Tips to Improve Conversion Rates

Number, Please

Displaying a toll-free phone number on your site confirms that you're open for business. Try placing phone numbers in different positions throughout the site and varying the size of the phone numbers. Also experiment with the words around the phone number, which can make a big difference in how the target audience uses the number.

Live Help

Consider the amount of time you can support Live Help before you deploy the service. Also provide the service at the time of day that most conversions are made. If you have a 24-hour support plan, Live Help can greatly improve sales; however, success can be achieved without such service. Most importantly, test the technology yourself, ALL THE TIME from different browsers, IP addresses, and touch points. Live help that is not live can hurt your conversions greatly. So live it up!

Seals of Approval

BBBOnline certification seals, logos of credit cards, awards, media recommendations, Verisign and Hacker Safe logos, and other logo certifications are proven to improve conversion rates. Hacker Safe, for example, claims a 15%-plus average increase in orders. Experiment with the sizes and positions of the seals and put your own experiments to work measuring the improvement in conversion rates.

Survey Says

Guessing intentions is difficult to do. Consider using survey technology to learn the intentions of your readers and visitors. We recommend asking just a few questions to learn intentions and better understand how to motivate the action. Questions to consider asking include: Were you satisfied with your visit? Did you find what you were looking for? Did you like the online experience? Knowledge from surveys can stop the guesswork and help streamline the sales process.

Secret Formula

Here's a little secret for you to explore with testing. Lay out your above-the-fold section of a page with a simple formula: Relevant Image, Strong Headline, Concise Body Copy. Experiment with variations with multivariate testing techniques, but keep the formula the same for a series of experiments. You'll find that this basic formula in tandem with other techniques outperforms other variations for many good reasons. Why? Basic design fundamentals come into play. When looking at an image, readers make a decision to stay or go in milliseconds. If you're lucky, they'll read a headline in the following few seconds, again making decisions along the way. If you're very lucky, the reader will read the supportive copy, but this typically applies to a very small percentage of visitors. Pages on the web need to be tested.

Use Your Headline

Headlines need to express the benefits to the customer while avoiding features of the product or service. They should also motivate in some way, offering results and improvement of some kind. . Proof needs to be on the page, helping to make the offer more believable and trustworthy, and specific benefits need to be explored in a variety of ways with tests and experiments that help identify the best motivators. Explore headline formulas in magazines and on the web. There is a science to headlines that you need to learn to be successful online.

Testimonials

There’s no question that testimonials can earn trust and improve conversion rates. Most clients neglect the opportunity to experiment with placing testimonials in different locations with various point sizes, boldness, and even color in the text. Also, few clients take the time build a pool of testimonials that is large enough to put the full power of testimonials to work in matching the industry, voice, and style of the prospect client and existing customer. The perfect match will improve conversion almost every time. Develop a systematic way to collect testimonials, then make the most of them.

Make Them an Offer They Can't Refuse

You need to really think outside of the box with offer experiments. Clients are often reluctant to experiment radically, and as a result miss a huge opportunity to discover new revenue models and advance sales exponentially. Variations might include guarantees, free trials, bonus offers, payment terms, buy-now-pay-later, automatic renewal, discount for cash up front, first one free, referral commission plan, limited supply, free shipping, free installation consulting, free customer service for 90 days, reverse time clocks for order deadlines, offer end dates and times, inventory limitations, lowest price matches, unconditional money back guarantees, warranty backers, volume discounts, free X with orders over Y, no-questions-asked return policy, and more. The key is to test as many offer experiments as possible in conjunction with different headlines, copy, and graphics on a page.

Make News

Getting your company in print and promoting the media source adds instant credibility to your company. Work creatively to get the word out and the media coverage in about your business. Craft press releases that offer the full story and make yourself available for comments on industry news. Open up this line of promotion with professional help from PR firms, or tackle it on your own. Offer free trials of your product or service to the media with the hope of getting coverage in return.

Calls-to-Action

The all-important (and much-discussed) call-to-action needs experimentation more than anything on your website. You need to experiment with the words, the color and size of the type, and the graphics of the button or icon used for action. In our opinion, you just can't test enough variations, even if you dedicate only 20% of your traffic to pure experimentation forever.

Images

We've all heard the expression that a picture is worth a thousand words. The question is, how can your images best support action on your website? Experiment with different images as much as possible, tapping into seasonality, special occasions, and other items that make your site feel in-tune and anything but static. Custom images can outperform stock images, if created in the right way. Stock images must often be used and are good things to test before you create your own custom images. Try using stock photography that is off the beaten path and manipulate the images you purchase to make them stand out from the pack and fit the design of the page. Images of groups tend to out-perform individual shots, according to research, but experiments are the only way to confirm whether an image will resonate with your target market. When connected to your sales message, headlines, and copy, abstract images can work as well, as long as they’re attention-grabbing. Try captions under images, zoom in and zoom out features, call-outs, and text pointers in images. Also experiment with attention-grabbing shapes like starbursts, banners, and stamp effects.

Coupon Codes

Be careful how you handle coupon codes on your website. Experiment with the offer to be sure that you are not decreasing conversion rates and adding confusion to the conversion funnel. Coupons should add to the experience, not create doubt for those who may not be shopping with a coupon and feel like they’re leaving money on the table.

The Body Copy Debate

Content depth is required for conversion—it's that simple. Start by developing personas to learn who your customers really are and what they really want from you. This helps you persuade better. Often, each persona has different content marketing ideas. The process surrounding the sale also needs to come into play; it’s a matter of a complex, five-step sales process vs. a one-step answer to the question. Speaking directly to customers will make them feel more willing to buy or take action. Also, lay out content so that it’s skimmable and scannable by using bold type, italics, and highlights when appropriate. As for the length of copy? The debate continues, with testing variations being the only cure for the insanity. Test. Test. Test.

Author (still) = Authority

Improving conversions is the name of the web game. A printed book with your name and/or your company’s name gives you visibility and credibility. You can easily get expert writers to help ghostwrite the book, and you’ll get the credit. On-Demand publishing makes it affordable and easy. Books are shipped and distributed one copy at a time, so you can test their business-building potential with split testing and multivariate testing. ideaLaunch can handle the whole process (another shameless plug).

Addresses Over Forms

People can sometimes be turned off when they go to your contact section and see a form that needs to be filled in rather than the direct e-mail address listed. We understand it’s a way to cut down on spam – but you might be cutting down on potential business while you’re at it. The best thing? Real, personal e-mail addresses. The next best thing is general e-mail boxes (like info@ and sales@).

Create a Sense of Urgency

People can spend an awful lot of time researching and mulling over a purchasing decision. What often nudges potential customers to become actual customers is often a deal that won’t always be there. Special sales, promotions and “this visit only” opportunities give visitors of your website extra incentive to finally act.

Guarantee It

If you believe in your services or product, stand by them. Buyers can be more confident in biting the bullet if you offer some kind of promise that they’ll be pleased with their purchase. You don’t need to offer a 100% money-back satisfaction guarantee for life – but you should offer something you can confidently back.

Bake Long-lasting Cart Cookies

If your website features a shopping cart, extend the life of the cookies so that people can add to the shopping cart, leave the site and then come back to still discover their cart full. People appreciate that they don’t always have to start over in their shopping experience.

Proper Product Descriptions

An e-commerce business with a shopping cart function should always feature the very best product descriptions. They don’t need to be long, but they should contain all the info someone might want to know about a product (i.e.: features and specifications). Don’t make customers guess (and in doing so, second-guess buying from you!).