Websites need to be appealing, sure, but is that the only factor that matters? Most certainly, no. It is because the entire purpose of a website is to convert traffic into lead-form submissions, sales, physical-locations visits and whatever fits the business needs. If these actions aren’t working too well for you then revenue is a long shot from where you are standing right now. Conversions are what generate revenue for the business.
So what do you need in addition to an appealing design? Retention rates eventually leading to conversion rates is what we all desire. Therefore, there is a dire need to kill the bounce rate off your page or at least minimize it. One trick is cleverly picking up those runaway visitors, and converting them into leads. This is no magic trick and is absolutely real in its entirety. Ahead is a guide to recreating your website for better conversion rates and creating that magic potion for the magic trick.
Go Mobile, Go Responsive
Websites today get most of their traffics from mobile devices rather than desktops. If your websites isn’t providing a pleasant mobile experience and visitors need to tweak the screen in order to get a clear view, your website is sure to promote bounce rates. Why? Responsive web designs are such that they adapt to the screen size of any device, be it a laptop, tablet or a smart phone. Whatever features that you have incorporated in your web design will be as easily accessible as they were in the desktop version.
Choose Simplicity over Complexity
Some time ago there were web design trends allowing for animations and flash and everything fancy to grab the customer’s attention. Correction, it was a long time ago. Flat designs have an edge over them now due to them being simple and pristine. Gone are the days when brands flaunted their creativity in terms of complex designs to impress the visitors. Today, customers are more interested in being greeted with a sense of neatness about the design. So de-clutter your design, right away.
State the purpose, concisely
For the website content, it is of utmost importance that when the visitor pops in, he/she is greeted with a message that states the purpose in clear words. That purpose needs to be about what you do and need not be too long. Many websites today are selling and conducting businesses but there’s nothing unique about them. Why? Reason being they are not selling value and value is what attracts the consumers today. Write a 4-worded statement about your business that spells out how you are different from the crowd and what you promise to deliver. Think beyond the product/service – it could be faster delivery, creating impressions, providing unparalleled luxury, anything that fits the criteria and be creative about it.
Keep People-Oriented Images
Top-notch brands today are playing this mind-game with us all. They sometimes use the actual faces, the real people above all. It’s a technique that makes us feel connected and has been proven via A/B testing as well. Conversion rates have proven to be higher than ever for brands that adopted this approach. The takeaway from here to leave the stock photos alone, hire a professional photographer and click those shots that can make people trust you and your website.
Pave way for customers to contact you
Customers today are not looking forward to be pitched and so phone numbers may not be a really good idea. Don’t make it harder for the potential customer to contact you. Never-ending forms are like obstacles. Simply ask for their name and email address, which takes about a couple seconds. Another addition could be a phone number that is easily reachable and a chat box. If they need to ask something instantly, give them an opportunity to contact you instantly. Make sure you have a team managing on the back-end at least in the local business hours. If you are conducting business practices internationally, set up a call-center to cater to your customers 24/7/365.
Use Smart Linking Tactics
Many at times visitors consume the information they need from a landing page and then go back. This causes a bounce rate as the visitor doesn’t stick to the page. You can easily prevent it by including as low as two or three links in the body. This doesn’t end here though. If you do include external links, you are still making them leave the page they are at. Let the external links open in new windows so they still have a reason to stick around your page. Various websites use these to successfully reduce bounce rates and double their conversion rates, try them for the success of your website too.
Include Statistics
When you add statistics for the things that matter, there’s something you are doing with the minds of the visitors. They somehow develop a trust and believability factor. Kind of like that neat trick that we all pull off for a job interview, giving examples with numbers so that the interviewer knows we have it all calculated. So when you do the same for your website, you are really killing two birds with one stone: developing trust of the visitors and beefing up your content.
Bonus Tip
What is that one thing that differentiates you and puts you apart? Nope, it’s not your business which is why you have competitors (unless you came up with something that has never been discovered on the face of this earth before). It’s your story! This happens to be the oldest trick in the world of marketing too but it still works in the matters of differentiating your site completely. Sell yourself by telling an emotional story and connecting with the audience.
Having known the secret to the magic behind increasing conversion rates, the next step is to take action. So integrate it all in the website design and begin your goal-oriented journey towards a future that promises higher conversion rates. Good luck!