The ultimate guide on how to increase conversion rate

Why is conversion rate important?

Understanding the conversion rate of your website can give you a lot of insight into the inner working of your business:

• It creates a clear image of how good your website is performing, from design and user experience.
• It helps your measure the performance of your sales departments.
• You gain an insight into the overall success rate of each of your digital marketing tactics and campaigns.

How to convert site traffic into leads?

It’s not just about getting people to your website – that’s only the first step. Next comes the buyer’s journey where you need to guide those site visitors from showing interest to converting into actual customers. Two of the most challenging tasks with online businesses are learning how to convert traffic to leads, and then learning how to convert more leads into sales. Once you’re able to master those two phases, you will truly be able to experience long-term growth for your business.

And your medium for mastering those two phases is right there in front of you – it lies solely in your website and its optimization. You can have all the site traffic in the world, but it will be worth nothing if you don’t have the website to ensure that you convert that traffic. So, it comes down to building a website that can not only have a solid conversion rate but one that will increase conversion rate with time. And that is what we are looking to explore here today. So, here are 19 ways how to improve your conversion rate.

19 ways to increase your conversion rate

1. Use a CRO planner.
2. Make your forms brief and direct.
3. Provide testimonials and reviews
4. Track and measure user engagement.
5. Use floating widgets.
6. Introduce timed and exit popups
7. Test your offers.
8. Communicate your value proposition.
9. Enrich your landing pages with multimedia content.
10. Write strong CTAs that can convert visitors to leads.
11. Meet your audience’s expectations.
12. Conduct A/B testing to convert more customers.
13. Increase trust and remove friction.
14. Create abandoned cart email campaigns.
15. Improve your page loading speed.
16. Optimize for mobile devices.
17. Enhance the cycle of the consumer.
18. Be creative with your mobile marketing.
19. Make adjustments to your mobile site.
20. Invest in localized content.

1. Use a Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) planner

Nurturing a long-term strategy leads to achieving long-term goals when looking at how to increase conversion rate. The first step toward conversion rate optimization is having a plan of action. You need to strategize where it is that you want to get after a certain time frame and how you want to get there. Based on that plan, you can chase after each individual goal on the list. And there are some interesting CRO planners out there that can help you along this path.

2. Make your forms brief and direct

Research has shown that due to the record low attention spans of modern consumers, businesses need to adopt a more on-the-spot and very time-efficient approach in their attempts to boost website sales. That is why sites with long forms present a challenge for most site visitors today. Nobody wants to look at a form with dozens of input fields and think about having to fill it all out before getting what they want. Instead, you need to focus on eliminating that hesitation.

By introducing shorter multi-step forms, you will get the same amount of information but in a way that is more appealing to audiences. Once users start filling out the form, they are less likely to give up on it if they see a single question and proceeding to the next step. So, if you are looking for a way to boost web lead conversions, start with your forms.

3. Provide testimonials and reviews

Were you aware that more than 90% of customers today factor in reviews from other customers before making a purchase? In fact, most people are reluctant to convert into customers if they have no social proof of quality in front of them. So, if you have a strong reputation, you need to take advantage of that because it’s one of the ways how to increase conversion rate.

There are plenty of business review sites out there that you can create a profile on and link your site reviews to. Yelp would be one of the most obvious choices. In addition to this approach, you can also offer customers the option to leave reviews directly on your website. This will also work in your favor since it will not only help you increase customer engagement on your website but also increase your lead conversion rate.

4. Track and measure user engagement

If you want to boost website sales, you need to understand the behavior of your site visitors. And the best way to achieve that is by tracking and measuring how they interact and engage with your website. There are plenty of tools that a business can use to keep track of the activities happening on their web pages such as:

• Heatmaps;
• Website graders;
• Click trackers;
• etc.

Tools such as these can help you establish the strong and weak points of your landing pages. You can take that knowledge and learn from it, to improve your web pages and make them more user-friendly. And that is how you can increase sales on your website.

5. Use floating widgets (floaters) on your site

At one point, any visitor might have additional questions before making the decision to buy a product from you. And it is in those moments that you need to be able to offer site visitors the opportunity to not only ask those questions on the spot but to get answers in a matter of seconds. That is why introducing a floating call to action button on your website is one of the more efficient ways to increase your lead conversion rate. It introduces a faster response time to customer queries while building up your customer service and sales in the process.

