Increase conversions on your website in 6 easy steps

For small business owners, generating website traffic on a shoestring budget can be a struggle

Before you can improve conversion rates on your site, you first have to understand what is wrong. There may be a number of issues restricting your conversions.

By tracking actions, or inactions, of the visitors on your site you can usually uncover many problems. However, some are so obvious, you’ll laugh at how you never realized before.

Unclear call-to-action

Ensure you have:

  • A clear page headline
  • Well defined action block
  • Sub-headline in your action block

You know what your company does, but does your audience? Does your website clearly say what you do, or do you have multiple buzzwords flying around that don’t really make any sense?

  • Is your CTA repeated multiple times on a page without looking spammy?
  • Do you have multiple CTAs – sign ups, sale, call, downloads? If so, this needs to be slimmed down
  • Minimize everything on your site not pointing to your CTA
  • CTA above the fold – you shouldn’t need to scroll down to see it

By having a clear CTA, you can advise a customer what will happen after they have taken the desired action and what they can expect.

The CTA button shouldn’t say ‘submit’ or ‘continue’; good practice is to finish the sentence ‘I want to..’

Too many choices

Are you overloading your site with too many choices? People have short attention spans; they want to get in, do the job, and get out. By overloading people with choices, you are forcing them to research, which can cause inaction. If customers can’t find an easy way to do something, they will leave.

  • Don’t present too many choices, including side menus and advertising.
  • Group categorizing can help minimize too many choices.

A good way to start – especially on an ecommerce site – is to order your stock by what links to each other. For example, if your customer is looking for an iPod, don’t display manufacturer-specific camera batteries.

Remove:

  • Wild backgrounds and colors, garish texts, visual embellishments, and flourishes.
  • All graphical elements that don’t specifically support the conversion action.
  • Videos which begin as soon as the page opens; nobody wants that.
  • Third-party banner ads and pop-ups – these are designed to take someone away from your site and onto someone else's and will distract your traffic.

Too much text

Don’t overwhelm people with text, or they simply won’t read it.

  • Use a clear title and headings.
  • Place all of the important text first.
  • Use short bullet points.
  • Shorten all the text you have into short manageable chunks.
  • Keep line length down; too long text lines tire the eyes.

Asking for too much information

Offline, we are careful to follow etiquette, give people space, and a high degree of privacy. Due to ‘anonymity’ online, these rules seem to have flown out the window.

Companies seem to want to know your name, contact details, age, sex, location, shoe size, and favorite color just to download an app or register to a site. Although this information may be worthwhile for marketing, it may be better to send out an email asking for additional feedback later on.

Not only do extra form fields put people off due to lack of ease and time, but some people aren’t willing or can’t give the information you require due to the situation they’re in, for example, sitting on a train on their mobile.

An increasing number of emails are being opened on mobile devices; most companies I’ve spoken to indicate 60%. Filling information out on a phone is much harder than on a computer. Dating site Match.com has tackled this by having the landing page recognize the device and adjust itself accordingly. If the person signs up via mobile, the site will accept a single opt-in; if the person signs up on a desktop device, they will need to double opt-in. (Sign up, then confirm their email address via an email sent across for them to click through).

  • Cut form fields down as much as possible; you can always gain further information in a follow-up call or feedback email.
  • Don’t ask for information when you don’t need to.
  • Organize form fields into logically labeled groups.
  • Let people know how close they are to the end of the form by advising ‘final step.’
  • Have shorter forms on landing pages opened with a mobile device than a desktop device.

Lack of trust and professionalism

First impressions count. Unfortunately, people will form an initial impression of your website within milliseconds. This initial reaction will heavily impact their likelihood of taking the desired action.

Design

The website design should be professionally executed with all the graphical elements acting as a whole brand.

Clear and contemporary

Less is more. Ruthlessly edit everything on your site until you have a clear and natural feel.

Organisation

As explained above, too much choice can quickly lead to inaction. Make everything on your site easy to find; organize categories and sub-categories in a thoughtful way to make it easy for a potential client.

Transactional assurances

These can include guarantees, policies such as a no-returns policy, safe shopping/privacy symbols, trials, and introductory offers, and alternative transaction methods.

Testimonials, endorsements, and social media

Transactional assurances may lower a visitor's anxiety levels, but you can also raise your visitors’ affinity level for your website by promoting third-party validation.

This may be in the form of trust icons such as:

  • awards
  • testimonials
  • blue chip client lists and logos
  • media coverage
  • social likes

This notifies people that higher authorities believe you have a quality service or product.

To have the most impact, these must appear above the fold so they are seen instantly.

Understanding and following these simple rules can increase your conversion rates and the appearance of your brand.