52 Ways to Increase Your Conversion Rate
Rick Henkin
It's incredibly important to always
work on increasing your conversion rate (the % of visitors who act on your desired goal). What if 10%, 25%, 50% or 90% of the people who visit your website actually purchased, subscribed, registered or whatever your goal is for them instead of the 2% Internet wide average? How much greater would your sales be, your cash flow, your profitability? What if you could dramatically increase your conversion rate just by testing and changing a few things?
And here's the great thing:
Just a little increase in your conversion rate can mean a huge increase in your sales and cash flow.
Conversion rate example
$100- average sale amount
$500- lifetime value of each customer (total purchases while they
remain a customer)
If your current conversion rate (the number of visitors who purchase ÷
the total number of visitors) is:
2%
(2 out of 100 visitors)
$200- average sales
$1000- total lifetime value
5%
(5 out of 100 visitors)
$500- average sale
$2500- total lifetime value
10% (10
out of 100 visitors)
$1000- average sales
$5000- total lifetime value
You can see that by just converting a few more visitors, you're getting a huge increase in total revenue. I stopped with a 10% conversion rate, but nothing says that you can't test and tweak until you get that conversion rate higher. What about 20%, 50% or more? All of a sudden, the numbers become huge and all without a lot of extra effort or expense on your part.
You won't be able to achieve a 100% conversion rate, because a certain of portion of your visitors arrive at your website accidentally and really didn't mean to land there. But even if that were to represent as much as 10 % of the total, that still leaves a possible 90% conversion rate.
52 ways to increase your conversion rate
- Write for the web- make your content scannable- headings,
subheadings, bullets and boldface
- Make your content easy to read- font size, font style,
color and background
- Answer your visitor's questions, before they're asked,
especially- "What's in it for me"?
- Make it clear why they should do business with you
- Improve your navigation- guide visitors to the action you
want them to take
- Keep your navigation consistent through out your website
- Make sure your website is easy to use
- Test, test, test- headlines, colors, fonts, images, call to
action buttons, placement of elements, etc., etc., etc.
- Use A/B split testing and multi-variate testing
- Reduce your download speed by reducing large image files
and eliminating flash animation
- Use web analytics software (free or paid) to understand
your visitor's behavior
- Make sure your content is relevant
- Use simple language, not industry jargon
- Match your landing message to the marketing message the
visitor clicked on
- Contact customers who abandon their shopping cart, ask why
and offer them an incentive
- Offer multiple ways to pay and to order
- Offer a toll-free phone number
- Offer customer service
- Cross-sell or up-sell on order confirmation page. Customers
are more likely to buy when they already have their credit card out
- Add a tell-a-friend script to the order confirmation or
thank you page
- Use trust badges and reassurance logos such as GeoTrust,
Verisign,
BBBOnline
and others
- Place your privacy, security, shipping, guarantee and
return polices or links at the points of greatest customer anxiety
- Offer a free trial
- Provide full contact information
- Anticipate objections and answer them in advance
- Offer free shipping
- Add incentives
- Don't ask for unnecessary information
- Test your site's usability
- Focus on benefits rather than features
- Offer reviews/testimonials
- Make sure your USP (unique selling proposition) is clear
- Use psychological triggers
- Test your pricing
- Test different offers
- Ask for the sale- tell your visitor exactly what you want
them to do- "Buy Now", "Order Here," "Add to Cart," etc.
- Survey your current customers
- Create an exit survey for visitors
- Add a site map
- Address needs of different personas
- Place your important points above the fold
- Check your spelling
- Make sure your links work
- Create both thumbnails and full-size images of products
- Design your site so that it's accessible for impaired
individuals
- Use eye-tracking and heat mapping software
- Check how your website looks with different
browsers and screen resolutions
- Hire a proven copywriter
- Position your website and yourself as the authority/expert
in your industry
- Use conventional icons- don't make your visitor think
because they'll just leave instead
- Be upfront about pricing and shipping costs- before your
visitor has to give any personal information
- Use all of the tools and information available to you at IncreaseOnlineProfits.com
ARTICLE DATE: 2009-06-01
REVISED DATE:
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