Every website’s ultimate aim is to turn visitors into leads and customers. Unfortunately, when hundreds of variables influence conversion rates, it’s always challenging to know what improvements to make to boost those rates. The best way to find out is to start experimenting and seeing what works.
It’s difficult to predict how a shift would affect your conversions unless you’ve done a lot of split testing. The great news is that many conversion rate optimization experts have researched these variables and can provide valuable tips to maximize your conversions.
A single change can boost your conversion rates by 25-591%, so follow the advice below to create a high-converting website for your business.
The Research on Improving Conversion Rates
If you do a Google search on conversion rate optimization, you’ll find that a lot of research has already been done. Of course, you’ll need to conduct your experiments, as your visitors’ responses can vary from those outlined in these case studies.
However, incorporating some of the best practices outlined in these case studies would undoubtedly boost your digital marketing campaigns’ effectiveness. Here are some of the main findings to be aware of:
Seek Constructive Criticism from Customers
When it comes to website optimization, your clients are always your best advisors. It’s essential to keep track of how your customers communicate with your website; however, it’s not always obvious why they behave the way they do.
Asking your customers for more detail is often the best way to figure out how to organize your websites. Their responses can reveal some unexpected information that will assist you in improving the effectiveness of your website.
Ask the customers a set of questions about the most significant factors to them.
You should also go through your sales funnel to understand the consumer experience and then use this information and your insights to improve your landing page’s conversion rate.
It’s surprising because, in my experience, the length of the landing pages isn’t an essential aspect, but rather how engaging they are.
Set aside any preconceived notions you might have on how to improve the conversion rates. Interview your clients or entice them to engage in surveys to learn more about them. The only thing that matters is their viewpoint.
Eliminate Unnecessary Elements
On your website, you most likely have a lot of different elements. Some of them are so ingrained in your website that you don’t even notice them.
If you’re not careful, these elements will dramatically lower your conversion rates. Some of them can be very annoying to your guests and should be removed from your website’s specific areas. So let’s explore which elements play a critical role in conversions:
Navigation Bar
One of the first aspects of your site to examine is the navigation bar. In general, consumers must have access to your website. Still, the navigation bar has the potential to destroy your landing page conversions by luring users away to other sections of your site.
According to several reports, eliminating navigation menus from landing pages can dramatically increase conversions. John Bonini from IMPACT experimented by removing the sidebar from his blog.
What was the result?
The conversion rate on his website improved by a whopping 71%.
Of course, don’t get rid of your whole site’s navigation. You want to make sure viewers can quickly find your landing pages, and navigation bars help them do so.
However, you should strongly consider removing your navigation bars from your landing pages, as they could be luring away potential leads before you can convert them.
Sign-up Form
Did you know that eliminating the sign-up form from your landing page will increase your sign-up rates? This may sound insane, but it’s what Vendio went through.
Vendio had a well-performing sign-up form on a landing page before their testing efforts, but they were worried that the form’s various fields would turn off potential customers. As a result, they agreed to try a new strategy.
They transferred the sign-up form from the landing page to a separate page. Customers were then directed to another page where they could sign up by clicking on a link.
This looks like a bad idea since most website users are lazy and don’t want to take any additional steps. The result was that their conversion rates increased by 60%!
This case study shatters one of the most widely held industry myths about landing pages and sign-up optimization. However, it makes sense that certain consumers can bounce if they are greeted with a long sign-up form when they arrive on a landing page.
Of course, this doesn’t mean you should remove the sign-up forms from all your landing pages. Your users can react in a variety of ways. This case study demonstrates how sign-up forms can be wasteful elements on landing pages, lowering conversion rates.
If you don’t want to say goodbye to your entire sign-up form, you may want to consider deleting some of the fields that aren’t required. According to research, simply removing the phone field from your sign-up form will increase conversion rates by 5%.
Images
Visual elements are essential for engaging consumers, but they can also divert attention away from your calls to action, resulting in a higher bounce rate. As a result, you must ensure that you curate your photos in a structured way and you do not overuse them to the point that your landing pages become cluttered, reducing conversions.
