You have probably heard a lot about website conversion rates and how important they are, but perhaps you have not investigated them more than that. Let's examine some basics about the conversion rate for your website, and how to increase — then maintain — yours.
What Is a Conversion Rate, and How Do You Calculate Yours?
A conversion rate represents the ratio of website visitors who engage in a desirable action — the conversion. One website might define a sale as a conversion while another considers that one happens when a person registers for a webinar or signs up for a newsletter. The first thing you need to figure out is what constitutes a conversion on your website.
After you determine that, calculate the conversion rate by dividing the total conversions by the number of people who visited your website in a given period and multiply that number by 100.
Now that you understand how to calculate the conversion rate, it is easy to track it over time. You can even analyze your conversions as a marketing tool. Start by working backward through the sales funnel to see which actions website visitors took before they engaged in those helpful actions that factored into your conversion rate.
Here are some practical ways you can increase your conversion rate and keep it high.
1. Emphasize Your Company's Value Proposition
A value proposition is what you promise to the people who choose to do business with you. It might encompass low prices, convenience, superb service, or anything that makes your enterprise stand out.
Make sure that website visitors can immediately understand — and recognize — your value proposition. If they cannot quickly answer the "What's in it for me?" question, they will likely leave without converting. Use concise sentences and carefully chosen words to help people see that your product, company, or service is worth their attention.
2. Create Videos for Your Website
Including videos on your website could help conversions and engagement levels by keeping people interested. Consider that videos can help you show things that may be challenging to convey through text alone. Clips can also showcase high-tech equipment, production procedures, or aspects of your company culture.
Another beneficial aspect of videos is that they work well as instructional platforms. Perhaps you want your company's top tech expert to walk people through how a platform works or give people tips for using a product they can buy from you.
A video can be easier to follow than a list of written steps. Using them also makes it more likely that visitors will stay for a while on your website.
3. Offer Help and Track Service-Related Metrics
If website visitors have any unanswered questions, they may leave your website too quickly and adversely affect conversion rates. Consider providing a phone number for people to call if they need assistance. You might also offer a live chat service.
Tracking metrics associated with your customer service team can also show where room for improvement exists. Statistics indicate that the best practice is to have 80% of your calls answered within 20 seconds. If your representatives take longer than that on average, your company could miss out on new business opportunities. It's also useful to have call center workers ask how people heard about the company. You can then measure how many website visitors make calls.
4. Provide Content to Raise Customer Trust Levels
Reviews, testimonials, and guarantees can all help increase your conversion rate by convincing customers they are not taking significant risks by doing business with you. People do not like to feel that they have no choice but to put blind confidence in your company and hope for the best.
By making it easy for new visitors to read feedback from customers, you will help them get content that can set their expectations. Improving transparency also gives people the impression that you have nothing to hide. Making content accessible means people can get educated without leaving your site, too.
5. Keep Mobile Users in Mind
Many people are more likely to access your site on mobile devices than computers. Stay aware of that reality by making your content mobile-friendly and tweaking the user experience.
As you scrutinize your site and improve it for people accessing it on smartphones and tablets, you'll also likely notice things to enhance that make your website better no matter how people access it. Pay attention to forms, checkout flows, buttons, and other interactive parts of your website. What aspects of them might make people so frustrated that they leave?
An Ongoing Process
These tips will help you raise your conversion rate and keep it high. Treat website conversion rates as metrics you can work on continually to cater to visitors and meet their needs.
About the Author
Kayla Matthews is a researcher, writer and blogger covering topics related to technology, smart gadgets, the future of work and personal productivity.
She is the owner and editor ProductivityTheory.com and ProductivityBytes.com. Previously, Kayla was a senior writer at MakeUseOf and contributing freelancer to Digital Trends.
Kayla's work has also been featured on Houzz, Dwell, Inman and Curbed. Additionally, her work has appeared on Quartz, PRNewswire, The Week, The Next Web, Lifehacker, Mashable, The Daily Dot, WIRED and others.