A typical example of this is the live chat option on websites. However, studies have shown that people still prefer to talk to business representatives rather than engage in written correspondence. Automated chatbots are a common source of agitation for site visitors. And this is where the implementation of callback floating widgets stand out. Considering that both live chat and CM floater look/work great on cells, floater obviously has a considerable advantage for conversions without any downside.

• The ConvertMore callback software operates on the same principles as one would argue the introduction of a live chat on a website. The difference is that with our widget, you can catch site visitors before they decide to leave your website and give them all the answers they might need to convert into customers. And this is just another example of how a little innovation can take you a long way when it comes to ways how to increase conversion rate.

6. Introduce timed and exit popups

As the attention span of modern-day customers weakens, it’s important to provide them with subtle reminders of what exactly your website has to offer. Although a lot of people will say that they find popups annoying, the majority of them cannot deny that popups still offer a boost for conversion rates. So, there are two fundamental approaches that you can take with your popups:

• Timed popups. Instead of bombarding site visitors with popups as soon as they land on your website, give them time to explore the page. And once a certain amount of time has passed (optimally 8 seconds), engage them with your popup.
• Exit popups. Similar to shop abandonment emails, exit popups serve as a reminder to site visitors what they’re missing out on by attempting to leave the page they are on. The popup activates the moment the pointer hovers over the exit button or toward other browser windows.

7. Test your offers

Sometimes, no matter how good your offer might be, there won’t be any takers. You have the engaging content, the reviews and testimonials, and the forms – but nobody is converting. So, what do you do to boost web lead conversions in this case? Simple. You need to test your offers and modify your approach.

An offer is only as compelling as the audience that you present it to is open to such an offer. You need to research your audience and align your offers with their specific needs. There are too many generic offers out there nowadays. So, you need to go out of your way to create more compelling offers that can cater to the interests of your audiences. So, if “how to increase sales on my website” is a question that haunts you, consider re-examining the strength of your offers.

8. Communicate your value proposition

Piling on the aspect of re-working your offer, you will want to evaluate the value proposition of what it is that you are offering. The words you use to present your offer can definitely take a toll when it comes to boosting conversion rate. That is why each copy you create needs to be backed up by detailed research of your target audience and what triggers their decision-making process. So, if you want to explore how to convert website visitors to customers, you need to focus on their goals and ambitions.

9. Enrich your landing pages with multimedia content

People respond well to visual confirmation of the quality of the product that they are buying. And multimedia content in the form of images and videos is one of the finer ways to showcase that quality first-hand. That way, when people choose to order something, they will know exactly what to expect. So, if you are looking at ways how to increase lead conversion rate, make sure to include images, graphs, video testimonials, etc.

10. Write strong CTAs that can convert visitors to leads

Recent studies show the importance of having strong and well-optimized Calls to Action (CTAs) in your online offers. Whether we’re discussing having visitors download a PDF document, request a quote, share a post, subscribe, or make a purchase, the CTA plays a crucial role in getting them over the threshold. So, if you are looking for a way to increase conversion rate, you need to devote time to your CTA in terms of:

• Button colors (warm colors having the highest success rate on how to boost conversion rate);
• Choice of wording (direct and bride phrases being dominant);
• Positioning (the more visibility, the better).

11. Meet your audience’s expectations

Nobody appreciates false advertising, today even more so than ever before. It is the moral obligation of any business to be able to deliver exactly what customers see in their paid ads, landing pages, social media marketing posts, etc. Otherwise, you can say goodbye to your conversion rate. By meeting the expectations of your audiences, you get to experience how to convert more customers with a very honest and transparent approach.

12. Conduct A/B testing to convert more customers

The best way to discover potential issues with your ability to convert website visitors to customers is to conduct tests. With methods such as A/B testing, you can create landing pages with different elements and run both of them to see which performs better with your audiences. You can then determine what the mitigating factors were that led to the more successful page or ad. This is how you can web lead conversions in a creative and tested environment.

13. Increase trust and remove friction

Despite the fast-paced consumer world we live in, there is still value in establishing trust with customers, now perhaps more than ever. Site visitors find it more challenging to convert into customers if they are unable to put their trust in a brand. That is where the need to increase trust and remove friction comes into your play on how to increase conversion rate. And it’s really not that hard when you get into it – you simply need to maintain a regular and transparent online presence:

• Update your site regularly with new content.
• Offer money-back guarantees.
• Include testimonials and reviews.
• Avoid spammy links and aggressive popups.
• Make your site easy to navigate through.
• Show responsiveness and the will to engage with potential customers via chat or phone.
• Include bios and photos of your team.
• Add trust badges to your homepage.

