Welcome to KIJO’s Conversion Rate Optimisation Tips; a playbook of tricks and tools to help you get your site converting users to actual customers.
Unfortunately, a common pitfall that marketing teams fall into is only focusing on driving new traffic to their site, tailoring their pages purely for search engine visibility with the hope that more visitors equates to more sales.
Of course, search engine optimisation (SEO) is a vital part of online marketing, but what about the potential of existing traffic and leads? How is your website working to entice that new traffic once it’s there? And, how do you ensure that your business’s website sees sustainable growth in the long-term?
A conversion rate is the percentage of site visitors that complete a desired action. This is usually purchasing a product or a service, or it could be things like completing a form. A high conversion rate means your website is doing exactly what it’s meant to do: converting visitors into customers. A low conversion rate means your website is underperforming and in order to increase conversion rates, optimisation is key – and CRO aims to do just that.
Below, the KIJO team have curated 10 revolutionary conversion rate optimisation tips and tools for you to apply to your website in 2023 in order to unlock its full potential.
KIJO’s Top 10 Conversion Rate Optimisation Tips
1. Optimise your Service & Product Pages
The first of our conversion rate optimisation tips is improving your service and product pages with CRO in mind. If you’re looking to increase conversion rates on your website, you should make sure that these pages are really enticing as well as optimised for maximum visibility.
Keyword Integration: Make sure that you’ve covered the SEO basics on these pages and ensure primary and secondary keywords are naturally integrated (ie. not crammed and excessively repeated) into your content, titles, and meta descriptions.
High-Quality Images: Use high-resolution, professionally shot photos showcasing the product or service from multiple angles.
Engaging Descriptions: Make sure to craft compelling, unique, but concise descriptions that highlight the service or product’s benefits.
User Reviews: Incorporating user reviews or testimonials on your page gives new or tentative customers confidence in your brand or product and can directly influence positive conversion.
Clear Pricing: Ensure your pricing details are transparent and easy-to-read. This includes potential discounts or financing options.
Highlight Features & Benefits: It’s important to clearly highlight what the service or product does for the user. Try to steer away from what they’ll get, and focus on features and benefits that eliminate a problem the user may have without this particular product or service.
FAQ Section: Address common customer queries related to the product or service. An FAQ section gives the air of an experienced business and again evokes confidence in your brand.
2. Create Strategic Calls to Action
Calls to Action (or CTAs) are a key way of directly communicating with your customer what you want them to do and where they need to go in order to do it. So, how do you make your CTAs enticing and attractive to a site user?
Colour Contrast: Use contrasting colours for your CTAs so they catch the user’s eye and stand out.
Action-Oriented Language: Phrases like “Get Started,” “Discover,” or “Learn More” on CTA buttons tend to prompt more action.
Placement: Place CTAs above the fold (the section of the page that’s visible before a person scrolls) for optimal visibility. Then, repeat your CTAs at strategic intervals as you travel down the page.
Size Matters: Ensure your CTA button is not distractingly big or invisibly small.
Personalise your CTAs: Use dynamic content to tailor your CTAs for returning visitors or personalise them based on previous user behaviour.
Optimise the Action: Whatever your primary conversion goal for your website is, that’s where the CTA button should take your user to (ie. If the goal is more enquiries, the button should take your client to a contact form).
3. Improve your Website Speed
It’s genuinely surprising how much a slow running website can impact your conversion rates making this one of our most important conversion rate tips! If your site doesn’t load in good time, your potential customer will simply close the window and look up your competitor, so it’s 100% worth actioning.
Image Optimisation: Compress your images so the file size is smaller, but be sure not to compromise their quality when doing so.
Minify Code: Aim to minify the JavaScript, CSS, and HTML files your site uses.
Browser Caching: Browser caching is a process that involves the temporary storage of resources in web browsers.Enabling it on your site will reduce server load and help increase your site’s load time.
Limit Redirects: Each redirect slows down the page load time which can negatively impact your conversion rates.
Server Response: Consider upgrading your hosting solutions if your server response time is slow. Here at KIJO, we offer comprehensive WordPress Hosting that optimises your server response time and includes 24/7 uptime monitoring.
4. Optimise your Site for Mobile
Nowadays, the mobile version of your site is likely to be the first version your potential consumer visits. So, if you want to increase conversion rates, your mobile site has to be optimised.
Mobile-First Design: When around 55% of web traffic comes from a mobile device and 92.3% of internet users access the web via a mobile, you really should be considering mobile-first design. This is where you or your web designer develop your site with the smallest screen in mind first. This means that anything that isn’t necessary for flawless website navigation is removed.
Responsive Design: You want users to experience your site in the same way across all devices. Make sure your website adjusts seamlessly across different pieces of tech including desktop, tablet and mobile phone.
Touch-Friendly: Ensure your web design team creates buttons and navigational systems that are touch-friendly.
Fast Loading: Optimise your site for speed, especially for mobile networks.
Easy Navigation: Consider a hamburger menu (a universal three line symbol that when clicked opens a fuller menu) or a sticky navigation bar (one that remains in the same position as the user scrolls) to promote ease-of-use.
Spacing: Thoroughly check your mobile site’s spacing is correct and clear on smaller non-desktop screens.
5. Adopt a User-Centric Approach
If you want to attract more users and retain them, you have to understand them. This is where research and direct communication can help you increase conversion rates.
