7 Website Changes That Can Instantly Improve Your Conversions
Website Conversion Optimization Starts with a Clear Value Proposition
Website conversion optimization starts at the very moment when the user lands on your website, which means that he/she needs to realize right away who you are, what do you do and why he/she should choose your company.
Many websites suffer from complex headlines like this one:
Transforming Businesses Through Innovative Digital Solutions.
Such headlines seem to be good for the company itself but not helpful when explaining what services your company offers.
In order to attract customers, it is better to use something like:
Generate More Qualified Leads With Performance-Focused Digital Marketing.
The latter headline is way easier to understand.
Your main website section must include these 3 points:
Headline
Supporting description
Primary call-to-action
It should not require users to go through all the sections to understand what you do.
Let's say, you own an online fitness coaching business and write there something like this:
Unlock Your Full Potential.
The better version will be:
Personal Online Fitness Coaching Designed to Help You Lose Weight and Build Strength.
The latter one provides more information.
Your value proposition must be about your customer, not about your company.
It is better not to use phrases like:
We are a leading company with 10 years of experience.
Why should I care?
As it becomes easier for the user to understand what you are offering, the greater will be their chances of exploring your website and taking action.
Website Conversion Optimization Requires Strong Calls-to-Action
Alternatively, if a person is filling out a consultation form, your button should read:
In this way, it makes it very clear for the visitor about what is going to happen.
Your call-to-action must be easy to locate.
For instance, your call-to-action must be placed in vital places such as:
Website header
Hero section
Following valuable service information
Testimonials
Bottom of pages
But you must not place multiple calls-to-actions together.
In case that your homepage asks the visitors to:
Call Now
Download
Subscribe
Book
Shop
Learn More
in one single section, the visitors get confused.
You must decide about one primary action depending on the objective of the page.
In addition, you need to write CTA text keeping in mind about customer value.
Instead of:
Contact Us
You could try:
Get Your Free Strategy Call
And instead of:
Register
You could use:
Reserve My Free Seat
Such slight changes make your website more action-driven.
Your CTA must stand out visually from other content but should also be consistent with the rest of your website.
Moreover, do not try to hide key buttons under too many elements. A person who understands your proposal should be able to proceed without having to scroll down the whole page.
Website Conversion Optimization Improves When You Simplify Forms
One of the major hurdles to the optimization of conversion on websites is long and complex forms.
Picture a situation where you find a service that interests you and click on Get a Quote.
All of a sudden you are being requested to give:
Full Name
Email Address
Phone Number
Name of Company
Website
Address
Job Title
Size of Company
Budget
Industry
Message
Country
How did you learn about us?
Will you complete all of the form?
Not many people will do that.
Each form field requires some effort from the users.
In case of preliminary inquiries, companies shouldn’t ask for more data than what is necessary to proceed with the dialogue.
For instance:
Name
Phone/Email
Service Needed
Message
will sometimes be sufficient.
Additional information can be collected later when the user qualifies as a potential customer.
It is especially significant for mobile customers since it’s rather difficult filling in long forms via smartphones.
Also, keep form fields simple and to the point.
For example, instead of asking:
Please provide your preferred electronic communication address.
You can simply say:
Email Address.
Good communication minimizes friction.
If you require a long form because of your business model, break down the whole process into simple steps.
As an illustration:
Step 1: Basic Information
Step 2: Business Requirements
Step 3: Contact Information
A progress bar can indicate how far users have progressed on the form.
After completion, make sure to tell users what happens next.
As an illustration:
Thanks Our team will get back to you within one business day.
This provides assurance to prospective customers that their inquiry has been received successfully.
Improve Website Speed and Mobile Experience
However, no matter how great the content and the offer are on your site, the user won't ever get a chance to see them if the site loads too slowly.
Speed of your website directly influences the experience of users.
Users are used to having fast websites, and if your page takes too much time to open, most people will simply go back to Google, Instagram, or whatever else was their source of entry.
Start with the most common performance issues like:
Big image files
Unnecessary video
Too many plugins
Animations that consume too much computing power
Bad hosting
Unneeded code of your website
Too many scripts
Images are especially important.
Uploading 5MB file while a much smaller and optimized one will do is just wasting time and resources.
Compress images before uploading them and use the modern format of images if possible.