These are all ways to not only raise brand awareness but also to lay the groundwork for converting visitors to leads.

14. Create abandoned cart email campaigns

It’s a common thing for modern consumers – to start shopping and then something comes up, and you end up leaving without completing the purchase. But the items are still in the cart or the form is half-filled. Whatever the case, if you want to improve your conversion rate, you can’t neglect these types of leads. There was obviously intent but something got in the way. So, you need to go out of your way to remind these leads that there is still an order waiting for them to complete it. And one of the common ways to accomplish this comes in the form of abandoned cart email campaigns that you can send to customers. Some even offer incentives such as discounts or additional offers to spice up the deal. That’s how you increase sales on your website with just a bit of extra effort.

Tips on how to improve conversion rate on mobile devices

15. Improve your page loading speed

Page loading speed is one of the major obstacles when attempting to convert traffic into leads. With more than 40% of customers abandoning sites that take longer than 3 seconds to load, each millisecond counts. For mobile device users, a single-second delay in a page loading can result in a 7 percent bounce rate increase. Therefore, how you increase conversion rate is to make sure that your page loading speed is up to par. And if it isn’t, you need to optimize the different elements on it to make it so.

16. Optimize for mobile devices

In the past years, Google has been shifting most of its focus to mobile-first indexing. And ever since they began, businesses had to optimize their websites for mobile device users. Those that still choose to ignore the importance of creating responsive websites for mobile devices lose out on a lot of business. And one of the ways how you can convert website visitors to customers is to improve the user experience of mobile users that land on your website. You start with the page loading speed and move on to the customer journey.

17. Enhance the cycle of the consumer

Making an order with your phone should be easier and faster than doing it on the desktop. Otherwise, what’s the point? You will only have a more prolonged journey from site visitors to sale, which will most likely result in a higher bounce rate. So, when you simplify the checkout process for mobile device users and remove any potential restrictions that might sabotage mobile device users is how you will convert more customers.

18. Be creative with your mobile marketing

When looking for ways how to convert more leads into sales, creativity is always a good way to go. Adapting your site to be responsive is only the first step toward catering to the needs of mobile device users. The next step is taking your marketing campaigns and tailoring some of them specifically for mobile users. Going the extra mile with efforts such as those is one of the ways to increase your mobile conversion rate.

19. Make adjustments to your mobile site

The mobile version of your website, although matching in terms of design, needs to be adjusted to the size of medium and small screens. Therefore, CTA buttons, forms, and images need to be responsive to mobile devices. If you want to boost web lead conversions, you need to cater to the user experience of mobile users. And on mobile devices, less is more and speed counts for a lot. So, going with a simple and easy-to-navigate layout is how you increase conversion rate.

20. Invest in localized content

Under normal circumstances, both desktop and mobile users will make a decision to buy products or get services from a business in their area. That’s why a lot of small businesses focus their efforts on local SEO tactics and GMB optimization. And creating content that is localized plays a key role in increasing sales on your website.

How to increase user engagement on your website?

Your ability to increase user engagement is what will directly influence your potential to convert visitors to leads. Website user engagement is an important indicator determining the success and ranking of your site. With competition being as high and present in every industry as it is today, every conversion counts as a big victory.

Engaging users is the crucial first step in the conversion process. You must engage your audience before you can convince them to buy or subscribe. Also, having users leave your website within a few seconds will negatively impact your bounce rate. The question to ask here would be “how to increase sales on my website through user engagement”?

• Reduce page load time
• Improve your internal linking structure
• Display related content
• Simplify navigation
• Choose your writing style
• Use a responsive design
• Study your audience
• Add a prominent search box
• Collect email addresses
• Hold contests or giveaways

Start increasing your conversion rate with our callback software today!

ConvertMore offers more than an ultimate guide on how to increase conversion rate. With our callback widget, you can take a leap toward increasing user engagement on your website while reducing bounce rate in the process. It takes 15 minutes to install and is very user-friendly. Contact our team today to learn more about the tool that will show you how to increase lead conversion rate.