The Importance Of Conversion Rate Optimization
As a marketer or freelancer, learning how to optimize your conversion rate is critical.
After all, if you can’t convert website visitors into paying customers, you’re missing out on a lot of potential business.
If you’re not making sales, you’re not making money.
Thankfully, there are a number of things you can do to optimize your conversion rate and improve your bottom line.
We gathered ten actionable tips you can use on your website.
Let’s jump straight into them.
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Add A Search Box To Your Site
Search boxes are more popular than you might think. Data suggests that 30% of visitors use search boxes when they are available.
What makes a search box so powerful?
The main advantage of search boxes is improved user experience. A search box enables visitors to find what they are looking for faster and more efficiently.
But there’s more.
The data you get from search box analytics can help you improve your website. You can see what kind of keywords people use and what kind of content they are searching for.
You can map out customer journeys from the first click visitors make on your website.
Luckily, adding a search box to your website is easy. There are a ton of WordPress plugins you can use. Alternatively, Squarespace and Wix also have search boxes integrated into their platforms if you’re not using WordPress.
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Optimize Your CTAs
CTA stands for call-to-action. We usually use buttons, pop-ups, text, widgets, and other elements to insert CTAs. The goal of a CTA is to convince a visitor to do the desired action.
But, CTAs are often underoptimized.
In fact, average CTA click-through rates are somewhere between 2% and 5% across all industries.
This means we have a lot of room for improvement.
Here’s what to do.
The easiest way to optimize CTAs is by performing split tests. You make small changes to your CTAs and measure how that change impacts your CTA click-through rates.
You should start with the most obvious elements like text, colors, and placement to make sure you have the foundations optimized.
Here are two examples that highlight the difference between a good CTA and a bad CTA.
| Good CTA | Bad CTA |
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| – One powerful call to action – The message is clear – Simple and straightforward | – Too many calls to action – The message is too wordy – Hard to understand |
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Install Heat Maps
Heat maps are graphical representations of what users do on your website. Heat maps show you where users click, what they are most likely to read, and how fast they are scrolling down your page.
What does that mean for you?
It means you can improve the usability of your website if you use the data from heat maps.
Data suggests that eCommerce businesses can improve their conversion rates by up to 35% if they optimize the user checkout process. This is relatively easy to do with heat map data.
Installing heat map tools is easy, especially if you’re running a WordPress website. Two of the most popular tools are HotJar and Crazy Egg, but you can use others if they suit your needs better.
Add Social Proof To Your Website
Think about it – who do we trust? Businesses of other people?
Most people trust other people more. That’s why social proof is so important for website conversion rates.
When users see other people recommending the product or service, they immediately see this as a strong sign of credibility.
It’s also super easy to add social proof to your website.
You can start by contacting existing customers and asking them for a review. You can also get expert testimonials if you work in a field with a lot of innovations and technological breakthroughs.
Have you noticed that big businesses all have testimonials on their websites? That’s because 95% of people say that reviews influence their buying decisions.
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Create Irresistible Lead Magnets
Lead magnets are things you give out for free in exchange for a visitors’ contact data, usually an email address. Most businesses use ebooks, guides, and instructional videos as lead magnets.
You can also use interactive games and quizzes as lead magnets.
Lead magnets are very powerful. In fact, 50% of marketers who use lead magnets report an increase in conversion rates.
Here’s what you need to know.
The more targeted your lead magnets are, the better the conversion rate. So, find out what your visitors care about and offer them that in exchange for their email address.
You can use data from your analytics platform to create the right lead magnet. We also recommend talking to your clients to see what they want.
Implement Pop-Ups The Right Way
Pop-ups are often seem like a nuisance, but they can actually be quite effective in boosting your conversion rate.
While you don’t want to bombard your visitors with pop-ups, using them correctly can help you increase leads and sales.
Do you know how to use them?
First, use them sparingly. You don’t want to annoy your visitors with constant pop-ups that distract them from your content.
Second, make sure they are relevant to the content. You can use them to push a targeted lead magnet.
Third, keep the messaging short and include a powerful CTA.
And fourth, always split-test your pop-ups to know which ones perform best.
Remember.
Pop-ups have a relatively low conversion rate. This means there’s a lot you can do to improve their effectiveness.
| Did You Know? Only 3% of pop-ups average a conversion rate above 10%, according to a study done by AppSumo. |
Lower Your Cart Abandonment Rate
According to some studies, eCommerce cart abandonment rates are as high as 80% on mobile devices.
Imagine how much you could improve your conversion rates by improving cart abandonment.
A common mistake businesses make when addressing abandonment rates is they harass their customers. That’s the last thing you should do.
We recommend you start with one action to lower your cart abandonment rate before adding more. This way, you’ll ensure you’re not being too pushy with your offers.
Try the following techniques to recover abandoned carts:
- Push notifications
- Automated emails
- Retargeting ads
- Personal outreach
As with other tips, we recommend you split-test these techniques to see which ones perform the best.
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Content Optimization
None of the techniques we covered so far won’t work if you have bad content on your website.
You have to optimize both the technical elements of your content and your messaging.
With technical elements, we’re mostly referring to on-site optimization. Make sure you’re following all on-page SEO best practices. From keywords in the text, image optimization to meta titles and descriptions.
This will ensure your content ranks in search engines for the targeted keywords.
Your messaging should be engaging, and it should target your website visitors. Make sure you include targeted CTAs in the copy.
Another thing to note.
Make your content skimmable. Most readers only skim and skip around your website to find the information they need.
Remember.
The more engaged your visitors are, the more likely you are to convert them into customers.
Install A Chatbot
We mentioned how a lot of people add things to the online shopping cart and never complete the purchase.
Here’s the truth.
People are on the fence when buying online. It helps if we give them a little push in the right direction.
This is where chatbots come in. They exist to increase engagement on your website by providing an interactive experience for your visitors.
A good chatbot can answer any questions your visitors might have. They also might highlight additional benefits of your product or service that the visitor didn’t know about.
But, you have to make sure your chatbot engages people, not bother them. Luckily, most modern AI-powered chatbots have these things figured out. You should be on the safe side if you go with any of the most popular bots available.
| Did You Know? The first chatbot was developed way back in 1966. An MIT professor, Joseph Weizenbaum, developed a text-based bot that he named ELIZA. |
Include A Money-Back Guarantee
Money-back guarantees are often used as a way to increase conversion rates by reassuring potential customers that they can return the product if they are not satisfied.
This can be an effective strategy, especially for expensive items, since it eliminates the risk of buyer’s remorse.
In general, money-back guarantees tend to work best when they are displayed above the fold, are easy to understand, and have few restrictions.
Follow these best practices:
- Make your money-back guarantee easy to understand
- People don’t like too many restrictions like time limits and exclusion clauses
- Make sure everyone can see your money-back guarantee
Data shows that buyers prefer to try something before they buy it. That’s why money-back guarantees work so well in the eCommerce industry.
Conclusion
So there you have it – our top ten tips for optimizing your conversion rate. If you can work on implementing even a few of these suggestions, you’ll surely see an improvement in how many people take the desired action on your website.
What are you waiting for? Get started today!