Conversion optimisation Category

How to get more enquiries from your website.

2015-03-02T14:37:33+13:00

We all want our website to send us tons of business, right?

But acheiving this can be a frustratingly elusive goal for many business owners.

Fortunately I'm here to tell you there are proven tactics to work toward acheiving it and some of them are contained in this post.

Using AIDA to improve website conversion rates

2013-03-03T13:57:17+13:00

People often cry "My website gets plenty of visitors, but they aren't doing anything!" By 'anything' they mean they aren't filling out that form, requesting a quote, buying something, subscribing to a blog or whatever other action is required.

This can be very frustrating, as after all that's why you spent all that time, effort and money to get the website looking like the thing of beauty that it (hopefully) is.

The process of turning a visitor (prospect or lead) into a sale (sign up, enquiry or purchase) is what is know as conversion. Your website could (actually, no – make that should) have multiple conversion goals to support different stages in the buying cycle.

And if it's not happening on your website, the question is "Why?" and that's what this article is all about. But first things first.....

Is your content trashing your conversion potential?

2012-08-07T15:44:00+12:00

Content is a critical part of turning those hard-won website visitors into customers. Yeah I know you've probably heard it all before.

If you've ever written anything, you also know creating good content is just plain hard work and sometimes not much fun at all (writers block anyone). And after all that effort - are you left with content that still doesn't quite do it?

It's frustrating because you want to get something out of all that effort, right?

So, here's some not too complicated tips to improve your chances of getting it right and having more people hit that 'buy now' or 'sign up' button.

Have a well desribed audience in mind

Many many times, a business will tell us their audience is 'any business' or even 'anyone that wants my products'. Its tempting not to exclude anyone, but ultimately counter productive.

To create great content, you need to know who you are talking to. Who they are. What they need and what their pain is – because you have to convince them you are going to make that pain go away.
You might need to canvas your existing customer base to see who it is that is buying from you. You might be surprised to find out just who they are. For us, a large percentage of our highest value clients are over 45.

If you know who you are trying to appeal to then you can focus your message to their drivers, personalities and needs specifically, rather than those of everyone on the planet.

A companion to focus within your copy, is a focus of the page itself. Try and keep links and other distracting offers to a minimum and relevant to the page topic. And no blinking flashing images and animations either. Just. Don't. Do it.

Describe the problem you solve.

This follows on from the first point about targeting and helps people relate to your message – you want them to say 'Yes that's me!'

It's amazing how many websites have lovely descriptions of various products or services, but nothing about why anyone would want to buy them.

Think it's obvious? Not always. Beds aren't just different in style and price. The right mattress will help prevent back and neck pain, and different materials help combat allergies.

Sometime you'll have to convince them it is a problem they have to solve sooner instead of later, by creating a sense of urgency.

Point out what will happen if they don't get what you can give them.

Make it about them – not you.

People aren't interested in you. It doesn't matter how cool you think your product or service or company mascot is. It's all about them and the few minutes they'll give you before going back to checking their Facebook page.

I've seen it called the 'we' test – if you use the word 'we' too many times on a page, then it's not about them (your audience), but about you and your company.

Give them compelling benefits.

This needs to happen pretty quickly, so include value statements in your headline and benefits up front.

You only have a few seconds to capture attention and get people to 'read on'. Appealing to their emotional needs is an effective way to capture their interest at this point.

What do sausages have to do with marketing your business explains what emotional needs have to do with conversion.

Deal with obstacles and objections .

If you know people have reservations about your service (pity the poor Dentist or Insurance salesperson!) deal with them head on.

Not by berating or brow beating people until they give up of course, but by focusing on what you do that will overcome their fears.

For objections around price, focus on the value for money you provide.
For objections around them being too busy focus on how you will save them time
If it's complacency or even fear of change, focus on the benefits they could start seeing as soon as they switch and how the change can be made painless for them

You'll likely know what these concerns are from the questions you get asked all the time. You know they ones, it's the things people always 'want' that you often accompanied by an eye-roll or a head-slapping "Don't they get it?".

Build Trust

How do people know you're not a con artist scheming to run off with their hard won earnings? You aren't there to reassure them so your website has to.

