Conversions are in the toilet.
Traffic is still coming in. But your bottom line isn’t changing.
Sales are slower than ever. People simply aren’t buying right now.
It’s not the holiday season. It’s probably just the “off-season” for online sales.
No need to worry, right? It’s normal for this time of year…
But it’s not. Selling online isn’t only seasonal.
Conversions just aren’t happening for you. But there’s a reason.
Your conversion rate optimization tactics are outdated.
Or you simply don’t have any in place.
Those instant on-site popups aren’t compelling users to buy from you.
Social share buttons don’t lead to buying decisions.
As the online landscape changes and new technologies arise, user behavior changes.
And when user behavior shifts, marketers can’t stick to the same old tactics and fall behind.
If you don’t keep up to date with user behavior, your business and livelihood could be at risk.
Thankfully, there are a few data-backed conversion hacks you can implement that are sure to get you a better conversion rate.
So, what are you waiting for?
1. Include different checkout options
What if I told you that a few simple minutes of work (without paying anything for setup) could net you 44% more conversions?
Would you call me crazy? Maybe a used car salesman? Fair enough.
But let me explain.
Is your website optimized for mobile traffic? If not, is your name Fred Flintstone?
In all seriousness, if you don’t have a mobile site that’s optimized for mobile sales, you’re doomed.
Why? Because the majority of website traffic is mobile now.
If you’re not optimizing for mobile, you’re risking tons of conversions.
Mobile intent is big, too.
Think about it.
When you’re on the go, and you see someone wearing a shoe that looks awesome, what do you do?
You probably open up your smartphone and Google it.
You want it now. You don’t want to wait.
Why? Because you saw someone wearing it and you liked it.
Mobile intent is high because people often see something they like on the go. They don’t sit around wondering if they should really buy it.
So, where am I going with this?
You can improve your checkout conversions by up to 44% by incorporating multiple payment gateways, such as PayPal.
Pretty amazing, right?
According to Nielsen research data, PayPal transactions also have a 70% higher checkout conversion rate than non-PayPal transactions.
You need any trick in the book when cart abandonment hovers around 70%.
Alternative payment methods are especially important on mobile, where people are otherwise forced to whip their credit cards out in public.
Adding other payment options is one of the easiest ways to solve that problem.
2. Use more videos
Video marketing is literally the future.
Research predicts that video will account for 70% of mobile traffic by 2021.
Video is already dominating the landscape of marketing.
HubSpot’s 2017 State of Inbound Report has shown that more and more marketing professionals are investing their budgets into video platforms like YouTube and Facebook Video:
All of the top content distribution channels are heading towards video.
And for good reason.
Adding videos to your landing pages or product pages gives you a 50x higher chance of showing up on Google searches.
More visibility = more traffic and more conversions.
Even the simple mention of video in your email subject line can increase open rates.
That’s how popular video is right now.
If you are struggling to get conversions on your landing pages, consider creating a simple product video to help explain what your product does and why it can help the user.
People don’t like reading text anymore.
The majority of people skim text-based content online. Including that long-form sales page you just put finishing touches on.
People want you to get straight to the point. Video marketing can help you do just that.
If you don’t know where to start, try using a site like Biteable to create free videos for your landing pages.
You can create free business-style videos that have dozens of animated templates.
Plus, it’s free. It doesn’t cost you a cent.
And according to the latest data, implementing videos on your page will increase conversions.
The top companies are using videos on their landing pages right now.
Check out this landing page from Leadpages:
They use an explainer-style video to show how you can benefit from their product.
Seeing a video demo in action is much more compelling than reading a block of text about how great your product is.
3. Increase site speed
If you want to increase your conversion rates, speed is one the best ways to do it.
Why? Because we are impatient people.
Nobody wants to wait ten seconds for a site to load. Seriously: nobody.
Not when there are hundreds of companies out there selling or offering similar products/services.
Google recently released some amazing data backing this all up.
The latest data shows that if your site is slow, your bounce rate is going to increase:
And an increase in bounce rate means fewer conversions.
Even a few seconds can cost you valuable traffic.
When it comes to an online business, traffic is money.
Walmart found that their conversions dropped rapidly when load times jumped from one to four seconds.
Every second of improvement resulted in a 2% increase in conversions.
