Improve Your Own Conversions With These Simple Steps
Improve Your Own Conversions With These Simple Steps
The first issue this site-in-question had was the webmaster (who is also the business owner) was too familiar with the business. His copy was full of industry terms and technical jargon that his site visitors didn't understand.
Unless your prospect is a total industry insider, it will probably be necessary to "dumb down" your web site copy. Use common terms and phrases that your prospects would use on a normal basis. Read through your copy and as you hit questionable words, ask yourself "Have I ever heard my customers say that?" If not, replace that word with a more commonly used term.
Make sure your visitors can find what they're looking for. The site I was hired to critique was driving a large portion of its traffic through a display ad in a trade magazine. My client reasoned "The visitors already know we offer XYZ service because that's what the ad talked about. I want the web site to show them what else we can do." So the landing page highlighted my client's ABC service and never even mentioned the XYZ service.
It seems like a logical approach, unfortunately, that's not how web surfers think. They are looking for immediate gratification. If they come to your site based on an ad for XYZ, chances are 90% or better that they are specifically looking for XYZ. If they can't find it quickly and easily, they simply leave. Web site competition is too fierce to expect your prospect to spend his time hunting and digging through your site. Give him what he's looking for right away.
We redesigned the landing page to showcase my client's XYZ service and we saw an immediate reduction in the bounce rate.
And speaking of finding things quickly and easily, it's imperative that your site visitor can complete his task quickly and easily. Don't ever interrupt the flow of conversion! My client broke into the checkout process by presenting the visitor with a survey on the second screen of the shopping cart. His logic was, "These are the people making a purchase, these are actual customers. These are the opinions I want, and I want to grab them while I have their undivided attention."
I'll admit, that logic makes sense. But again, that's not the way web surfers think. Any thing that stops them in their tracks is only an invitation to leave the site. We simply moved the survey to the end of the checkout process and made a few tweaks to the survey process itself (that's a topic for another day.)
Other things we did to improve this web site included cleaning up the navigation, improving the call to action, removing the over-used back button and updating most of the graphics.
The increased conversion rate was almost magical and my client thinks I'm a hero. Not bad for a few easy fixes that you can easily apply to your own web site in a short amount of time.
Improve Your Own Conversions With These Simple Steps - To learn more about this author, visit Karen Scharf's Website.
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I was recently hired to critique a web site and suggest changes that could improve conversion rates. There were several backbone upgrades that I recommended, but what I want to focus on now are the front-end problems that might also be plaguing your own site.
The first issue this site-in-question had was the webmaster (who is also the business owner) was too familiar with the business. His copy was full of industry terms and technical jargon that his site visitors didn't understand.
Unless your prospect is a total industry insider, it will probably be necessary to "dumb down" your web site copy. Use common terms and phrases that your prospects would use on a normal basis. Read through your copy and as you hit questionable words, ask yourself "Have I ever heard my customers say that?" If not, replace that word with a more commonly used term.
Make sure your visitors can find what they're looking for. The site I was hired to critique was driving a large portion of its traffic through a display ad in a trade magazine. My client reasoned "The visitors already know we offer XYZ service because that's what the ad talked about. I want the web site to show them what else we can do." So the landing page highlighted my client's ABC service and never even mentioned the XYZ service.
It seems like a logical approach, unfortunately, that's not how web surfers think. They are looking for immediate gratification. If they come to your site based on an ad for XYZ, chances are 90% or better that they are specifically looking for XYZ. If they can't find it quickly and easily, they simply leave. Web site competition is too fierce to expect your prospect to spend his time hunting and digging through your site. Give him what he's looking for right away.
We redesigned the landing page to showcase my client's XYZ service and we saw an immediate reduction in the bounce rate.
And speaking of finding things quickly and easily, it's imperative that your site visitor can complete his task quickly and easily. Don't ever interrupt the flow of conversion! My client broke into the checkout process by presenting the visitor with a survey on the second screen of the shopping cart. His logic was, "These are the people making a purchase, these are actual customers. These are the opinions I want, and I want to grab them while I have their undivided attention."
I'll admit, that logic makes sense. But again, that's not the way web surfers think. Any thing that stops them in their tracks is only an invitation to leave the site. We simply moved the survey to the end of the checkout process and made a few tweaks to the survey process itself (that's a topic for another day.)
Other things we did to improve this web site included cleaning up the navigation, improving the call to action, removing the over-used back button and updating most of the graphics.
The increased conversion rate was almost magical and my client thinks I'm a hero. Not bad for a few easy fixes that you can easily apply to your own web site in a short amount of time.
Improve Your Own Conversions With These Simple Steps - To learn more about this author, visit Karen Scharf's Website.
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Cheryl MatthynssensCheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur. Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well. A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles. She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide- to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being. Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com - Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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