The rule of the game, when you run a business that has an online presence is to increase website conversions, by turning your visitors into customers. Ultimately, the more products or services you sell, the better chances your business has to thrive and grow. In the online world, as you probably know, a positive interaction with a potential customer is called a conversion. If you’re one of the 50 million businesses that work with Google Analytics, the free online monitoring tools from Google – although it has a paid for version it’s a topic for another article – you probably know exactly what conversion tracking is about. In fact, Google Analytics makes it easier for marketers, as it can even notify you about every simple conversion or significant change in your conversion rate if you define rules for email alerts. However, knowing where to find your conversions doesn’t mean that you know how to improve them.

Are you attracting visitors?

The first question you should ask yourself about your conversions is whether you receive enough visitors to your website to increase your customer acquisition. Indeed, if your website is ineffective in attracting or keeping visitors, it will not be able to maximize conversions. A site that is slow to load, for instance, tends to register a high bounce rate, aka people leave rapidly. Additionally, poor SEO makes it more difficult to get new potential conversions.

Define the funnel of your conversion path

If a sale is the conversion that you are seeking, you must consider that most visitors to your website will need to follow a conversion path before they are ready to commit to making a purchase. Consequently, they will go through a series of micro conversions – you can learn more about it here – that are designed to increase their confidence in the value of your offerings. Signing up for the newsletters or downloading a brochure are positive interactions that can lead to a purchase. You need to facilitate these micro touchpoints to drive valuable conversions at the end of their experience with you.
Do you facilitate conversions?
If your website offers an online selling service, you might need to spend some time improving the user experience on the page. Indeed, a website that doesn’t accept common payment methods, such as PayPal for example, might register drops in the conversion process. Additionally, if the conversion steps are too complex or time-demanding, visitors might prefer to look for another website with a more straightforward process. For instance, the addition of the option of buying as a guest on online retailer sites can increase conversions by up to 45%.

What about the emotional converter?

The decision to buy is not driven by logic only. Customers also react to your emotional branding. Consequently, if you fail to hook visitors to your brand or your business story, you might find it difficult to convince them that you’ve got the right solutions for them. The ability to show empathy within your content and to use language the customers can relate to can make a great deal of difference in boosting purchase confidence, and therefore conversions.
A conversion is the result of conveying the right message, the right connection at the right time, the right button options, the right process and the appropriate visibility. It’s not an easy balance to maintain. But it’s worth your efforts. Increase website conversions, increase your business income.

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