General data shows us an even worse outlook on site speed.
For each second that your website takes to load, you can expect a 7% decrease in conversions.
Speed has the power to make or break your website. It can truly determine whether or not you find profit and scalable growth.
Even a single second could be costing you money.
According to Google, the majority of websites in any given industry fall way too short:
The best practice for site speed is three seconds or less. But most of us are taking longer than eight full seconds. That’s bad.
So, what can you do about it? The first step is to diagnose your website with Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool.
Enter your website URL into the tool and analyze it.
From here, you get your website’s overall speed score for both mobile and desktop.
The great thing about this tool is the free insight that it will give you into how you can fix your site problems.
Most of the time, images are going to be the biggest culprit.
They take up tons of space on your site, slowing your speeds dramatically.
If you can compress a few images, you’ve got a good shot at improving your site speed and increasing conversions.
WordPress has tons of plugins that you can use to automatically compress your images and increase site speed.
Try using Smush It:
It’s a free tool that you can install on your WordPress site in just a few minutes. You can also try TinyPNG or ImageOptim (Mac only).
When it comes to increasing conversions, speed is the name of the game.
4. Shorten landing pages
Long-form content wins the day when it comes to blogging.
Data proves it. The longer the content, the higher chance you’ve got to rank well on Google.
We hear it all the time: the longer, the better (no innuendo intended).
Content is king. Especially long-form content.
But does that same principle apply to landing pages?
Do long-form landing pages convert better?
Well, it makes sense that a long-form landing page would be good right?
You can tell a user all about your product without them having to leave the page to find more info.
Product features, demos, and descriptions are amazing when it comes to pushing a customer to buy.
Every sector of your business can have their featured spot on a landing page. It sounds great when you think about it.
But the data actually shows us otherwise.
Shortening your landing page can increase conversion rates dramatically:
In a case study, one company reduced the size of its landing page and found a 13% increase in sign-ups and a 35% higher click-through rate to pricing pages.
This isn’t a one-off case study either.
Neil Patel found a 13% increase in conversions on his Crazy Egg site by reducing the content amount by 60%.
Patel also worked with a client on their landing page to increase conversions.
They were using a long-form style landing page, but Neil recommended using a short-form page with video-based content.
They reduced the size of the landing page dramatically.
In the end, the conversion rate for the website jumped by 40%.
Data consistently shows that short-form landing page content converts better.
Why? Because Americans read headlines and not much else.
Typical Americans, am I right?
But seriously, Buffer found that 55% of visitors to your site will only read your content for 15 seconds or less.
If you want more conversions, try shortening your landing page and getting straight down to business.
Slack has one of the best landing pages in the SaaS industry right now.
It’s short-form and gets straight down to business with a clear-cut headline and call to action:
There is almost nothing on the homepage besides a headline, description, CTA, and a bit of social proof.
Bonus Hack: Social proof is one of the best data-backed hacks to increasing your conversion rate in seconds.
Include a few statistics on your site about how many users you’ve helped or big companies you’ve served. Orbit Media increased their conversions by 1400% using social proof.
Conclusion
Conversions are worse than ever.
You’re still driving tons of traffic to your site and product pages. But nothing is budging.
All of that work you’ve put in to bring people to your site isn’t leading to sales.
You’re screwed (kidding). You feel trapped, scared, and worried about your business.
Without conversions, you don’t have a business.
It’s probably just the slow season, right? Wrong.
There is no real slow season when it comes to generating conversions and sales online.
There is just bad conversion rate optimization.
Thankfully, it’s not that hard to fix.
There are actually multiple data-backed ways to increase your conversions for free.
Including PayPal at checkout can increase your conversions by up to 44%.
Want a fast increase in conversions on your landing pages? Include some product explainer videos.
Site speed should be a big focus, too. The slower your site is, the higher your bounce rate will be and the lower your conversion rate.
Try shortening your landing pages. It’s proven to increase conversions.
Getting conversions doesn’t require you to spend thousands on an agency to fix your site. It just requires a few simple tweaks to make it easier and faster to buy from you.
About the Author: Brad Smith is the founder of Codeless, a B2B content creation company. Frequent contributor to Kissmetrics, Unbounce, WordStream, AdEspresso, Search Engine Journal, Autopilot, and more.
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