19 Simple Conversion Rate Optimization Tips for Business Websites
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Updated December 2023
Introduction
Are you struggling to improve the conversion rate of your business website? Look no further! In this blog post, we have compiled 19 simple yet highly effective conversion rate optimization tips that will help you boost your online conversions and drive more business.
Whether you’re a business owner or a professional looking to optimize your website’s performance, these tips are tailored to provide you with actionable insights. Get ready to enhance your website’s conversion rate and take your online presence to new heights of success.
What Exactly Is Conversion Rate Optimization?
A few days ago, a client told us he gets several thousand hits a day. Ouch, that must hurt! But seriously, website hits don’t hurt, but they are not a good indication of having a useful business website. Since ‘hits‘ include ‘bounces,’ they are not an accurate tracking indicator.
A much better option is to evaluate how many website visitors convert and take action. To help you improve your conversion rate here are a few simple conversion rate optimization tips any business or product brand can easily implement.
A website’s conversion rate is the percentage of the site’s visitors performing an action deemed desirable, e.g., making a purchase, calling a telephone number, submitting an inquiry form, or engaging with a live chat function. Conversion Rate Optimization is the method of using analytics and user feedback to increase a website’s conversion rate.
How To Measure Your Conversion Rates
To measure your conversion rates effectively, follow these steps:
- Set up conversion tracking tools to monitor each desired action on your website.
- Analyze the data collected to gain insights into user behavior and identify areas for improvement.
- Implement targeted strategies to optimize your website’s conversion rates based on the findings from your analysis.
By consistently measuring and refining your conversion rates, you can enhance your website’s performance and drive more valuable actions from your visitors.
Inquiry Forms
A “Destination URL” goal can be set up in Google Analytics to record a conversion each time a user lands on the “thank you for submitting your inquiry” page.
To track conversions for inquiry forms, set up a Destination URL goal in Google Analytics that records a conversion whenever a user reaches the thank you for submitting your inquiry page.
E-Commerce Transactions
E-commerce tracking in Google Analytics can record each sale that takes place as well as the monetary value of the purchase.
Ensure that all desired actions on your website are being tracked using conversion tracking tools. Analyze the collected data to gain valuable insights into user behavior and identify areas that can be improved.
Based on the analysis findings, implement targeted strategies to optimize your website’s conversion rates. Consistently measure and refine your conversion rates to enhance your website’s performance and encourage more valuable actions from your visitors.
To track conversions for e-commerce transactions, set up enhanced e-commerce tracking in Google Analytics to record each sale and the monetary value of the purchase.
Telephone Calls
Many telephone tracking companies can record a goal in Google Analytics every time your phone rings. Each visitor to your website sees a unique number, thereby facilitating the telephone tracking company to tag a call to a particular session in Google Analytics.
Post-call options (Press 1 for lead, 2 for sale, etc.) facilitate even more granular telephone call tracking, such as separate goals for leads, sales, or non-event calls.
Engagement Through Live Chat
Finally, consider implementing live chat on your website to engage with visitors and further optimize conversions. Typically this is tracked with an event goal in Google Analytics.
Avoid Conversion Leakage!
Watch out; this is frequently mistaken for conversion rate optimization! Including an email address on your website’s “contact us” page facilitates people to send emails to that address. You can not track conversion leakage in Google Analytics!
This shortcoming results in your data becoming distorted as conversion rates are understated. Make sure to replace email addresses with contact forms that you can track.
Conversion Rate Optimization Basics
While conversion rate optimization (CRO) is an in-depth subject, a business website needs to include four things to convert at high rates:
Great Design
Research has shown that most people judge a website’s quality and trustworthiness mainly on design. Investing in great design pays off! Here are some simple landing page optimization tips that will help you increase your conversions.
Clearly State Your Offering and USP
Ensure that visitors to your website understand clearly what your offering is and what your unique selling proposition (USP) is.
Build Credibility
To be believed, you must build credibility in the eyes of users who have never heard of your company before. Here are a few tips for building a trustworthy business or product brand website.
Have a Clear and Compelling Call To Action (CTA)
Once you have handled points 1-3, leave the user in no doubt about the next step. In this case, people like being told what to do!
Do not have more than two calls to action (CTAs) per page. They will dilute each other and confuse the user.
Conversion Rate Optimization Tips
Conversion rate optimization is not simple; it requires time and diligence. Here are some tips to get you started!
Design
Use Images, Video + Bullet Points
Users hate lengthy reams of text. This is especially true for mobile consumers. Use images, video, and bullet points to convey the essential aspects of the page quickly.
Utilize Landing Pages
Most businesses have more than one product or service. Make sure to have highly targeted pages for each product or service so that users looking for that product or service are not distracted by other offerings.
Learn from The Best!
If you are unsure how to optimize your website or online store for conversions why not see what your competitors do? Analyze the websites of the most successful brands in your industry or field and take inspiration from what they do.
Great Imagery | Videos | 360 Degree Views
Users need to be able to touch your products. Including multiple, high-quality professional images, 360-degree rotation, and image zoom, and, where possible, your product’s video will dramatically increase conversion rates.
Use Models
Consumers prefer to see merchandise in a realistic setting. Present them on real models instead of hangers or mannequins when selling clothes. See how Abercrombie & Fitch and similar brands rely on models to sell their clothes.
