Often when we enter into Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) projects with clients, we see a lot of common issues that can be resolved in-house. Here we share some of the quick-wins we’ve found.

Want more organic site traffic to certain pages? Look at your websites User Journey.

If your conversion-driving pages are hidden away or stuck in irrelevant locations, then it’s highly unlikely people are going to find them (and they are much less likely to convert). One of the biggest mistakes people make is creating blog content and not showcasing it to their audience (don’t hide it off to the side of your website, make it front and centre, especially if it’s designed to help drive enquiries/sales!).

Make sure content, landing pages, and conversion pages are easily available and draw attention from your audience.

We recommend examining the user journey/flow through your website and looking for ways to improve it (making priority pages more visible, placing links to these pages on above-the-fold content, etc.).

Want to bump up your conversion rate? Look at your call to actions!

Having valuable content or offers hidden behind under-performing visuals or call to actions (CTA’s) doesn’t help drive conversions. Take a critical look at how enticing your CTA’s are by putting yourself in the customer’s shoes to identify if they would be incentivised to click through.

Often we see that a lot of marketers are too busy or generally disconnected from their audience to identify what value a call to action or visual offers to the customer.

A great solution to connecting to an audience is to talk to your sales team, they’re the ones on the front-line interacting with your customers and can tell you what matters most to them, and what will entice non-customers to convert.

Not sure if your overall tactics are working? Explore A/B testing.

If you’re really stuck in the mud with how to improve things, start A/B testing! Unbounce is a great tool for both designing landing pages, and split testing different versions (that Unbounce will automatically rotate for you, based on your settings) is easier than ever. Some of our clients don’t need to get IT/Designers involved with Unbounce and have implemented a few changes themselves.

Your A/B tests can be basic (different CTA’s) or really advanced, where you can start to explore different web copy, form fields (less is more) and track the performance of each test.

The post Actionable steps to improve your web conversions appeared first on Reload Consulting.

As technology and best practice are fast-changing and customer mindsets and behaviours are adapting to these changes almost as quickly as they change, it is important to ensure that your website doesn’t fall behind. The development of a website for your business should never be seen as a one-off project, but rather an ongoing investment that grows adapts and changes in line with technological developments and customer purchasing behaviours.

But, how do you know when it’s time to give your website a facelift or, in some cases, a complete overhaul? There can be many factors that contribute to the decision:

• Not responsive – The time spent on mobile devices now far outweighs the amount of time spent on desktops, meaning that if your website is not responsive to adapt to the varying screens of the various devices that consumers are using, you are more than likely losing a lot of prospective customers.  If a prospective customer is unable to access your website on their device of choice of the experience is poor due to the lack of responsiveness, they will likely be turned off and look elsewhere.

• No CMS – A high performing website is one that is constantly updated. Content additions (i.e. blogs or news articles) and adjustments (i.e. change in operating hours or change in address) will not only keep your customers up to date with the latest news and events in your business but will also improve your website’s performance in online search results.  However, having updates implemented by an outside provider can be very costly and can result in a longer wait time before being published. Equipping your website with a Content Management System (CMS) will allow you to make simple changes yourself, saving time and cost.

• Long loading times – Having to wait for a page to load can frustrate users, who are often time poor or just don’t like to have to be waiting between pages when browsing a site. We live in a world where there is always an ‘instant version’ of everything and with this becoming the new norm, waiting times translate as a waste of time.

• The presence and/or recurrence of a glitch – Your website should work to establish the credibility of your business, however, broken links, error messages and missing images can give the impression that the website and therefore your business is not properly managed.

• The site cannot be found online – People find businesses online through searching for specific keywords or by seeing and clicking on online advertisements. Failure to show up in organic search results will result in many prospective customers not finding your business and instead, finding a competitors website and going to them with their browsing time and potential patronage.

• Site is old and outdated – If the website still requires the use of Flash (which is not supported by certain smartphones and which can’t be read by Google, Bing, and Yahoo), has never (or rarely) been updated, has low traffic volume coming through, and doesn’t show signs of customer engagement, then you know the website is no longer working or fulfilling its purpose.

• High bounce rate – Bounce rate is essentially the rate at which visitors leave the website. If the visitors leave the site after only viewing the homepage, this is an indication that there is something wrong with your website or at the very least, your homepage is not set up in a way that compels users to stay on and explore your site further. Google Analytics can be used to track the performance of your website and if you don’t have it installed on your website yet, this should be the next thing that you do after reading this.

• Revisits are down – You can easily determine the number of people returning to your website through the insights provided by Google Analytics. People are drawn to websites that are updated frequently with content that is of value them. People also typically go back to websites that are easy to use and navigate. If the design of your website is not user-friendly and/or is visually outdated, visitors might not find any reason to revisit.

• If you’ve rebranded – If eyes are the window to a person’s soul, the website is the window to understanding a business. Therefore, your website should reflect your business’ brand positioning, messaging and branding elements consistently. Failure to do so may lead to mismanagement of customer expectations.

• New functionality requirements – As mentioned above, technology and mindsets are constantly changing, websites need to adapt to these changes or risk being left behind and missing out on opportunities. New functionality and capabilities are often emerging that help to drive traffic to the site and encourage user engagement.

