Optimizing Your Website For Conversions

Once the website is built and traffic is coming in, the time to convert has come. Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) has one goal: Turn visitors into customers.

We’ve all seen poorly designed websites. They are hard to look at; whether by uninviting colors, a single, weird font, too many links, etc. Your site should have a simple color palette, a couple of variations of a similar shade with font that is always colored so that it is visible. A professional site is not overloaded with content, but draws the eyes down through information to a call to action. This follows the buying process which is as follows; identify, evaluate, decide, buy. Your site should be designed to guide the customer through this process as simply as possible.

Design for maximum readability and engagement

Content should be formatted to take advantage of the order in which people read web content. The order that a page is read is determined by eye tracking research. The most common viewing pattern is the F-shape pattern. This means that visitors to your site read across the first headline, then down the page slightly and across the next headline, followed by scanning quickly down the left side of the page.

This tells us that headlines are important, they should be kept simple, and that the bulk of the content should be easily scanned starting on the left side. This can be achieved by crafting catchy headlines then using bullet points or short sentences to hold attention while providing information.

Especially important is to make it very easy to sign-up/buy when the decision is made. Shopping carts should require minimal clicks to check out, and every page should clearly indicate what should be clicked on in order to complete a transaction.

Establish trust

Value is not only found in the content itself, but in who is offering it. A first glance at a website will provide hints to its validity, but there are other techniques for establishing trust. Within the content, for example, adding valuable free information outside of a sale pitch shows authority of a subject. It also gives customers the feeling that you genuinely care about the product, their issue, and more than a sale but the customers themselves. Other ways to reassure customers is by providing testimonials, reviews, guarantees, and displaying alliances with noted brands.

Tweak your offer

Portions of your offer such as a guarantee should be tested for their effect on the conversion rate. The wording and design of the offer can greatly change rate and should be experimented with. In addition to the traditional money back guarantee, other creative offers such as “premium edition” should be explored. The premium edition option can be helpful since some of the product is offered at no charge. The customer provides their information and receives helpful information in return, at this point the product is a sort of trial and the value established. Email has been captured and including something such as a poll at the end of the product will provide even more valuable information, this is true of all the customers whether they purchase the paid for premium version or not. This is an example of how to use a creative, yet simple method to demonstrate the product’s worth.

Optimize your backend

Besides content and trust, a web page’s behind the scenes optimization is crucial to conversion. Basic maintenance ensures the page runs smoothly, links work, load speed is appropriate, etc. Adding a variety of media improves the customer experience of the site with items such as infographics, videos of product in use, and pictures useful to get the customer to stay on the page longer, which increases conversion rate, but make sure the file sizes are not very big or they may take too long to load.

Test, then test some more

How will you know which changes work and which fail? You test, over and over again. Using Google Analytics to do an A/B test (split test) will show if the change made increases conversion rate. Testing can become a minor obsession, web marketers can spend days reading through analytics data and tweaking sites. Understanding data is important, and testing shows what is working on your site, however the overall experience of the visitor should be the main focus. As experienced web users, we already know what we like/dislike when a page, so make sure you don’t commit the same errors you find annoying when browsing yourself.

Tips by MOZ on Conversion Rate Optimization

Despite the testing, analysis, and technical aspects of web design, conversion is psychological. Your goal is to identify a need your customer has and tell them how you can help, leading them to click those all-important “buy” or “subscribe” buttons. you can also join a Digital Marketing Course for more on this topic.

All The Best..