10 Techniques to Increase Conversions

Lose The Navigation: If you really want to increase your conversions you need to get rid of your site navigation. Crazy? Maybe, but removing your navigation links can give your visitors a more focused user experience. When they arrive, you take them where they need to go, and that’s that. They get what they came to the site for, they are happy, you are happy!

Pictures Are Good: One in three visitors spends less than 15 seconds on a page, in that time you need to grab their attention quickly, pictures do that better than words.

Video is Better: Admit it, you can’t help but click on that little transparent triangle. Everybody loves video, especially Google! So if you want to increase your search engine optimization and keep your visitors around, video is the way to go. It can also help you convey a complicated service offering quickly and videos build credibility.

Compelling Copy: When Mark Twain said, “I would have written you a shorter letter but I didn’t have time,” he wasn’t joking. It takes skill and time to write good copy. If you don’t have the skill and the time, get a professional to help you. Remember, just because someone can write well, (novelists and attorneys for example) doesn’t mean they can write good landing page copy. You need someone who can say more with fewer words.

Button Color Matters: One study found that a red button increased the number of clicks by 21% and that was without driving more traffic to the page. Test which colors are better for your target audience because the color of your buttons really does matter.

Test Your Button Copy: Studies show that the words you place on your button can have a dramatic impact on your conversion rates. In one test a simple change from using the words “order more information” to “get more information” increased conversion rates by almost 40%. Each audience is different so run some tests to find out what works best for your target audience.

Compelling Value Proposition: While being concise and to the point is important, as stated above, it doesn’t mean you should short change your value proposition. Provide enough content so that your visitors feel satisfied that you know what you are talking about and the case for taking action is clear and powerful.

Consider Longer Forms: It is true that the longer your form the greater the likelihood that your visitor will give up and move on, which is bad…. unless they weren’t really a good fit for your product or service anyway. You don’t want just any leads; you want qualified leads. Make sure your form is the right length to screen out the undead and get you the live qualified leads you’re looking for. The only way to find out what works for you is to test your form length and see what you get.

Use Social Proof: Research suggests that people are motivated to change behavior or take action based on social proof. Social proof is anything that demonstrates other people think what you’re doing is interesting or valuable. Here are just a few examples, embedded social posts, testimonials, number of likes, number of subscriptions, video testimonials, pictures of customers with a testimonial, comments, embedded social media posts, sponsors etc. Anything that demonstrates someone else thinking what you’ve got going on is important.

Don’t Just Grab and Go! Once your visitor has singed up, they have invested time and taken a chance on your trustworthiness. Don’t just take their information and run. As Seth Godin said in his groundbreaking book, Permission Marketing, when someone gives you his or her e-mail address it should be considered a sacred gift and treated with the utmost respect. So make sure you always do these three things: 1. Follow up with a thank you screen. 2. Send them a welcome e-mail with a little bonus gift. 3. Never, ever, take advantage of their very generous offer to let you communicate with them by sending them junk.

Follow these best practices and test, test, test, and you should be well on your way to building a sustainable business that benefits you and your customers.