The competition in the digital world is very strong, and everybody is trying to divert user traffic towards their websites, wanting to convert the incoming traffic into qualified leads for business growth. Companies need to understand their visitors, cater to their needs efficiently, and give them exactly what they need.
Hence, companies must invest in long-term and sustainable growth activities, and conversion rate optimization is one such process.
What is a Conversion Rate?
Conversion rate can be understood as the percentage of users and visitors who finish desired actions on a website. On any webpage, there can be numerous desired actions like filling a webform, subscribing to monthly newsletters, signing up for a service, buying merchandise, etc.
The conversion rate is then calculated by dividing the total number of conversions by the total number of visitors and then multiplying it by 100.
For example, a company is running software that reminds people to drink 3 liters of water every day to maintain a healthy lifestyle. A total of 100 people visit the website, and 10 chose to sign up for a free trial of the software. The conversion rate for the webpage will be 10%.
Also Read: Why Businesses Should Invest More In Information Technology This 2021?
What is Conversion Rate Optimization?
Conversion rate optimization is a marketing strategy to increase the number of users visiting the website, completing the desired goals, and increasing the conversion rate.
The optimization process focuses on luring more people to the website and providing great results. The conversion rate optimization process is, therefore, very much like running a retail store; as the amount of people entering the store increases, the probability of them buying goods also increases.
Bruno Estrella, who leads CRO at Webflow, defines it as the process of increasing the percentage of users who take the desired action within your website.
Depending on the website, some of the desired actions which help increase conversion rate are:
- Buying
- Demo requests
- Free Account Signup
- Filling out survey forms
- Clicking an ad
- Subscribing for email/newsletter
- Hire a service
- Give feedback
- Fill a ‘contact us’ form
The desired actions listed above are referred to as macro conversions, as they are the main goal of the webpage. Additionally, websites also have micro-conversions like sharing the website on social media, adding products to the shopping cart, downloading available PDFs, watching videos on the webpage, etc.
These micro-conversions are some small steps taken by visitors that work cumulatively to reach macro conversions.
Primary Elements of Conversion Rate Optimization
Conversion rate optimization is not an easy marketing process, and its steps are spread across various stages and departments of a company.
A lot of marketing departments focus on some selected primary elements, which help optimize the conversion rate significantly.
Website Design
The website design is the most important factor which decides how many people will visit the website and spend time on it to finish desired actions.
The more user-friendly and aesthetically pleasing the website, the more user traffic it is likely to attract. Color, fonts, effective use of space, etc., are some factors that determine the success of the webpage.
The landing page, especially the first page that the visitor will see upon visiting the website, should be designed with the utmost care and attention to detail. It should capture the attention of visitors and prompt them to check out the remaining pages of the website.
Content Body
The content of the website should be very engaging and must answer all the questions a user might have.
Some of the basic questions which a visitor has in mind while visiting a website are: What is the website about? How will it be beneficial for me?
How easily can I access the desired information? etc. Make sure the written content is clear, crisp, and concise.
Formatting
Apart from writing good content for the website, it is also important to format the content body correctly to ensure readability.
Remember to break the content body into several relevant paragraphs and use subheadings and bullet points wherever necessary. Also make sure font type, size, and color match the overall image of your brand.
Page Speed
Page speed has a huge impact on retaining visitors and increasing the overall performance of the webpage. It directly affects the conversion rate and is one of the first factors taken into consideration when working on conversion rate optimization.
If there are delays in page load time, the probability of visitors leaving your website increases ten-fold times.
Call-To-Action
A call-to-action is exactly what it sounds – a call for customers urging them to finish the desired actions. There are a lot of strategies marketing teams use to ensure micro and macro conversions.
Bright tabs blinking rapidly in bright colors urging customers to sign up, subscribe, buy a product, etc, is one example of a frequently used call-to-action strategy.
Secondary Elements of Conversion Rate Optimization
Apart from these primary elements, you can also engage in some secondary strategies to ensure a high conversion rate for your website.
- Use urgency tags like ‘limited period offers’ to drive the sale and catch user attention
- Use few form fields in the form
- Use live chat software to guide the visitors
- Use attractive and compelling headlines
- Replace negative words with positive words in your headline
- Display comments, reviews, interviews of customers in the past
- Display price on the landing page, do not make users search for it
- Ensure your webpage is compatible with mobile devices
- Maintain a smooth navigation and site structure
Also Read: How to Make Sure Your Start-up Takes Off?
Closing Thoughts
Conversion rate optimization was born out of the need for an e-commerce website to increase sales and retain more customers. However, the competition now is fierce because the e-commerce business has boomed, and every other company is now spending and investing in website analytics.
It is, hence, vital to create accessible webpages and ensure no user has a bad experience on your website.
Make sure you keep yourself updated about what is happening in the market to find new ways to increase your conversion rates and offer customers something they have never seen before.