also reccomends the Evergreen Email Engine™ Playbook: go.growthleap.com/playbook
You've got a great website, fantastic email campaigns, and traffic driven by social media channels, but how do you know how effective your efforts are? How do you turn the same amount of traffic into more leads and buyers?
That's where a website's conversion rate comes in.
It's not enough to have visitors coming to the website for small businesses - you have to have them convert into paying customers so that you can start enjoying the fruits of your labor.
Conversion rate is a common metric used in digital marketing and email marketing and refers to the number of web page visitors who complete the desired action. For instance, signing up for a free trial, purchasing a specific product or service, or creating an account. It is an action that provides value to your company.
Here’s a quick and easy conversion rate formula you can use:
Conversion Rate = (Conversion Count ÷ Traffic Volume) x 100
Or more specifically…
Conversion Rate = (Total number of leads/sales ÷ Total number of visitors) x 100
To determine your conversion rate, you'll need to decide what event you're measuring and how you'll define "conversion." The numerator will be the number of conversions, and the denominator is the total number of visitors.
Following the same formula, you can replace the denominator like below.
For measuring your lead generation conversions relative to unique visitors:
Conversion Rate = (Total number of leads ÷ Total number of unique visitors) x 100
For measuring your sales efficiency against volume of lead flow:
Conversion Rate = (Total number of sales ÷ Total number of leads) x 100
Your conversion rate is the prime indicator of your overall marketing performance. For instance, if your Facebook ads perform poorly compared to Google Ads, you may want to investigate new wording or transition some of your budget to Google AdWords. It can also be used to help set realistic ROI goals for expanding an existing campaign's reach.
Conversion rates also help optimize ad targeting by tracking the number of downloads, social media followers, and email subscriptions.
Further analysis of your average conversion rate may also help you identify areas that may need improvement on your entire website or app. There are various analysis tools available for this. If most website visitors aren’t completing engagement steps, something may be wrong.
The term "conversion funnel" comes from the common sales sequence that you see in e-commerce and other online businesses, which illustrates the step-by-step progress a website visitor makes as they move through the main phases of the buyer's journey.
Generally, the funnel will be broken down into 4 main levels:
This is where potential buyers learn about your business and products; thus the focus is on drawing them in. Customers reach this stage after researching ways to solve their problems.
At this point, they will know a little bit about your product. You need to build their interest; the less pushy your approach, the better.
Here is where you help customers address their problems instead of pushing products. Being too aggressive with new customers could scare them away. Engaging in videos, blog posts, and tutorials are great ways to move them along the funnel.
Those that make it this far have a high potential of converting. They might be looking at your pricing or checking out which products are available. Anything your brand can do that can encourage them to buy something or perform the required action is welcome.
For instance, these customers will likely be first-time buyers with product-related inquiries. Make sure your sales team is prepared to answer them. A positive brand experience can influence consumers to buy a product.
This is the final and most crucial stage, where the customer finally converts. At this point, you can do a little more promotion and less education. Free trials, estimates, discounts, and gifts with purchase are a few examples. Injecting some personalization can also help customers feel important and drive them to convert.
Your job does not stop here. The customer is now part of your ecosystem, and you must continue nurturing them. You want them to become repeat and loyal customers.
The conversion funnel’s purpose is to get people to move across each stage and ultimately complete the last stage, which is the desired action. As seen above, every stage has its own purpose, but the overarching goal is to get visitors to the last stage.
Only a small percentage of visitors will reach the “action” stage. Therefore, making any improvements at each stage can influence your bottom line.
Tracking conversions across your sales funnel will help you determine which parts of your sales funnel are most effective.
To calculate your sales funnel conversion rate, choose a specific time period (whether it's weekly, monthly, or quarterly) and make sure that all data comes from the same period.
Then use this formula:
Conversion Rate = (Total Conversions / Total Leads that Entered the Funnel) x 100
You can use the same formula to calculate different conversion events, such as the number of leads who attended your webinar or the number of people who purchased a product.
Although the average sales funnel conversion rate varies, you can use industry standards to evaluate your performance. For example, the range for e-commerce spans from 0.6% to 5.5%, depending on the industry.
Here are ways you can improve your conversion rate across different stages in the funnel:
You can measure your website's conversion rates for free with Google Analytics and other website analysis tools to get valuable insights about your website traffic.
