Conversion rate is a significant factor that tells a business whether its marketing efforts are bringing in customers and sales. Higher conversions means that your brand has a successful online presence and marketing strategy, which is necessary for modern-day businesses to succeed.
The average website conversion rate usually falls between 2% and 4% when it comes to online marketing. However, the sad fact is that most websites only reach a 0.1 to 0.2% conversion rate. If your website gets high traffic but only a few sales, your website may lack a few things. You can improve your conversion rate by doing a few tweaks and adding features to your website.
To get started, here are eight ways how you can update your website to boost conversions and increase your sales:
- Optimize your website for mobile.
- Reassess your on-page optimization.
- Improve your page speed.
- Add direct and personalized CTA.
- Shorten your forms.
- Add reviews and testimonials.
- Incorporate videos.
- Provide instant support via live chat.
1 – Optimize your website for mobile.
Over 300 million online users in the United States own smartphones. It also has been reported that 79% of these users have purchased online using their mobile devices. To reach this audience and convert them into customers, you need to optimize your website for mobile devices. And with Google’s mobile-first indexing, mobile optimization has become more critical than ever.
Keep in mind that mobile and desktop offer different user experiences. But to start with your mobile optimization, you need to find a website layout with a responsive design. A responsive design will enable your website to load properly on different devices, from desktop PCs to smartphones and tablets.
Then to further optimize your website for mobile devices, you can use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test Tool. By simply running your link, the tool will analyze your website and give you suggestions on what to improve with your mobile optimization.
2 – Reassess your on-page optimization.
A website can only generate sales if it can be found online. And to do that, you need to do search engine optimization (SEO) for your website. With SEO being a multi-faceted marketing strategy, SEO experts will agree that you should start with on-page optimization (on-page SEO). In fact, 57% of marketing executives stated that on-page optimization is the most effective SEO tactic.
On-page optimization means optimizing the pages on your website to improve its search result rankings and user experience. Examples of this include adding relevant keywords on title tags and meta-description, optimizing your content, and improving the loading speed of your website. It also means developing the elements on your website to make it more user-friendly.
Making these certain changes will improve the visibility of your website, which increases your visitors. And since on-page SEO also involves improving page experience, this can significantly affect your conversion rate. If done correctly, on-page optimization can increase your conversion rate by 14.6%, as reported by Hubspot.
3 – Improve your page speed.
Page speed is a significant factor that can affect your website’s conversion rate. Portent reported back in 2019 that the first five seconds of a webpage load time have the highest effect on conversion rate. With each additional second it takes for your webpage to load, your conversation rate can drop by an average of 4.42%.
According to Google’s John Mueller, the ideal loading time of a web page should be between two to three seconds. By simply improving your website’s page speed, you will see an increase in your conversion rate. In fact, Walmart found that for every one-second improvement in their page load time, their conversion rate increased by 2%.
To improve your page loading time, you can use tools like PageSpeed Insights. This tool will analyze your website’s page speed and give suggestions to improve your loading speed. Another tool that Mueller suggests is WebPageTest.org, which can also analyze your site’s performance.
4 – Add direct and personalized CTA.
Another crucial factor that affects a website’s conversion rate is your call-to-action (CTA). It is what leads your online visitors into an action you want them to take so that it can lead to conversion. Whether it is subscribing to your newsletter, buying your product, or asking for their contact information, your landing pages should always have a clear, strong, and direct CTA button. Create a personalized CTA to target a more specific set of audiences and increase your conversion rate.
Personalized CTA is designed according to the persona or demographics of the target audiences or customers. Personalization helps filter the right people that are highly likely to engage with your brand and end with a conversion. According to HubSpot’s case study, personalized call-to-actions perform 202% better in converting online visitors into leads than basic CTAs.
5 – Shorten your forms.
One of the common reasons why users don’t convert is when they encounter friction in the process. This issue usually happens when website visitors see a long form to fill out. So marketing experts often suggest using shorter forms when asking for details about their online visitors.
A case study done by Marketing Experiments found that a five-field form brings a higher conversion rate than a seven-field form. In this study, they created three forms with varying numbers of fields. The first only had four and brought a conversion rate of 13.7%. The second form with seven fields had a 12% conversion, and the third with ten had an even lower conversion rate of 10%. It goes to show that the easier and simpler it is to complete your form, the more conversion it can get you.
Marketing experts suggest that the ideal number of fields on a form should only be three to five. Anything more can negatively affect the number of leads you might be getting.
6 – Add reviews and testimonials.
No one will take the initiative to buy your product if they don’t trust your brand. The best way to build trust for new visitors is through testimonials and reviews. Search users refer to this content to know more about your business and how you interact with your customers as a brand. As reported by Trustpilot, nine out of ten consumers take time to read reviews before buying a product.
When it comes to conversion, web pages with published testimonials and reviews bring 3.5 times more conversion than those without. This is because 79% of shoppers trust online reviews as much as they trust personal recommendations from their friends and family.
To integrate online reviews into your website, you can use apps, plugins, or third-party programs. You can either choose features that allow customers to leave reviews or connect your business listings to display its review on your website.
Keep in mind that these reviews and testimonials are as good as word-of-mouth publicity, which helps with your brand credibility, thus improving your conversion rate.
7 – Incorporate videos.
The importance of video in today’s marketing strategy is undeniable. Google has added videos in search results, showing how important visual content is in reaching online consumers. But more than that, adding videos to your website can boost your conversion rate. According to an article published by Unbounce.com, using videos on your landing pages can increase conversion by up to 80%.
Using video is a creative and engaging way to introduce your brand or product to online consumers. They are beneficial for online businesses without a showroom or physical store to see the product in person. You can show your product in action through videos, which helps online consumers better imagine themselves using it.
Videos can also help provide information about common questions your target audience asks about your product. Most importantly, videos are considered the most shared form of content. Videos get 1,200% times more shares on social media than text and links combined. Videos then can further increase your brand awareness and bring interested consumers to your website.
8 – Provide instant support via live chat.
Online consumers are likely to convert into customers if you provide them with instant support. Tools like live chat help you provide rapid solutions and answers to user queries. And when you can provide instant solutions, more consumers will trust your brand and purchase your products.
Acquire published an article that stated that 60% of consumers who received quick answers from a website’s live chat had affected their purchase decision, improving conversion rates. Furthermore, Market Power also stated that online consumers who use live chat are three times more likely to buy products.
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Updating your website with these tips and improving its overall user experience will get you more customers and sales. Remember that it is not enough to promote your products when increasing your conversion rates. It is also equally important to make your products easily accessible for consumers to find them online and buy them from your website.
If you need help in improving your website design, Cybertegic is a top web design agency in Pasadena. We have over 20 years of experience developing and designing websites that help businesses generate more traffic and conversions. You can schedule a free business consultation on our website to know more about our services.
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