Boosting Conversion
Designing a great website is one thing. Making site visits convert into sales or customer signups is another. Companies that take a structured approach to their conversion strategy are twice as likely to increase their sales.
Designing a great website is one thing. Making site visits convert into sales or customer signups is another. Companies that take a structured approach to their conversion strategy are twice as likely to increase their sales.
Your website must be easy for customers to navigate and search. Web visitors should be able to quickly find what they’re looking for on your site. If they can’t find the information they want right away, they’re likely to move on to another site that’s easier to navigate. To make your website easy to navigate, consider including menus, sitemaps and Frequently Asked Questions. Menus and sitemaps should clearly describe what information can be found on each page. Remember: it’s not the job of the consumer to find information — it’s your job to make the information on your site easy to find and understand.
In today’s digital world, tons of web searches begin on mobile devices. Your website should have responsive design, which means it automatically resizes and reconfigures itself based on the device it’s being displayed on. Another option to responsive design is having a mobile version of your website, but responsive design provides the most streamlined user experience and is considered the best option for SEO purposes. Regardless of what approach you choose — responsive design or a mobile version — it’s critical that you make your site compatible with mobile devices. More than half of today’s web searches begin on mobile devices. So, if customers can’t access your website on their mobile device, you could be losing half of your potential customer interaction and business.
Your website must be set up to clearly communicate your message. Internet users don’t have the patience to play detective — they expect content to be easily understandable and digestible. If your site visitors have to spend more than five seconds trying to understand what your company does, they’ll move on to another site. When designing your website, keep your layout and design simple and clutter-free. Don’t try to cram too much into a given space — this is a situation where less is more. Make sure images are sized correctly and don’t overlap. Give everything on the page room to breathe. For written content, keep language simple and straightforward. Eliminate excess information and make sure it’s organized in a way that customers can easily find it. Short paragraphs, bullets and subheadings can help you organize written content and make it easier for users to scan and process text. Remember that web readers aren’t reading content word for word — they’re usually scanning for the information they need.
The first 10 seconds of a user’s page visit are critical for the user’s decision to stay on the page or leave. Web readers are extremely skeptical and don’t invest lots of time on individual pages. If the user stays after 10 seconds, they’re more likely to spend additional time on the site. So your job is to grab their attention up front and keep it. Think of a storefront window display. If the stuff in the window is interesting, passersby are likely to stop in and look around, increasing the likelihood they’ll make a purchase. The same goes for your website. If your website homepage is attractive and engaging, users are more likely to go beyond the homepage and look at other content on your site. Consider changing elements of your landing page and homepage occasionally. Fresh content will keep users interested and encourage them to visit the site again.