It can also be used to do A/B tests. Each new variable on your website should be tested one at a time to determine how it affects your overall conversion rate.
Studies show simply measuring conversions can have a positive impact on your overall sales effectiveness, because measuring any specific KPI (key performance indicator) places your focus on improving that number.
An unambiguous call-to-action (CTA) will encourage customers to take the next step. Here are some tips for drawing attention to your CTA:
The point is to draw the eyes to your CTA. Sometimes, even a small change in your copy can produce significant results.
Images help get your point across quickly, especially concepts that are difficult to explain or might be too technical. But not every image you upload to your website or app may be effective.
It is critical to test your images to ensure they effectively communicate your message to your audience. Here are some image tests you may try:
The main point is to see which of your images can connect more quickly and more deeply to your ideal buyer to help increase conversions.
Quick Conversion Tip: Studies have proven that images of people’s faces, especially where you can see the whites of their eyes, tend to have higher clickthrough rates than those without.
Copywriting, when done well, can get people to convert. It should be informative but concise and digestible without being boring. Adding headings can help make your product descriptions easier to read.
Videos can be very effective in highlighting product features. Customers who view a product video are more likely to move on to the action phase.
Not every visitor you get on your website makes a purchase, but you can nurture them to get to that point. Lead magnets compel potential customers to provide their contact details in exchange for an interesting offer. It’s a great way to build trust and make them remember your brand when they are ready to buy.
You can use lead magnets such as free ebooks, guides, webinars, case studies, templates, or product samples.
A little personal touch can go a long way to wow your customers by using live chat inside your sales funnels. Providing instant assistance to customer queries on your website can prevent them from leaving your site without making a purchase.
Currently, nearly 59% of web traffic comes from a mobile device, compared to only 31.16% back in 2015. Thus, the value of a mobile-friendly website has increased as users spend more time on their phones and tablets.
Not only does your website have to load quickly across different devices, it needs to look good too. This means that your high-quality images, buttons, and text should be in the right size and place. This will have a huge benefit.
Nurturing leads through constant communication can give you more opportunities to sell. Assuming they've already taken the bait (your lead magnet), you might want to follow up with them and offer them more engaging and targeted content.
Before anything else, prioritize the optimization of your traffic flow. Employ analytics tools to help you determine which pages are losing more visitors.
Google Analytics: Time on page and bounce rate are two metrics inside Google Analytics than can help you understand which pages on your site are most engaging, and which pages are most likely to repel potential customers.
Hotjar: Additionally, heatmap tools like Hotjar can be used to record user sessions and give you a better understanding of how visitors are engaging with your website and its content.
Conversion roadmaps will help streamline your efforts by illustrating where your traffic comes from, areas of friction, which pages are effective, and which ones can be eliminated.
Conversion copywriting involves thoroughly understanding your target audience and creating content relevant to them. Fluff and pushy sales material should be avoided. Keep your copy straightforward and brief.
54% of buyers will check online reviews before they make a purchase. This just shows how powerful social proof can be.
Video testimonials can be a powerful conversion booster. You can use them to create ads that entice your customers to make a purchase.
Use a tool like ConvertHub to display real-time opt-ins and sales from your funnels. Showing prospects they are not alone is an age-old strategy. A popular example is how McDonald’s uses “over 19 billion served” on their signage which signifies how trustworthy and popular their products are.
Conversion optimization requires focus, and setting S.M.A.R.T. goals can help you do just that. It's easy to become overwhelmed by the number of stages needed in conversion optimization, and having unrealistic expectations might derail your drive.
A S.M.A.R.T. goal is:
As you take steps to optimize your website for conversions, you will undoubtedly encounter various technical challenges, from slow loading times to massive amounts of data. Before you get started on any conversion optimization project, make sure you understand the technical requirements to implement your new strategy.
Conducting A/B split tests is essential to optimizing your conversion rate. Create many variations of each page to see which converts best. Continue testing even your winning concepts to see if you can beat your “Control.”
Your Control is the version of your marketing asset with the highest conversion rate for the desired result.
For example, if you have two landing pages (landing page A and landing page B), and their conversion rates are as follows:
Landing Page A: 40%
Landing Page B: 50%
Landing Page B is the winner and should become your Control. Your next step would be to add a 3rd landing page, landing page C.
