Conversion Optimization

How much are you paying for each prospect? Let’s say you spend $1 to bring a visitor to your site. And let’s say every 50th visitor buys something or completes a “Contact Us” form. The price that you paid for that prospect is $50. In marketing terms your cost per acquisition is $50 and, your conversion rate is 2%. MarketingSherpa reports that average conversion rate is less than 4%, while Fireclick reports that general conversion rates are closer to 2%. This means that out of 100 visitors only two buy your products or contact you.

In 2010 the Backbone IT Group conducted a survey that concluded over 80% of business websites are “Throwing Away Sales.”

We want to emphasize two points from this survey:

• Just 11% of sampled businesses were using some form of Conversion Rate Optimization, compared to 75% employing Search Engine Optimization.

• Websites that increased visitor conversion rates by just a few percent typically doubled or even tripled the number of sales or enquiries generated. The impact of Conversion Rate Optimization on bottom-line profitability can be remarkable.

So, why do companies spend billions of dollars on online marketing and not invest more into conversion rate optimization? The only logical explanation for this disconnect is a lack of awareness about products and services that can alleviate this problem and yield results.

Let’s do another simple demonstration. If we can help you increase your conversion rate from 2 to 3%, we reduce your cost per acquisition to $33 from $50. Or, out of 100 visitors, 3 will buy something. It may not sound like much, but we are talking about a 50% increase in sales. Sounds a lot more exciting when you put it in these terms, doesn’t it?

Is that something you might be interested in? Are you excited enough to call us right now to learn more? The number is 513-373-4216, or complete this form.

Now, what would you do if your cost per prospect dropped by 33%? We recommend that you don’t just sit back and enjoy the profits (tempting as that might be). Capitalize  on the fact you can now afford to pay more per visitor:

• You can pay more per click on AdWords, which can bring over ten times more visitors.
• You can start offline advertising that had previously been too expensive for you. For example:
  • Full page magazine ads
  • Newspaper ads
  • Direct mail
  • Radio ads
  • TV infomercials
• You can afford to pay more commission to your affiliates and sales reps, so the best of the best start wanting to sell your products.

Why do we think that website conversion rate improvement can be easily achievable?

Let’s just say there are about a hundred things that we can do to make your site stick:

