Every business website should have a purpose. From getting users to sign-up to a newsletter, to purchasing products – each website should have several calls-to-action.
Getting your calls to action right is arguably one of the most important things you can focus on, on your website. Maximising clicks is the simplest and quickest way to increase conversion rates and turn users into potential customers.
Are you struggling to convert users? Inside this article, we take a look at 4 alternative ways to increase website conversion rates. We will also introduce you to what a website conversion is and how you can track them in Analytics.
What is ‘website conversion rate’?
Website conversion rate is simply the percentage of users who visit your website and complete a set goal or a desired call to action. This means a website conversion can be as complex as making a purchase, completing a contact form, or something as small as clicking a phone number.
Website conversions are calculated as a percentage by taking the total number of completed actions/goals over a set period and dividing by the total number of visitors.
Let’s say if you’re website gained 1000 visitors last month, and 25 of them completed a goal, the conversion rate would work out as 25/1000 = 0.25 x 100 = 2.5%
How to track conversions on Analytics
Once we create and launch a new website, we always like to create a few simple conversion goals within Analytics. The easiest and most simple way to track your conversions is to login to your Analytics dashboard, then simply select ‘Conversions > Goals > Overview’.
Within your dashboard, you can also start to investigate converted goals a little further by filtering and viewing data such as URL locations or assisted conversions (other page interactions).
Identify other conversion methods
No website will ever be the same. For some websites, buying from your website will certainly be a call to action. However, for others, this may not be possible and means you need to identify other conversion methods such as encouraging customers to visit your business.
As a web design agency based in Knutsford, we create business websites for many different industry sectors. In this particular example, with Kitchenality (a new Macclesfield kitchen showroom), we identified that the purpose of the website wasn’t to try and compete with rivals to purchase kitchens, or increase website conversion rates, the website should be used to draw customers to visit the new kitchen showroom.
As a result of this, we implemented a keyword strategy with a call-to-action where we suggested users fill out a contact form where they could visit the kitchen showroom for a free kitchen design consultation. This resulted in a sharp increase in visits to the kitchen showroom.
Instant Key Navigation
I’m sure we have all been there.…you are browsing a website and either the site structure is confusing or finding a product is utterly impossible! Website navigation is one of a number of key factors in increasing your chances of converting users into customers. Users like fast obvious information – so if it’s not accessible within the first few seconds of landing on your website, users will very likely abandon your website and move onto your competitors.
If you have key services or lists of categories that define your products, we would recommend you promote them with your websites main navigation and give them as much exposure as possible, so they are instantly recognisable. From a responsive point of view, this should also apply to both mobile and tablet UX design where space is critical.
Reduce Commitments
According to a study, 98% of users will not make a purchase during their initial visit to a website. Unfortunately, today will live in a digital world where users may be interested in your products but may not be necessarily ready to make an instant decision. Instead of asking users to make a commitment to you, look to suggest for smaller commitments.
After conducting tests based on user commitments, GoodUI carried out research and discovered that by testing ‘Buy Now’ and ‘Contact’ as a call to action with almost 3000 users, ‘Contact’ attracted almost 2% more with 117 visits filling out the contact form as opposed to 68 users clicking the ‘Buy Now’ button.
Introduce Active Language
Let’s say your website has two different buttons… ‘Buy Now’ and ‘Add to Cart’. Wouldn’t you agree ‘Buy Now’ seems very final? By introducing active language such as ‘Add to Cart’, it encourages potential customers to act risk-free but also leaves the door open so they can change their mind. As suggested in my last tip, it’s rare a user will make any kind of commitment after visiting your website for the very first time, so you need to make the UX as comfortable as possible with out forcing users to make any instant decisions.
Using active language instead of a formal call-to-action can greatly improve engagement rates and could potentially lead to more website conversion rates and customers. By giving your users a snippet of what to expect when clicking the button, they are far more likely to engage and interact with your call-to-action.
You can read more on the art of introducing active language by reading Google’s UX playbook for lead generation.
Cheshire Web Design Agency Conclusion
Ultimately, wanting users to fill out a contact form or purchase a product and increasing website conversation rates will always play a key role in the success of any business website. From this article, I hope you will take away one or two alternative ways you can increase conversion rates by helping and guiding your users to make decisions.
Want to discuss how your website is performing? Feel free to contact us or pop or why not pop in for a chat over a coffee in our web design studio based in Knutsford.