If landing page C converts above 50%, (e.g. 55%), then it becomes your new Control. However, if landing page C converts below 50% (e.g. 45%), then landing page B remains as your Control, and you should consider creating a 4th variant (landing page D) and running a new test against the winner (aka your Control).
The fact is, you can't accomplish conversion optimization on a low budget. It's important to get funding for infrastructure, testing, and implementation before getting started.
As technology and trends keep evolving, so must your strategy for optimizing conversions. Use any mistakes as opportunities to learn from and keep improving.
As the great leadership expert & author John Maxwell says, “Sometimes you win. Sometimes you learn.”
Deadline Funnel gives each of your leads a unique and authentic deadline for your offer.
Sign UpA conversion rate optimization (CRO) specialist manages and implements a company's conversion strategy. It's ideal to work with a CRO expert that is multi-disciplinary, meaning they have knowledge in different areas related to conversion optimization. A competent CRO specialist will be skilled in the following areas:
Customers are likely to leave if they are required to provide too much personal information or fill out lengthy forms. If you absolutely need a form, make sure it has as few form fields as possible. Every additional field on your form may increase the quality of your leads but is most likely to reduce your conversion rate at the same time.
Moreover, consumers are becoming wary about disclosing personal information to companies. Consider if all of the information you’re asking for is absolutely necessary. Sometimes all you really need are the basics such as name and email (or name, email and phone number if your business has a sales team).
Social proof is the notion that people will change their behavior in accordance with what they see other people doing. It could be any positive sentiments made about your business or product by your customers, an expert, a celebrity, or even a certification from an authoritative body. A few examples are:
As these come from people who are deemed trustworthy, utilizing social proof makes your business more credible. Customer reviews tend to carry more weight since they are more authentic than traditional, hard-selling advertisements.
Everything a user does on your website constitutes user behavior. This includes scrolling, clicking, staying on certain pages or areas, and leaving the page.
There are three main questions you should aim to answer in your pursuit of understanding user behavior:
By attaching these psychographic factors to trackable data, you can learn which areas of your own site need improvement, which features are most popular, which content is ignored, and how well certain pages and parts are doing overall.
Live chat is one of the best tools for increasing engagement on your website and improving user experience (UX). It allows you to interact with website visitors and answer their questions immediately.
The best part is that it doesn’t require any additional investment in time or resources — all it takes is just a few clicks to add a live chat widget to your site. It may even provide you with valuable data that you can use to make improvements.
Any flaws in the presentation of your company's website will have a direct and negative impact on customers. Testing a website, a web microservice, or any other web-based application can help find flaws. You can use services such as ahrefs or Google Search Console to crawl your website, and produce a report with technical suggestions to improve your site.
Websites that take too long to load, for example, can cause damage. Digital.com reported that 53% of consumers have a three-second threshold for e-commerce page load times, and 45% of consumers have a negative perception of companies with sluggish websites.
A/B testing is both a tool and a process. In conversion rate optimization it’s usually used to compare multiple versions of an online landing page to see which version performs better. By identifying where you can improve your design or copywriting, A/B testing gives you an objective way to measure how effective your changes are without having to rely solely on intuition or guesswork.
Friction is anything that slows down or complicates the buyer's journey. It could be confusing navigation, a complicated checkout process, or even just plain bad site design. Not acknowledging and fixing areas of friction could lead to poor sales. Always address objections and complaints from customers.
87% of customers will abandon their carts if the checkout process is too difficult, and 55% said they wouldn’t go back to the website.
Abandoned cart emails are sent to customers who leave the site without checking out. The goal of these emails is to provide a final call-to-action that encourages the customer to complete their order. If you send them at the right time and include the right information, they can significantly increase your conversion rate.
Statistics reveal that almost half of all abandoned cart emails are opened, with a resulting recovered sale percentage of nearly 30%
Set up a campaign trigger to automatically send them an email.
Give customers a compelling reason to choose you over your competitors by highlighting your unique value proposition. It should be a short, memorable phrase that clearly and concisely conveys to clients why they should buy from you.
Focus on highlighting a feature that your competitor doesn’t offer and will appeal to your buyer the most.
95% of people recall material better when it is presented in video format. Videos are highly engaging and can be used to educate and convert visitors at the same time
Even impersonal businesses like financial services, insurance, business tool providers, and others may use videos to humanize their services and connect with customers on an emotional level.
