Turn Your Website Into a Converting Machine

CRO Tip #1:  The 2.5 Second Rule

Data shows that your website content has about 2.5 seconds to communicate these four things:

1. Who you are
2. What you do
3. How to contact you
4. How to move to the next step

If you don’t accomplish this before the visitor starts to feel uncertain, you’ll lose a lot of traffic.   Test it with someone looking at your homepage for the first time.  In a 3 second impression, can they understand those four things? This is important because website visitors want to immediately recognize they have found what they were searching for.  If they don’t, it’s back-button city.

CRO Tip #2:  Would You Buy From You?

This is a simple test that’s hard to do right. First, pretend you’re the targeted lead.  Put yourself in their shoes. Next (the hard part), do a search and evaluate your offer, compared to your competitions’, as if you’re looking at it for the first time. Then, the really hard part.  Be honest with yourself.  Would you hire you, or does your competition edge you out? Leads are going through this very process, comparing you to your competition.  If you’re not convinced you’re the best choice (assuming you’re biased), you can be sure leads agree.  Tighten-up your design.

CRO Tip #3:    Less is More

Leads today simply won’t take the time to consume huge amounts of content.  You have to wow them fast. Express your value offer with wow lines:

• What you do – the specific value you offer
• How you solve the lead’s problem
• Why they should choose you instead of the competition

Be specific and concise.  If leads feel you can solve their problem, you’ll hook them.  If not, you’ll lose them.

CRO Tip #4:  Have Clear Navigation and a Natural Conversion Path

The layout and content on your website should be so logical and direct that visitors can move through it without having to think about it. Make sure your navigation links are simple and logical.  Avoid having extra pages that don’t provide useful content. And create a natural funnel towards your conversion goal.  A website is no place to meander.  For example:The content on this page literally funnels you towards the call to action button.  You can’t miss it.  It takes visitors right to the contact page where they capture the lead.

CRO Tip #5:  Develop Trust

Trust is one of the most important aspects to engender in a website experience.  If visitors feel any sense of risk, your conversion rates will suffer. Having a professional, well-branded website will help a lot here.  When people see you took the time to design a great site, they feel you’re legitimate. Use industry trust badges, payment logos, and certifications to build trust.  Verify your experience and qualifications in your About Us page. Also, make use of reviews within your design.  Reviews have a major impact on consumers today, and if you have credible reviews on your site, people are less likely to go searching for them elsewhere.  For example, the Top Rated Local® badge lets visitors get a fast overview of reviews: Consumers today put a lot of trust in other consumers.  Use that content to your advantage on your website.

CRO Tip #6:  Test Your Mobile Experience

When you sit in your office on your desktop, you may think your website looks just fine.  Conversions should be no problem. But there is a problem.  Over half your visitors aren’t looking at your site on a desktop – they’re on their phones. It’s vital to check your web experience on a mobile device.  Try navigating your site, reading content, and taking your call to action.  Note any hang-ups. And remember this.  New website visitors will be 10x more impatient than you were.  A moment of delay or confusion will cost you conversions. Mobile responsive designs like UXI® are built to work flawlessly on mobile devices.  If your mobile experience is lacking, get your platform updated.

Pro Tip:  Right Click Inspect

To view your website’s mobile view on your desktop, right click your mouse and then click “inspect”:This will open the website and allow you to navigate as if you were on a phone.

CRO Tip #7:  Multichannel Retargeting

In most cases today, people don’t convert the first time they visit a website.  But that doesn’t mean most of your traffic is poorly targeted. It just means you’re dealing with the modern consumer:  overloaded on information, multitasking, and easily distracted. It also means you’re dealing with internet researchers, the methodical buyers who study their options and take more time to make decisions. The way to target this important audience is to retarget them.  Retargeting is an advertising tactic that bases ad delivery on previous interaction with your content.  So if someone visits your website or likes a Facebook post, you can classify them as a possible lead and deliver them a specific ad set. Today, retargeting is all but essential for CRO.  Attention is too scarce and fragmented to expect people to convert on a first impression.  You have to keep your brand in front of them on their extended online journey.

CRO Tip #8:  Strong Ad Copy & Audience Targeting

If you’re a steakhouse, you don’t want vegetarians clicking on your ads. Nothing sinks conversion rates faster than driving poorly targeted traffic to your website.  The goal is not to get a lot of traffic to your site.  It’s to get the right traffic to your site. This starts with knowing who your target audience is and what they need.  Then, you need the ad copy on paid ads, SEO listings, and social media posts to connect to those needs. Last, the ideas in your ads need to match the content on the page you take them to on your website.  If your ad mentions 10% off, then make sure the first thing people see on the landing page is how they can get that 10% discount. Your content needs to be as easy to understand as 1,2,3.  A moment of confusion caused by discontinuity will lose people.  Your audience is neither patient nor forgiving enough to put the pieces together themselves. Online consumers demand clarity.  When you provide it for the right audience, your conversion rates will soar.