Conversion optimization is a key part of improvements made by brands to increase sales. When you’re just starting with website conversion, it can be tricky to know just how to begin and what to focus on.

There are several factors to consider, and we’ll discuss them here so you can start building a solid website conversion strategy.

Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is the process of increasing the number of Visitors to your site who take action. These actions can be anything you determine, such as signing up for weekly emails, filling out an order form, making a purchase, and beyond.

Taking a website visitor from just browsing to actually taking actions that drive sales is the goal of every brand—but sound conversion goal setting will help get you there faster.

Conversion tracking will also help you better understand why some visitors take specific actions and not others, like adding to their shopping cart or taking advantage of your promo offer.

Without further ado, let’s get into how you can begin a conversion rate optimization strategy for your website.

Zoom in on Analytics

Analytics is fundamental for website conversions and a great place to start. Without analytics, you won’t know whether your conversion strategy is working or you missed the target.

Analytics is also going to be your starting place to understand where your greatest conversion opportunities exist on your website. This often means finding pages that have the highest amount of traffic and/or the highest number of “bounces” off your website. 

Google Analytics is a brilliant tool that isn’t too complicated and can give you all the data you need. Data you should keep a close eye on may include site entrances, exits, sources, site flow, and time on page/site, amongst other KPIs. 

You can also learn who your customers are; their ages, demographics, and interests provide guidance surrounding your website’s user and customer experience. 

Analytics will also help your conversion goal setting (and goal tracking) by providing you with data on your customers’ journeys. Where they abandon the sales funnel, for example, will show where you need to strengthen your efforts.

Target High-Intent Visitors

Sometimes, your visitors will know exactly what they want, and you need to be ready to give them just that.

These high-intent visitors will want to skip the normal process of the buyer’s journey and get to purchasing ASAP. Alternatively, they may wish to speak to a sales representative and get business done.

You should optimize your website to accommodate these visitors through specifically designed web pages and prominent calls to action.

A good way to do this is to run a series of tests to discover what generates the most customers on your site. Once you have the relevant data, optimize your pages to assist that process.

You might do the following to get this data:

– Website surveys (pop-up and widget)

– Live chat for feedback and questions

– Analytics of user activity

Tackle Conversion Friction

At the end of the day, conversion rate optimization is all about finding and eliminating points of friction your customers may come across on your website.

Landing Pages: Landing pages are where friction is most commonly found, but you need to focus on all your website’s pages. You can’t always control which page a visitor lands on when coming to your website, so think of them ALL as “landing pages” when optimizing.

Calls to Action: Friction can be reduced by ensuring that call-to-action buttons, menus, and navigation features are built with the best user experience in mind. This experience must be optimized for all devices, so be sure you consider your site’s mobile experience first before moving onto the desktop experience. 

Sitelinks: Giving your customers a link to click that is broken or flat-out doesn’t work will diminish the experience and trust quickly. So test your links often and fix dead ones immediately—better yet, if any of these links don’t add to the experience, eliminate them if possible. Ensure that every page is sending a clear conversion goal and guides visitors along the sales funnel effectively.

Creative Visuals: Are your visuals and videos geared towards making the site more attractive, driving visitors further down the funnel, or perhaps both?

Commit to ensuring every image, video, or graphic is contributing to your page conversion goals. Do they instill trust? Tell your story? Support your message? If anything is “filler” or does not contribute to your goal, you may need to find a suitable replacement. 

Get to the Point: Get rid of any website copy that doesn’t contribute to your website conversion goals. All your content should guide visitors exactly where you want them to go. Optimize your site’s written content to focus on the most value points first and foremost, this might be painful to do, but remember you often only have seconds to make a powerful impression.  

Looking Through the Customer Lens

When planning out conversion strategy ideas and approaches, it is easy to forget that website visitors are real (sometimes unpredictable) customers.

Look at your analytics and ask yourself why visitors behave the way they did. What would you do in their shoes? Would you know what to click? Would you know where to go next?

Are there aspects to your website that appeal to you as a business owner—but not your actual customers? This is why putting yourself in the mindset of your customer is so valuable (and necessary). Their perspective is what matters most. Analytics isn’t always the simplest way to get answers to these kinds of questions, but there are other ways.

You can do user testing and use the feedback to optimize your website for better conversions. On-site or satisfaction surveys through emails can also go a long way toward mining valuable information.

Visitors might be able to highlight issues or friction points that you did not even consider or be aware of. The information gathered can complement your conversion strategy to help achieve greater results.

You can even use technology like National Positions’ Conversion Growth Pack, allowing you to see heat maps and even real-time session recording. Seeing where friction points are being met firsthand will provide invaluable knowledge for building a stronger conversion strategy.   

A/B Testing Is Priceless

In the digital world, A/B tests are extremely valuable to determine if strategies and campaigns are successful or not. That being said, A/B testing should also be “baked into” your conversion goal setting and any conversion strategy you’re using.

The thing is, testing does not stop after one run. You may actually have to run dozens of tests over time to know with certainty if your methods are working.

You should do tests on all aspects of your website. The body copy, visuals, call to action buttons, layouts—almost every element can and should be tested. 

Testing is an ongoing process with continuous refinement in order to pinpoint your highest value conversion touchpoints. However, be careful about changing/testing too many elements at one time—otherwise, if you see a change in performance, it can be difficult to know which adjustment caused the change. If you are just getting started, keep your testing elements simple.   

Fortunately, there are tools that can help you with this task, which can be rather tedious. Crazy Egg, for example, will help you gather and comb through a lot of data and gain valuable insight.

Successful Website Conversion Optimization Takes Time

Getting your website optimized for the best results doesn’t happen overnight. And it might require regular updates and changes. You shouldn’t push yourself (or your team) to have wonderful results in a flash. 

Follow the advice shared here and make use of the suggested tools. Plan your conversion strategy and keep building on it, always using new data for the best results in the long run. Think you may need some professional assistance to get started? Give our expert team a call at (877) 866-6699 or click here, and we’ll get back to you soon!

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