If you’re running an eCommerce site, regardless of whether it’s a small, specialist SaaS product or a large, multinational consumer goods empire, conversions are king. Every business is looking for tricks and tips related to conversion rate optimization, or CRO.
Any business should periodically conduct a CRO audit to see if they can improve. Follow these ten commandments if you’re seeking quick wins to bolster CRO. They’ll help you work with what you have and negate the need to adjust your approach entirely.
Speak your audience’s language
Copy is undeniably an effective way to persuade consumers to purchase goods and services. The best copywriter in the world may be unsuitable for your website if they do not speak the same language as your audience, though.
Unnecessarily verbose and flowery language when users simply want you to get to the point is unhelpful. You may as well target a Spanish-speaking audience by writing in French. Equally, though, some users wish to be wooed and won over by a seductive way with words.
Investigate what your audience expects and what approach to copy and prose they respond to. Armed with this information, you can tailor your strategy accordingly.
Validate your concepts for performance during the design stage with AI-generated attention analytics
Focus on problem-solving
Most consumers and businesses are looking to purchase goods or services to resolve a pain point. Offering a solution to what ails your audience is the fastest and most reliable way to turn a profit. Identify common issues that plague your consumers and focus your attention upon them.
Review the copy that you’re using on your website. Is it clear how and why you will enhance your customers’ lives? Are you making it obvious that they will overcome a frequent hurdle or stumbling block by investing in your product or service? If the answer is no, rectify this and adjust your emphasis.
Never neglect the power of CTAs
Internet users are like magpies – it’s easy to be distracted by the next shiny object that comes their way. Regular calls to action help a consumer focus on the task at hand, namely getting to the conversion page.
CTAs must be handled carefully, though. They need to be strategically placed, use appropriate language, and under no circumstances come across as pushy or desperate. The biggest mistake a CTA can make is using terms like “buy now.”
Anything that makes consumers feel they are being asked to spend money will cause friction. Let the consumer feel like they are in control and that they are being invited to learn more before deciding whether to convert. To coin a popular adage, you catch more flies with honey than vinegar.
Test, test, and test again
A big part of improving CRO is A/B testing. If you have two approaches and are unsure which your audience will prefer, trial both. Review your analytics, and the answer will quickly become evident. An audience will invariably lean more toward one approach than another.
Speed up your website
If your website runs slowly, you will lose business at the conversion stage. In the 21st Century, consumers have no patience for slow page loading speeds. If your page takes longer than two seconds to load, disable Flash, remove any auto playing videos, and do whatever else it takes to speed up performance.
Provide simple and intuitive site navigation
Imagine that you are walking into a new supermarket for the first time. You will, quite understandably, expect certain things. Refrigerators containing milk and dairy at the front of the store; frozen goods kept together; bread and other baked goods collated; household cleaning products in a separate aisle to the food.
If this supermarket decided that such expectations were boring and mixed everything up, you’d quickly grow confused and overwhelmed, walking away and deciding to do your shop elsewhere. The same applies to an eCommerce site. Imagine that every visitor is doing so for the first time, providing a simple and intuitive route to conversion.
Test your website with Artificial Intelligence
Good visual representation is what attracts new and existing clients to engage with your website. There’s an easy way to find out whether your website is attractive to a user and whether the most important elements on your website are seen.
Attention Insight Google Chrome extension will help you to make sure your website is well-arranged, attractive for the visitor’s eye, clear, and is easy to navigate for your customers. It will show you Attention Heatmaps and Clarity Score, while a detailed analysis will also check your design’s quality through Percentage of Attention (percentage of attention of individual objects), and Focus Map. Attention Heatmaps are a visual representation of data that helps you determine whether users view and observe certain elements. The algorithm uses warm-to-cold colors to display which areas get more attention. Meanwhile, Clarity Score shows how clear the design is for a new user, whether it is overloaded with elements and conflicting colors, or it is clean and clear. The higher the score, the more clean-looking the design is. Once the analysis is done, you will be able to make changes according to the results and improve your website design.
Keep sales funnels short and to the point
If consumers decide to convert, they may be doing so on impulse. Keep the process short to reduce the opportunity for a last-minute change of heart. Do not create a long, winding sales funnel – and certainly do not start asking for too much personal data.
Offering a guest checkout option can significantly enhance your CRO. An astonishing 23% of users will abandon a cart at checkout if forced to create an account. That’s leaving a lot of money on the table. Modern consumers value their privacy, and you’ll need to gain their trust before asking for first-party data. This leads us neatly to our next tip.
Build consumer trust
Do you feel that your consumers trust you? If not, rectify this for an immediate upturn in your CRO. 7 in 10 consumers will only buy from brands they trust.
Of course, gaining trust is easier said than done. It can take a prolonged period, too. All the same, it’s critical to business success. Ways to earn the trust of your audience include:
- Continual excellent service, meeting – and exceeding – all promises in terms of delivery and quality
- Showing and proving a dedication to core values, including social causes
- Earning five-star reviews on social media and collation sites like TrustPilot, as well as excellent word-of-mouth
Get mobile
Mobile web browsing and web shopping have now overtaken desktop use in popularity. This means that any eCommerce venture must embrace mobile. Check that your website is readable and accessible on the smaller screen of a smartphone or tablet, ensure that all functions work on a touchscreen format, and give serious consideration to launching an app.
Offer additional value
Finally, consider how you can offer added value to your audience. Everybody likes the idea of something for nothing, so you’ll enjoy superior CRO by meeting this desire.
Examples of how to provide added value include:
- Creating long-form blogs for informational purposes, with no sales hook
- Bonus freebies with conversions, such as an eBook related to the subject at hand
- Introduce scarcity and personalisation by individually numbering products
- Discuss cost vs value (i.e., pricing an item at £29.99, and explaining how it’s worth £50 – even if that’s just based on RRP)
- Additional promises of customer support
Even recommendations of similar products and services will be welcome – just be careful not to position these as upselling. You are looking to show consumers that you understand their needs and desires, not that you see them as walking, talking credit cards.
