While much attention and focus is placed on acquiring traffic, we also need to look at getting the most out of the traffic you worked so hard to bring to your site. So in this article we’re going to talk about improving conversions and calls to action.
Let’s start with the basics…
In order to improve your conversion rate, you first need to know what it is. Start by identifying what conversions you want to track. It may be opt-ins, or sales or views etc. Take the number of people that took whatever action you’re tracking and divide it by the number of site visitors you have. Once you’ve determined what your conversion rate is, you can start to work on improving it systematically.
You can calculate conversions for the site as a whole and page by page, or product by product.
While we’re going to look at calls to action, it’s very important to remember that the burden of action doesn’t fall solely on the CTA button or text.
It’s true the words in your call to action are very important however, it’s not only about that little bit of text. You have to consider the entire experience from how they found your page to how you made your prospect feel as they read your content.
Do you, through every step of your marketing funnel, incite some kind of emotion which makes your potential customer keen to proceed?
It’s a good idea to review the entire experience from a customer’s perspective.
Map your in-bound user flows.
When mapping out your user flows, you’ll probably want to address the flows that impact the most users first. So start at the top. This is the point at which users are first exposed to your site (most likely your home page).
Ask yourself
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What type of user am I targeting?
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Are they actively seeking a solution to a problem, or are they casually browsing?
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What problem are they trying to solve?
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How can I best capture the user’s attention?
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How do I relate to the user?
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Is there a message that will resonate with the user?
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Is there a pain point that my product or website alleviates for the user?
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How can I articulate this solution clearly and quickly?
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What compelling calls to action will get our target user to click?
Now let’s delve a little more into the customer experience…
The potential of your conversion rate is determined by your value proposition, making it the most important conversion factor.
Your value proposition is the main reason a prospect should buy from you. Customers want to know “What’s in it for me?” and “Why should I buy from you?”
If you had 10 words to explain why people should buy from you instead of the competition, what would you say? You need to fine-tune your value proposition until you can articulate it in a single, instantly credible sentence.
Split testing is crucial to your marketing process; however you want to make sure you don’t focus on testing headline colors and other graphical elements if your value proposition isn’t clear first.
Next you want to look at where in the process you ask for the sale.
Are you asking for the sale (opt-in etc) too fast? You may need to slow down. Offer value and results in advance, before asking for the sale.
Keep in mind, the more expensive and/or complicated the product/service, the more time people need before they’re ready to commit.
Some other tips to remember when crafting your sales material and calls to action:
Cut the jargon. Don’t try to woo people with fancy, complicated business language – it just doesn’t work. You should write for people. A marketing director or a purchasing manager are people too. Don’t write for companies, write for people.
Address Objections. Whenever people read your offer, there will be friction. There are always conscious and sub-conscious objections. In person, we can uncover those hesitations with questions and address the concerns; online you have to do the same. Address all the possible issues in your sales copy right away.
Create a list of all the possible hesitations/objections. Add info to your sales copy to eliminate or alleviate those concerns.
Examples:
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You don’t understand my problem.
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What if it doesn’t work on me?
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It’s not worth the money; there are cheaper alternatives out there.
Build Trust. Sales guru Zig Ziglar once said that there are only 4 reasons why people won’t buy from you:
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no need
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no money
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not in a hurry
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no trust
Make it easy to verify the accuracy of the information on your site. Provide third-party support (citations, testimonials, articles in credible publications, source material etc) for information you present, especially if you link to this evidence. Even if people don’t follow these links, you’ve shown confidence in your material.
Show that there’s a real organization behind your site. The easiest way to do this is by listing a physical address. Other features can also help, such as posting a photo of your offices or listing a membership with the chamber of commerce.
Make it easy to contact you. A simple way to boost your site’s credibility is by making your contact information clear: phone number, physical address, and email address.
Avoid errors of all types, no matter how small they seem. Spelling errors and broken links hurt a site’s credibility more than most people imagine. It’s also important to make sure your site is loading quickly.
Show that honest and trustworthy people stand behind your site. Find a way to convey their trustworthiness through images or text. Post employee photos and bios that tell about family or hobbies.
Create a professional looking site. People quickly evaluate a site by visual design alone. When designing your site, pay attention to layout, typography, images, consistency issues, and more. Amateur-looking websites kill trust. Invest in a quality designer.
Make your site easy to use — and useful. Research shows that sites win credibility points by being both easy to use and useful. Some site operators forget about users when they cater to their own company’s ego or try to show the dazzling things they can do with web technology.
Update your site’s content often. People assign more credibility to sites that show they have been recently updated or reviewed. If you have a blog or a news section, make sure they’re updated regularly. Nothing says “out of business” like an abandoned blog.
Make it easy for people to take your most desired action. Your goal is to make doing business with you as easy as possible. Your users shouldn’t be left wondering how to buy from you or where to click. Ask yourself: Would your grandma be able to buy from your site within a minute or two?
Tell your users what they should do next. In every page, always guide the user towards the action you want them to take. Make the primary next step look more important than other links.
Don’t give users too many options. The Paradox of Choice states that the more choices you give your users, the easier it is to choose nothing. Choice paralyzes. If you have a lot of products, build better filters, so your prospects can identify the right one for them as quickly as possible.
Ask them to fill in as few fields as possible. The more fields you have in your order or sign up form, the less people will fill it in. Add the option to sign up via their Facebook or Google account. Don’t ask for anything that you don’t absolutely need to know in order to fulfill the order.
Remove distraction from landing/sales pages. You want people to focus on a single action and not be distracted from it. Are there items on the page that could divert the visitor away from the goal?
The more visual inputs and action options your visitors have to process, the less likely they are to make a conversion decision. Minimizing distractions like unnecessary product options, links and extraneous information will increase the conversion rate.
Reduce Risk. Whenever there’s a transaction, there’s risk. If the risk seems too big, the purchase won’t take place. Offer guarantees to eliminate or reduce the perceived risks your prospects might have.
Use your Site Search logs. Site search is arguably one of the most important reports for any ecommerce site. This report gives insight into what your customers want, and which pages aren’t meeting their needs.
Call To Action tips
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Build value first
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Use color
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Use graphics
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Be bold
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Pay attention to location
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Limit distractions
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Don’t be vague or confusing
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Have a CTA on every page
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Use action words
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Use psychological triggers
Some Important Questions To Ask Yourself
When reviewing your landing page and offer, ask yourself the following:
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Would you respond to your offer?
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Do you deliver what you promise?
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How many calls to action are on the page?
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Is it crystal clear what your customer will give and get?
And finally, remember…
A great call to action works when:
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It clearly triggers an emotional reaction (I must have that, need it, want it, etc….
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It clearly tells someone how to make a purchase (click right here to purchase)
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It creates some urgency to purchase immediately (offer ends at midnight tonight! Buy now!)
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It provides incentives or added details that make it impossible to refuse (free shipping!)
With these things in mind you’ll be making sure you’re getting the most out of the traffic you’re already getting on your site.
As always let us know what you think in the comments below.