It can also be used to demonstrate product benefits and reinforce your CTAs.
The purpose of a call to action is to persuade people to take an immediate and specific course of action. A good CTA should be obvious and easy to understand. It should also be placed somewhere prominent on your website so that visitors don’t have trouble spotting it right away.
The best call to action is straightforward, captivating, and motivates the audience to go to your website. Here are a few pointers in writing a strong CTA:
Anything that keeps or delays your visitors from doing the action you want them to take is a distraction. You don't want to overwhelm your customers; you want to keep them moving to the next stage. If you are utilizing mobile apps or websites, then you are also competing with other apps that could distract customers.
To optimize your website, keep it to one goal per page. People now have shorter attention spans, so you want to bait your customers right away and lead them to the next step. For instance, if you want customers to go from your home page to your new collection, you could highlight an area on your homepage by adding a button, a relevant image, and copy that will entice them to check it out.
People have certain expectations prior to going to your website. A few are that it should load fast, have information about your brand, contain your product listings, or have your contact information. It should also be consistent across different platforms.
Consistency can increase a brand's average revenue by around 23% . A few ways to do so are to maintain branding colors and fonts on different platforms by using a style guide, using familiar and intuitive layouts, and consistent brand messaging.
Websites that take longer than 6 seconds to load will lose 1 in 2 of their visitors. Do an audit of your website by checking its loading speed and testing which elements are slowing it down. It could be anything from unoptimized images to having too many widgets or apps, dirty code, having too many ads, or hosting issues.
If your website isn't mobile-friendly, you might be turning away a large percentage of your customer base. A website with a responsive design will adapt to the size of the screen it is being viewed on without compromising readability or functionality. Put your website through Google's Mobile-Friendly Test to see how it does on mobile devices.
Customers who want to check out want to do it fast. Anything that slows this process down, like mandatory registration, long checkout forms, or limited payment options, can hurt your sales.
The user experience is significantly influenced by design. Utilize user interface (UI) elements in your mobile marketing ads to direct users to the next step. The key is to make it as user-friendly as possible. Utilize functional brand copy and keep your CTA concise and to the point.
Another way to target your mobile users or increase app downloads is to employ mobile-specific campaigns. Discount codes that work only in-app or offers that are available only on mobile can create FOMO and encourage mobile website visits.
Get creative and make the most of the limited space on mobile devices. Keeping customers on product pages is one way to do so. Most fashion brands use on-page product recommendations that show off other related products without requiring the user to navigate to a different page. This lets visitors explore other options and potentially increase their basket size.
The top 10 languages spoken on the internet are English, French, German, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Portuguese, Russian, Malaysian, and others. Without employing language interpretation or localizing your website, you could alienate many potential customers.
Most people prefer to buy from websites that incorporate their native language. If you are selling to a global audience, incorporating currencies, worldwide shipping, and delivery costs can help with your conversions. To make it even better, make sure to include different unit measures and the estimated times of deliveries.
If all you’ve got is a product and a price, you’re likely leaving money on the table. Use evergreen deadlines as part of your growth marketing strategy.
A compelling high-converting offer will always include some form of guarantee as well as a reason to act now. By giving your prospects a deadline to make a buying decision, you will almost certainly see a lift in sales, even if you change nothing else with your marketing. Use evergreen email timers, and countdown timers on your landing pages and checkout forms to instantly increase conversions.
With Deadline Funnel, you can start a free 14-day trial to boost sales by incorporating deadlines into your marketing campaigns today.
It may seem insignificant, but having your company's contact information fosters trust and establishes a favorable reputation with your consumers. Some customers are hesitant to shop at an online store, especially if it's a website they don't know. Working contact information reassures consumers that they can contact your team immediately and easily.
Your contact information page should be easy to access and find. Because people's communication preferences vary, try to provide as many options as possible (email, chat, phone number, or messaging apps).
Many websites use sliders or carousels because they think it helps customers see more of what they have to offer or they think it is aesthetically pleasing. However, sliders could have the opposite effect. It can be confusing to first-time visitors, especially if each slide features a different offer, and it could also trigger banner blindness which causes them to ignore it.
If that’s not enough, it could even slow down your website which kills your conversions. It could also impact your search engine optimization. Stick to a strong hero image and well-written CTA instead. Alternatively, a grid layout, when done right, can also be used to highlight various web pages and offers without the cons of a slider.
