8 Simple Ways to Improve Your Conversion Rate

Question: How can you double the sales from your website without spending a single dollar more on advertising or marketing?

Answer: Improving your conversion rate with a few simple changes to your landing pages.

We should start with a basic explanation and understanding of conversion rates.  Your website’s “conversion rate” is the percentage of your total visitors that end up buying from you. Conversion rate will depend on a number of different factors, such as what kind of product you are selling, how competitive the industry is, your price point and a variety of other variables. In general, products or services that have lower price points require less “involvement” from the consumer and don’t require much in the way of research or supporting information when people buy them.  These items have considerably less risk associated with their purchase, and consequently will have higher conversion rates.  Products or services that have higher price points require more “involvement” or research and information gathering from the consumer, have considerably more risk associated with their purchase, and consequently, have much lower conversion rates.

Given that rule of thumb for conversion rates, it’s not hard to see the conversion rate for a song on iTunes at $1.49 being considerably higher than the conversion rate for the purchase of an S-550 Mercedes Benz online.

For most websites, a 1-2% conversion rate is considered just about the industry average for most products and services.  For others, a 25% conversion rate is perfectly reasonable because of the type of service or product being offered.  Instead of improving conversion rates, most novice website owners focus initially on driving up their total visitor count.  The logic goes something like this:  If I double my visitor count I could double my sales so that should be the first logical step, right, by getting more visitors?  Many new site owners struggle mightily with increasing their overall traffic, especially early in their website’s lifecycle.  Building traffic for most site owners takes time and patience to achieve.

What if, instead of focusing on building more traffic, you could double your sales from the traffic of your existing customers?  If your conversion rate is now 2%, what if you could lift your conversion rate to 4% and what effect would that have on your total profits?  Doubling your conversion rate from 2% to 4% will double your profits.  Sound interesting now?

If you think that a conversion rate of 4% is too high, take a look at some of the top online conversion rates from December 2008.  The best conversion rate was for ProFlowers.com at 31.1% of sales.

Instead of focusing on generating more traffic, improving the conversion rate on a website from its existing traffic is the surest way to increase sales and profits in the shortest amount of time. There are exceptions to this rule but for sake of our discussion, we’ll assume that your site is not yet attracting a flood of traffic and you’d like to improve your conversion rate.  The good news is that there are a few fairly simple ways to easily improve your conversion rate and overall profits with minimal expense.

Let’s take a look at a few quick and easy ways to improve your conversion rates that you can start on immediately:

Grease the Wheels for Your Users

Making your site as easy as possible for your users should be your top priority, now AND in the future.  The bottom line is that sites with unprofessional layouts, confusing navigation, and cluttered web pages usually always have poor conversion rates.

A well designed website should “grease the wheels” for your users, making it easy and simple to buy from.  Some of the prime areas to help grease those buying wheels for your users include using a professional layout and design, making it easy to navigate and easy to use, as well as “cross-compatible” for each of the common web browsers.

• Professional Layout and Design – Having a professional layout and design is critical to signal to your users that you’re trustworthy.  Nothing destroys your credibility or trustworthiness like an unprofessional website design or poorly written content.  The user will be rightfully suspicious and very hesitant of buying from a poorly designed website. People will simply not buy from a site they don’t have confidence in, plain and simple.
• Ease of Navigation – Making the site easy to navigate includes having navigation elements in commonly accepted locations on the site.  Generally speaking, consumers typically expect that your global navigation elements will either be at the top of the page and in either the left hand or right hand columns on each and every page.  Utilizing breadcrumbs links is another method to improve the usability and ease of navigation on any website as well.
• Cross Compatibility – You’ve got to make sure that your website is cross compatible with all of the major web browsers including Firefox, Opera and Safari.  Many web designers will build and design their sites to be compatible for Internet Explorer and forget about how their sites will render and appear on screen with the other major web browsers.  At best, websites that are designed without being tested in other browsers can cause cross-compatibility problems – the website will look different in Internet Explorer than it does in Firefox or Safari.  At worst, lack of browser compatibility can be costly for website owners:  web pages not tested in other browsers will sometimes load improperly or not at all.  Make sure that you test your website and the appearance of your landing pages across all of the major browsers.

Bottom Line:  If your website is too hard to navigate, doesn’t have a professional look, or isn’t readily viewable in all of the major web browsers, people are not going to stick around, let alone buy anything.

Make Your Stuff Jump Off the Page

If your customers have to dig into your website, spend lots of time navigating, searching around and finding items of interest, the more likely it is that they’ll leave and never come back. Providing a clean, professional layout that’s easy to navigate is the first step in improving your conversion, but that’s just the beginning.  Equally important is the need to call attention to those elements of your website that are most important for conversion.  You’ve got to make your products and services literally jump off the page into your prospects laps.  Making your stuff jump off the page will go a long way to help improving your conversion rates.

Here are just a few of the ways you can make your products/services really “pop” and jump off the page:

• Make Those “Buy” Buttons Big and Loud:  Studies have shown that big brightly-colored “Buy xxx Now” buttons often convert better than smaller versions.  Big buttons just seem to draw the reader’s attention way more effectively.  Make those buttons big, bold and obvious.
• Be Specific in Your Call to Action: Try to be highly specific in the copy or call to action in those buttons as well.  Instead of just “Buy” try “Buy (insert product name) Now”.  Often times, simple adjustments or improvements to the size and call to action in buy buttons has resulted in substantial increases in conversion rates.
• Use Those Headlines Well: Make your page headlines really stand out by using a larger font.  Also, try to use copy in your headlines that speaks about specific benefits to the user rather than about features of the product.
• Your Best Stuff Should Go “Above the Fold”:  Anytime a customer has to scroll down a page, they’re doing so to view content that lies “below the fold”.  While there’s some evidence that above the fold placement is a tad overhyped, I still recommend putting all your biggest selling and most profitable products above the fold so your customer doesn’t have to scroll to find it.