Creating a leaner landing page will help you increase conversion rates. Unfortunately, it’s not always clear which elements on your pages help you achieve your conversion goals and which ones hurt you. It’s up to you to thoroughly test each one.
As some of these case studies demonstrate, elements that you think would benefit you might be hurting your conversions.
Sense of Urgency
Companies looking to optimize their websites for higher conversions should remember the expression “the squeaky wheel gets the grease.” This phrase indicates that if you want to convert more clients, the website must convey a sense of urgency.
The unfortunate reality is that being too passive will cost you sales. If you’re actively selling on social media, this could be difficult for you to consider because the best practice is to have value and avoid being too salesy. Recognize, however, that one of the few places where actively selling customers is needed is on your landing pages.
Here is some of the analysis to back up these claims:
- Starting with a sense of scarcity is a great place to start. People are more likely to buy anything if you give them the idea that there are just a few left, as they will fear that if they don’t move quickly, there won’t be any left.
- Since the color red evokes a sense of urgency, many websites employ red buttons. According to a Hubspot report, using red call-to-action buttons improved conversion rates by 21%.
- You can use timers on your website to persuade consumers that they’ll miss out if they don’t move fast. However, you must be careful not to give them too much time, or they will lose the sense of urgency that motivates them to make a purchase or fill out your lead form.
You can use various techniques to build a sense of urgency, but be careful not to come across as misleading. One of your main concerns should be maintaining the interest of your visitors.
If you want to convert your visitors, you must give them a reason to take action. Convincing them that if they don’t act now, they’ll miss out on an ample opportunity will help you increase your conversion rate.
Make Your Calls-to-Action Highly Visible
Your calls-to-action are, without a doubt, the most important aspects of your landing pages. To entice potential customers to take the desired step, you must ensure that they are visible.
Changing the colors of your call-to-action buttons is one of the simplest ways to increase their visibility. Another important consideration is the placement of the call-to-action, which is something that many people overlook.
Many people believe that the call to action should always be visible above the fold. On the other hand, the button will be more valuable if you place it to best aid decision-making.
Increasing the visibility of your call-to-action buttons will help you increase conversion rates, particularly if your visitors notice it when they’re ready to make a decision.
Provide Testimonials
Providing online feedback will help you gain people’s confidence. According to a study, 88% of consumers believe online reviews are as trustworthy as personal recommendations.
Given the degree of confidence that testimonials can generate, it’s no surprise that many studies have found that online reviews can help increase conversions. Andrew Girdwood, DigitasLBi’s Media Innovations Director, researched the advantages of website testimonials and discovered that they successfully increased online sales.
When you prove that other people have gained from what you’re offering, people are more likely to convert. Providing social evidence is a great way to get them to convert.
Pre-Optimization Tips
Conversion rate optimization case studies will help you dramatically increase your campaigns’ ROI—but bear in mind that study is only useful if you can appreciate how the results apply to your business model. Before you optimize your campaign, think about the following factors:
- Conversion goal. Can you use landing pages to create leads or sell goods to your customers directly? The best practices for getting users to fill out one of your lead-generation forms may not be the best practices for selling goods to cold traffic.
- Price point. Brands selling low-cost products do not need to spend as much time warming up their prospects. Short-form sales copy, for example, may convert faster, while businesses selling more costly goods may need to write more comprehensive copy.
- Customer demographic. Conversion rate optimization takes into account age, gender, ethnicity, nationality, and other demographic factors. Keep in mind how demographics affect how people communicate with your website.
- Traffic sources. Create your website based on the traffic sources you’ll be using. A landing page that attracts new users through Facebook native advertising needs to be built differently than one that attracts new users through Adwords.
The factors mentioned above are helpful starting points, but you should ultimately base your decisions on your results. Never quit split-testing because there’s always anything else you can do to boost your conversions—and you won’t find the answers in someone else’s case study.
The Takeaway – Never Stop Testing and Improving
Since there are so many different adjustments that can be made, conversion rate optimization is real science. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to draw broad conclusions because different audiences will respond to the same changes differently.
While these case studies show some of the changes you can make to improve your conversions, you have to explore what works best for your audience. You need to test everything and come up with the tactics that work for your business.
Until the next one, keep optimizing!
