Having one of the most stunning, well-structured and search-optimised websites out there that brings in thousands of visitors is a great achievement. But if your website visitors are browsing and clicking without making a purchase or getting in touch for a quote, your site isn’t meeting its intended purpose.
Maybe they can’t find what they’re looking for. Or your website takes 10 minutes to load and they’ve gotten bored. Or you might even be targeting the wrong audience with your content.
This is a common dilemma for businesses – high traffic with low sales or leads. It means you’re not converting visitors into customers, resulting in lost revenue and hindering that all-important business growth.
In this article, we’ll guide you through the steps to turn your high traffic into a high-converting website, from deeply understanding your audience and optimising their user experience to implementing actionable strategies and accurately measuring your conversion rate.
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What does website conversion mean?
Websites are built to drive action for businesses. A great website can easily guide users to make a purchase, fill in a lead capture contact form or subscribe to a service. This is the process of turning website traffic into customers – otherwise known as website conversion.
High website conversion is an indication of engaged, interested users, and lets you know that your website is doing the right thing to suit its intended purpose.
Many things can influence how well your website converts traffic into customers, including user experience, website performance, and effective CTAs. Don’t worry, we’ll cover all of these in this article!
Measure success with website conversion rate and engagement metrics
After you’ve put in all the hard work to start boosting sales and you’re successfully turning website visitors into loyal customers, it’s important to keep track and ensure your conversions remain high.
An easy way to see and measure how well you’re converting users is by tracking website conversion rate. This is easily calculated by dividing the number of conversions by the total number of visitors, then multiplying by 100 to get a percentage.
A “good” conversion rate is subjective and depends on your industry. We’d recommend having a quick research into industry averages for a useful benchmark for your site to measure against. Generally, a higher conversion rate means your website is effective in driving sales or generating leads.
Improving your website’s conversion rate is also known as Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO). CRO involves those things to help you measure the effectiveness of your site, like analysing user data and behaviour to identify why visitors aren’t converting, and then making strategic changes to your site to fix those issues.
Essentially, it’s about getting more value out of your existing website traffic. Systematically working on improving your conversion rate can help you to see any weak spots and improve from there, or see which pages are working well so that you can keep up the good work.
Another way to measure website effectiveness and assist with conversions is by reviewing engagement metrics, like bounce rates. This is the percentage of site visitors who bounce back off your site after viewing only one page. Low bounce rates mean you have an engaged audience who want to find out more about your brand, and potentially make more purchases. Identifying which pages have higher bounce rate is where you can make improvements to drive revenue from them.
Just remember that if you have a low number of total sessions, there won’t be enough data to determine accurate website conversion rates. For now, focus on increasing sessions and driving more website traffic with off-page marketing campaigns.
The importance of understanding your audience
Persuading someone to make a purchase, especially in today’s climate, isn’t always simple. There are always factors that impact purchase decisions. What does help to make it that little bit easier is by better understanding what they want and what makes them keen to convert.
Gaining that better understanding is something that could make the difference between just another website view, and a paying customer. This comes with understanding their motivations, pain points, and even their customer journey on your site.
Every business and industry has their own unique set of customer personas which can help to guide the content on a website. Certain customer bases will prefer a particular tone of voice, website design and navigation because of the way they will personally interact with it.
For example, a B2B company website aimed at experienced business professionals will look and feel vastly different to an ecommerce fashion website aimed at younger generations. Their call-to-actions (CTAs), written content and design choices will be miles apart.
Understanding and utilising these differences by taking what your desired target customer likes and what motivates their purchasing decisions is how you can improve that all-important website conversion rate.
Integrating Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems can be invaluable for understanding this. By using a CRM system to manage customer interactions and data, you can more easily track and analyse user behaviour, personalise their experience, and nurture their needs throughout the sales funnel.
User feedback
For additional research, you can also directly reach out to your website viewers – whether they made a purchase or not – to aid your understanding of their behaviours.
Gathering Voice of the Customer (VoC) feedback is invaluable, especially in understanding motivations and pain points in the user journey. Ask questions such as:
• How would you rate your overall experience with our site?