• User experience and usability issues – Time is money and the easier and faster a user can find what they’re looking for on your website, the better. There are a multitude of studies that have been conducted over the years to assess the behaviour of customers when viewing websites. To ensure a positive experience for your user, it is best to ensure that your website’s user experience is reviewed against best practice and (if needed) updated or adjusted based on this.

For a business to compete in the current environment, a website is a necessity, however, a website can be all but useless if it isn’t properly maintained and managed. The most effective websites go through a series of adjustments and updates as time passes, to ensure that all components come together to provide the best possible user experience.

The post 11 sure fire signs that you should overhaul your website appeared first on Reload Consulting.

Not only is it about the design of your site in terms of how it looks (although this certainly does come into it), but there are a number of other elements of website design that must be considered when planning a website that will convert well.

Using the AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire and Action) principles, let’s explore the role that website design plays in driving conversion.

Attention

As mentioned above, you only have ten seconds to grab a user’s attention when they land on your website. First impressions are formed very quickly, and it’s those first 10 seconds that will either lead the user further into the site or turn them away completely. Therefore, the homepage or landing page of a website needs to be eye-catching and engaging enough to convince the user to keep reading.

Interest

Users are only going to stay on a website if they find it interesting. In order to retain a user’s interest, it must be clear to them what value they are getting. It also helps to aim to establish an emotional connection, which can be done when you have a solid understanding of who your target customer is. There is a range of different design strategies that can influence emotional connection, such as strategic use of colour psychology.

Desire

In addition to capturing a user’s attention and sparking their interest, your website should also drive a desire for your product or service. To do this, ensure that your website provides detailed information on what you offer, in a way that is easy to understand and in line with the needs of your target market. People respond better to concise information rather than large blocks of text, which should be reflected in the design of your website. For example, the use of bullets and subheadings, white space and contrasting colours to break up text and help important points to stand out.

Action

Once you have their attention, have sparked their interest and driven them to have a desire for your product or service, you then need to make it as easy as possible for users to take action. Ensure that clear and compelling call to action are located throughout the website so that a user can take action from wherever they are on the site when they make the decision.

How about the actual design characteristics of a website that contribute to driving conversion? Here are 5 key design characteristics that can’t be ignored…

Easy to Navigate

Navigating from one page on a website to another shouldn’t require too much thinking and should feel natural and straightforward for the user. The information on the site will perform better if it is organised logically, considering the target market, what’s important to them and their typical thought process when looking for your product or service. Some best practices in menu navigation include

• Each menu item should be strategically named and must match its contents exactly, making it immediately clear to the user what information they will find by clicking on that menu item.
• The top-level navigation menu should contain no more than eight items to avoid a ‘cluttered’ or ‘crowded’ menu.
• Breadcrumb navigation should be shown on every back page of the site, allowing users to easily retrace their steps and making it easy for them to see where they are within the site.
• A search function will allow visitors to locate the information or product that they are looking for quickly, without having to navigate through multiple pages.
• Consider the use of Mega Menus, particularly if your website is an e-commerce site. Mega Menus allow visitors to get a preview of the product/s without having to go through several pages.

Clear Calls to Action

As mentioned earlier, it must be easy for users to take action on your website. What this action looks like will be highly dependent on your conversion goals (i.e. online purchase, free demo, submit an enquiry, etc.). Clear and compelling call to action prompts should be shown throughout the website, taking into consideration the location within the site and your conversion goals. Below are some tips to ensure your calls to action are effective.

• Use action-oriented text (i.e. ‘Secure Your Reservation’).
• The colour of the call to action should be contrasting to the colour of the background to ensure that it stands out.
• The size of the call to action should be large enough to be noticed but not too large that it becomes off-putting.
• The call to action should be located somewhere eye-catching and in line with typical viewing patterns (users typically view website content in an ‘F’ pattern).

Visual Hierarchy

The content on your website should be organised in a way that prioritises the most important info, ensuring that users don’t miss the key points. There is a science to drawing a user’s attention to the most important information on the page. Some of the principles that guide the positioning of the items on a page include:

• Scanning Patterns – multiple studies have shown that before committing to reading a page, visitors first scan the page in either an F or Z pattern.  
• Size – the most important information is highlighted through size and hence makes it difficult to miss.
• White space – when an item or a text is surrounded by a lot of white space, the eye tends to focus on it.

Use of Colours

Colour affects human emotion and behaviour and can be used to influence users to take action. Therefore, having a solid understanding of who your target market is will allow you to choose the colours that will have a positive sway on their emotions.

Readable Text

Reading the content of your website should not be taxing. Use hierarchy to differentiate the level of importance of the content. To prevent your visitors from getting frustrated, easy to read font and easy to understand text must also be used.

People tend to easily become bored with websites and the design of your website has a huge bearing on whether or not they will continue to explore your website and take action. Having said this, it is also highly important to consider website usability best practices when designing your website, ensuring a positive user experience when interacting with your site.

The post How to design a website that converts appeared first on Reload Consulting.