Have you planned out your website and landing pages, worked on the design, written up content, and picked your images, but are still having trouble converting visitors?
You’re not alone. In fact, only about 22% of businesses are satisfied with their conversion rates. And, it makes sense when you consider all the elements that go into building a successful page.
So, how can you break free from the 22% and prevent turning away potential customers?
Well, first, you need to discover what’s going wrong. We’ve gathered some of the most common mistakes that can negatively impact your bottom line. Let’s dive in.
Uninviting or Unnoticeable Call To Actions (CTAs)
A strong CTA is instrumental to your conversion success rate. It must grab the attention of your potential leads, stand out, be authoritative, and be consistent with your headlines.
Here are some great examples of CTAs:
- Get My Free eBook
- Download My Copy Today
- Register Now
- Start My Free Trial
They are urgent, leave little room for alternative interpretations, and persuasive.
What’s more, they trigger emotions by using words such as: now and free, thereby making customers more inclined to click and convert.
But that’s not all there is to creating a powerful CTA. Ensuring it is large enough to be noticed, not to mention, is in the right spot on the webpage, is equally important. Your CTA must stand out - in size and color. But keep in mind that you don’t want it to be too large and come across as pushy.
As for placement, above the fold and on the right is the best position - meaning, high enough on the page without having to scroll down. In this place, it can’t be overlooked, and so, it increases the chances of conversion.
Lack of Social Trust Strips
Do you currently present any positive reviews from your customers? If not, you should.
Did you know that 60% of consumers look at Google Reviews before trusting a business? When it comes down to it, customers trust other customers. Meaning, one of the best things you can do for your pages is to add a trust strip presenting positive reviews and testimonials.
Not only will this reassure potential customers of your brand’s credibility but also make them more likely to convert.
Too Much Clutter
While it’s understandable that you want to present as much information as possible about your business and build up your Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness - too much of everything can actually have an off-putting effect, and as a result, seriously hurt your conversion rate.
A cluttered layout in terms of content, colors, and images can be hard-to-understand, distracting, and dilute the message you’re trying to convey.
So, how do we know how much is too much? Well, there’s no hard rule. But, keep the following in mind:
- Avoid advertising that sends visitors away from your pages and onto others,
- Clear your homepage of unnecessary text and images. Add only what is relevant to conveying your message effectively.
- Weave together compelling, concise copy (which includes relevant keyword phrases and search terms) and trust-building images in a way that doesn’t come across as overly promotional - for both visitors and search engines.
Always remember: people don’t truly like to read, and if they do, then they don’t have the patience to read long paragraphs. Most visitors will skim through your content. So, avoid walls of text and instead impress your visitors with short and powerful ones.
Usability (UI)
Your ability to attract, convert, and retain, without a doubt, is impacted by your UI. So, it is essential to consider some of the most common UI mistakes that could affect conversions.
Legibility.
While we all want to have beautifully designed pages that catch our target audience's eye, it’s not worth much if the content isn’t legible.
Bad color combinations, blocks of giant text, complex backgrounds, text on images, and more, can all make your page hard to read, and in turn, decrease your chances of conversions.
Always remember, when it comes to design, usability should be the key motivator - not personal taste.
Loading Speed.
Did you know that the average person’s attention span is 8 seconds? Or that a delay of even a single second in a page’s load time can lead to a 7% reduction in conversions.
That’s a huge number when you consider what your potential annual loss of sales would be.
Loading speed is clearly a vital factor for your visitors, and as a result, search engines. Several things could potentially impact your loading speed, from unoptimized images to Bloated HTML to analytics tags, to name but a few.
Bottom line, test your loading speed, analyze what is causing any delays, and do what you need to ensure that your pages load as fast as possible.
Confusing Navigation.
Set aside visuals for a moment, and consider the browsing experience - as your navigational design has a huge impact on conversions.
So, is it clear? What about simple? Can you guarantee that any new visitor has an easy browsing experience? Or that they can understand where they are at all times?
Remember: you don’t need to over complicate an already difficult task - that is, keeping your visitors exploring your pages. Stick to standard, intuitive navigation that is easy to understand and follow. It will help your conversion rates immensely.
You Haven’t Optimized for Mobile.
You may have a mobile version of your site or landing page, but if it’s not mobile optimized, in other words, if your text isn’t legible, your menus accessible, and if you don’t have accommodating functions, then your users will bounce.
With that in mind, take the time to assess all your pages and features on mobile, until you’re 100% sure that it’s optimized.
Want to learn more about converting your visitors? Reach out to us today! And one of our experts will be happy to jump on a free consultation call to help.