There are lots of things you can do on your site that go toward building trust and they include:

Quality – from the design of your site, to it's images and correct grammar and spelling
Team/individual photo's – people do business with people
Testimonials – real ones
Awards and qualifications if you have them
Money back guarantees

Check this list of 12 ways your website is destroying trust in your business

Telling them is not enough – you've got to showthem.
- If your hotel has the best views in town, include a picture to prove it.
- If your prices are the cheapest – include a comparison chart
- If you save them money – include a savings chart or calculator
- If you 'make it easy', don't get them to fill out a three page application form before you even make contact with them.

You have to back up your claim in your tag line.

Tell them what to do.

Yes, you really do have to be explicit:

sign up and save
enquire today
click here
download now

You also have to persuade them to do it now, and this is where those 'special offers' come into play because they create a sense of scarcity. If they don't do it now, they might miss out!

Give them something in exchange

If you ask for their email address, give them something of value back for free. This is how you build your list – one of your most important assets.

White papers
Ebooks
Case Studies
Limited period or functionality trials

At the end of the day, one of the most important things to have is a viable product or service offering that solves a problem for your target audience that you can describe in a compelling way.

If you don't have that, it will be much, much harder to do all of the above.

It can be hard to write content that doesn't read like a user manual - if you struggle for inspiration read this great post from Hubspot: How to write the Most Boring Content of All Time

What do sausages have to do with marketing your business?

2012-08-03T11:24:56+12:00

When making a purchasing decision, people have two types of need – emotional needs and functional or factual ones. Which is more important?

You need to take care of BOTH of these in your content if you want a greater chance of success.

But decisions are as much as 80% emotion and explains why marketers try and appeal to our emotions. Apple are very successful. They make good gadgets, but really it's about the cool factor and why Apple fans will buy Apple products sight unseen. They'll just back up their decision by pointing out the design features.

The order in which you appeal to these emotions and logic is also important, because people make decisions based on emotions and then use logic to back up or justify the decision.

Sell the sizzle before you sell the sausage.

Which means selling the benefits (which appeal to emotions), before the features (which appeal to logic). Good article headlines appeal to some emotion: Fear – the most powerful one, Greed. Pride. Guilt. Hope.

The simplest why to find out which emotion you need to appeal to, is to find out what keeps your customer up at night. Talk to them. As them WHY they want to do something. These are sometimes called their 'hot buttons'.

If you can find out what their goals, passions and fears are, it will open the door for an emotional connection that takes precedent over features and price.

Emotions are also why building trust on your website is so important.

Eventually you will have to get to the factual bit (some would say the boring bit) because logic and fact justifies the decision.

And quite often, buyers can't (or won't) explain their decision in terms of the underlying emotion, but will explain it in logic terms – even if that logic doesn't always stack up!

12 ways your website is destroying trust in your business

2012-07-27T09:31:00+12:00

Poor Design

Visitors to your site will judge the quality of your products and services based on how professional your website looks.

Websites that are disorganised, incomplete, out of date or full of advertisements tell visitors that you are also disorganised, fail to deliver and just want to sell them something. Sounds appealing, doesn't it?

No Company Information

What are you trying to hid? You don't have to have your mug shot on the website if you don't really want to but you need to be upfront about who the company is. Nothing creates suspicion more than looking like you don't want people to know who you are.

Make sure you include content about the people, where you are based and what your credentials are (eg qualifications, experience or customer list)

No Contact Details

There is nothing more frustrating than a site with no contact information on it other than a form. Several times I've found sites where the form isn't working for some reason – so then what? There is also a subtle implication that you want people to do business YOUR way, not one that works for them. How many people want to be dictated to?

No Pricing Information

By not providing costs you erode the chance people will make a decision to buy from you – how can they, without all the necessary information?

If you don't provide this information, people will fill in the gaps themselves and as a result have an expectation of a cost that is way higher, or more likely way lower, than your actual price.

On Ecommerce sites, make sure your shipping costs can be found or calculated. One of the biggest causes of shopping cart abandonment is lack of transparency of the final cost of purchase.

Plagiarised content

Most people do a bit of research when looking for a product or service. If they spot content on your site that they have seen somewhere else, they will assume you stole it.

The exception is product information if you are a distributor and have permission to use the manufacturer's material. It's even better if you put your own touch on it by adding more descriptions, examples of how your customers used the service and reviews if you have any.

Lots of Spelling/Grammar Errors

Spelling and grammar mistakes indicate a lack of professionalism. The odd one or two you can probably get away with, but try really hard to avoid these.

Content written purely for search ranking purposes

Keywords used every sentence, and sometimes completely out of context ususally renders the content unreadable. It's obvious that whoever wrote it was doing it for the search engines benefit, not a human reader.

