What is a Conversion Rate?

Conversion rate of a website is a measure of the total number of leads, sales or enquiries received via your website.  Improving conversion rate is one of the highest priority for business websites and essential to the success of a business on the Internet.

Here are 10 easy ways to improve your website’s conversion rate.

1. Test Alternatives

One of the principle techniques for improving conversion rates is to try alternatives to determine what works best.  The free Google Website Optimizer tool allows you to run A/B split testing on variations in design, buttons, page titles, content copy, and more. E.g. you can test two pages with different attributes for the same product to find out which version has a higher conversion rate. Accordingly, you can use one that produces better results. The same can be applied to various elements on your website.

2. Add a Phone Number to Your Header

Displaying your phone number clearly on your website such as in the header instils trust in customers. Many websites do not provide a way for customers to contact the business via telephone. Some customers will be wary of buying from such websites.

3. Offer Testimonials

Offering testimonials on your website is a good way to improve conversions as it adds credibility to your business. Testimonials should be easy to access and clearly visible on your website. You may wish to highlight your main testimonials on the home page or other relevant sections of the website in addition to a dedicated testimonials page.

4. Offer Multiple Conversion Opportunities

There is more to conversions than the actual sale of a product or service. For best results, offer multiple opportunities for lead capture. You can encourage customers to leave their email address by signing -up to your newsletter or registering for special offers. Similarly, you can include ‘Request a call-back’ or ‘enquiry’ form.

5. Use Prominent Calls to Action

‘Call to action’ refers to elements on your website that encourage users to take a desired action. This is typically a button, link or form that takes the user one step closer to a sale or lead. As discussed in the point above, these include buttons such as buy, make an enquiry, request a call-back or register. You can increase the chances of conversion by placing you ‘calls to action’ in a prominent place on the website. Feel free to repeat if required.

6. Have a Good ‘About’ Section

The “About” section of your website is one of the most important pages of your website. There are many essential components of an About page. Customers want to have trust and confidence in your business before deciding to avail of your services. A good ‘About’ section on your website helps to achieve this.

7. Full Contact Details

Many websites only provide an email address or an enquiry form on the contact page. Contact details are very important for building trust among prospective customers who visit your website. Provide as much details as possible including phone number and full address.

8. An up to Date Client List

It is only logical that prospective customers would want to know about your existing customers before deciding to avail of your services. Showcasing clients adds credibility to your business. It may not be feasible to list all clients however it is important to ensure the list is not out of date.

9. Display Accreditation or Certifications

If you are accredited or affiliated to professional organisations or industry bodies, then include this information on your website. It will make your website trustworthy and which will in-turn influence your conversion rate. Website header or footer is a good place to display relevant accreditation logos.

10. Use Good Quality Content

The content on your website is one of the most important aspects of your website. It is essential to use good quality content to appear professional. It is very easy to make a mistake. You should check your content thoroughly for spelling or grammar mistakes, formatting, broken links, etc. In addition to checking manually you can use a free tool to double check you don’t miss anything.

What do you do to improve conversion rates?

Generating leads and sales on your website is important for any business.  In another article on this blog we discuss 5 more ways to increase conversions.  There are many other techniques to achieve this.  What methods do you use to generated leads and increase conversions on your websites? Please offer you suggestions by leaving a comment below.