Reduce the Noise and Clutter on Your Pages

When trying to convert visitors into buyers, you really need to keep the visitors attention as focused as possible.  Too many banner ads and visual elements on any web page can be incredibly distracting and can severely impact your website’s conversion rate.  Having an odd or quirky design and layout can also have a negative impact on conversion as well.  Try utilizing a conventional layout that users are more accustomed to.

Flashy banner ads and the overuse of graphics and images only serve to clutter up a page, contributing very little to the user’s experience and usually only chasing people away from the site. If you can get rid of things that are only distracting your users, you create more space for the things that will help convert your visitors into buyers.

You should also be careful about having too many links on any one page.  For starters, too many links can confuse your visitors by giving them so many options to choose from that their unsure about what to do next.  Minimizing the number of links and providing direction to take a specific action (big “Buy XXX Here”button) will keep your visitors focused and not distract them from your intended path.

Build Credibility with “Trust Signals”

“Trust signals” are those website elements that provide reassurance for your customers that your website can be trusted to purchase from.  Trust signals can dramatically improve your conversion rates.  Building credibility with your users and providing them with information that demonstrates your trustworthiness is crucial.  Some commonly recognized trust signals include the following:

• Providing a physical “bricks and mortar” address instead of a P.O. Box
• Telephone number (with people answering)
• Privacy policy clearly marked
• Shipping and returns policies prominently placed
• Reassurance logos (Verisign, TrustE, BBB)
• Testimonials and guarantees

Having a physical “bricks and mortar” address sends a strong signal that you’re running a trustworthy business.  While having a P.O. Box doesn’t necessarily mean that you are untrustworthy, displaying a physical address can provide additional reassurance about your business for your prospective customers.

Having a telephone number is also another strong trust signal that can help to improve your conversion rate.  While some business owners might not have one to begin with, adding a telephone line and being willing to answer it when customers call can build the trust factor even more.  Additionally, you should prominently display your privacy policy as well as your shipping and returns policies so your prospects are crystal clear about how you operate your business.

Adding so-called “reassurance” logos from organizations like the Better Business Bureau and Truste can also help to engender more trust.  Having associations with these highly credible organizations and displaying their logos can reduce buyer hesitation substantially.

Offering a money-back guarantee is an enormous trust builder as well and will give your prospects much more confidence in your business. Make the guarantee prominent and readily visible on your site, easy to read and understand, and clear about its terms and conditions.

Customer testimonials are yet another component that signals trust for your website and business.  People are comforted by customer testimonials that provide assurance about your products, your services and how you conduct your business.

Don’t Ask for Too Much Information

One of the biggest mistakes website owners make regarding converting visitors into buyers is asking for way too much information.  Regardless of what you consider a “conversion”, whether it’s a sale, a download, or a newsletter sign up, do not make the mistake of asking for more information than you’ll need. Marketers tend to overshoot the mark on their data requests, asking for way more information than they’ll ever really need.

For example, will you really need a customer’s phone number when your conversion goal is a newsletter sign-up?  One of the biggest mistakes that hurts conversion rates is requiring customers to “create an account” prior to making a purchase.  You shouldn’t force your customers into creating an account and doing so just might hurt your conversion rates.  You can provide an option to create an account in the sign-up process, but you shouldn’t mandate it for all your new customers.

Provide Value for Your Visitors

Try to provide value for your prospective customers with helpful information in the form of articles, advice, or reviews that can help them in the early stages of the buying process. If you can provide your visitors with information that helps them in their research with tips and recommendations, helping them to make a better buying decision, there is a good chance that they will buy from you and continue to buy from you down the road.  If a user adds a product to their shopping cart, show them related or complementary items that they might like as well. Try to add value to their visit by recommending and suggesting relevant products.  Up-selling and cross-selling are grossly underutilized sales techniques that can boost your conversion rates tremendously with minimal effort.

Communicate Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

Whatever it is that makes your company and your product different, unique and makes you stand out from your competitors can be called your Unique Selling Proposition or USP.  A great way to formulate your own USP is to ask yourself “why should anybody care?” about your business and your website.  What makes it different or important enough that I should pay attention to it?  If a visitor is comparing your site with your competitors, why would they buy from you instead of someone else?  If you don’t have a USP, you need to formulate one and start shouting about it from your website.  Some examples of USP’s include:

• Locally-owned
• Superior customer service
• Lowest prices
• Widest selection of products
• Exclusive products (found nowhere else)
• Outstanding customer support
• Free delivery

Maximize the Number of Payment Options

Customers these days need a few options in order to buy online. Not everyone has a Paypal account or a credit card. You need to offer your customers as many payment options as possible, or risk losing potential sales. You don’t have to accept checks, but when deciding on payment methods, consider alternatives to the usual methods. Make the user’s life easy and give them as many payment options as possible.

Additional Resources for Improving Your Website’s Conversion Rate:

• 108 Free Tips from Conversion Rate Experts
• Ten Ways to Improve Your Conversion Rate (AddedBytes.com)
• Conversion Rate Marketing (FutureNowInc.com)

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