1. Web Statistics Packages – most web businesses
have one but most don’t use it to its potential. Find out how long
people are spending on your site, what keywords people search by, which
page they leave at, and where people click on the screen. An excellent
free option is Google Analytics.
2. Eyetracking – where do people look on your site?
Maybe many don’t see the important registration button or spend too long
looking at the ads instead of your site? ClickHeat is a free open
source heatmap statistics application.
3. Click Mapping – this refers to where people
click. What action do you want people to take when they visit your
website? Are too many people clicking on unimportant links? Or are
people skeptical and clicking on your ‘About Us’ page to find out more?
Click Mapping can provide an invaluable insight into what your visitors
do and what they are thinking.
4. Surveys – don’t be afraid to ask for feedback from your customers. No one knows why they bought your product better than them.
5. Copy Your Competitors – this shouldn’t be your
main strategy but if one of your competitors is doing something right
then don’t be afraid to copy it. Copying their good points and improving
on their bad points can be an effective strategy in the short-term.
6. Product Placement – identify your top selling
products and make sure that they are positioned at the top of the
relevant product pages. These products are obviously popular so make
sure visitors to your website actually see them.
7. Top Sellers Web Page – go one step further and
create a web page of your top-selling products. It uses the concept of
safety in numbers. People feel reassured when they know that other
people have purchased the product that interests them.
8. Have a Guarantee – buying online is still seen as
risky by many people, especially when it’s something that traditionally
needed to be seen first and tried first, such as clothes. Have a
guarantee and make it as generous as possible. Many people won’t take it
up, but the increase is sales could be significant.
9. Phone Number – display a phone number in a
prominent position, preferably on the home page and not tucked away on
the ‘Contact Us’ page. People like to know that if they are any problems
they can speak to someone so make sure they know that you have a
contact phone number. Don’t worry, hardly anyone will actually call the
number.
10. Testimonials – many businesses don’t bother with
testimonials because they say that anyone could fake them so their
customers wouldn’t believe them anyway. The evidence actually shows that
people do value testimonials, particularly those from the media. To
increase the credibility of your customer testimonials try to include
their full name and even a photo if possible.
11. Information Above The Fold – research shows that
people expect all the important information to be right there in front
of them when they visit a website. In fact, many people never scroll
down meaning that if important information is down there it’ll never be
seen by them. Take into account different screen and resolution sizes
when evaluating what aspects of your website are above the fold.
12. Images – vitally important if you’re selling
products, don’t leave anything to guess work. You wouldn’t expect people
to decide to buy a t-shirt in a store having seen it lying flat on the
ground. Try out different images or, better still, offer a selection of
images, including different angles, the product being used or worn, and
so on.
13. Don’t Have Tiny Images – let people zoom in on images so they can clearly see what they’re buying.
14. Image Captions – one thing that research shows
is that people do read image captions. This is valuable information and
something that should be used to your advantage. Display captions under
products reaffirming the benefits of the product. For example, if you’re
selling large gloves insert ‘Never let your hands feel cold outside
again’ in the caption.
15. Adopt A Customer Mindset – what are the common objections or worries from your customers? Bring peace of mind by addressing them all.
16. The Registration Form Length – do you really
need all the details that you’re asking for? Long registration forms are
an obstacle. Don’t let them be one for your business.
17. Timely Reassurance – whenever you ask for
information or a booking confirmation provide a timely reassurance, such
as ‘We’ll never sell, rent or share your personal details” and “Product
is fully refundable if not satisfied.”
18. Accept Telephone Orders – people like to have a
choice when deciding how to purchase a new product. Some people are
still concerned when it comes to buying over the internet, partly
illustrated by the huge numbers of people who research products online
before setting off to the shops to buy them. Therefore start accepting
telephone orders. May businesses don’t realise how easy this is to set
up through getting a PayPal Virtual Terminal.
19. Discount Deterrents – boxes such as “Enter your Promotional Code” can actually turn away people who don’t have a code. If possible remove this.
20. Credibility Logos – if you’re a small business
the chances are that someone who finds you through the search engines
has no idea who you are, and as a consequence you need to build their
trust. One excellent way of doing this is to piggyback on the
credibility of existing brands through displaying their logos on your
site.
21. Show Your Face – people actually like buying
from small businesses. Show who’s behind the company in the ‘About Us’
page instead of portraying your company as a large faceless
organisation.
22. Small-Scale Viral Marketing – after an order is
placed low cost viral marketing techniques can be used, such as
“Recommend us to 5 friends through entering their email address below
and we’ll give you 10% off your next order.” It won’t increase your
conversion rate but it will increase the value of each customer to you
through having them spread the word and encouraging repeat orders.
23. Different Browsers – is everyone seeing what you see? Check what your website looks like in different browsers.
24. The Length of Tests – when testing two different
ads or layouts don’t end the test too soon. Quick judgments can lead to
wrong assumptions. Split Tester is a good tool for this.
25. Content – use the word ‘you’ so that it’s as if you are speaking to your customers.
26. Test, Test and Test Again – finally, don’t be
afraid to continually test different formats and ideas. If something
doesn’t work your conversion rate may fall temporarily, but for
everything that does work you’ll have a higher conversion rate forever.
Originally: http://www.marketingminefield.co.uk/increase-your-website-conversion-rate/
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