc.
Another tip to keep in mind is to use important content but not spam your website to fit in all your keywords. When a web page isn’t optimized well, it takes longer to load; this causes users to lose interest and therefore leads to higher bounce rates. Lighter pages are easier to load on various devices, and it enables users to have a more seamless, optimized shopping experience.
But creating a website with a light amount of content doesn’t mean you need a boring static landing page. Interactive pages stimulate a buyer’s brain and therefore help your conversion rate by enticing them.
To help create optimized web pages, you can also use CRO tools and web analytics tools. This help remove doubts by allowing you to see how your page performs and track A/B testing.
It also helps overall while creating an ideal page and also enables your website to have a smoother process. You can also optimize your images to reduce image load time on your website.
So, go ahead and learn how to switch up your website using the right colors, tools, and more.
Another way to increase the conversion rate is to personalize the website. In the B2C area with personalized product recommendations and purchase incentives, and in the B2B area with recognition of the visitor and display of the company name, logo, first name, etc., on the website.
When serving the visitor all the information they need and connecting with a personal touch, they move along your sales funnel faster and convert better.
3. Content is your friend
Now, it should come as no surprise that we live in a content-dominated world, but this doesn’t necessarily mean boring people to death with drab content on your website or social media.
For many marketers, when it comes to web presence, search engine optimization is a great way to lead to conversion rate optimization. Search engine optimization of websites can help lead customers onto your site, making it the first marketing action, while a fully optimized website can then lead to conversions.
A great way to include SEO-friendly search phrases, primary or secondary keywords, and more is to include them in blogs. Blogs are meant to be long-form content, so as long as you provide value to the user, your blogs can exceed a 1500-word limit and can be inclusive of all the content that is SEO friendly so you turn up on user searches.
Another great tip is to focus on User Generated Content. User Generated Content in simple terms is having your users post content online about you. This could mean interactive social media posts or videos, affiliate marketing content, reviews, blogs, etc. User Generated Content acts as social proof of your brand and that doubles up as testimonials.
You can also repurpose user-generated content onto your website in the form of reviews, or general snippets that advocate for your product.
But how does user-generated content help with conversions? Today users online make smarter buying decisions. They look for quality and credibility. It no longer takes just an influencer or an ad to convince them.
They need social proof. This is why other reviews and content help conversions as a brand or business. You can use social media scheduling tools if you do not have the time to manually repost the things people say about you.
4. Use the right call to action at the right time and at the right place
To increase your conversion rate, make sure to use the right call to action at the right time and place.
It’s important to have the correct Call To Action. No one wants to see a “Learn More” button when they just want to get their purchase done and are searching to “Shop Now.” This is the same psychology when it comes to Call To Action Buttons.
While being subtle and aesthetic is one thing, no one likes a hidden button that decreases a person’s decision to shop spontaneously. It’s always best when Call-To-Action buttons are easily visible and accessible.
Banners are another way to optimize your conversion rate. Banners help direct traffic to their next action. So having someone sign up for a newsletter, start a trial or buy a product can all be done if the right banners are placed strategically.
5. Focus on all relevant audience groups
While you may constantly be focusing on luring in new audiences as a brand, never give up on older customers. Older customers could be more likely to convert faster as they get more accustomed to your brand.
Retargeting ads, and emailers to users who have stopped their buying journey, are all ways to rekindle the conversion process. Understanding the user psyche, in this case, is very important because humans can have reasons as simple as forgetting to check out, or saving for another day. But with a little nudge, it could just be the most optimal way to convert a user into a buyer.
Another method to increase conversion rates is customer orientation. This is all about making your customer’s needs a focal point in your business and building your processes and communication system around this.
In Conclusion
Remember that Conversion Rate Optimization is more than just about people making certain actions on your website. It is the accumulation of all the little actions that come together in order for a user to make a whole conscious conversion.
The most important aspects of Conversion Rate Optimization are to align Search Engine Optimization and Conversion Rate Optimization goals and to build an online experience that supports these goals. Remember to experiment with Conversion Rate Optimization strategies and also tools that can help you get there.
Image created using Venngage.
