7 Ways to Improve Your Website Conversion Rate

Increased traffic is often the immediate goal and number one indicator of effective digital marketing, but that is only one step. With even the slightest optimizations — such as increasing keyword density or social media referrals — any brand is bound to drive traffic and pageviews. But the real difference — and where many fall short in building a strong sales funnel — is in enabling conversions.

Simply, conversions are what you want out of each view: a targeted action, such as filling out a contact form, that creates leads out of target audiences, and customers out of qualified leads. And while most businesses are focused on capturing new traffic on search engines and other marketing channels, sustainable growth is best derived from getting more out of existing traffic through website conversion rate optimization. 

If you’re wondering why growing traffic is yet to translate to revenue, it’s time to review your website conversion rate and paths to conversion.

What is a website conversion rate?

Your website’s conversion rate refers to the percentage of visitors who complete a desired action. This can take the form of completing a contact form, signing up for a newsletter, or a purchase. It’s a concrete measure of relevant website traffic and qualified leads — how many of those visitors and potential customers move along the sales funnel, and whether it’s a healthy ratio of traffic to conversions.

High website conversion rates indicate that your website is enticing: your brand presents a clear value proposition and offers a seamless customer experience. Combined, these invite customers to take action, ultimately resulting in revenue growth. In contrast, low conversion rates can be attributed to poor website performance or design, slow page load times, ineffective copy, and broken page elements, among others.

What is a good conversion rate?

A high website conversion rate is always the goal for any brand. But just how high should you aim for to determine that your website effectively converts traffic to leads and revenue?

Generally, you should aim for a website conversion rate of at least 2% to 5%. A website conversion rate above 10% means your brand is in the top 10% of global advertisers — that’s two to five times better than average rates. 

In e-commerce, for example, the global average sat at just over 2% in 2020, while the food and beverage industry saw website conversion rates as high as 5.5%. Keep in mind that a good website conversion rate varies depending on your industry, target audience, and goals. More than global averages, it’s worth looking at your top competitors and using their website conversion rates as a benchmark.

7 Ways to Improve Your Website’s Conversion Rate

Looking to boost website conversions? With Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO), you can enhance your website to capture more leads and conversions. The real magic of CRO is deriving increased value from existing traffic and current audiences. 

You’ll find that in many instances, your next customer is already a warm lead — someone who’s visited your website and is familiar with your brand, but is yet to move along the customer journey. CRO allows you to address their pain points by optimizing your website, so audiences are inspired to take action, and become happy, loyal customers. Let’s get started:

1. Recognize Where Conversions Happen

A common misconception on website conversions is that these take place on “action” pages, like filling out a contact form or checkout. But that’s a myth — and it’s costing you business.

In fact, conversions can happen anywhere — from the homepage to product or service pages, landing pages, blogs, and more. CRO can be implemented on each of these locations to increase conversions.

• Homepage: Make a lasting first impression that keeps customers on-site, such as displaying top products or services, adding a sign-up button for exclusive offers, or installing a chatbot for quick customer service.

• Product and service pages: Add clear pricing information, describe features and benefits, and incorporate a contact or get-a-quote form as a CTA to encourage potential customers to take action right away and learn more about available offers. Similarly, recommend related products and content to keep customers on-site and drive pageviews.

• Blog: Publishing value-added content not only signals industry authority and thought leadership, but it’s also an opportunity to capture new traffic and nurture leads. Enhance blogs by incorporating both text-based and banner CTAs throughout the article, or invite readers to gain exclusive insights delivered straight to their inbox.

• Landing pages: Designed for targeted offers, landing pages typically have the highest website conversion rates. To further increase value and drive conversions, make sure to incorporate multimedia elements and free resources that encourage sign-ups that lead to long-term customer engagement.

2. A/B Test Regularly

The bottom line is, you can never conduct too much A/B testing — in fact, you should. Regular A/B testing allows you to keep a pulse on current conversion elements and constantly learn what website visitors respond to. 

Run A/B tests on various elements, from copy and page colours to content offers, image placements, sign-up forms, and more. Based on A/B testing results, you can implement best-performing page elements and optimize website conversion.

3. Create Conversion Pathways for Marketing-Qualified Leads

Some website visitors are already warm leads, and since they’re ready to buy, they may want to skip parts of the typical customer journey. To convert these marketing-qualified leads, your website needs to feature compelling copy, CTAs, and web pages. Consider incorporating conversion elements like filling out a contact form to speak with a sales rep or book a demo, and pay attention to the sales process to ensure a successful conversion.

4. Leverage Remarketing

Are you noticing potential leads bouncing out or getting stalled in the sales funnel? Remarketing allows you to re-engage these audiences and boost website conversions. By tracking these audiences and serving ads across other websites they visit, they can be reminded of items still in their shopping cart, or reconsider booking a consultation or demo. Once they click on these ads, they return to your website and proceed with previously abandoned conversion pathways, resulting in higher website conversion rates.

5. Upgrade Technical Elements

Your website needs to work, period. There’s nothing more frustrating than slow page loading times, broken page elements, and a distracting design. These cause visitors to quickly bounce out of your site, instantly killing conversions.

Avoid this by paying attention to technical elements. Revisit website development and updates to make sure that your website is just as responsive on mobile as it is on desktop, with fast page load times. As well, regularly audit media elements and forms to make sure these display properly, and work. Finally, your CRO strategy should include keeping conversion elements — such as add-to-cart buttons and sign-up boxes — above the fold, so customers can easily find these and complete desired actions.

6. Highlight Good Business Practises

There isn’t a more effective website conversion tool than trust. More than what they’re buying, customers value knowing who they’re buying from. Consider these elements in your CRO strategy:

• Display social proofs, such as ratings, reviews, testimonials, and subscriber and social follower counts in prominent areas, like the homepage and product pages
• Give customers a guarantee, such as a clear refund policy or money-back guarantee to ensure satisfaction
• Include a privacy statement in your email sign-up and contact forms to boost confidence and trust, and meet data privacy standards.

7. Build Responsive Workflows

What happens after a lead is captured? Beyond website conversions, you should have a strong sales process in place for nurturing leads with regular touchpoints. Investing in marketing automation software and optimizing your sales process with the help of both sales and marketing teams will ensure those website conversions translate to actual revenue and even drive repeat purchases by happy and loyal customers.

Improve Your Website Conversion Rate Today

Struggling to convert high website traffic into actual leads and sales? Consultus Digital can help. Let’s talk about your website conversion rate and uncover why visitors bounce out of your website and fail to convert. 
Learn about industry-leading Conversion Rate Optimization strategies we can implement to boost website conversions and convert more website visitors into highly qualified leads and happy customers. Book a consultation with our CRO experts today.