Cross-Browser Testing and Mobile
In 2023 most consumers will likely visit your website on a mobile device at least once. Ensure your site works as it should on all browsers as well as on mobile devices. Remember that many sites receive more mobile than desktop visitors.
Promote Competitive Advantages
What sets you apart from your competitors? If you offer free shipping, next-day delivery, the lowest price on the market, etc., make sure to promote this. Yes, Virginia, in this case, it is OK to blow your own horn!
Credibility
Testimonials + Case Studies
What do happy customers say about you and your products or services? Be sure to prominently feature both testimonials and case studies, if applicable. If at all possible, make use of video. A video of a happy client speaking positively about your company is always worth an increase of a few percentage points in your conversion rate.
Keep Your Blog Up to Date
Blogging is one of the most effective ways to attract and engage your target consumer. But only if you regularly publish fresh content! If your last blog post is from six months ago, it looks shoddy, and if you have gone out of business. A post from less than a few days ago has the opposite effect.
Promote Your Social Presence
Yes, social media has a questionable reputation in 2023. But it is an effective marketing tool nonetheless. If you are active on social media, let your visitors know! Social plugins showing your aggregate follower data and feeds of your latest posts add credibility.
Trade Associations | Third Party Verification
Do you belong to a business or trade association? Have you or your business received awards or other recognition? Promote your membership in trade associations, awards, and award nominations to build further credibility.
Promote CSR Initiatives
Does your business support a local non-profit organization or participate in fundraising efforts in your community? If your company “gives back” to the community with a CSR initiative, be sure to promote this on your website. Giving back creates goodwill towards your brand.
Leverage Credibility
Your conversion rate optimization should include leveraging the credibility of your suppliers and customers. Promote their logos on your website in an “Our Clients” or “Our Brands” section.
Resources
If you have free resources like white papers and webinars, use them! Give some content away for free and then gate the rest behind a “sign-up for more” form.
Calls To Action (CTAs)
Are you asking your website visitors to take action? You simply can’t have conversion rate optimization without calls to action (CTAs). Here are some tips for creating your CTAs:
Don’t Have Too Many!
One compelling and straightforward CTA beats several. Having more than two CTAs on any page will only confuse your visitors, so they will not take action. And always give the user the obvious next step so they are clear on what to expect.
Don’t Ask for the Sale Right Away!
Effective conversion rate optimization includes putting forward your offering and unique value proposition and building credibility with your user BEFORE pushing your CTA.
Exit Popups
While many companies shy away from these, they are proven to increase conversions. What have you got to lose; the user is leaving anyway! But be sure to follow Google’s best practices when creating pop-ups, especially on mobile devices.
Don’t Ask for Unnecessary Info!
Keep your contact forms short as in only ask for essential information. Typically all you need is a name, email, and telephone number. You can get everything else from those.
Use Live Chat!
A live chat widget can convert many “on the fence” users. Live chat works 24/7, so you don’t have to. With AI you can train your chatbot to answer frequent questions, steer consumers to required products and services, and provide other helpful recommendations.
Incorporating Conversion Rate Optimization on Your Business Website
Now that you understand how the elements of a business website affect conversion rate optimization, you will want to incorporate them into your business website. For some of you, this will simply involve a better CTA.
But there may be cases where more extensive measures are required; in that case, starting with a new website may be faster and cheaper. This is especially true if your website contains any of the common website conversion killers.
Some of you may need to talk to a professional search engine optimization (SEO) specialist to determine if and how your website is tracking conversions. This would be the place to start if you do not have Google Analytics and the Google Search Console installed already.
In some cases, you may require some actual upgrades to your business website’s design and functionality. For the sake of this post, we based all recommendations for conversion rate optimization on a standard WordPress business website. You can make these recommended updates to your business website on your own or with the help of a web designer or developer.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is crucial for business owners and professionals to recognize that website hits alone do not accurately reflect the effectiveness of a business website. While hits may include bounces and provide a basic measure of traffic, they fail to capture the true value of visitor engagement and conversions. To truly optimize your business website’s performance, it is essential to focus on conversion rate optimization.
Implementing the 19 simple tips outlined in this step-by-step guide can significantly enhance user engagement and increase the number of visitors who convert and take action. Take control of your website’s success by prioritizing conversion rate optimization and reaping the benefits of a highly effective online presence.
We Can Help You Improve Your Conversion Rate
Are you unsure how to optimize conversion rates? Our award-winning team will happily help you with conversion rate optimization. But first, look at our portfolio and read our case studies.
Then, if you believe we are a good fit for your web design needs, reach out to us! We offer a full range of consulting and design solutions for businesses and product brands.
Why not get started by requesting your free estimate?
And if you are still not sure how conversion rate optimization affects your business website, don’t worry! Simply reach out and contact us. Our expert team will listen to you, answer your questions, and determine if your business website is all ready for conversion rate optimization. Or how to help you with cost-effective conversion rate optimization. That is one of our specialties, after all!
Are Your Visitors Not Converting?
Did website visitors leave before you had a chance to convert them? If so, how did you optimize conversion rates? Did our suggestions help you improve your website conversions? Please leave your comments below so our audience can benefit and grab our feed so you don’t miss our next post! And feel free to share our post with your audience!
For more content relevant to your business or product brand – check out the range of articles on our web design blog. (This one, outlining effective strategies for a high-converting website, is an excellent place to start!)
Thank you! We appreciate your help ending bad business websites, one pixel at a time!
By Gregor Saita
Co-Founder / CXO
@gregorsaita
