How to Boost Conversion Rates
Little is more important than conversion rates to a marketer’s toolkit; they tell you how many people will
take action based on their resonance with your message. Conversion rates apply to nearly every aspect of online marketing: email, landing pages, viral marketing, search engine marketing, and more.
Here are some tips for boosting your onsite conversion rates:
-Contrary to what most people believe, expanding choice is
not the best strategy for improving conversion rates
-As research suggests,
limiting options actually creates a more positive user experience (the higher the conversions you want, the fewer the calls-to-action -- CTAs -- you should have)
-On average, the more exiting options, the lower the conversion rates. So even if you have multiple links on a site, you want to drive everyone toward the action you most want them to take
-Intersperse long copy with bullet points
-Meet the visitors where they’re at--connect with their pain, thought process, emotions, etc.
-Walk the user through a process of attention, interest, desire, and action (AIDA)
-Always keep the end result in mind (sign up for newsletter, purchase product, call for more information), and structure the entire page around the “most desired action” (MDA)
-Headlines matter; as Da Boys just wrote, create compelling headlines that arouse curiosity, communicate a benefit, or relate to the user’s self-interest
So here's the step-by-step plan:
1. Determine the action you most want them to take (MDA) If it's a landing page (mini-site), this is just ONE action. If it's a "corporate," or multi-page site, RANK the TOP 5 actions you want them to take
2. Structure all of your pages around the MDA.
3. Test, test, test. A/B split-testing is the easiest way to go, but once you get more experienced, you'll want to learn what's called "multivariable" testing.
4. Re-structure pages based on conversion rates.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for the rest of your website's life.
There ya go! Now go out and convert...
