HOW TO CONVERT WEBSITE VISITORS INTO CUSTOMERS
Get more emails from your blog with bonus materials…
Reduce bounce rates on your most important web site pages…
Convert your website visitors into paying customers…
…and more!
Get the free checklist
to turn visitors into customers
– CRO Tip #1 – Tweet this CRO Tip
The “That’s Not All” technique
You can easily make your sales pages more attractive by adding bonuses or other “upgrades” along with the original offer. It’s important to present the original offer first and then show the bonuses after — as an upgrade. This is know as the “that’s not all technique”. Infomercials have been using this technique for years for one simple reason: it works!
Examples: Noah Kagan, Create Awesome Online Courses, Backlinko
- First you need to create the bonus or content upgrade. This can be a workbook, checklist…something to download.
- Link to the bonus using an optin form. New subscribers receive the bonus automatically.
- Be sure the bonus is truly valuable to your target customer and is related to product or service you are describing.
- Check out the LeadPages LeadMagnet service which automates the entire process for you for $37/month
- There are other solutions like OptinMonster, IceGram, PopupDomination
- Use strong calls to action and clear headlines
– CRO Tip #2 – Tweet this CRO Tip
Create More Landing Pages
Most companies just have a few landing pages — one for each product or service. Did you know that you can have significantly higher conversion rates if you have 10 or more landing pages? According to research done by Hubspot, it’s true! Want the biggest bang for your buck? Drive traffic to 40 or more landing pages. Obviously, this won’t work if you have very limited products to offer but for eCommerce sites or companies with many different product lines, consider upping the number of landing pages you have.
Examples: HubSpot, MECLabs, Amazon Category Pages
- Think about all of the products and services you offer.
- Create specific landing pages for each offering.
- Tie all of the wording and calls-to-action on each page together.
- Customize the offers in each landing page to individual target audience segments.
- HubSpot, LeadPages, WishPond, and Unbounce are awesome tools to make landing pages quickly and easily.
- Don’t show all of your landing pages in your main site navigation. Control the traffic flow to only those customers that are interested in that specific service.
- If you are struggling to think of differnt landing page ideas, think about creating them for each segment of your target audience. For example, if you are a fitness coach: consider making one page for women, another for men, a third for senior citizens, etc.
Cross-sell, Upsell, and Downsell
It’s easier to sell more to someone who is already buying than a brand new prospective customer. Think about the last time you went to the grocery store and you ended up buying way more than you planned. McDonald’s perfected this technique long ago with a simple phrase: “Would you like fries with that?” Amazon knows that I’ve been looking at Wii controllers (for my kids, of course!) and automatically recommends similar products that I might also be interested in (games) as a new sales opportunity. Learn from the masters and figure out how to upsell, cross-sell, and downsell.
Examples: Amazon.com, RitzCamera Extended Warranties, XFINITY Triple Play
Expected Results: 79% Conversion Rate Increase — source
- Take a look at what your customers have recently purchased from you.
- Take 3-4 different (but related) items and add a recommendation section to each of the individual items sales pages.
- For example, if you sell fitness workout videos, add a section for workout equipment or gear.
- Also consider creating “bundle packages” as an additional offer with it’s own landing page.
- Consider the timing of certain purchases as well. For example, if you sell electronics gear you know that your customer will likely need accessories as well.
- Don’t overload your customers with too many options. Make sure the upsell is genuinely valuable.
- To prevent “upsell overload” include the recommendations in a sequence one after the other. For example, if you are selling fitness tshirts, add in a recommendation for workout shorts. If the customer adds those to their car, recommend a warmup sweatshirt. This way, you aren’t overloading them with 5 different things to buy all at once.
– CRO Tip #4 – Tweet this CRO Tip
Don’t Make Me Think
If people can’t get access to your website or fill out a form to get your free guide or sign up for your course…they are NOT going to try multiple times until they get it just right. Make it painfully obvious EXACTLY what you need from them. Protip: Use “inline validation” where possible to show errors immediately. Don’t make visitors click submit, then tell them there’s a problem, and then make them resubmit there information. Chances are they will just move on to the next site (your competitors!)
