How to Increase Conversions With These 5 Website Must-Haves

Every business owner’s goal is to get more sales. 

More sales means your business is hitting the spot and people need what you’re offering. The difficult part is getting those sales. 

But you have a powerful sales tool that you’re probably underutilizing - your website. This is your digital storefront and the place where people come to find out more about your business and, ultimately, to buy your products or services. 

In order to dramatically increase the conversion rate on your website, it’s not enough to hastily create a site, sit back, and hope for the best. Instead, there are things you can (and should) be putting in place across your site to leverage more sales and gently nudge visitors through the sales cycle until they get to that all-important “buy” button. 

Without these website must-haves, you might be missing out on a huge amount of sales. The quicker you rectify it, the quicker you can increase your revenue and land more customers.

So, how do you get started? 
 

Your email list is a pivotal part of your business. It gives you access to your audiences’ sacred inbox where you can share offers, new products, and the latest news with potential customers. 

Showing up regularly like this will build trust, nurture customer relationships, and turn cold leads into hot prospects. 

To get people onto your email list, you need to offer something in return. It’s a give-and-take technique where you’re offering a valuable freebie in exchange for their email address. This freebie needs to be something that your audience can’t turn down, and it should offer them a quick win to establish an initial sense of trust and cement your position as an industry expert. 

Here’s a quick step-by-step guide for creating a freebie:

1. What is a major pain point your customers have? 
2. What one thing can you offer them that provides a quick solution to that problem? 
3. Can you package it up in an easy-to-consume freebie? This might be a checklist, a video, a short ebook, or a report 
4. Create your freebie in your chosen format (use a tool like Canva or the Adobe Suite to make it look great and on-brand)
5. Add signup forms across your website where people can get the freebie in exchange for their email address - effective places include the sidebar, above the fold on your homepage, at the bottom of blog posts, and as a pop-up. 

Videos are key for engagement. Not only do they keep visitors sticking around for longer, but they also increase conversion rate. In fact, one study revealed that incorporating videos in your landing pages can increase conversions by 80%. 

It’s a simple technique that can have incredible results. 

And the best news is, you don’t have to have a professional film crew or fancy equipment. You can simply use the in-built camera on your smartphone or an online tool. The most effective types of video include short explainer videos that detail your products or services, customer success stories, animations, and demos.

Get started with video by:

1. Choosing the type of video you want to add to your product or landing page
2. Filming the video within the budget you have assigned
3. Editing it down so it’s short and to the point (the most successful videos are under a minute long)
4. Uploading it to your product or landing pages - voila! It’s that simple

It might seem like a done deal when a customer reaches the checkout, but this isn’t always true. 

The average cart abandonment rate is a whopping 69%. This means you definitely need to optimize this part of the buying process if you want to increase conversions on your website. 

The key thing to do here is to make it as simple as possible. Research has shown that 21% of Americans abandon their cart because the checkout process is too long and complicated. It’s such a small tweak that can make a big difference.  

Make your checkout process simple by:

• Having the option to checkout as a guest
• Providing payment options that are familiar and popular with your customer base
• Avoiding asking for too much personal information 
• Keeping the process to just a couple of steps.
   

When a customer commits to buying from you, it’s because they have decided your product or service is the best out there for them. At this point in the buying cycle the customer has their wallet out and is determined to make a purchase, which means there is an opportunity to increase their order value. 

Upselling is a great tactic here. It can be as simple as offering a buyer a matching teapot to go with the china mugs that are in their cart, or offering a discount if they buy multiple of the same product in one order. 

Amazon does this effectively with its “customers who bought this item also bought…” section. 
 

These quick and simple tweaks might be what you need to unlock a serious increase conversions on your website leading to more sales and ROI. By making small changes and additions to your product pages, landing pages, and homepage, you can help drive customers through the sales cycle and encourage them to spend more money with you.

The Visitor Analytics platform simplifies the website optimization process with its conversion funnels feature. This feature allows you to closely track the customer journey and identify any major pain points your customers may be facing. This information allows you to tailor your marketing to the specific problems or doubts your customers have. 

Written by:

Ryan Gould
Vice President of Strategy and Marketing Services
www.elevationb2b.com

From legacy Fortune 100 institutions to inventive start-ups, Ryan brings extensive experience with a wide range of B2B clients. He skillfully architects and manages the delivery of integrated marketing programs, and believes strongly in strategy, not just tactics, that effectively aligns sales and marketing teams within organizations.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rygould/