The world of websites can be wonderful. But it can also be frustrating.
After months of planning, prepping, writing, and designing, you expect people to flood to your site and purchase your products or services. That’s why, when it doesn’t happen and you have a pretty disappointing conversion rate, it can feel like the end of the world.
Don’t panic.
Every brand owner will go through a period of self-doubt, especially if page conversions aren’t as strong as you’d like them to be.
Here are 3 ways to increase page conversions today. Whether you use them for your website or sales page, you’ll see those conversion rates increase over time after fixing these 3 elements.
But first:
Wait. What Exactly Is a Page Conversion Rate?
A page conversion rate, (also known as a landing page conversion rate), is simply the percentage of visitors you gain on a specific page that takes the desired action.
So, this does not necessarily reflect a sales or revenue rate.
For sales pages, taking the desired action is more than likely completing a purchase.
For websites, though, it works a little differently.
While you might have products or services that your leads can purchase directly from your site, you also have elements like an opt-in form for your email list. If the website visitor enters their email address and is added to your subscribers, then that is a successful example of conversion. That’s then reflected in your conversion rate.
How Do You Calculate Your Conversion Rate?
To figure out your conversion rate, you’ll need to know the total number of visitors that have visited your website. You’ll then divide the number of conversions (the number of people who completed the desired action) by the total number of visitors and multiply this figure by 100 to end up with your percentage.
So, let’s look at an example:
Imagine you were trying to calculate the conversion rate for your sales page over the past month.
Say you received 5000 visitors and, out of those 5000 visitors, 2030 people took the action.
You would then divide the 2030 people who took the action by the total 5000 visitors. Then, you’d multiply that by 100 to get your percentage, leaving you with a conversion rate of 40.6%.
What Is a Good Conversion Rate?
What defines a “good conversion rate” will differ from industry to industry and have a whole host of contributing contextual factors.
That said, there’s research that states that (across different industries) the average page conversion rate was 2.35%. The top performing 25% have a higher conversion rate of 5.31% or above.
The top performing 10% had a conversion rate of 11.45% or higher.
The best way to go about this is to set a conversion rate goal. Keep an eye on your metrics to measure whether your web page assets are performing well and, if not, it’s your job to work out what’s causing visitors to drop off without taking the action.
How to Increase Your Page Conversion Rate
The truth is, there’s no “set” answer to boosting your conversion rate. You need to diagnose the condition before you can treat it and discover what is causing a less-than-average conversion rate.
You do this through split testing, monitoring the way visitors interact with your page, and keeping tabs on your metrics.
There are 3 ways you can boost your conversion rate first.
- Assess Your Page Load Speed
Your page load speed is exactly what it sounds like: how long it takes to load your page. Realistically, we live in an impatient world. If your page takes too long to load, your visitors will either give up or – worse still – head to a competitor’s site.
That’s not just speculation, either. Research shows that even a 1 second delay reduces customer satisfaction by 16%.
Your page should load within 2 seconds.
Pages that load within 2 seconds only have an average bounce rate of 9%. Compare that to pages that load within 5 seconds (with only a tiny 3 second increase) see bounce rates up to 38%.
So, every second counts. Just ask the 40% of consumers that refuse to wait any longer than 3 seconds before giving up on the site entirely.
- Test a Different Headline
Copywriters, content writers, and marketers in general will consistently preach about how crucial a headline is.
Why?
Because it’s true.
A headline has an incredibly important role to play. It’s there to capture and hold the attention of your viewers. If you don’t hook eyeballs immediately, the rest of your copy won’t be read and the rest of your site won’t get seen.
Don’t be afraid to split test your headings, too. Create 2 headings and assess your metrics to discover which of the two performed better. Try to deconstruct the metrics, too, figuring out why and how the winner came up on top.
- Revisit Your Mobile Site Design
Nowadays, almost everyone has a mobile phone, and the vast majority of them have smartphones. 55.4% of internet users are using their phone to make purchases online. And I guarantee that you’ve made a few purchases yourself with your phone.
While half of mobile users don’t mind downloading an app for online shopping, the remaining half prefer to use a site so that they don’t have to go to the added effort of downloading an app.
So, you need to make sure your site is optimized for mobile usage. If your site is designed exclusively for desktop use, there’s a good chance that it’s not structured in a way that appeals to mobile users.
Make sure that your site is accessible and easy to use on all types of devices and browsers if you want to see your conversion rate boost.
Increase Page Conversion Rate Today
Boosting your conversion rate is an art and needs to be underpinned by strategy. You should be able to pick apart your site and diagnose the root cause of a low conversion rate.
But this takes time, knowledge, and practice.
So, implement these 3 changes for a conversion rate boost today, and keep testing until you see that skyrocket in your conversion data!