Examples: Twitter.com Sign Up Page, Etsy.com Registration Page
Expected Results: 170% Conversion Rate Increase — source
- Make sure that each of your website forms (contact forms, email optins, order forms, etc.) include inline validation. That means that your visitors and customers will instantly see if there’s a problem with what they are submitting.
- Remove unneccesary form fields. Only ask for information that’s absolutely critical. For example, only ask for email address on email opt-in forms.
- Most popular form software and shopping cart software have these techniques built in automatically, but you should check on your specific forms.
- Make sure that your customer knows exactly how to fix the problem.
- Error messages should be in red and give super clear instructions if something goes wrong.
- A few popular WordPress solutions are NinjaForms, GravityForms, Contact Forms 7, Formidable Forms, and Jetpack forms.
– CRO Tip #5 – Tweet this CRO Tip
The “Behind the Scenes” Technique
Want to stand out in a crowded field? One solution is to tell an interesting story along with selling your products and services. There are fanatics that will buy multiple copies of the same product because each edition contains some different piece of background information. This is a very old selling strategy, but Apple is using it TODAY to sell billions of dollars worth of iPhones, iPads, and Watches. During each of the Apple launch announcements, their SVP of Design will go through in passionate detail all of the work that was involved in delivering the final version of the latest iPhone into the hands of lines and lines of customers.
P.S. Want to see where the inspiration for this guide came from? Watch the video now :)
Examples: Apple Watch Craftsmanship, Miller Beer Brewing Process, Scharffen Berger – The Artisan Process
Expected Results: 101% Conversion Rate Increase — source
- Run through each of the products or services you sell.
- Think about how each of them came to be. What was your process like? How did that idea first spark? How did you get from idea to final delivery? It’s guaranteed to be a unique story!
- If you are just getting started, consider creating quick videos or documents with things you encounter along the way.
- Be super specific. Lexus is a luxury car brand that boasts a “rigorous 161-point checklist” instead of a “screening process”.
- Be careful to match your customer’s and prospect’s expectations. If they aren’t interested in the backstory than you are wasting your time.
- Make sure you can back up any specific claims you make.
- You don’t want to make it sound like you are complaining. Instead of “it took me 5 months and 50 agonizing phone calls to finally find a supplier” focus on the customer by saying “I worked tirelessly through more than 53 phone calls over 150 days to supply the exact quality materials that you have come to expect from me.” Read the examples from this tip for some inspiration.
– CRO Tip #6 – Tweet this CRO Tip
Focus on Engagement Before the Sale
Brand new visitors to your website are NOT likely to buy an expensive product or service from you. It’s much better to develop a relationship that (over time) will naturally progress into a sale. Think about the last purchase you made…was it from someone that you knew or a complete stranger? Not everyone is ready to buy on the first visit but there are still ways to get them engaged like collecting emails, asking for for a Twitter follow, or offering a free trial.
Examples: Fizzle Online Biz Training $1 to Get Started, Anytime Fitness Free Trial Pass, Optimizely Free Trial
Expected Results: 12% Conversion Rate Increase — source
- Tweak an existing service into a bite-sized version.
- Example 1: Fitness coaches can offer a 15-minute coaching phone call. Example 2: Landscapers can offer a free estimate of any home or office.
- Make sure the benefit to your visitor is super clear and obvious. Remove any friction and don’t make them think.
- Create a new email capture form with your bite-sized, no-risk offer and a strong call to action.
- Think about other offers that won’t cost you money but are really valuable to your visitors.
- Things like private Facebook Groups, monthly group phone calls, etc. are things that scale well, meaning it doesn’t take any extra effort from you to add people over time.
- Make sure that the engagements are actually turning into sales. Change up your offer if you aren’t seeing results after 2-3 weeks.
– CRO Tip #7 – Tweet this CRO Tip
The “Rival Comparison” Technique
Show how your products and service stack up against the competition. Make a super clear, super direct listing of features and benefits. If you can show that you offer a much better service than someone else serving the same audience, then your visitors will go with you.
Bonus tip: Showing your competitors information shows that you have absolutely nothing to hide. It also saves your visitors from having to do any comparisons themselves.
Examples: Saddleback Leather, Window Genie, Evetos Event Management
Expected Results: 12% Conversion Rate Increase — source
- Head over to your competitor’s website.
- Jot down the important details of all products/services that are similar to yours.
