10 Steps To Improve Your Website’s Conversion Rate

How are your website’s conversion rates at present? Are you happy with them? We’ve all heard of tricks that claim to improve conversion rates – tricks such as winning layouts, magic buttons and killer copy. The thing is that even with all these tricks, sometimes it’s hard to convert. What you need is a step-by-step process that’ll take you to the cup.

1. Define Your Long-Term Goals
Once you have defined your goals, form a conversion strategy while keeping those goals in mind. For example, if you want to achieve 10,000 unique visitors with a conversion of 2000 by 6 months, create your conversion strategy involving landing pages, organic SEO, promotions, Ads and so on.

2. Determine How You’ll Measure Success
Know which parts of your business are not performing well and why. Know your real blind spots, based on your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). This will help you meet your goals. Experience your own business as a customer, in order to understand their thought processes. This will also help you assess your site through a marketer’s perspective.

3. Understand Your Present Traffic Sources
Take a close look at your business, to know your traffic’s sources, which landing pages are being visited more, and visitor’s site navigation. Which areas of your site seem to hold their interest more? Create a virtual map of the conversion funnel your visitor goes through, starting at the source, to post-sale events.

4. Work On Fine-Tuning The Processes Within Your Conversion Funnel
Prioritize those areas of your conversion funnel that convert the most. Also pick areas where it’s easiest to make changes. Look for blockages in your conversion funnel – small hitches that prevent your visitors to get what they want, or even lack of adequate information. Locate and fine-tune each of these processes with the help of specific web analytics tools –Google Analytics, KISSmetrics, Webtrends, Adobe SiteCatalyst, ClickTale and so on.

5. Step Up Your Business Using Additional Conversion Strategies
Even as you analyze your conversion funnel, look for opportunities where you can step up your business. Use various strategies such as effective autoresponder sequences, a “Refer-a-Friend” program at the right spot, a few post-sale offers and so on. Also focus on building a customer community and step up communication with them. Spread the word with regard to your growing business, new launches and so on via email newsletters, PRs and so on.

6. Find Out Why Some Visitors Don’t Convert
Based on your research regarding your visitors and what they want, find out why they are not converting. Each visitor fits a particular type and intentions vary. There could be user experience issues with your conversion funnel. Ask for feedback and understand your visitor’s issues. Find out if old visitors convert better or if new ones do. Also check out your keyword efficacy – are generic keywords more successful than branded ones?

7. Make Sure Your Prospects See The Total Value Of Your Business
Evaluate all the persuasive aspects of your site that your visitors don’t get to see, such as testimonials, credibility symbols, social media follower numbers, number of products sold and so on. Make sure these persuasive aspects flow into the purchase scenario at the right time. You might want to invest in specific assets that have meaning for your business, in case you don’t have them already.

8. Create The Content And Design You’ll Be Using
Don’t base your design or content on best practices. Rather, base your design and persuasive copy on specific insights you’ve gained from your research so far. Work with different wireframes till you achieve the most user-friendly version, much better than your current site. Use best practices at this point to fine-tune your copy elements, CTA, USP and so on. Make sure you test your wireframe from a usability perspective and test your findings on your sales team who’ll have the most customer empathy.

9. Test Your Site Thoroughly
Choose the right multivariate tracking and testing software platform for your business. Set up your testing processes and ensure you follow each process and sub-process for every split test you perform. Always be aware of why you’re running the test, how the test enables the elements on your site, and how the test works with your business goals. While you’re at it, determine a unique way to measure and benchmark your success so that you face no difficulty while replicating the same scenario while testing the actual site.

10. Diversify Into Other Media
Invest in multiple media to diversify your customer acquisition channels. According to Invesp, You will profit more when you explore your conversion rate in social media, affiliate marketing, offline media, PPC, SEO and so on. Also take your insights from what you’ve learnt so far, and use them in other ways. For example, if you have a winning statement in your landing page, you can use that in your Ad campaign, or include your affiliates to benefit from a successful offer and so on.