Fraudulent offers

One such tactic, known as 'Bait and Switch' is where you offer something at a low price to get people interested (the bait) and then tell them it's not available but they can have another (the switch) at a higher price. A variation common in the travel industry is to offer hotels or flights at one price and then add standard 'fee's on top.

This is illegal in some countries.

Ask for way more personal information than you need

Don't ask for personal information unless the reason you need it is not only apparent but real. You don't actually need people's date of birth unless you have to establish age or identity. You don't need it if I'm buying shoes.

No visible privacy, return policy or payment 'trust' symbols

Let people know that you won't share their information with third-parties, and include symbols such as VeriSign if you take payments.

Have some information about your data security policy if you store personal information and a refund/return policy for products.

No customer proof

Who wouldn't deal with someone who can list banks, governments and large corporates in their client lists?

Customer testimonials also help convince people you're safe and reliable.

It goes without saying that these need to be from REAL customers

I don't believe that social media accounts and follows are strictly necessary yet, but it certainly helps convey personality and approachability. And whereever you are interacting with people online – whether it is on your website, Twitter, Facebook or other property – keep it professional.

Poorly written content

Overall, badly written content can make people trust you less. Grandiose benefits statements and over-the-top testimonials that are clearly false will make people run a mile.

Content that is all about you and not about the viewers needs make not make people think you're a criminal, but they may think your are a narcissist!

Trust is a crucial element to improve the chance people will do business with you. If they don't trust that you will be honest and reliable then your competitor is only a click away!

Web Design Tips: Effective Calls to Action

2011-01-05T15:39:00+13:00

Web users have very short attention spans – and your visitors will have come to your website for a reason.

Make it clear to them how to achieve it with calls to action that people just can't resist and can't be ignored!

What is a Call to Action Anyway?

A call to action (CTA) is a piece of content, typically graphical in nature, that tells the visitor what to do next. It has to align with your business goals, of course. Do you want them to:

Call you
Buy a product
Fill out a contact form
Sign up for an email newsletter

Make sure you know what you want people to do when they get to your site and this aligns with their intent and your business goals. Of course all your promotional efforts will be bringing qualified leads to your site in the first place - there's no point having great CTAs for a kids DVD if the visitors to the site are looking for pink high heel shoes.

The next step is to make sure those visitors buy from you then and there.

Creating an Effective Call to Action

State the benefit.

Mint.com states what they offer and the benefits right above their call to action.

These are benefits that resonate with the visitors needs.

It almost defies you not to download the software if you are looking for financial software - and they add a 'Free' incentive as well.

You may have to offer an incentive for people to give you their contact details, such as a free download or free trial.
Use action oriented language
- Call
- Buy
- Register
- Subscribe
- Download
All of these are words that are specific actions. It's easy to for the visitor to know what they have to do next.

To create a sense of urgency, add words such as:
- Now
- Today
- Limited Time
- Available until 30 Feb
Don't use obscure language if you can avoid it like 'Go' or 'Interested?' or the dreaded 'Click Here'.
Remove distractions

Don't give the user too many choices or they will become overwhelmed.

Limit the number of interactions or choices your visitors have to make.

Put enough white space around it so the CTA doesn't get lost competing with other content on the page, particularly anything else that is eye catching like images.

Dropbox do this quite well – there is pretty much nothing else on the page.
Make sure they see it

Position the CTA correctly – ideally high on the page above 'the fold'.

Some will tell you it's best in the centre, others will tell you to put it at the top left of the page which is the area that gets the most eyeball time.

Mozilla and Mint (above) put their call to action right at the top and to the left. For these sites the call to action relates to the primary purpose for the whole site so it works.

Use a colour that contrasts with the main colours on the site.

Make sure the call to action is big enough and use quality images and buttons rather that cheap clip art - there are plenty of free buttons available for download if you look for them.

You can put some kind of call to action on every page. But try not to overwhelm useful content. You could use smaller versions of your main CTA that's on your homepage.
Reward them for responding

If a visitor does click on a button in your call to action, don't punish them by asking for personal information that has no relevance to their use of the product, or taking them through a convoluted sign up process.

If you've offered them something for free make sure they get what they are expecting, not something with conditions.

Of course a Buy Now button on E-Commerce sites is a call to action, so easy check out processes are a must.
Test Test Test

Ultimately any advice is going to be from either a 'what is best practise' or 'what we know works for us' perspective.