• What can we do to improve?
• What did you enjoy about your experience with us?
• What almost stopped you from completing the purchase?
This feedback can be gathered through email, post-purchase surveys, enquiry forms, and other lead capture tactics. Not only will this feedback provide direct answers, but it will also highlight customer service and dedication, which can positively impact your brand trust.
Gathering this direct user information can assist with your efforts to improve your website conversion rate. This will inform you of the things that work well for users that you should continue to do, and what’s not working so well, that you should aim to improve.
The final question on our list will also give you an indication of where in the user journey you may be falling short.
Meaningful content
By better understanding your audience, you can create much more meaningful, useful content that is tailored to them. This means it should also be high-quality, informative, well-written, easy to digest, and accurate.
Your content should be optimised for search engines by using high-volume, low-competition keywords and phrases. This can increase the chances of your website being found by potential customers.
A good starting point for content is by uncovering the search terms that your audience is using to find you, and tailoring your content towards that, while making sure it is persuasive. SEO and CRO work hand in hand! For useful tips and tricks, check out our complete guide to SEO for business owners.
Also make sure your product or service descriptions are meaningful and useful by being kept up-to-date. This content should aim to cover all bases of what your users will want to know, keeping them informed and leaving a positive impact on their experience.
Highlighting your business’ USPs is also valuable content that can make a difference and turn a simple website view into a purchase. Customers will want to know more about the company they’re about to do business with, and build their brand trust.
Ready to work with an agency who specialises in high-converting websites?
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Optimising for a seamless user experience
The user experience (UX) and the journey they embark on through your site can really make or break your website conversions. A potential customer may click onto your website with full intent to make a purchase, but a negative experience could be the factor that makes them choose a competitor instead.
UX can be impacted by many factors on your website:
Usability
How easy is your website to use and navigate? A clean, intuitive, easy-to-understand layout that is consistent throughout your website makes it simpler for viewers to browse and make purchases without getting stuck. Easy navigation will improve the overall experience and make users want to return for that same easy purchase.
Performance
How quickly does your website load up an action after a button is clicked? No user enjoys going through a website that is slow and frequently shows error pages. A smooth, efficient journey will encourage purchases by improving the overall experience.
Functionality
Do all of the features on your website work correctly? Making sure your website’s buttons, links and other interactive elements are working correctly can make a difference in continuing the user journey. A seamless journey results in better UX and purchases.
Mobile optimisation
How mobile-friendly is your website? In today’s mobile-first world, with 90% of UK consumers using their phones for online purchases, it’s essential for websites to be optimised for mobiles. A fast, easy-to-navigate website you can view on mobile without any hiccups will leave a positive impact on many potential customers.
Appearance
How visually appealing is your website? If your website ticks all the other boxes and has a beautiful design, you’ll have customers coming back for more! A well-designed, engaging website will stick in users’ minds when they’re considering future purchases.
6 quick-win tactics to convert website visitors
Sometimes, one of the best strategies you can implement in turning website traffic into paying customers is direct action and more obvious user engagement. These tactics are often a key part of CRO, using all the same components as mentioned previously, especially meaningful copy, impactful appearance, and functionality.
Here’s our quick-hit checklist of direction actions you can implement on your website.
Effective CTAs
Your call-to-actions (CTAs) can make the difference in boosting website conversions and sales. And they should do what they say on the tin – drive actions on-site. Without them, your user might not know what comes next in their journey, which can make a difference to their purchase decisions. 90% of website visitors only read headlines and CTAs – so make sure they pack a punch!
Our top tip is to use strong, clear action verbs to engage and encourage users to direct and push them towards what they need to do next. Your meaningful on-page content should help them with why they need your product; your CTAs should persuade them to continue with the purchase.
“Buy now”, “shop now” and “add to basket” are common CTAs that guide the user journey. CTAs can also be longer and more emotionally-driven, for example – “Almost sold out – buy now!”, “Subscribe today to stay in touch”.