User Feedback: Regularly gather feedback from your users so you can improve your site accordingly. A tool you could consider is something like a questionnaire that offers an attractive incentive.
Personalisation: Tailor your user experiences based on previous behaviour, preferences and past interactions.
Accessibility: Ensure the site is accessible to users with disabilities by utilising tools like Alt Text (a written description of your site’s images, read aloud by screen readers used by the visually impaired).
Intuitive UX: Simple, logical, and intuitive user journeys can heavily reduce bounce rates. Unsure where to start? Instruct a reliable web design company like KIJO to improve your UX with you.
Engage Users: Implement interactive elements into your site like quizzes or chatbots. These can enhance user engagement, improve your site’s visibility on Google by promoting the time spent on your page, and increase conversion rates.
6. Increase your On-Site Trust and Credibility
People are undoubtedly more likely to put their faith in a product or brand that has a good reputation. So, you need to communicate that yours does on your website to help increase conversion rates.
Testimonials: As touched on above, you should showcase genuine customer testimonials on your pages. If other users have had a successful experience of your product or service, this means it’s likely your new user will too, and thus entices them to try it.
Case Studies: Similarly to testimonials, case studies can increase on-site trust in your brand too. Case studies are examples of your service or product being used by real-life customers and help express to potential users how you and your product can work for them in a really transparent way.
Trust Badges: Display affiliations, certifications, and security badges clearly and proudly on your site. This will help bolster confidence in your company.
Clear Contact Information: A visible phone number, email and physical address boosts trust in any business.
Updated Content: Regularly update content, blogs or news sections on your site as regular activity indicates continuous presence and care.
Transparent Policies: Clearly state return, privacy and usage policies so your users feel assured of your brand’s professionalism before investing in your product or service.
7. Optimise your Checkout and/or Enquiry Process
The longer it takes for a customer to check out or enquire with your business, the more time there is for hesitation and mind change. Speeding this process up minimises that risk.
Fewer Steps: Reduce the number of steps to checkout or complete an enquiry to minimise the user hesitation window.
Guest Checkout: Allow users to check out without creating an account to help guarantee a sale.
Multiple Payment Options: Offer various payment methods to maximise convenience for your user.
Progress Indicator: A progress indicator can show users where they are in the checkout process and help keep them on track of purchase.
Clear Error Messages: Provide helpful and clear feedback if a form error occurs (ie. Was there an issue with their address or their payment method?)
Analyse Drop-Off Points: Utilise analytic tools to track your user’s behaviour and actions. See where the majority of visitors quit the user journey (UI) and don’t continue to purchase, enquiry or subscription. Then, you can enhance the user experience (UX) targeting these areas.
Regular Reviews: Check in and assess your UI and conversion funnels – the visual view of the customer journey that leads them to your primary desired action – regularly. How regularly you should do this depends on your business size, but once a month is certainly a good place to start.
8. Optimise your Website Navigation
The easier your website is to navigate and understand, the longer your user will explore your product and service. Poor navigational systems or a generally hard-to-understand site can get in the way of positive conversions.
Logical Structure: Ensure you organise content in a hierarchy that’s intuitive to users.
Descriptive Labels: Be sure to use clear and concise labels for navigation options.
Sticky Navigation: Keep your site’s main navigation bar visible even when users scroll.
Search Function: Include a search bar for easy site exploration so your user’s can find what they’re interested in quickly.
Breadcrumb Trails: A breadcrumb trail offers navigational cues that can help your users understand their current location on your website. This makes your site easier to navigate as a whole.
Here at KIJO, we have over 20 years of experience creating and building high performing, optimised websites that prioritise the user experience and convert users into customers. If you think improving your website is something we can help with, you can explore our expert Web Design offering here.
9. Use Visual Content
Dense, complicated text-based information can be confusing and unwelcoming for users. Use visuals and graphics to your advantage instead and help secure conversion.
Infographics: Infographics are a great tool for breaking complex information down into digestible visual pieces.
Videos: Use videos for product demonstrations or explainers. If executed well, videos also help elevate the professional feel of a website experience too.
High-Quality Images: Ensure any photos used on your site are of high quality and tonally in-keeping with the site, your brand and products.
Interactive Elements: Consider 360-degree views or interactive product visuals. Again, these can elevate the overall UX of a site too.
Consistent Branding: Keep any visual elements you use consistent with the brand’s theme and colour palette.
10. Conduct A/B Tests on your Landing Pages
A/B Testing (or “split testing”) refers to a randomised experimentation process where two versions of a variable of your site (this may be a certain web page or element on a page) are shown to different website visitors at the same time. This will help you to determine which version results in more conversions.
Test CTAs: Experiment with different texts, colours, and sizes on your CTA buttons and determine which version results in more action from your users.
Headline Variations: Create different versions of headlines and test which versions capture your user attention best.
Image Comparisons: You can test various images to determine which seems to resonate more with your site visitors.
Form Length: You can experiment with short vs. long forms and discover which is more optimal for conversions.
Offer Variations: Consider testing different offers or discounts to determine which is the most compelling for your user demographic.
Making These Conversion Rate Optimisation Tips Work Long Term
These conversion rate optimisation tips and tools can serve as a solid foundation for increasing your conversion rates, but remember that the market, user habits and expectations are an ever-changing beast. To further enhance your CRO efforts, always base decisions on up-to-date data, be willing to adapt, and keep the user experience at the forefront of all of your changes.
