4 Amazingly Effective Tips to Boost Conversion Rates
Remember the last time you purchased a brand new laptop or phone?
The sales person (or the sales copy on the site) may have tried to persuade you to buy certain add-ons to go with your main purchase. Sure, they cost you extra, but because they were guaranteed to ‘optimize’ and ‘enhance’ the already superior performance of your hi-tech laptop or cell phone.
If you’re like me, you probably purchased some of the upgrades as well.
After all, who doesn’t want to be the proud owner of a sophisticated and technologically advanced piece of equipment which does all the things it’s supposed to do, and washes your dishes? (Now all the iPhone people are saying, “Hey, is there an app for that?”)
Now let’s say you have a great looking, professional website. The graphics are good, the layout is superb and the content is top notch. Despite all of this, what else can you do to boost your conversion rates?
What tweaks or add-ons will make the most of the visitors who come to your site, and take your revenue to a higher level?
Insert a direct telephone number in your header
This is a quick addition that can really give your sales a boost. Service-based businesses, independent consultants and other professionals would all benefit from offering a direct mode of communication.
Make the deal even sweeter by making it a toll-free number.
Place image-based testimonials
This is a conversion booster strategy (credited to Direct Marketing legend Gary Halbert) that is sure to hike up your conversion rates. Simply take out overused and ineffective text-based testimonials, and replace them with a few image-based reviews.
Not only will they help break up long paragraphs of text, they also add a wonderful personal touch to professional websites.
Make your order system simpler
A large number of inquiries, emails and online sales receipts are lost due to the poor set-up of an ordering system.
From lengthy and convoluted multi-field forms to faulty email programs, hundreds of potentially profitable sales are lost because the order page system has failed to make it simple and easy for a customer to complete their order.
That’s why it’s important that you ensure the ordering system on your website is easy to navigate and understand – even for a person with zero technical skills.
Wherever possible, limit text fields to only the absolutely necessary items (keep it to no more than three fields if possible), and test, test, test for usability!
Collect their email addresses
Regardless of how well-optimized your site is, not every visitor that stops by is going to turn into a customer.
Some folks like to shop around and have a look at other options before finalizing their purchasing decision.
You can still benefit from this situation by inserting an opt-in form to collect email addresses. Instead of presenting users with only two choices – buy a product or leave empty handed, provide them with a third choice – the option to enter their email address and receive deals, discounts and other useful product-related information directly from you.
So even if visitors don’t want to purchase from you immediately, with their permission you can email them on a regular basis (so long as you don’t bombard them with blatantly promotional stuff!) and demonstrate to them why they should consider buying from you, and how your business can offer them a solution that’ll help solve their problems.
Don’t forget to do your housecleaning…
Since you may not be able to purchase the website or cell phone option for “Automatically Wash My Dishes,” you should take care of that yourself. Otherwise the normal mess resulting from use piles up and makes your space inhospitable.
Every four to six months, set aside some time to review and analyze your website for conversion dampeners – broken links, awkward phrasing, amateur-looking photos, misspellings (a definite no-no), etc.
Don’t be afraid to test out new concepts and unique optimization techniques – looking out for ways to boost your conversion rate is a continuous process that needs to be carried out for as long as your site exists on the internet!
