Two easy, proven ways to increase conversions on your website today

Sometimes, the most effective ways are the least obvious. Here’s how you can quit overthinking and start driving more sales.

Photo by Campaign Creators on Unsplash.

Are you struggling with what you should focus on to increase your conversion rate? Whether you’re just getting started or you’ve been hyper-focused on making improvements, don’t overlook these two powerful ways you can increase your conversion rate.

1. Make sure your website works and functions properly.

Nothing kills conversions quite like a poor user experience. Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash.

It’s surprising how many website usability and performance issues go untouched or unnoticed altogether. If you haven’t performed a technical audit of your website, do it now! Website issues are a serious conversion killer… and making your website work properly will turn this problem around quickly.

Your website needs to:

• Load quickly. The longer a user has to wait for content to load, the greater the likelihood that they’ll bounce to a competitor’s site to fulfill their needs.
• Be responsive. Your website should be fully functional and readable across desktop and mobile devices. If your users are having to pinch and zoom often, you’re doing it wrong!
• Provide a frictionless experience. Your users should be able to navigate the website with ease. User interface snags, overlapping elements, and odd user interface patterns can be a huge turn-off. Keep it simple.

Here are three solid checklists for making sure your website is optimized for an ideal experience:

• The Front-End Checklist. This checklist touches on nearly every part of your website as it relates to performance. From compressing images to handling third-party assets, it’s handy both as a pre-launch resource and as a reference for auditing your current website. If you’re not a technical person or a developer, you can always pass this on to someone who can execute each of the items on the checklist.
• Checklist Design. Yet another checklist, but this one focuses primarily on common UX patterns across the funnel. Now, it’s important to understand that these are UX recommendations and best practices, so there’s no guarantee that they’ll work well for you… but they can serve as a great starting point for ensuring that your user experience is clear and understandable.
• UX Project Checklist. This free, open-source checklist covers important UX methodologies, activities, and tools at a very high level. What’s so nice about this checklist is that it provides helpful content to support each checklist item. If there’s an item on the checklist that you are unfamiliar with, there’s an actionable article or two available for reference. The checklist’s creator, Andrea Soverini, even wrote an article on why he created it.

2. Tailor your copy to address your target customers’ problems and how you solve them better than everyone else.

Photo by Green Chameleon on Unsplash.

Persuasion is a very powerful thing, but too many companies miss the mark entirely. Instead of talking about how a potential customer’s life will be better, they talk about all the things a customer doesn’t care about.

What most customers don’t care about:

• How many years you’ve been in business
• What credentials you possess
• The mere features of your product or service offering
• How cool your office culture is

What most customers do care about:

• What problems you solve for them
• How the benefits and features of your product solve these problems
• Who you’ve helped and how their lives are better today (testimonials and social proof)

I came across a large ad agency’s website the other day and noticed this headline, prominently displayed at the top of their website’s hero area:

It’s not clear what’s being offered here…

Creative? Certainly. Does it make sense to someone interested in an advertising agency’s services? Very unlikely.

Now, let’s compare that to the headline copy of another creative agency I stumbled upon:

Not perfect, but it’s much clearer as to what this agency does for a prospective client.

The example above isn’t perfect; there’s still plenty of room for improving this headline. With that said, it does a much better job of communicating to a prospect what they can expect to receive in terms of value. They don’t just design and develop websites… they deliver persuasive websites.

So how do you position your website’s copy correctly?

Begin with the end in mind. When a prospect reads your copy, it should paint a picture in their head of how life will be much better after doing business with you. After all, your product or service is supposed to help them become a better version of themselves.

For example, if you have a B2B offering, talk about how you’ll help make a business more money, lower their expenses, free up their time, or solve a unique/challenging business problem. You must hook them emotionally and really dig into the biggest pains they have from day to day.

What task occupies most of their day that your product, service, or tool reduces or eliminates altogether?

What do your prospects hate doing the most and how does your business alleviate this pain?

What do your prospects fear losing or missing out on that your business can help them retain or gain?

If you’re selling direct to consumers, talk about how you’ll make them feel better, look more attractive, get smarter, gain more strength, or live longer. You know, that “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs” stuff.

Image by Factoryjoe.

Beyond that, remember to write your website copy with clarity. Avoid vague or technical jargon and talk to your prospects as if they are human… because they are! Writing in a conversational (but professional) tone is totally acceptable and is what you should be doing.

If you want a primer for how to write better copy and understanding why customers buy, there are a number of solid books and websites you can reference. To help you out, I’ve included some resources below on customer psychology, why people buy, and persuasive copywriting that I’ve found really helpful.

Books worth reading:

• The Brain Audit: Why Customers Buy (And Why They Don’t) by Sean D’Souza
• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini, PhD
• The Copywriter’s Handbook: A Step-By-Step Guide To Writing Copy That Sells by Robert W. Bly
• CA$HVERTISING: How to Use More than 100 Secrets of Ad-Agency Psychology to Make Big Money Selling Anything to Anyone by Drew Eric Whitman

Websites and blogs worth referencing:

• Copyhackers by Joanna Wiebe
• KopywritingKourse by Neville Medhora
• Copyblogger by Brian Clark

Closing Thoughts

As business owners, digital marketers, and conversion optimizers, we tend to get so immersed in the work we do that it’s easy to overthink the way we position ourselves in the marketplace. Sometimes, the most profound improvements are right under our noses.

If you’ve racked your brain on how to make meaningful improvements to your conversion rate, perhaps it’s time to go back to the basics.

Just remember to:

1. Make sure your website sports a simple, cohesive experience that works in a way your users would expect it to.
2. Ensure that you’ve positioned your website copy to attract a prospect, generate interest, create desire, and prompt them to take action.