1. Make your visitors’ lives easy. This sounds simple but unfortunately many companies just don’t get it right. How often do you visit a site that is not so bad, but it is so unusable that you just leave in frustration? Bueatiful design doesn’t mean friendly usability.
2. Accessibility. Making a site accessible is a legal obligation in many countries. But it should really be a moral obligation for everybody. Do you think your visitors will recommend your inaccessible site to their friends?
3. Browsers. Internet Explorer is not the only major player any more. Google Chrome and Firefox adoption is on the rise, and should be taken into account when building a site. No matter want anybody will tell you – 99% of  incompatibilities can be easily fixed. If nothing else, there is always what’s called ‘graceful degradation,’ when you inform the visitors that their browser is not supported and let them know which browser to use.
4. Operating Systems. You have to test your site on PCs and Macs. A site that looks spectacular on PCmay not look so good on Mac, even if you are using the same browser.
5. Make sure your site loads fast. When it comes to web-browsing, people are inpatient, and want to see information load quickly. If necessary, move your site to another hosting, or may be there is something wrong with the code.
6. Test your site on different resolution monitors. You developers may be used to 1400×1000 resolution, but most likely your customers are still using 1000×800 or 1200×1000.
7. It is easy to detect if your visitors are coming via a BlackBerry, an  iPhone,or on any other Internet-enabled device. These users typically do not want or need everything – figure out what 20% of your content they need, and 80% of your visitors will come again. As more and more people use various handheld devices, your site needs to be ‘smartphone friendly.’
8. Make things easy to find! Where is your ‘buy’ or ‘checkout’ button? There is actually a major difference in usability when it comes to labeling your buttons. ‘Buy’ is a lot better than ‘Add’. ‘Search’ converts a lot better than ‘Go’. Now, try to remember when was the last time you saw a Go and an Add button, it probably was not that long ago.
9. Make information easily available in different formats. Did you ever try printing your site? What if your customer needs to prepare a printout about your services and show it at an executive meeting? Do you have all your docs in PDF format. Is your site printer-friendly?
10. If your product is out of stock, inform visitors immediatelly and let them know how soon you are expecting it. Suggest that you notify then when the product is available. There is no excuse for forcing the visitors to go through a multi-step registration process only to find out that the product is out of stock.
11. Make your Shipping and Handling policy transparent and easy to understand. A $100 product that costs $100 to ship is probably not going to sell well online. Make it easy for customers to calculate shipping upfront.
12. Don’t Waste Time. Do not ask for too much information. Even your conversion process is just a request for information, make it as easy as possible. If it looks even remotely complicated, visitiros will not proceed.
13. You don’t need to demand the user’s email address before letting them download a PDF. You don’t need their phone number when they fill out an email enquiry form. A user may not want to buy from you twice – let them buy their first product, and then solicit them to buy other items.
14. Make it easy for people to trust you. Not everybody is comfortable giving their credit card online. An address – bricks and mortar, not a P.O. Box – is a good start. A phone number, with people answering the phone, also helps. Showing a privacy policy and explaining shipping procedures clearly can also help the user to trust you. If you have a SSL certificate, show the “VeriSign Secured” logo to your visitors. Never process credit cards on unsecured websites.
15. Design and content play a part in trust. You need to establish yourself as an expert, and look accordingly. A poor design gives off an unprofessional feeling. If a company can’t afford a decent website, or won’t spend the money on it, how can a user be confident that their order will be treated with the importance it deserves? The same applies to when your content is inaccurate or badly written- show that you take pride in what you do.
16. Have a Clear Returns Policy. Returns on the web are, and are likely to remain, a major issue for consumers. With a bricks and mortar shop, the customer knows where the shop is, and if they need to return the product they simply have to go back there and explain the problem. Buimg items online, this is more of an issue. This is especially true for clothing (where people cannot try items on before buying). Users are impressed with sites that have a good returns policy, and are more likely to buy from them. Let people call you with any questions about returns – this will allow them to explain their problem to a real person, which is always a good first step. Free return shipping is usually a good option, if commercially viable. People don’t like to pay to return things, especially if it is a mistake by the retailer. Finally, give the user plenty of time to return their purchase. 28 days is fairly common, but if it takes you that long to deliver a product, what is the point of such return policy? 28 days from the date of delivery is better.
17. Keep the buyer informed. When somebody buys something online, they want to know when it’s going to arrive at their door. Emailing your buyers when their product is dispatchedis a good start, but giving them a tracking number is even better.
18. Upselling other items is also a great way to add more value to your buyers. People that buy from you are doing so because they like what they get. If a user adds a product to a basket, show them other things they might like as well. If they are browsing through your product – show them similar items. While they might not buy the product they first saw, other similar items might get there attention. Upselling and cross-selling are tried and tested sales techniques; there is no reason not to use them on the web.
