Of course, driving traffic to any website is important and a good thing. However, high traffic is little use if it isn’t doing what you want it to whilst on your website. It needs to be the right traffic, and once there, that traffic needs to be compelled into action. For recruitment agencies, conversion rate optimisation is often the key to driving their recruitment business development and harnessing conversions, growth and success.
Here are 8 conversion rate optimisation tips compiled by the expert KIJO team. These will help to turn your recruitment website visitors into applicants and clients, and in turn, grow your agency.
Related Read: Recruitment Website Design: 5 Inspiring Designs That Can Set Your Site Apart
Conversion rate refers to the percentage of website visitors that complete a desired action. For recruitment websites, this will be submitting a CV or applying for a role if you’re a candidate, or making an enquiry if you’re a client.
A high conversion rate means your recruitment website is doing exactly what it’s meant to do: converting visitors into clients/candidates. A low conversion rate means your website is doing the opposite. In order to increase conversion rates (and thus grow your agency) optimisation is key – CRO is the game to play.
A lengthy or complicated application process can deter potential – and strong – candidates. If you’re looking to grow your agency, ensure that your application form is straightforward, easy to complete and actually works!
We’d recommend using progressive profiling too. This is where you gather a candidate’s data and information incrementally. The idea of progressive profiling is to reduce the risk of overwhelming applicants with an enormous, complicated form or process.
We’d also advise implementing auto-fill options on your application forms and integrating with LinkedIn or other job boards to allow candidates to import their profiles effortlessly.
According to Statista, in the last quarter of 2023, 96.3% of global users accessed the internet via a mobile phone. This means a growing number of job seekers will be using mobile devices to access your recruitment website in the first instance. This means a mobile-friendly, responsive website design is crucial for your recruitment business development. Ensure your website is responsive and offers a seamless experience across all devices. Be sure to test your website on various devices and screen sizes to ensure compatibility and ease of use for users.
Related Read: 10 Guidelines for Responsive Website Design
A robust and intuitive job search feature can significantly improve user experience and thus bolster conversions. Include advanced filters for job type, location, industry, and experience level to help candidates find relevant opportunities quickly.
It may be useful to implement a search bar with auto-suggestions and a “recent searches” feature to streamline the job search process for candidates too. Anything that reduces potential frustration and keeps them on the page interacting with and applying for your jobs is going to support the conversion rate of your recruitment website enormously.
Your recruitment website CTAs should be prominent, clear, and action-oriented. Whether it’s applying for a job, uploading a CV, or getting in touch with your agency, make sure the next steps are obvious and appealing.
Try using action verbs like “Apply Now”, “Submit Your CV,” or “Book a Consultation Today”. These will help create a sense of urgency as well as provide clarity.
Related Read: Why CTAs are Important
We recently built a website for recruitment agency SearchTech who specialise in hiring for the infrastructure industries. Prominent CTAs were incredibly important in our website design for SearchTech. That’s because there are typically two distinctive user journeys on recruitment websites: candidate and client. These require separate CTAs and, because of this, incredibly strategic placement.
For SearchTech, these two core journeys are regularly enforced in our designs. They’re the first two links in the navigation on the page and they’re present in the hero banner. These are presented in two large cards which provide even more prominence.
Then, as you scroll down the home page, the user is met with a dual call to action at the base of the page. This pushes users toward the relevant category.
If they still haven’t made an action at that point, it’s once again reinforced in the footer of the page with larger cards than the rest of the navigation links present there. CTAs and user journeys are inherently intertwined. Check out our SearchTech case study to learn more about how we’ve designed this recruitment website with conversions in mind.
Read More: The KIJO SearchTech Case Study
Building trust is essential for all businesses. In the recruitment business, it indicates to clients that you have experience in sourcing high quality talent, and to candidates that you can find them the perfect role. That’s because testimonials prove you’ve done just that.
Display testimonials from satisfied clients and successful candidates prominently on your website to provide social proof of your agency’s effectiveness. For a more personal and engaging touch, and if you’ve got particularly impressive relationships with well known clients, you could use video testimonials from their representatives too.
Offering real-time assistance can significantly improve user experience – and thus conversions – on most websites. A live chat feature allows candidates and clients to get instant answers to their questions, increasing the likelihood of them taking the next step.
If you want to offer 24/7 support (as working candidates may struggle to apply for jobs during normal working hours) you could consider using AI-powered chatbots. This could be set up to handle common queries during the hours your agency is closed.
Regularly publishing blog posts (like we’re doing here!), industry news, and career advice keeps your target audience engaged and informed. Content marketing like this helps to position your agency as an industry expert which is important for recruitment business development too. It also helps with SEO if you incorporate keywords relevant to your industry specialisms and will improve search engine rankings.
Related Read: Keyword Research – The Ultimate Tips & Tricks from KIJO
Good SEO practices ensure that your website ranks higher in search engine result pages (SERPs) and drive more organic traffic to your recruitment website. Focus on relevant keywords, meta descriptions, and alt tags to help get you the right traffic. Then, ensure your site has a clean, logical structure and loads fast to keep that traffic with your website.
The easiest way to put good SEO practices in place is to instruct a specialist website design agency, like KIJO. This will enable you to consistently optimise your website month on month.
By implementing these 8 conversion rate optimisation tips, you can enhance the user experience on your recruitment agency website, attract more qualified candidates, and ultimately drive more successful placements and satisfied clients.
Remember to stay proactive though. By continually analysing your website’s performance and adapting and refining your strategies, you’ll be able to maintain that all important competitive edge. This is key for recruitment business development and the growth and success of your agency as a whole.
If you think KIJO and our website design service can help you, contact us today.
