8 Ways to Boost Your Website’s Conversion Rate

You already offer well-written and helpful content on your website. You’ve also been working hard to tap various online marketing channels in order to increase the traffic levels to your website. Now, harness the influx of site visitors and turn it into a steady stream of buyers. Here are some effective ways to do that.

Use Only One Powerful Call to Action Per Landing Page

The psychologist Barry Schwartz wrote a book about the mechanisms governing how people make choices. He argued that fewer choices mean less anxiety for consumers.

So, if you want your site visitors to buy, don’t provide them with other options not to do so right away. Multiple CTAs can be distracting and confusing. Imagine having to navigate an e-commerce page filled with numerous CTAs proclaiming “buy this,” “buy that,” or “check out this discounted item right here instead”–all in bright orange fontfaces. Offering a lot of choices to your customers is not a bad thing, but when you present all of them at the same time on a single webpage, those crucial seconds a potential buyer spends deciding on the available options can make him rethink his decision to purchase. And you don’t want him to second-guess his decision. You want him to click the “Buy Now” button then complete the sales transaction.

Make Your CTA Buttons Prominent

Your CTA buttons should not blend in with and resemble other webpage elements. Make them visually enticing by placing them inside “containers,” or design elements that lend dimension to the buttons so that they look as if they were protruding from the webpage.

In addition, consider using bright orange for your buy buttons. Orange elicits eagerness, according to color psychology. If you are doing a holiday sales drive or a time-sensitive clearance sale, you might want to use red to denote urgency. Then position a countdown timer in a strategic spot.

Get rid of actionable links, too. They have been found to be not as effective as call-to-action buttons.

Include Real-World Success Stories, Testimonials, and Affiliations

You can persuade more people to buy your product if you show them the “proof” of your product’s effectiveness. Provide testimonials and success stories from your clients and customers. A prospective buyer should see these details on the landing page where you expect the sales conversion to happen.

Affiliations, on the other hand, can make your company appear credible. They tell your customers and clients that they are dealing with a trustworthy brand. If your small business is a member of the local Better Business Bureau chapter or the Chamber of Commerce, then say so on your website. Being perceived as trustworthy can do wonders for your brand and your conversion.

Use the Words “Guaranteed” and “Free”

Studies show 60 percent of consumers feel confident and are more likely to purchase a product if they see the word “guaranteed” being related to the product.

Similarly, a compelling case study by Soocial.com revealed that when added to the CTA, the phrase “It’s free” resulted in a 28-percent increase in conversion. You can insert the word “free,” for instance, when emphasizing the value of your offer. Just make sure that it is used appropriately and that you are, indeed, offering something for free.

Display Security Seals

This can be an expensive undertaking, but it helps generate sales for your website.

Security seals can allay the fears of online shoppers who are hesitant to enter their credit card details in your site. ConversionIQ reported that sales jumped by 11 percent when the sign “Norton Secured Seal (powered by VeriSign)” was displayed on every page.

Offer Several Product Images

Online shoppers appreciate being offered multiple perspectives of the product in question. They might also want to see its size in scale or in relation to another familiar item. If you are selling clothes, for example, consumers will want to see the clothes being worn by a model. Don’t skimp on images as they can help increase sales.

One great tip is to introduce interactive elements allowing web users to magnify high-resolution sections of your product.

Leverage videos, too. Bank on its popularity as a selling medium by including informational video snippets showcasing the use of your product.

Take Advantage of White Space

Lots of impressive design elements and well-written product copy can make for a visually appealing feast. But don’t underestimate the persuasive power of a clean, uncluttered webpage with a prominently positioned CTA button.

Always provide plenty of white spaces in your webpages. This allows your site visitors to effortlessly move their gaze toward the information they are looking for. However, don’t overdo the blank spaces because they can lead to a feeling of disconnect from the actionable part of the webpage. The supporting content should not appear disparate from the CTA button.

Shorten Your Page Loading Time

If you are running a startup business and you are still in the process of establishing your brand, then your site’s loading time can more likely spell the difference between a sale and a site visitor leaving even before the landing page has completely loaded.

There’s already a lot of research proving the importance of quick loading times in improving conversion rates. For example, the software company Intuit, Inc. showed in 2013 that an additional three-percent increase in conversion was possible for each second shaved off from 15 to seven seconds of page loading time.

Start by removing all the unnecessary metadata from the images embedded in your website. Reset the JPEG quality between 50 and 75 percent. This compresses image file sizes without sacrificing the quality of the photos. You can also make use of image compressor apps such as Blubox, CompressNow, FILEMinimizer Pictures, ImageOptim, JPEGmini, Radical Image Optimization Tool, Shrink O’Matic, Shrink Pictures, and Trimage.

Other ways to speed up a sluggish website is to enable browser caching and to combine individually rendered CSS and JS files.

More and more people are shopping through their mobile devices. Attention spans are decreasing. Your website should adapt to the times. Think mobile-friendly, fast loading, professionally designed, and dazzling with concise, carefully worded copy.