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Welcome to Podcast #23! Our next episode in the ‘Cool Stats for Cool People’ series. We’re talking to you about the stats you need to be checking out and taking action on in order to optimize your website performance and this topic is around increase conversion rate on your website.
What is a conversion rate? Simply put, it is an action that you want your website visitor to take, for example filling in a form or clicking on a link.
One of the first ways to increase the conversion rates of your website is to ensure that it is very clear and simple what the intention of the site is and what you want people to do. We browse through so many websites each day that if we don’t understand within milliseconds what a site is about, we tend to click away. So the first question you need to answer for your site is; what do I want people to do on my site? And, more specifically; what do I want people to do on each page of my site? Remember the saying; a confused mind never buys!
How do you simplify? One way is to ensure that you have very simple navigation in your bar at the top of the site, less is more! Don’t have too many options up there as it will confuse people. You can always communicate further information with them later on after they have been on your list for a while.
Language is another important aspect of simplification. Are you using simple ‘action’ language on your site? Do people easily know what to do? For example ‘download my free trial’ etc. If you have a shopping cart environment, make sure that your ‘add to cart’ and ‘check out’ buttons are very clear and are not getting mixed up with ads or any other items.
The number of fields that you ask people to fill out can also put them off from filling out your forms. If you are asking for too much detail, the chances are they will click away. The rule of thumb is again, ‘less is more’. When people first come to your site, we recommend that the most you ask for is first name and email address, or simply an email address.
When it comes to someone purchasing from you or signing up with you, take the time to think about what you should have there to make them feel comfortable with your site. For example for sign-ups mention ‘we don’t spam you’ or for purchases ensure that there are obvious ‘support’ tabs on the page.
Where can you build trust and credibility on your website? Third party information such as testimonials and case studies are great; make sure these are genuine and from people who have done business with you. You can also slip in some statistics that back up what you are promoting or selling. People like to see that products or services have been tested and proven.
Another thing you can do, particularly if you are a service-based business is ensure that your contact phone number and address are displayed prominently on your website. You could also include photos of your team or your office premises. These all help to give people confidence that you are genuine and that their credit card details are not going to a scam!
One thing that we have tested and shown to be effective has been using decals that provide a guarantee (e.g. ’30 Day Money Back Guarantee’) or a seal confirming that transactions are secure. Often you can get third-party logos which engender trust in people, such as who shipping is done through or where you have been featured (e.g. ‘featured on CNN’).
How do you know what your conversion rate is? Use your analytics (such as Google analytics) to find out how many people are actually visiting your site. From there, you can see how many of those people are filling out your form by checking with the autoresponder provider you use to see how many sign-ups you got.
As we have mentioned previously, testing is your best way to see what will work for you. Change one thing at a time and see what affect that has on your conversion rates. If you don’t want to do these things yourself, try a site such as http://fiverr.com and you can find someone who will do it for you.
Stay tuned for our next podcast! This will be all about how to increase the average time people spend on your site…
Got questions, comments or suggestions on increasing website conversion rates? Please comment below!
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