Decoding Website Conversion Rates

Learn everything you need to know about conversion rates and the methods used to optimize websites.

Definitions

A conversion is the desired action that a user completes on a website, for example, purchasing a product from an E-Commerce website.

A conversion rate is a rate at which your users complete a conversion. In other words, the conversion rate is the number of conversions divided by the total number of visitors. If you have one hundred visitors on your website and ten visitors complete a conversion, your conversion rate is 10%.

Conversion optimization is simply improving your conversion rate. We will cover conversion optimization more in-depth towards the end of this article.

Background

Conversion rate is an essential statistic in website management and marketing. Your conversion rate will tell you if your marketing tactics are effective. The market, of course, is ever-changing. Developers are required to follow current trends to optimize conversion rates.

Importance Of Conversion Rate

Conversion rate matters because it measures your marketing success. Many experts will explain why a high conversion rate is valuable. However, the number that indicates your conversion rate is subjective to what you consider a conversion. Whatever the number is, the goal is to increase your conversion rate. If your conversion rate is rising, then you are becoming more successful. If your conversion rate is falling, you know where to make improvements.

How To Increase Conversion Rate With Conversion Optimization

Learn To Capture The Right Market

Identifying and understanding your target audience is the first step in increasing your conversion rate. By approaching the right customers, you will increase your chance of conversions and sales. Identify the groups that need your services and appeal to them.

Focus On The Customer Journey

Your focus needs to be on your customers. User experience is a crucial part of conversion rate optimization. There are several methods to improve user experience.

Make Conversions Easy

Whatever actions you want your users to complete, make it easy. Focus on user-friendliness to increase your conversion rate. Your website should be easy to navigate and efficient.

Make Account Creation Easy

Providing accounts on your website has endless benefits. Account creation will improve security and allow you to offer special deals to your customers. It is vital to make account creation as simple as possible. A great way to optimize the account creation process is to remove unnecessary form entries. Account creation forms should include a username, password, and email address. Companies that manage mailing lists should display a box to sign up during account creation.

Make Purchases Easy

If you want customers to buy products and services, you need to make it easy for them. If you sell services, you can focus on optimizing your contact section. If you sell products directly from the website, you need to focus on your point-of-sale system.

A point-of-sale system is a software used to track purchases on a website. Point-of-sale systems include the checkout section and every purchase visitors make on your website. When planning your point-of-sale system, you have two options: (1) Develop your point-of-sale-system. (2) Hire someone to develop a point-of-sale system for you. Point-of-sale systems are complex and require programming experience. Most companies hire other developers to construct their point-of-sale systems. If you have further questions about point-of-sale systems, contact Newberry Software today; we will answer all your questions.

Make Contact Sections Easy

There are many reasons why your visitors need to contact you. Some customers need assistance. Other customers want to make business inquiries or leave a review. It is necessary to make communication easy to do through the website. A great way to simplify contact forms is by removing unnecessary form entries. Great contact forms usually only need these fields: name, subject, return email address and message.

Offer Free Services And Discounts

Free services and discounts benefit your business because of the principle of reciprocity. This principle says that people pay back what they receive from others. The goal is to give something to your audience to encourage them to buy something from your company. When deciding what to give to your audience, think of something valuable, great-quality, and relevant to your business. For example, Newberry Software builds a free mobile-version website for every one of its customers who purchase a regular website.

Create an Appealing Landing Page Design

The landing page of a website is the first page users “land” on when your website loads. Most website visitors leave the page in less than 20 seconds. It is vital to capture your visitors with a quality landing page that stands out against your competitors.

Add Visual Content

Your website needs to be visually appealing to capture your visitors. If you want to increase your conversion rate, you must make sure that you include high-quality images and videos. Use appropriate amounts of visual content; do not go overboard and clutter your web pages.

Optimize Website Speed

In this industry, every second matters. Users do not want to wait for your website to load. Great developers understand which elements increase load time and avoid them at all costs. Choose optimized solutions to decrease load time. Use optimized file types, limit the content, and research quality hosting providers.

Develop For Mobile Devices

Mobile devices include smartphones and tablets. From Statista, over 90 percent of the global internet population uses a mobile device to go online. Website responsiveness is a necessity. Your website needs to be appealing on all screens that are available to the public.

