How To Increase Conversion Rates Guide

How To Increase Conversion Rates On Your Site

If you currently manage a website, it's a no-brainer that you’ll want to increase the conversion rate on the site. But what is a conversion? How can you guarantee that conversions will happen? 

In this article, we will be going over the essentials to increasing conversion, and give you ten applicable steps to carry it out successfully!

What is a Conversion?

For online marketers, a conversion takes place when your site’s visitor does what you want. It could be renewing their subscription to your newsletter, giving you a follow on instagram, or making an online purchase. Any desired action from your target audience can be seen as a conversion.  

How Do You Calculate a Conversion Rate?

A conversion rate is the average number of conversions per site interaction. It is often shown as a percentage. To calculate, divide the total number of conversions by the total number of site interactions. 

As an example, let's say you have an online store which recently had a total of 20 sales (conversions) out of your 200 site visitors (interactions). The math would be: 20 ÷ 200 = 0.1 which translates to a conversion rate of 10%!

From a bird-eye view, conversions are great ways to assess engagement and you want as many as possible on your site. Boosting that conversion rate means more customers, more purchases, or more subscriptions. Let’s do some boosting!

Essentials to Increasing Your Site’s Conversion Rate

Simplify, and Keep Simplifying 

There are many different techniques and tricks you can implement to increase conversions to your site. But the number one factor for conversions is that your site must be very simple and straightforward to use. By taking out the pain points, and making your site as convenient as possible, conversion rates are almost guaranteed to increase. 

Many website designers make their site unnecessarily complex and add an extra workload on their customers. Making your product accessible creates a sense of ease, where conversions are then easier to attain. 

A simple site is a more attractive site

Site owners tend to pack too much information in hopes of making their products as appealing as possible. However, this may end up with the opposite result, causing your site to look messy. According to a study done by Google in 2012, site visitors make their first impressions on a website’s appearance in the first 1/20th of a second. This research found that sites that were more complex were seen as less appealing. 

Simplifying designs can help in the appearance of your site and direct your visitor towards what matters. Overloading your site with information, both visual and numerical, can distract your customer. Creating a simple and precise site can help in the appearance and conversion rate of your small business. Make it easy for your customers to do what you want!

Understanding your customer

Understanding your customer is crucial. Knowing their likes and dislikes will help in avoiding their pain points to win them over. Taking a look at some of the largest and most successful ecommerce companies, we see constant changes and adjustments that are made to better captivate the customer. 

Understanding your customer comes with much trial and error! Many times, what you think your customer wants or needs, is not a priority for that customer. Knowing your site’s visitor demographics allows you to target their desires, which will result in more conversions!

10 Do-able Steps to Apply to Your Website

Now that we understand the overall essentials, let’s dig into the specifics! We will be discussing some easily applicable steps to boost the conversion rate of your site. 

1. Use as few fields as possible

This goes along with both the ease and simplicity of your site. Limiting the number of fields will not only lessen unappealing clutter, but makes the conversion process much easier for your customers. Instead of a 100-part exam, try focusing on the essentials and leave out the rest! The other 95 non-essentials can be thrown out or asked at a later time. Secure that conversion first!

2. Reduce unnecessary steps

This goes hand in hand with Step 1. Reducing the number of steps will make it much easier for your customer to increase retention rates. If there are too many steps or fields to complete a conversion, your customer may leave. Go through your site and check if there are any unnecessary steps, and look for opportunities to combine steps if possible. 

How to check if the step is unnecessary? 

1. Is this step needed to fulfill the order? (Names and addresses are needed, birthdays are not)
2. Is this step worth losing your customer? 

As an example, allowing “check out as a guest” will increase the conversion rate of your site. It allows an option to opt out of a dozen questions and complete a quick order.

3. Take out risks 

E-commerce can get a little iffy when new visitors question whether or not to trust your site. Make your product convenient and trust-worthy by taking out the risk. By providing guarantees and free returns, it is much easier for your customer to commit. Additionally, you will gain much more credibility for your site! 

Understanding your customers and their pain points is important! Amazon took away the pain of going to a store and provided convenience and security through fast shipping and great customer service. Uber and Lyft took out the pain points of flagging down taxis by providing automated systems for their customers. 

There are dozens of pain points and risks that will draw your customers to your site. Take note of them, emphasize them, and address them!

4. Remove distractions (especially on landing pages)

Removing distractions on your site also goes under “a simple site is a more attractive site.” Your customers come to your site for very specific reasons, many times, they come to make conversations for that instance or for the near future. 

Knowing why your visitor is on your site is crucial so you don't spam them with unnecessary information. When it becomes hard for them to find their desired product or destination, there is a greater chance that they leave your site. 

Your landing page is the last step before your conversion is complete. It is your site’s destination. If you are an online seller, a landing page would be your checkout page. Removing distractions from a checkout page will confirm more sales and boost your conversion rate. 

Your goal is to create tunnel vision for your visitor. Keep their eyes on the prize! Landing pages are not places to be advertising other products. Advertisements can get in the way of your sale and distract your customers.

5. Clarity above all

When selling, it is always a better idea to be clear and concise. Oftentimes, customers are not seeking an adjective-filled, poetic description of your product. Be persuasive but concise about all the benefits and positives you offer. Try to avoid hype and give compelling but clear descriptions of why customers should purchase your product. 

6. Use pictures 

Our brains process images thousands of times faster than text. 65% of people are visual learners, so it will be very helpful to use images to draw the attention of the visitor and to beautify your site. 

Using images to help visualize the benefits of your product is shown to have important effects. In a study done by Behave.org, using images to visualize benefits increased page click-through by 7.93% and revenue per visitor by 17.61%! Using pictures of happy people will add visualization of the positives of your product. 

7. Create and publish videos 

Creating videos to be used on your site will humanize you and add credibility. Online sites can be iffy due to scams and other factors. By creating a humanized site through video creation, you can boost conversions! Keep your videos short and to the point. Ideally, try getting your point across in 30 seconds or less. 

8. Use testimonials and reviews

For new customers, it may be hard to trust a site they have never used. Uploading testimonials and real reviews will help to gain your credibility and give social proof that (1) you exist and (2) you provide amazing products!

9. Use SEO techniques to boost organic traffic

Using SEO techniques has become a secret weapon for conversions. In an experiment done by Groupon, it was learned that over 60% of direct traffic comes from organic searches! To read about the effects of organic traffic on conversions, click here.

Using search engine optimization (SEO) is helpful because it allows you to target specific customers to your site. Instead of paid advertisements or other online traffic routes, organic traffic through SEO can be used to gain visitors who are more likely to converse. 

10. Continue to adjust your site

Completing these steps does not mean you are done! 

What makes large ecommerce organizations stand out is that they are constantly updating and bettering their sites. Your customers and competitors are ever-changing which will keep you on your toes. Adjusting your site to make it the most convenient and attractive is necessary to boost your conversion rate!

Overview: How to Increase your Conversion Rate

And there we go! Wanting to increase your site’s conversion rate is a given, but actually increasing it is a different story. Going through these steps and keeping in mind the principles listed, you should be growing in no time!