Today, most marketing teams focus on driving website traffic and hoping that this traffic will convert into sales leads. But realistically, this is only halfway there. Aiming for more than just traffic and leads rather than purely new traffic helps you achieve long-term success and sustained growth. Customers are not just the people you want to reach, but those you should center your marketing strategy around.
With this, customers need to be kept engaged so that they take action. This article will discuss commercial property owners email list conversion optimization, its importance, and the eight most effective strategies to optimize website conversion.
What does conversion optimization entail and why should you care?
Conversion optimization, or CRO (conversion rate optimization), is about increasing the percentage of users or visitors who take a specific action. This could be filling out a form or making a purchase to increase the leads generated and the revenue earned. Conversion optimization is beneficial for all sizes and types of businesses in their respective industries.
CRO is important as it allows you to have lower customer acquisition costs by getting more value from existing visitors and users. It enables your website to run smarter and generate more qualified leads by improving the likelihood of visitors taking an action on a website. It involves generating ideas for website or mobile app elements that can be improved and validated through A/B and multivariate testing.
Understand two important things about "conversion"
You need to understand important things to optimize your website conversion: the actions your visitors should take to increase conversions and why they are not converting.
What actions should website visitors take to increase conversions?
There are several actions that visitors can take on a website to increase conversions. Some examples are:
Filling out a contact form: Visitors will provide their contact information in exchange for more information or a consultation – commonly on lead generation websites.
Filling out a contact form
Source: Getsitecontrol
Make a Purchase: E-commerce websites aim to get visitors to make a purchase. This could be by adding items to their cart, completing the checkout process, or signing up for a recurring purchase.
Checkout page after Making a Purchase
Source: Salecycle
Sign up for a free trial: For software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies , offering a free trial can help convert visitors into paying customers.
Signing up for a free trialFountain: VWO
Subscribe to a newsletter or email list: Allows businesses to nurture leads and stay in touch with them, increasing the likelihood of a future conversion.
Subscribing to a newsletter or email list - Nike newsletter
Source: Nike
Why don't website visitors convert?
When visitors come to your website, they either take action or they don't. Some become customers, subscribers, registrants, and leads, but most don't.
Conversion is the bloodline of a business. Understanding why your visitors don't convert helps you identify areas where you can improve. Here are the potential issues and reasons that prevent them from taking the desired actions:
Do not use SEO
Search engine optimization improves your website's ranking in the top positions of SERPs. If you don't use SEO strategy on your website, it is unlikely to rank - your website will not be seen, you will have fewer or no visitors, and you will have less or no chance of conversion.
No calls to action (CTA)
Calls to action are the elements that encourage visitors to take action. There are different CTAs, depending on your industry, and you should have an abundance of them on your website. Without them, visitors don't have a clear path to action when that is their goal.
Lack of product value
This is applicable to e-commerce websites. When you want people to buy products or services from you, make sure that they provide value. Make the decision-making process easier and simpler for your visitors.
Bad mobile experience
During the first quarter of 2023, mobile devices generated 58.33% of global website traffic. If you want a higher chance of conversion, you must have a mobile-friendly website. Slow website pages on mobile devices cause your visitors to look for another website that will show them what they are looking for more quickly.
What is conversion rate?
Conversion rate is the percentage of people who take the desired action: filling out a form, signing up for a service, or purchasing products. Conversion can happen anywhere on your website, so maximize your conversion rate optimization in each place.
Websites with high conversion rates are well designed, effectively formatted, and engaging for visitors. In comparison, websites with low conversion rates have a problem with the website's design and performance.
Before we talk about the benefits of CRO, let’s first look at how to calculate your website’s conversion rate.
The conversion rate is calculated by dividing the number of conversions by the total number of visitors and multiplying by 100 to get the percentage.
Conversion Rate Formula
Source: Chisellabs
For example, if you have 500 conversions from 20,000 visitors in a period, then you have a conversion rate of 2.5%.
Now, why should you care about conversion optimization? Here are several compelling reasons:
Increase ROI: With conversion optimization, your customer acquisition cost is lower, and you will achieve a high conversion rate, which translates into a better return on investment.
By improving your marketing campaign, the quality of visitors who are attracted to the message and eager to learn more can lead to qualified conversions. It helps you get more out of your marketing budget, driving your business towards long-term sustainable growth.
Improve SEO Ranking: CRO strategy helps you identify the pages on your website that need to be optimized to be visible to users. By improving engagement on your pages, such as click-through rates , time spent on page, and average number of pages visited, you will be seen as trustworthy and relevant, leading to an increase in organic rankings.
Improve user experience (UX): The goal of CRO is to encourage users to take a desired action. By performing CRO, you will be able to improve the elements that need to be optimized. This includes design, speed, navigation, and personalization, which are all essential for a good user experience.
Improves website reputation: When users and visitors perform the desired action, you have given them what they wanted. This builds credibility and trust in your website, improving its reputation.
Increases brand awareness: CRO does not directly aim to increase brand awareness. However, it can indirectly increase brand awareness through improved customer experience, increased customer engagement, and strengthening brand credibility and identity.
Now that you have reasons to worry, let's talk about how to implement conversion optimization.
Most effective strategies to optimize your website conversions
With the high competition in today's digital market, it is important for businesses to have an effective online presence to attract and retain customers. An optimized website can significantly influence the success of a business. Here are the most effective strategies you can implement to optimize your website conversions:
Understanding the conversion funnel.
The conversion funnel is the framework of the process through which customers progress until they take the desired action. It consists of:
Top of the Funnel (TOFU) - Awareness
Middle of the Funnel (MOFU) - Interest and Evaluation
Bottom of the Funnel (BOFU) - Desire and Action
As the customer journey progresses through each stage of the funnel, it's important to optimize each step to attract more visitors and increase conversions.
AIDA - Awareness, Interest and evaluation, Desire
Source: Saleswork
In the upper funnel, visitors get to know you. They search for information via a search engine. In this case, it is essential to offer engaging content that resonates with the target audience and attracts them to your brand. This can be through informative blog posts, social media engagement, and paid search advertising.
In the middle funnel, visitors are interested in your product or service and are evaluating their options. To optimize the middle funnel, you need to provide personalized, valuable content that helps customers make informed decisions and builds trust.
In the bottom funnel, visitors have decided to take action and are ready to convert. This is where they can make a purchase, sign up for a service, or fill out a form. To optimize the bottom funnel, businesses should make it easy for customers to take the desired action with a call to action, easy-to-use forms, and a seamless checkout process.