- List the information on a page in your website.
- Be sure to include the information on how you stack up.
- Use google to find sites “related” to yours: Google “related:yourwebsite.com”
- You can also think about how your visitors might find your site. For example, searching if you’re a tax professional in Boston analyze the top ten results for that search phrase and add that to your rivals comparison page.
- Trouble finding suitable rivals? You can use SimilarSiteSearch, SitesLikeSearch, or SimilarSites and enter the site of someone else you follow online with a larger web presence.
– CRO Tip #8 – Tweet this CRO Tip
Think “Benefits” not “Tasks”
Think of two different buttons on a page. One says “Save Money Now” and the other says “Register Here”. Both buttons will take you to the same exact place. Research shows that one of these buttons will outperform the other. Can you guess which one? You got it — the one that talks about benefits to the end user. Obviously, you can’t go to crazy with standard buttons, either. If they need to upload a file don’t call the button something clever or vague. But, if you want to increase conversions on newsletter sign ups for example, consider putting something that tells your visitor exactly what results they will get if they take the desired action.
Examples: Quicksprout, Robbie Richards, Moz.com
Expected Results: 90% Conversion Rate Increase — source
- Review each of the calls-to-action on your site: buttons, links, etc.
- Think to yourself: if I was a brand new visitor, would I be compelled to click through?
- If not, try adding a benefits statement to the button or link.
- Remove any remaining links/buttons that don’t offer a clear benefit to your audience. It’s distracting!
- You can use A/B Testing Tools like Optimizely, Visual Web Optimizer, or Google Page Optimizer to make sure that the benefits resonate with your audience.
- Focus on your main pages and main calls-to-action first.
- Finally, move on to secondary pages or sub-pages or pages with low traffic.
– CRO Tip #9 – Tweet this CRO Tip
Avoid Coupon Code Scavenger Hunts
This might be the most surprising CRO tip of them all! Think about it, when you are surfing around the web looking for a new pair of shoes or a birthday gift and you finally find what you’re looking for. You add the items to your shopping cart and click “Check Out”. Then you are tempted with the MOST COMPELLING REASON EVER to leave their site! The “Coupon Code” field! Now, you leave their site (protip: it’s called cart abandonment, btw) to go hunting for coupon codes. Is that what you want people doing on your site? It’s better off completely removing those fields to make sure people aren’t distracted from actually buying your products!
Examples: SwansonVitamins (doing it wrong!), Lord of the Rings Online, ShadesDaddy Sunglasses
Expected Results: 27% Conversion Rate Increase — source
- If you use coupon codes on your site, do not make your visitors go search online for the code!
- Simply put the coupon code right on the page.
- Any revenue you might have lost from the promotion will be gained by avoiding cart abandonment.
- Other creative ideas for coupon codes to boost conversions the smart way
- Include coupon codes creatively with retargeting and to avoid cart abandonment
- Distribute coupon codes to strategic partners and affiliates
- Use coupon cods to track and measure marketing ROI
- Reward your most loyal Facebook fans (or any other social network)
- Track revenue sources at events, seminars, or webinars
- The smartest thing is to make it easy for your visitors to use the codes!
– CRO Tip #10 – Tweet this CRO Tip
Provide the Right Info at the Right Time
You might not believe it, but super long sales pages convert insanely high. Ramit Sethi has a 47-page long sales page. Peep Laja has a massive sales page too. These guys know what they are doing and provide the right information to help address objections in a smart way. They provide the right info to their readers at the right time. Consider adding a “one pager” to your site — even if it would span multiple pages if printed out on paper.
Examples: AppSumo Monthly1k, Apple Watch Page, Renegade Diet
Expected Results: 63% Conversion Rate Increase — source
- Review your landing pages and ask three questions
- What do potential customers need to know in order to complete the order?
- Is there any important info missing?
- Is there anything that’s unclear or that might cause anxiety or questions?
- Be sure to ask current customers, too! “Was there any information left out when you decided to purchase?”
- Better yet, host a Q&A webinar and answer each of the questions into your landing pages.
- Follow design best practices: plain language, 3-4 sentence paragraphs, section headings, attractive design
Need help implementing these strategies for YOUR website? Let’s chat! Drop me a line brian@insightscope.com