Conversion rates are the lifeblood of any online marketing campaign. Whether you’re an experienced digital marketer or new to this game, understanding, and tracking conversion rates will always be a big part of what makes or breaks your website’s success, especially when it comes down to how well marketed its content is (which we’ll talk more about later). Conversion rate standards vary across industries but range anywhere between 1% and 5%.
It all depends on what you’re selling and how well your customers are converting. But, in general:
A conversion rate of 2% is good
A conversion rate of 5% is great
A conversion rate of 10% is outstanding
And anything above that is, well, extraordinary! But don’t despair if your website’s conversion rates seem a bit low at first. With a bit of effort and the right strategies in place, you can increase your website’s conversion rate and start seeing some fantastic results in no time. Here are a few simple tweaks and skills you can use to skyrocket your website’s conversion rates quickly:
1. Improve Your Website’s Load Time
One of the quickest and easiest ways to improve your website’s conversion rates is to improve its load time. In today’s fast-paced, constantly-connected world, people have very little patience for slow-loading websites. A study by KISSmetrics showed that a 1-second delay in page load time could lead to a 7% reduction in conversions.
To improve your website’s load time, start by auditing your website’s code and eliminating unnecessary elements, such as large images, flash animations, and unused plugins. If you’re not sure how to do this yourself, hire a web developer or use a tool like Google’s PageSpeed Insights to help you identify areas that need improvement.
2. Design & Write Compelling Call-to-Action
Another simple way to improve your website’s conversion rates is by using compelling calls-to-action (CTAs). Your CTAs should be clear, concise, and persuasive, with a strong sense of urgency. They should also be placed prominently on your website so that visitors can’t miss them.
Please start thinking about what you want your visitors to do once they land on your website to create a compelling CTA. Do you want them to sign up for your email list? Make a purchase? Download a white paper? Craft a CTA that tells them exactly that once you know what you want your visitors to do.
3. Use Social Proof
Social proof is a psychological phenomenon that refers to the tendency of people to conform to the actions of others to feel like they belong. In other words, if everyone else is doing it, it must be the right thing to do.
You can use social proof to your advantage by incorporating testimonials, reviews, and customer logos into your website. This will help build trust and credibility with your visitors, which will, in turn, lead to higher conversion rates. People are much more likely to convert if they see that other people have had positive experiences with your product or service. That’s why it’s crucial to include testimonials and reviews on your website.
When using testimonials, make sure they’re from real people with relevant experience. For example, if you’re selling a gardening product, it would be more effective to use a testimonial from a professional gardener than from someone who knows nothing about gardening.
4. Make Your Website Easy to Use
Another critical factor affecting your website’s conversion rates is its usability. For people to convert, they need to be able to easily navigate your website and find what they’re looking for.
To make your website more user-friendly, start by streamlining your navigation. Create clear and concise menus that lead visitors to the essential pages on your website. You should also pay attention to your website’s layout and design. Make sure your content is easy to read and digest by using short paragraphs, bullet points, and plenty of white space.
Your website should be designed for one thing to convince people to convert. So it should all be focused on that singular purpose and the actions needed to achieve it.
So don’t distract them with a million other perks because they’ll have no idea what they should be doing if you do. Instead, suppose you’re offering something of actual value. In that case, your visitors will be eager to sign up for it regardless of your CTA copy. Likewise, people are more likely to convert to websites with a clean and straightforward layout.
5. Write Compelling Content
One of the most critical factors in determining your website’s conversion rates is the quality of your content. If your content is poorly written or uninformative, people will not want to stick around for long, no matter how well-designed your website is.
On the other hand, if your content is compelling, engaging, and relevant to your audience, people are much more likely to stick around and take the desired action. So if you want to improve your website’s conversion rates, make sure you’re writing high-quality, original content that will resonate with your target audience. A good rule of thumb is to write as if you’re having a conversation with a friend, try to be personal, and use “you” as much as possible to make your content more relatable and trustworthy.
A good rule of thumb is to write as if you’re having a conversation with a friend, try to be personal, and use “you” as much as possible to make your content more relatable and trustworthy. If you’re not a great copywriter, hire one! A good copywriter is worth their weight in gold and can often be the difference between a successful website and an unsuccessful one.
6. Mobile-Friendly
In today’s mobile-centric world, it’s more important than ever to have a website that looks good on all devices. Google has stated that responsive web design is one of its ranking factors. So if you want your website to be visible on search engine results pages, you need to make sure it’s optimized for mobile.
The good news is that making your website mobile-friendly is not as difficult as it may seem. You can either hire a web developer to do it for you or use a tool like Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to see if your website is already optimized for mobile.
7. Use Visual Elements
People are visual creatures, and they process information much more quickly when presented in a graphic format. Incorporating images, infographics, and videos into your website can effectively improve your conversion rates.
When using visuals on your website, make sure they’re relevant to the content and add value for the reader. For example, if you’re writing a blog post about how to start a garden, you might include an infographic that shows the different steps involved. Or, if you’re selling a product, you might consist of a video that demonstrates how to use it.
“Tip” Use whitespace to your advantage; don’t overwhelm your website with too much content or images.
“Tip” Make sure to use alt tags for your images; this will help improve your SEO and make your website more accessible to those with disabilities.
“Tip” Make sure your call-to-actions are visible and stand out from the rest of your content, use colors, images, and whitespace to your advantage.
8. Use Urgency and Scarcity
Urgency and scarcity are two powerful psychological triggers that can influence people’s behavior. People want it more when something is scarce because they know a limited supply. And when something is urgent, people feel a sense of urgency to act before it’s too late.
You can use these psychological triggers to your advantage by incorporating them into your website design and copy. For example, you might use a countdown timer on your landing page to create a sense of urgency or highlight only a limited quantity of your product available.
9. Offer a Guarantee
One way to increase your website’s conversion rates is to offer a guarantee. This could be a money-back guarantee, a free trial, or even a simple satisfaction guarantee.
When people see that you’re willing to put your money where your mouth is, they’re much more likely to take the plunge and convert. After all, if you’re confident enough in your product or service to offer a guarantee, they must be pretty good.
10. Keep Your Forms Short and Sweet
Another way to increase your website’s conversion rates is to keep your forms short and sweet. The quicker your form, the more likely people will fill it out. So if you’re asking for too much information, you’re likely losing potential customers.
The best way to figure out how short your form should be is to test different versions and see which one performs better. You can also use tools like Google Analytics to see where people are dropping off in your form.
Wrapping-Up
If you want to increase your website’s conversion rates, you can do several things. In this article, we’ve outlined 10 simple tweaks and skills that you can use to improve your website’s performance. Start by making sure your website is mobile-friendly, using visual elements, and incorporating urgency and scarcity into your design. You can also offer a guarantee and keep your forms short and sweet. Finally, test different website versions to see what works best for your business. What tips do you have for increasing website conversion rates? Let us know in the comments below!
