Do you have a website, or are you planning on having one? If so, have you heard of website conversions?
Would you want to know what website conversion is? Well, this blog post is for you.
In this age, people conduct business digitally, starting from digital marketing strategies to selling products online.
The success of the company depends on whether the website service is effective or not.
In this blog post, we focus on website conversion from the definition, calculation, reasons for measuring, and how to improve ratings.
Let’s dive in right away!
What is Website Conversion?
The purpose of building a website is to serve an intended function. The functions can be to sign up, place orders, share content, convey data/ideas, etc.
Website conversions, in simple terms, are the actualization of these demands by the visitors who land on your website. It is when your website performs its desired action.
When a visitor browses your website, they perform actions such as signing up on a sign-up form, subscribing to your services, ordering products, and leaving comments.
These are examples of the goals set for different websites, better known as the desired action. Website conversion has two categories: micro and macro-conversions.
Micro-Conversions
These are small actions in a website that lead to a macro-conversion. Micro does not affect/increase website conversion rate, but it gives valuable insights into the site.
It is an important element for businesses, and you can use them to tweak the site. Examples may include:
- A user is browsing the internet on various brands.
- Video watching and content sharing.
- Feedback by users.
- Content downloads like a newsletter, article, images, or blogs.
- Email sign-ups plus an address.
- Sign up form.
Macro-Conversion
Macro-conversion describes the main desired action in a site, achieving the website’s primary goal. The best examples of macro goals in software are:
- A new subscriber.
- Purchased goods.
- Service requests.
- Contact form.
- Submit sign-up forms.
- Fill a form.
How to Calculate Website Conversion Rate
Website conversion rate is the rate at which a website performs its desired actions. Before calculating, you have to review the number of visitors to your website and the number of website conversions.
How do you calculate your business’s rate?
Conversion rate = number of conversions / total number of visitors × 100.
A great example of a case study: a website has 200000 visitors and 1000 conversions. So the conversion percentage is;
1000/200000 × 100 = 0.5%
What is a Good Conversion Rate?
Every website has different conversion rates, but what is a good conversion rate? And how can you achieve it? A high conversion rate depends on a few factors. They include;
- The industry: Some businesses have higher website conversion rates than others. It can be seen in industry averages. In other words, your industry will affect your average rates.
- Your products and services: The products you offer will determine the rate. Some products are top-rated in the market; hence more people will place orders for a famous brand. Your customers will shop till they drop.
- Cost: The cost of your goods will also influence your website conversion. If you offer cheaper products, more people will complete a purchase. You can save money through zero-cost marketing so that you provide more affordable prices, thus improving your revenue.
- SEO: How you rank in a search engine impacts your website. Landing pages that have a good SEO rank higher, making them accessible to more potential customers. Improve your local SEO by using popular keywords and, in turn, increase leads.
- Performance: The site speed determines if visitors will place orders. A slow website tends to have a low conversion rate and poor user experience. If it takes time to load, users will opt-out.
- Marketing: Your marketing techniques contribute to the success of your company. Set aside a marketing budget to increase your leads.
Reasons for Measuring Your Website Conversion Rate
Case studies show that a host knowing their website conversion rates help in optimizing businesses. [1] There are two significant reasons you should measure your website conversion rates: understanding your customer and understanding the user experience.
So how can you achieve these two? Simple, by getting conversant with the sales funnel in terms of marketing and conversion rate optimization.
Sales Funnel
Sales funnels are the steps a customer takes for a web site conversion. Every website has its conversion funnel; [2] however, there are three imperative stages that customers undergo. They are: Awareness, Consideration, and Decision.
The processes start with Awareness: it entails prospects researching solutions to their situation. After getting an answer, they commit to solving it – this is the second stage, Consideration. Lastly, the final stage is called Decision. It is when visitors are ready to purchase products after thinking about the critical factor.
The stages are cyclical, meaning the customer may rethink their choice and start again. These three important stages considerably impact website conversion rates and revenue, hence the reasons for measuring the speed.
Understanding Your Customer
You and your co-founder need to understand the needs of your customer to offer an appropriate solution. According to what your company offers, you can know your customers’ situation.
For example, if you deal with furniture, you expect your client to want furniture for various spaces. Categorize this furniture according to pricing or rooms like living room, kitchen, bedroom, and so on.
Highlight these products with their descriptions so the client can find all the important information in one place. By doing this, you will be easing your customer’s work, influencing them to consider and finally decide on buying.
Understanding the User Experience
Website conversions help understand the user experience. If there is a fall in the conversion rate, the action is to identify and respond by changing anything wrong with the site.
Low conversion rates are caused by a few factors, from the site’s performance, industry to mobile SEO. You can test and audit your website regularly even when the site is doing well.
Furthermore, you can research and compare your website to a competitor’s. If it is a high converting website, watch and learn how their landing page are set to improve user experience. Also, improve your conversion funnel to encourage more website conversions.
How to Improve Your Website Conversion Rates
There are ways you can use to improve your website conversion rates for your landing pages. They include:
Analyze How Your Audience Interacts with Your Site
Start analyzing how your potential customers interact with your website – it is among the best ways of improving your website conversions. Keep track of your audiences’ data, as this will help you know where to put more emphasis on your site to convert visitors.
Also, how your target audience uses the site indicates what their preferences are. You can use this data to improve what your visitors prefer and make it more appealing.
Audience data is crucial to discover why your site has a low conversion rate since it will highlight your shortcomings.
Tips on How to Analyze Your Audience Include:
- Analyze and learn your user behavior and how people interact on your landing pages.
