How to Increase Conversions on Your Website

Let’s say you’ve invested in cross-channel promotions including direct mail, email marketing, search engine marketing, social media, press releases, and the like. You’ve done it all. And now your website is finally starting to draw real traffic.

Except you aren’t getting a lot of calls, emails, or sales.

The problem is people aren’t converting from awareness of your product or service to actually doing business with you as much as you like. Well, don’t despair. Here are three steps to increase your conversions.

1.Define What Conversion Means to You: Make sure you’re tracking the right things. For eCommerce, sales may seem like the only conversion worth following, but there are many steps along the way that are worth counting. Tracking your drop-offs through entire goal paths in a tool like Google Analytics can help you figure out problem areas in your customer’s entire experience. For service-based or B2B businesses, a lead is more typical in the form of a phone call or an email form. But things such as newsletter sign-ups are also a sign of engagement. So are the depth of visits and the time-on-site.

Keep in mind, conversion rates vary by industry, type of website, and the quality of your services or products. In most recent Forrester reports, a typical conversion rate is around 1 to 2 percent for eCommerce, but can vary between 8 and 20 percent for B2B or other industries. This is why its important to look for information closer to your industry if you want to set a benchmark.

2.Calls to Action With Value-Add:A call-to-action is the center of your conversion. These are phone calls, emails, whitepaper downloads, shopping cart activity, and more. Phone call conversions can actually be tracked these days, with companies such as AvidTrak, if you’re willing to set up the infrastructure. Many companies, such as ClickPath, are poised to track all of your conversions in one place.

To be successful, your call-to-action must be prominently placed on your site. The typical standard is the top-right of the website or right-hand column of the content. You should also add calls-to-action in all of your web copy.

The visual design and layout of your site are also critical. If you run an eCommerce site, make sure that items in a user’s shopping cart are readily accessible. If you run a service business, make sure that you focus the number of calls-to-action that you offer. Consider offering whitepapers or downloads for free. I would recommend offering items of value without requiring anything, and then offering a bit more, or “premium” items in return for a newsletter subscription.

3. A/B or Multi-Variant Testing & Willingness to Change Your Site: If you’re ready to really make a difference in conversions, you have to continually invest the time to test different design choices. You can do multi-variant testing using Google Optimizer on your website. With your email marketing campaign you can also use multi-variant testing to test different subject lines and content and deliver the best results to the majority of your users.

Visit InternetRetailer for additional ideas on what is working this year for eCommerce conversions, including measuring the site, clearance pages, and customer reviews.

A commitment to making improvements to your website and testing them on a regular basis is the true key to long term success and increased leads or sales.

What Next?

You can also increase conversions by staying in touch with your customers through email marketing. Find out how you can create email campaigns with pbSmart Connections.

Learn about all the different ways Pitney Bowes can help you get more customers through multi-channel marketing.