Also, think about the use of animations.
They make the website visually interesting but can make the page too slow and distracting people from the information that matters.
Mobile experience is equally important.
A perfect website that works well on a PC can still be inconvenient to use on a smartphone.
Check out your website using a real mobile device.
Ask yourself:
Is the text readable?
Are the buttons big enough for tapping?
Does the navigation work correctly?
Are forms convenient to fill?
Do images fit the screen?
Does something overlap?
Is there a way to contact the business easily?
Click-to-call button can be useful for local businesses.
For eCommerce companies, make sure that product pages, shopping cart, and checkout pages are functioning well on a mobile phone.
The fewer technical issues the customer meets, the easier it gets to persuade him to take an action you want.
Add Social Proof and Remove Unnecessary Distractions
There are two changes that complement each other on a website quite well: building trust and getting rid of distractions.
First, boost your social proof.
A consumer subconsciously wants to see some proof to start trusting an unknown company.
Anyone can write:
We offer the best service.
However, when there is a social proof to support the claim, it becomes more believable.
Useful forms of social proof:
Customer testimonials
Google reviews
Client logos
Case studies
Ratings
Video testimonials
Customer photos
Success stories
Industry certifications
Instead of writing:
Our marketing services help companies increase leads.
You can write a case study and describe the process of how your client increased the leads using your strategy.
Concrete information seems more trustworthy than generic claims.
Moreover, it is better to give some context in a testimonial.
It is better to have a testimonial that says:
The team helped us improve our lead quality and provided us with clear weekly campaign reports.
instead of:
Great company
Social proof is most needed at conversion points, especially near forms, price points, checkouts, and call-to-actions.
At the same time, it is good to get rid of any unnecessary distractions.
There are websites with:
Too many pop-ups
Automatically playing video
Many menu options
Moving banners
Excessive animations
Many colors
Different competing buttons
Individual elements might seem impressive, however, together they can distract the user.
Each page of your website has to have a single primary goal.
For example, if you create a landing page to generate consultation bookings, unnecessary links that will make people leave this page won't be helpful for conversion.
Simplification is powerful.
Get rid of all elements that don't help users to understand the offer, trust the company, and convert.
Make Your Website Customer-Focused and Keep Testing
The last two changes have one thing in common: improve your website copy and test your pages constantly.
Many business websites write too much about themselves.
They say things like:
We are passionate.
We are innovative.
We provide excellent solutions.
We believe in customer satisfaction.
It is fine to say something about yourself, but most potential customers are rather concerned with their problems.
Rather than saying:
We provide professional website development services.
Say:
Get a fast, professional website that will turn more visits into inquiries.
The second sentence relates to some outcome.
Example:
Instead of saying:
Our software has automation features.
Say:
Automate repetitive tasks and save your team several hours per week.
Wherever possible, convert features into benefits.
Feature: 24/7 customer support
Benefit: Get assistance when an urgent issue arises.
Feature: Real-time reporting
Benefit: Track your campaign performance accurately.
Feature: Cloud storage
Benefit: Have access to important files from anywhere.
Customer-oriented website copy lets the visitor picture how his or her life or business will change with your product.
After you have ensured that your website has great messaging, CTAs, forms, speed, trust factors and good UX, do not assume that it is enough.
Test.
It is possible to test different variations of:
Headlines
CTA buttons
Forms
Landing page structure
Images
Offers
Pricing presentation
Testimonials
Product description
Let us suppose your landing page gets 10,000 visitors per month and converts 2% of them.
It gives you about 200 conversions.
If the optimization will increase your conversion rate to 3%, you will get around 300 conversions.
You generated 100 conversions more without necessarily increasing the advertising budget and website traffic.
That is why conversion optimization is so beneficial.
Use your website analytics to find out where visitors exit.
When thousands of visitors come to your service page and very few click the CTA, maybe you should improve your offer, page content, or CTA button.
When customers start their check-out process and leave before making a payment, it may mean that there is something wrong with the check-out process.
There might be unexpected fees, unnecessary form fields, trust issues or any other problems.
Customer behavior will show where your greatest opportunity lies.
Final thoughts
Website conversions cannot be improved only through major design changes or expensive technologies. Sometimes the biggest changes come from removal of small obstacles that annoy and distract your visitors.
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