Build A Sales Funnel

Sales funnels are pre-planned paths to converting prospects into customers. A sales funnel typically starts at the stage where you first communicate with potential buyers. The goal of a sales funnel is to provide a visualization of your sales process. Here is an example of the average sales funnel: (1) create customer awareness, (2) create customer interest, (3) pitch your offer, (4) allow customers to respond with a decision, (5) build loyalty.

Create Call To Action

A call to action attracts your visitors towards a conversion. For many websites, the call to action indicates the start of the sales funnel. A call to action typically appears on the landing page of a website and displays a short message with an action button. An example of a call to action is a pop-up with a message that says: “Sign up today for 5% off on your next purchase” with a button that says “Sign Up”. Encouraging your visitors to make conversions will increase your conversion rate.

Provide Product Descriptions

Product descriptions are used on websites to provide information about your products. It is necessary to keep product descriptions short and easy to understand. Including helpful information on your website increases your conversion rate for multiple reasons. Visitors are more likely to purchase products if they know what they are buying. Well-written descriptions also create a positive bias for your product.

Add Testimonials and Reviews

Your customers will trust your services and products if they know other customers have bought them first. By providing honest reviews, your customers can learn more about your offers and confidently make purchases. Reviews also improve your business. By reading feedback, you can identify your company's strengths and weaknesses.

Use Effective Communication Channels

Communicating with your audience is vital to the success of your business. There are many professional ways to communicate with your customers.

Designated Phone Line

Separating your business number from your personal number is essential when managing a company. A business phone number provides a direct line of communication to your organization. Phone calls are a great way to answer questions, provide quotes, and receive reviews. You can set up features such as interactive voice response, which helps callers direct themselves through services and information. Business phone numbers also demonstrate professionalism to your clients and partners.

Live Chat

Providing "live chat" allows visitors to contact your business while active on your website. Live chat is accessible through a small but noticeable icon on the bottom of your webpage. Live chat makes it easy for your visitors to get a fast response. Live chat is a great feature and sets you apart from your competitors.

Email

Emailing has been around long enough for website visitors to easily use. You can organize email reminders and mailing lists through your website for your customers to receive news and promotions. Email is great for E-Commerce websites that constantly update their products. Make sure to create a professional email address tied to your domain. Newberry Software uses the email address: contact@newberrysoftware.com when emailing your customers.

Cold Calling

Cold calling is a technique used to draw in customers that have not previously expressed interest in your business. Cold calling typically includes phone calls, drop-in visits, or door-to-door sales. It is essential to operate professionally and respectfully when cold calling.

Social Media Networks

Social media is expanding every day; businesses are taking advantage of it. According to Statista, over 92% of companies are using social media. Social media provides a unique opportunity to reach your target audience and conveniently communicate with your customers.

Collect and Analyze Data

Collecting and analyzing data is a crucial part of business management. Your data will tell you what needs to be improved.

Monitor Conversion Rate

Monitoring your conversion rate involves making a plan and striving to improve your numbers. We explain how to track conversion rate in the next section below.

Cookies

Most professional websites display an alert informing you about cookie collection. Cookies provide information to website owners about their visitors. They are used to enhance the user experience. Website cookies retain user login information or what users had in their shopping cart when switching between pages.

Conduct A/B Testing

A/B testing is a method used to compare two or more versions of a web page against each other to determine which one performs better. The goal is to present new ideas to an audience and see how they respond. If the new variation performs better than the original, it will take its place.

How To Monitor Conversion Rate

Monitoring your conversion rate is crucial to understanding how your website is performing. There are several great tools to take advantage of, such as Google's conversion rate tracker.

Conversions are different for every website. Some websites allow users to make multiple conversions during each interaction. If you have an E-Commerce website, a conversion might be a user making a purchase. A conversion can also be a user creating an account. Because of this, some conversion rates are above 100%. Depending on what actions you want your users to complete and what you consider a conversion, it is crucial to keep your record-keeping consistent. The goal is to monitor your success based on recent performance. It is vital to monitor each type of conversion to pinpoint where your marketing needs improvement.

Conclusion

Monitoring your conversion rate is a vital part of marketing and hiring a professional to increase your conversion rate is one of the most profitable investments for your business.

Newberry Software strives to make your business as successful as possible. We offer professional website development focusing on your conversion rate to increase your profits and overall success. Contact us today for a free consultation to find out how we can help you outperform your competition.