- You can use audience opinion, comments, and feedback on social media like Facebook and Twitter to increase traffic.
- Start to keep track of your site’s traffic to ensure you are getting more customers.
These tips come in handy for companies, especially on how to revamp websites.
Include Compelling Buttons of CTA
Find a compelling Call-To-Action button for your pages to improve your website conversions. Human beings are curious beings, and users will feel compelled to check what it is about when you have the right CTA buttons.
Moreover, Call-To-Action buttons help direct potential customers to the primary goal of the website. It is an important way of increasing the macro-conversion rate.
A good CTA button can be a pop-up on the landing page where it is easily accessible. Also, it should relay the correct information about the action subscribers are about to take.
You can find a different color for a more appealing call-to-action button.
Pro Tips for A Great CTA:
- Position your CTA well – a hidden one is hard to identify, making them easy to miss.
- Use a compelling CTA for your pages.
- Include links and keywords.
- It should be brief and straightforward.
- The CTA should feel urgent, reducing your bounce rate.
- Avoid unnecessary elements on your CTA to boost traffic and income.
Use Seamless Navigation
Navigating a seamless page is always a plus for both the user and owner. When your homepage is easy to browse, users are more likely to convert. For this reason, it is vital to make your browser have clear navigation paths.
Visits to sites are for top concerns like purchasing products, subscribing, signing up, etc. Users will not be frustrated by the page when all these are easily achievable, leading to more conversion.
Also, case studies show that a page with internal search options has an increased conversion rate. [3] The search feature is mainly used by visitors who intend to place orders on products. It is an excellent opportunity to promote conversions.
Pro Tips For Seamless Navigation:
- Organize your page, for instance, according to the category of products you offer.
- Design user-friendly navigation.
- Understand that simple navigation will keep users on your site longer.
- Create an internal search feature to help subscribers when searching for a particular product, downloading an ebook and newsletter, or when new visitors want to subscribe.
Aim To Be Mobile-Friendly
Is your website mobile-friendly? If not, then this is a wake-up call. A significant number of purchases are via mobile devices rather than computers.
A mobile-friendly page enables users to use any device when accessing your page. For impulsive buyers, they can order products wherever they are using their mobile devices.
If you can only access the page through a computer, the desire to purchase may not be there anymore by the time you get one.
Mobile-friendly pages have also shown a higher conversion rate. So how do you make your site mobile-friendly?
Below are some great pro tips:
- Make the page responsive, meaning it will be accessible on a mobile device.
- Use larger buttons since people use a thumb on mobile.
- Allow a switch to desktop view to make reading the written points easy.
- Use a larger font size in a newsletter for readers.
- The site’s design should be straightforward and not difficult to scroll.
- Constantly check how the site is doing on mobile to improve it, especially the subscribe button.
Make It Easy to Convert
Increase your conversion rate by creating a simple conversion process. Making your website user-friendly by creating an easy converting process is the way to go. For instance, if the users are filling up a form, only ask relevant and brief questions.
Avoid many questions as it is among the reasons why many companies have low conversion rates. Also, reduce the steps taken for completing a conversion goal. Some users visit a page to convert but leave without any conversions due to a very long process.
Pro Tips On Conversion Optimization:
- Ensure the steps are brief to avoid an error.
- Only focus on the most important things.
- Use a noticeable Call-To-Action, keywords, and Adwords. The prompts should not be hidden.
- Make your web easy to navigate and understand, increasing more sales.
Include A Sense of Urgency
Optimize a sense of urgency on your website to increase conversion rates. It is an action employed by many entrepreneurs to increase conversions on their pages.
You can create a sense of urgency by offering discounts on products/key services and using Google marketing tools to advertise them. Inform your audience about discounts on certain products; most will purchase prior to the expiration date.
There are other key ways of optimizing it – they include:
- You can show the stock level – for example, only one remains in stock if a product runs out.
- You can mention other buyers with numbers, such as five more people are interested in this product, and the number is growing.
- Use tools like emails and text to follow up and remind customers of the available products.
- Add a time limit to a particular product; it will make clients complete orders fast before the time elapses. Focusing on time increases your ROI.
- Use tools like Google Adwords (SEM) for campaigns to promise a free product after every sale, convincing customers to buy.
Further reading: Search Engine Marketing 101: A No-Nonsense Guide To SEM For Dummies
Use Visuals that Build Trust and Engagement
Trust is among the important elements to build. People often get conned on online platforms, making it hard for customers to engage in websites easily.
To increase your conversion rate, ROI and avoid spam reports, you first need to make your customers believe in your products for them to spend.
The first impression will play a vital role in converting customers. Using an appropriate image with logos is one way of building trust. When your audience can see what you are offering, it will be easier to place orders rather than advertising without any images or videos.
Moreover, an image also affects engagements. Users tend to stay longer on a website that has videos and images. The longer they take in a page, the higher the chances of converting, and the better the social proof.
Pro Tip:
- You can display reviews, mentioned suggestions, and testimonials from previous clients.
- Display the correct products you are offering.
- You can hire a content writer to create attractive niche content.
- Conversion experts can suggest, give advice and assist you in building an engaging site that lures users.
Partner With an Experienced Agency
In summary, venturing into the e-commerce business comes with its obstacles.
Luckily, just like any other business, you can overcome them. When designing your website, keep the above details in mind for conversion optimization and maintain a user-friendly site.
Also, you can consider partnering with top online marketing agencies like One Search Pro. We have been in business for over a decade now.
Our team has the expertise and is dedicated to offering our clients great website services from:
Reach out to us for any digital marketing in Malaysia and worldwide. Contact us anytime for more information.
