website conversion

Practical Ways to Improve Your Website Conversion Rate

One of the most important metrics for your website is its conversion rate. Learn how to optimize your website for conversion to turn more visitors into customers.

Your company’s website serves many functions, but the one most businesses are concerned about is the conversion rate. Driving tons of traffic to your website is great, but that’s only step one in growing your online business. The second step is to convince your website visitors to take action on your site.

What is a Website’s Conversion Rate?

Before we get into too much detail about how to improve your website’s conversion rate, let’s talk about what the conversion rate is. As you set up your website, you’ll designate specific actions you hope the user takes while on the site. For e-commerce websites, generally, this means making a purchase.

For other websites, it might mean signing up for a newsletter, downloading a guide or whitepaper, or inquiring about a service or offering. So a conversion rate is the total number of website visitors who take the action you want them to take on your website, divided by all unique visitors to your website each month. For example, if your website traffic is 1,000 unique visitors a month and you have 10 visitors complete your website goal, your conversion rate is 1%.

5 Tips for Improving Your Website Conversion Rate

With a few adjustments to your website design and other aspects of your online presence, you can improve your conversion rate and turn more visitors into prospects or customers.

1. Use Active Language for Your Button Text

A call to action should have action in it. So instead of using passive language, tell the user specifically what they are doing when they click a button. For example, relabel a link option from “Product Categories” to “View Product Details.” Now you’ve changed your button text from descriptive language to a true action to invite more customers to engage with your content how you want them to.

Active language will entice users to click. Instead of a button that says “Free Demo” have it say “Book My Free Demo” to make the button an action.

2. Reduce the Size of Commitment for Conversions

Sometimes your website visitors aren’t ready to make a buying decision just yet. You need to showcase your consultative approach or ability to help the visitor by reducing the commitment.

Instead of a “Buy Now” button for services, have a button that says “Talk to an Advisor.” This will help your visitors get more comfortable with what you have to offer before committing.

Likewise, “Buy Now” might be too strong for an e-commerce site. Instead, test buttons that say “Add to Cart.” This simple change could result in a higher conversion rate based on your audience.

3. Put Your Conversion Efforts in Areas Your Business Can Truly Shine

conversion rate

Some products sell themselves with just a photo. Others take more convincing from a salesperson or an online demo. If you know your product is somewhat complicated and sells better in-person, urge your website visitors to visit your store location.

And if you know that your software isn’t self-explanatory, offer an in-person demo instead of a 14-day trial. Some services that offer trials instead of demos only serve to frustrate users. They don’t know how to maximize the benefits of the software or service and so they never truly convert after the trial period.

You have to know your audience and test various calls to action to learn what resonates the most with them and what increases your conversion rate.

4. Set Clear Expectations When Users Input Information

Without a clear description of how you’ll use their contact information, website visitors might be hesitant to give out their information.

Set very clear expectations on your contact forms for what happens after the user hits “Submit.”

Not only is this tactic good for increasing conversion rates, but it’s just a nice customer service thing to do. Tell your prospects when and how they can expect to hear from you.

5. Design Clear and Concise Navigation Menus

The navigation menu on your website is one of the most important aspects of your website. It enables your visitors to explore the site and learn more about your business. You want the most important pages to be at the top of your menu so that users can access them easily. But outside of that, you also need to make it obvious what pages would sit underneath those main headings.

Designing a website menu that is both functional and targeted toward conversion is an art. At New Light Digital, we know the art of website conversion optimization. We’ll help you turn more visitors into customers so you can grow your business online. Contact us to learn more.

Related articles

Your outdated browser! You can download Edge or Chrome or Firefox