5 tips to increase your conversion rate

Every marketer is – if we may assume – driven by results. Because ultimately, you want to see your efforts have effects. A broader reach, more leads and an increase in sales. Hence online marketing is vital to businesses, as there is the possibility to obtain countless measurements and data collections. About the target audience. How a website is used. What the most popular pages are. But most important: if the target audience converts. And if so, how often. We show you a tour behind the scenes, or rather, screens: this is how you get started with conversion rate optimisation.

What is a conversion on a website?

A conversion on a website is when a user takes the desired action. Think of a purchase, downloading a brochure, subscribing to the newsletter or a contact inquiry. These actions fit your business’s online marketing goals. So, what the exact conversion is, depends on your organisation. For example, a consultancy company encourages you to complete contact forms. A non-profit organisation prefers donations. And a webshop is focused on as many sales as possible. Whatever your organisation’s conversion is, the main goal remains that as many users take that desired action.

Website conversion rate optimisation: our tips

You need to optimise a website continuously to get a high conversion rate. Unfortunately, there is no ready-to-go template you can use for guaranteed results. However, that makes conversion rate optimisations a fun and challenging process. These tips provide direction for continuous optimisations.

1. Design a convincing website

There are lots of small tips and tricks from well-known theories to increase your conversion rate. An example you should think about is Cialdini’s principles of persuasion; commitment and consistency, reciprocity, evoking sympathy, social proof, authority, scarcity and unity. These are psychological methods that attain the desired result. Think of processing reviews and testimonials (social proof), sharing that you have a limited stock (scarcity) or offering an incentive (reciprocity). These are examples to make your website convincingly.

In addition, make sure your website has a convincing structure. The first seconds someone spends on the website are crucial. Is your website even seen as trustworthy? Contemplate the overall look and feel of the website, its design and readability. Select the right font and provide consistent branding.

2. Optimise the technology of the website

The further development of the website’s technology is an element that is easily overlooked. Even after a website is delivered, an organisation must continue to pay attention to this. Because the online landscape is continuously changing. Think of changing Google guidelines or the increasing role of digital accessibility. Therefore, regularly conduct a website optimisation check. It ensures that the technology is continuously improving and lets you know that the website scores well in terms of loading speed, findability and user experience. In addition, go for a responsive website, which is a website that automatically adjusts itself to the device and its size. Nowadays, many people use their phones to access websites. With a responsive website, all users have an optimal experience and, thus, have a higher chance of converting.

3. React to the needs of the target audience

Just like any other marketing effort, you should focus on the target audience. Ultimately, they are the ones who have to buy a product or fill out a form. Try to think like the target audience: who are they, what do they want, and what are their wishes concerning the product or service? You learn more about how they convert by keeping a keen eye on their wishes and needs. And how you should communicate with them. A young family buying a new child seat is looking for different information and approach than an entrepreneur purchasing a new work laptop. The goal, the target audience and the brand – everything has to be in perfect sync with each other.

Do you not have a clue how this works for your organisation? Then start by developing a solid marketing strategy and a consistent brand experience.

4. Develop result-oriented calls-to-actions

Want to achieve a certain result with the target audience? Communicate this. Let the target audience know what they can do on your website. Guide them towards that desired action. By working with a clear call-to-action, you help them understand what they can expect. Choose a call-to-action that stimulates and appeals to the imagination to encourage them to take the desired action. Also, ensure that every page has one call-to-action and that you continuously measure its results. For example, you can perform concrete A/B tests and optimise the conversion rate in a result-oriented manner. This is a split test in which you test two variants and then analyse which scores the best.

5. Create an optimal user experience

The most important thing about any website is the user experience. When a user lands on the website, it should be immediately apparent what the website is for, for whom and why. So, your most important information should be ‘above the fold’ to ensure you see it at a glance. We use the 5-second rule here: what does that first glance at the website communicate? What feeling does it give off? What does it communicate? Research shows that users need only a few seconds to form their first impression of a website. It means you should convey your most important message fast, active, and purposeful.

Increasing your webshop’s or website’s conversion rate

Getting started with conversion rate optimisation? Our digital marketing experts advise on the best optimisation actions. Coming from a communication agency background, we can pick up the issue from different perspectives. By cooperating with our colleagues at SowiesoHelder, we deploy a targeted approach, from branding to the best website technology. For example, we unburdened Binco, which ranged from formulating the why-how-what of the platform to creating an optimal web design.