Make sure your CTAs are in clear, easy-to-see, highlighted spaces on the website.
On-site pop-ups
Pop-ups that appear after a user has been on-site for a while can help to guide decisions and persuade them to make purchases.
Our top tip for pop-ups is to entice users with desirable and relevant offers, indicating how it will benefit them. For example, offering a small discount on their purchase if they’re a first-time visitor, indicated by a strong CTA – “Unlock 10% off your first order with us”.
Pop-ups are also a great way to not only drive sales, but to build email lists and generate leads.
Exit intent pop-ups
Unfortunately, not every visitor on your site will make a purchase there and then. Luckily, there is a way to try and convince them at the last moment if all else fails – that’s by utilising exit intent pop-ups. This is an overlay that appears as soon as a user is about to leave the site.
Our top tip for exit intent pop-ups is to make it compelling and eye-catching. The pop-up should immediately draw the user’s attention to distract from the exit action they were about to take. This can be done with vibrant colours and engaging copy that’s clear straight away.
Make sure you’re building an offer that’s hard to resist and make them rethink their decision to leave your site. That might be exclusive discounts, free shipping, and more. You can also utilise pop-ups to remind customers about their shopping cart before they leave your site, potentially offering discounts to persuade them to purchase after all.
A/B testing
Speaking of testing your exit intent pop-ups, why not take it one step further? Maximise effectiveness and see what pulls more customers in by utilising A/B testing.
This is a useful conversion optimisation tool that shows two different versions of your content to two similarly-sized groups of your website users. After a few weeks of testing, you can see whether version A or B achieves a higher conversion rate, which is an indicator of which version resonated more with your audience. The winning version is usually the one you should look at implementing to all visitors.
Our top tip is to test the main aspects that pull users in. You can A/B test your CTA buttons, main headlines, images and design choices across your site.
Abandoned cart campaigns
Some users might browse your site and start building up an order, only to abandon it at the last moment. Unfortunately, the average cart abandonment rate for UK businesses sits at around 70%. Recover lost sales and pull back those potential customers by reminding them about their abandoned cart.
You can send personalised emails within the first couple of hours of the user leaving your site. It’s essential to act quickly, and with something they can’t resist. Try offering discounts and offers with a countdown timer. Personalise your approach with product recommendations to complement the items in their basket.
Our top tip is to use emotionally-driven copy in the email body and subject line that’s compelling and engaging. Building emotion into your messaging can pull users back in – “your cart misses you”, “hurry – the items in your cart are selling fast!”. Those generic “you left something behind” messages no longer do the trick.
Adding social proof
Proving to website visitors that your customers value both your business and product or service is invaluable. 93% of consumers say that online reviews have an influence over their purchase decisions.
Utilising testimonials, reviews and case studies is a powerful way to highlight why users should choose your brand over competitors. This is a simple yet effective way to build trust by showing potential customers your real results.
Our top tip is to add social proof throughout your website, but especially on the pages that matter. For example, on your homepage is a great place to show off positive reviews and testimonials, as it’s often the first impression that users will have of your business. Product or service pages are also an excellent place to pop your case studies and statistics to prove your success and effectiveness in these areas.
It’s all about persuading your users to take the leap and convert into customers.
Ready to improve your website conversion rate?
Turning your website traffic into paying customers is not a one-size-fits-all approach for every site and every business out there. It’s an on-going, multi-faceted process.
It’s about understanding your audience target customer at the core of your website – what motivates them and what dissuades them. Having this knowledge informs everything else you do on your website, from the seamless UX and user journey you craft, to how you phrase your CTAs and pop-ups. This provides a sturdy foundation for a website where customers will feel confident making a purchase.
Measuring your conversion rate is a continuous process of testing and optimisation. But when you find what works, you can be sure of great results that look like high sales and accelerated business growth.
At Bubble Design, we don’t just create websites that look great; they work hard to drive conversions too! Get in touch for a free site audit and we’ll help you identify key opportunities to turn your visitors into loyal customers.
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Ready to work with an agency who specialises in high-converting websites?
Start turning clicks into clients today!
