Some principles to boost your conversions
Based on the principle that conversion won’t happen if you don’t have a systematic approach, Peepa Laja from ConversionXL put together a guide that will help you understand how to evaluate your own website and what to do to get the most of it. In this article, we’ll talk about each step of this guide, because we really believe in what he says.
1. People judge books by their covers. And by this, Laja emphasizes how important design is for your business’ website. We’ve talked in a lot of our articles about why is web design crucial for your company, why does it need to be always up to date and suitable for all devices, and we’ll say it once again in his words: “Design matters. A lot. It has a strong impact on your conversions, the user experience and customer loyalty. The bar for web design keeps getting higher and higher. Don’t get left behind.”
2. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Sure, it’s always good to be innovative, but be so in a manner that won’t confuse users. Stick to convention, but be original. The Internet has been around for two decades already and people get used to some formats. Laja writes that: “websites with low visual complexity and high prototypicality (how representative a design looks for a certain category of websites) were perceived as highly appealing.”
3. Make only important things stand out. Any website contains a lot of information, and this is OK. However, not everything that is on it is of the utmost importance. For example, elements that should stand out are calls to action (CTAs), forms, buy buttons, phone numbers etc. Laja speaks about visual hierarchy, which is given by size and colour.
4. Make it about the user. When people were asked about what is the most important thing in the design of a website, 76% answered that it was the fact that they easily found what they were looking for. In this article, we’ve already mentioned 6 mistakes that can drive users away from your website. Don’t make them. Also, don’t focus on yourself, but on them. Tell them with a good copy what’s their gain from your services.
5. Relevancy is the only way forward. Everybody wants their website’s traffic to hit the roof after an SEO campaign, but the question is: are all those people buying your services or products? If the answer is no, then you should focus on a smaller amount of traffic and identify the real buyers. Hence, you should know who they are, what they want and what bothers them. If you know all that you will also know how to get to them, how to match the copy so that it transforms them into buyers, how to structure and prioritize content, and how to make their life better with your services.
6. Understand the buying phases. Or, in Laja’s words: “Understanding buying phases is all about understanding how people work.” And how can you do that? Identify what type of customers are your customers: do they have a problem/need that they are not aware of? Are they looking for different options, or have they already made their decision? Laja explains that from these 3 groups of customers, the second group, those who are looking for options, are those who you should focus on. And you don’t want to scare them by trying to rush them into buying your stuff. Let them decide when they want to buy it, don’t ask them to do anything else before.
7. Most people don’t buy on their 1st visit. Unless you’re Amazon.com or another high profile e-commerce website, prepare for a percentage of 95% of the users visiting it to leave without buying anything. This doesn’t have to mean you lost them for good. As the previous principle taught us, don’t scare them, but try to attract them. Offer something for free, maybe a free trial, a free quote, monthly newsletter, email alerts etc. Laka says: “So don’t even try to sell to first-time visitors. Engage them instead.”
8. What is clarity and why is it useful? Clarity is when you explain your services and products in such a way that a 5 year-old would understand. People fear the unknown and they won’t buy what they don’t understand. Laja’s advice? “Read the text on your website out loud and imagine it’s a conversation with your friend. If there’s a word or a sentence you wouldn’t use, re-word it.”
9. Reduce friction. What is friction you ask? “Friction is all the doubts, hesitations and second thoughts people have about giving you money for a product”. And you can reduce it by addressing all of this and explain how your service/product will make their life easier for them. Make it easier for them to buy without having them go through complicated processes. Don’t ask more questions that are relevant and give them proofs: videos, photos, testimonials, reviews and offer all the details related to their purchase: product info, shipping info, returns & exchanges, guarantees, price objections.
10. Urgency. People buy when there’s a pressure on them. Laja talks about three ways to create urgency: quantity limitations: “only x tickets left”, time limitations: “this offer expires in x days”, contextual limitations: “Father’s day is coming, buy him a gift now.” Make sure you’re believable, otherwise it can have a huge impact on your business.
11. Eliminate distraction and noise. Too many choices equals no choice at all. People are easily distracted and if you give them too many options, it will be easier for them to don’t choose anything. Here is what Peepa Laja has to say about it: “Rule of noise: The closer you get to closing the sale, the less things you should have on your screen. Once they get to checkout screen, you shouldn’t have ANYTHING on the page that doesn’t directly contribute to conversion.”