19. Be Memorable. There is a lot of very experienced and reasonably priced graphic designers. Do not settle for 2nd rate quality website. Between two sites that offer the exact same product, at exact same price, a site that gets a WOW will always attract more visitors.
20. Help visitors remember you. Explain why you are better. Emphasize your Unique Selling Proposition. Unless you can answer why you are better than competition, your clients will not be able to see it either.
21. Google Website Optimizer enables you to do what’s called “multivariate testing”. Google isn’t always the best tool for the job, but it is free. There are many other similar tools out there.
22. A/B split tests – Create two version of the same page and measure which one gets more clicks.
23. Create multiple landing pages for different marketing campaigns and test which ones convert better.
24. Live Chat – the options range from simple free tools like Meebo to advanced commercal packages. Statistics show that live chat is an incredible  tool for converting visitors into customers.
25. Web analytics – You can learn quite a bit from your web analytics package. At the most basic level, the “site overlay” feature tells you where people click, where they don’t click and from what page they leave your site.
26. Usability tests – the site should be easy enough to use by different demographics.
27. Leverage social networking tools. Make it easy for your visitors to twit about you, your products and services.
28. Implement a tell-a-friend feature that allows your customers to send a personalized note to their friends (Save these notes in your database – that helps you track how your visitors describe your product).
29. Use clickmapping to track where your visitors click and how far down the page they scroll. This will help you optimize site usability.
30. Ask your customers why they ordered. Offer an incentive for people to give you their feedback. They know what brought them in, and what motivated them to buy your product/service.
31. When in doubt – test. A/B split testing is easy. If you are not sure about a design for a certain page – test it. Let your visitors tell you what they like and what they do not like.
32. Did we mention price testing? What happens when you increase your price by 5%. What if you drop them by 10%?
33. Test the big things? Test big bold changes. You will get the results quicker, and you will likely get bigger improvements.
34. Don’t end the test too soon! Make sure you have enough data! There is a plaenty of statistical tools out there, use them to understand exactly what works and what does not. Don’t use the  “gut feel”.
35. Put yourself in the shoes of your visitors. Think about all the different types of person who might view your site – try to write for all of them. You might find it easier to use customer archetypes (sometimes called “personas” or “avatars”) for this. A customer archetype is a single person who is used to represent a certain segment of visitors.
36. Identify which products bring you the most overall profit, then put them in prime position on the page. Prime position means above the fold (that is, on the upper part of the page so the user doesn’t have to scroll down to see it), preferably on the left-hand side. 
37. Headlines are extremely important. If your visitor doesn’t like the headline, they won’t read any further. Test your headlines. Invest in services of a professional marketing copywriter.
38. The tagline under your logo will be viewed almost as much as the headline. So make sure it clearly expresses distinct “positioning.” It should describe what you do and how you fit into the marketplace.
39. Test odd-pricing. Odd pricing is prices that end in 9’s and 7’s, which tend to sell better. Would you or I be fooled by that? No, we’re far too smart. But someone’s falling for it, because this phenomenon has been proven over and over again.
40. Add a guarantee or test different ones. Start with the bravest guarantee you dare to test. And if it works, test some other ones.
41. Add testimonials from happy customers. In general, a video testimonial is better than a testimonial with an image, which is better than a testimonial with just a name, which is better than an anonymous testimonial.
42. Add testimonials from the media. If you don’t have any, try giving them free stuff in exchange for reviews and feedback.
43. Develop a systematic way for collecting testimonials. Train your sales staff to request a testimonial whenever they receive a compliment. Email your customers asking for testimonials. After completing each service, ask for recommendations. 
44. Test different “calls to action.” The call to action is what you waant your site visitors to do next. It is often written on the ‘proceed’ button. Test direct ones such as “Buy Now And Get 10% Off” as well as indirect ones such as “Learn More.”
45. Try making the “call to action” button nice and visible. Large brightly-colored buttons often convert better – they seem to draw the readers’ attention.
46. Test different reasons why the visitor should act promptly. For example, “offer ends Wednesday,” or “only 42 tickets left.”
47. Test different navigation structures.
48. Remove any distracting links that lead to places that do not add any value to your visitors! Does your site contain any gratuitous links that you never really considered your visitors might actually click on?
49. Consider having your introductory paragraph in a slightly more prominent font size.
50. Test giving your visitors the option to “zoom-in” to see a larger image of the product. (It’s surprising how few e-commerce sites have decent-sized images, isn’t it?)
51. Put captions under your images and test them. Going back to traditional marketing studies, people almost always read the captions under images.
52. If your page is long and requires scrolling, consider having your call to action button repeated several times on the page.
53. Test different font colors. For body copy, black on white is usually a safe bet.
54. Make sure you have search capabilities and your search results are optimized.
55. Test different versions of Contact us forms asking detailed questions vs. just a few questions and see which converts better.

There is actually quite a lot more than what we have here. Give us a call at 513-373-4216 or contact us via this form and we will work together on optimizing your site.