This will get you a long way, but your business and your target audience create a special situation that means visitors will respond better to some words, images and designs better than others.

While you could argue in theory that red or orange is a better button colour than blue - the only way you will know for sure is to try both and conduct tests to see what one gets better results.

Gathering website visitors personal information - what's in it for me?

2010-09-04T14:29:00+12:00

I was reading a discussion today about online forms and how invasive they are.

Imagine a store where the owner stood by the door and told you they had the most amazing shoes ever inside, but to get in and have a look, you have to give him your name, address and shoe size!

You'd walk away, right?

Many a marketer will tell you (as I would) that you really want to capture a site visitor's name and email address so you can send them information in the future.

Over time, you can tell people about who you are and what you do. Hopefully you will give them valuable information in the form of advice or news, and they begin to trust you enough to buy from you. Regular contact keeps you in their mind when they or someone they know need what you are selling. You usually have to offer an incentive for them to sign up for these regular communications.

But asking people to give you their personal details without demonstrating you're someone they want to do business with may be futile. They may not be truthful, unsubscribe to your newsletters once they have the freebie or ignore your communications.

Show me don't tell me

You can generate interest and trust with content that doesn't just create desire for your product, but shows you solve problems. Have content that shows readers specifically what you can offer and how it will be benefit them.

Years ago I attended a short course about writing for the web, and the facilitator repeated a phrase that sums it up nicely:

'Show me, don't tell me'

In other words, don't tell me you've got the most amazing, ground breaking technology that's a huge buzz around the world. Show me by explaining what it can do for me. Features and benefits.

Don't tell me that your services will save me $1000's without listing the monthly cost and how I will save.
Don't say your motel looks out over stunning ocean vistas - include photos or video of that vista.

It is also about walking the talk.

Don't say you listen to your customers then take three weeks to respond to an email enquiry.
Don't say all your customers love what you do – show them by including testimonials and case studies.

It is becoming increasingly important to be clear in a world where people don't trust what companies are telling them via advertising or information clearly recognisable as 'spin'.

Now why should I give you my details?

You want qualified leads from your website - people that are likely to buy what you are offering. And you want to grow your database so you can market to those people.

Provide information that adds value and helps with problem solving. People are more likely to genuinely sign up for your on-going communications.

If you make their life easier by having content that clearly shows what you are offering they are more likely to think you'll be easy to do business with.

Show them you can be trusted by being upfront about what you will do for them and how.

Clickthrough and conversion rates

2009-07-27T15:25:00+12:00

Chitika (makes me want to sing that Abba song), a search advertising business reported that the ad click rate for Google is 0.97%. For Yahoo it's 1.24%.

These are useful figures to have at hand for people who want to know what sort of response level they should be getting for their advertising spend.

It sounds low, but according to Maxum, the average response rate to the old fashion direct-to-your-snail-mailbox marketing is only 2%. Whew - that's a lot of trees.

The average conversion rate for websites is reportedly around the 3%. Some sites can acheive a higher rate, but these tend to be brands with high profiles and big advertising budgets - or ones that have had some good conversion optimisation efforts applied!

So what does this mean for website owners?

If you want to get a high volume of sales (or acheivment of other goals), you'll need to work out your target volume of sales and work backward from there to workout how many visits to your site you need. For example for 10 sales a week, you'll need a minimum of 300 visits. You will also need to bear in mind that there is probably a number of actions on your site that those visitors can perform (in other words to convert from visitor to action taker).

The numbers get quite frightening quite fast for business owners, particularly those with limited marketing budget with which to raise their brand profile.

If you don't have big bucks to spend, there are things you can do to maximise both traffic and the conversation rate, including:

Increase the quality of traffic to your site by ensuring your keywords and content are focused on what you actually provide (assuming this is of value to people).
Ensure your site is visually compelling and supports your brand values so people want to stay.
Ensure your site is optimised for organic search so people can find you without you needing to invest lots of money in advertising.
Make sure it is easy for the users to acheive their goals.
Ensure you include components that build trust in you, your site and your brand.

Finally, you need a context for your conversion goals. The nature of your business, how much competition you have and how motivated your site visitors are in the moment they visit your site - all play a part in how high a conversion rate you can realistically aim for.

But make sure you are getting the fundamentals right first - after that you may have to experiment a bit to find the optimum conversion rate for your time/effort/budget.