NB: This is a guest post by Conversion Rate Experts, a US and UK-based consultancy which counts the likes of Sony, Vodafone and Google as clients.
Right now web businesses all across the globe are shovelling money into marketing programs that are massively underperforming, and chances are you’re one of them.
This is because many marketers don’t focus on the one thing that will have the biggest impact on their business – the website’s conversion rate. Fortunately, there is a well-tested solution that takes the guesswork out of turning more visitors into buyers – conversion rate optimization (CRO).
Here are the five biggest conversion-killing mistakes we see every day and exactly what you can do to fix them.
1. Get the right feedback
You’ve probably heard many times that it is important to get feedback about your site. The key is to get the right kind of feedback.
User input is good, but it’s best to get immediate feedback as soon as a problem happens. KISSinsights is a great tool for this. You can implement the form on your site in 55 seconds (yes, we timed it).
But there’s a shortcut to get even better data. Here’s one of the many feedback strategies we recommend to our clients:
CRO Tip #1 – Interview your sales and customer service team.
This will cost you nothing and provides a mountain of insight. Let the sales people tell you the most common objections they hear and the best ways to overcome them.
Or, ask the customer service reps about the most common problems and complaints users have. Then of course confirm your ideas for improvement with a split test.
2. Split test only for BIG opportunities
We recommend that you measure everything and test often—no surprise there. The mistake many people make is running low impact tests. We call them “meek tweeks”.
These are experiments that even if you get a positive result won’t really boost your bottom line. Here’s one of the rules we stick to for creating effective split tests.
CRO Tip #2 – Only run experiments if a 10% improvement will matter
Make sure you’re testing high-traffic pages for starters. Even big improvements on low-traffic pages won’t matter in the end.
Secondly, make sure you’re testing user objections (why visitors won’t buy) or usability issues (why visitors can’t buy) first instead of focussing on aesthetics like colour choices.
Helpful Hint: It pays to make sure you have the right tool for the job. Visit Which Multivariate for an unbiased review of all the testing platforms.
3. Run quality usability tests
Usability tests are great. In fact we often say that usability tests will make you rich but only if you set up your tests for success. Here are a few of the many ways marketers often get it wrong:
- Don’t test how users “feel” about the design. They can be very frustrated with the site but still love the look and feel.
- By all means start with “randomly chosen” testers, but once you have reached the point of diminishing returns, you’re best off carrying your usability tests with people who are genuine prospects for the website. The ideal person to test your site is an actual visitor. Ethnio is a great tool for recruiting participants for usability tests.
- Don’t just try out one solution. Usability tests identify problems not solutions. You need to iteratively improve and test several possible solutions to get the best result.
CRO Tip #3 – Make your offer irresistible with benefits, counter-objections and factsCreating strong user motivation overcomes a multitude of usability sins. When an offer is extremely compelling users will jump through hoops to get it.
Increase the appeal of your offer by discovering the big reasons other people purchased the product.
Build in counter objections to the most common reasons people might hesitate to buy. Wherever possible, sell with specific, verifiable facts.
4. Make sure they trust you
Fact: people only buy from places they trust. So it pays (literally) to be seen as trustworthy. This means your site needs to use credibility indicators. These are items that prove you’re legit like certifications, seals, accreditations and big name clients you’ve worked with.
CRO Tip #4 – Utilize the strongest social proof possible
In our testing, the more unbiased a credibility indicator is the more effective it will be. Social proof is perceived to be the least biased by most users. The 3 strongest pieces of social proof we’ve identified are:
- Expert reviews – get an industry leader to write or record a candid review of your product/service.
- Media mentions – use PR to get published in industry magazines or authority sites. This isn’t as hard as it sounds and is an extremely effective way to establish trust.
- Customer Testimonials – When properly implemented, customer testimonials alleviate a person’s anxiety about doing business with you. The best testimonials are authentic fans of your company who will record a call or video about your product/service. Faked testimonials that are unverifiable will hurt your conversion rate so don’t go down that road.
Lastly, if you feel daunted towards launching any of the above elements, find a celebrity to endorse your product.
Most people avoid this idea because the perceived cost is high. In truth, it is much lower than you’d imagine and very effective.
5. Only use strong offers
This one is glaringly obvious but almost everyone gets it wrong. Many marketers are tempted to try out the latest technology, redesign their entire website or rebrand the company but never focus on creating a truly compelling offer.
A key principle from your old marketing textbook to keep in mind is – sell benefits not features. People buy saws for the cuts they make, not because of the new carbide blade.
CRO Tip #5 - Create an offer that would make you eager to buy
To put it bluntly, never make the mistake of assuming your potential customers are stupid. If you wouldn’t get excited about your offer, why would anyone else?
Today’s consumer is extremely sophisticated. You can bet that they will shop around, look for unbiased information and instantly leave when they see marketing hype.
You don’t need the lowest price. You just need to prove to compellingly show that your product/service is solid and perfectly meets their need.
Case study
The tools and techniques featured in this post are the same tools and techniques that helped us to increase the revenues of Sunshine.co.uk by £14 million this year (more details here).
This chart shows the revenue results to Sunshine.co.uk’s business after six months of CRO with no increase in advertising spend.
NB: This is a guest post by Conversion Rate Experts, a US and UK-based consultancy which counts the likes of Sony, Vodafone and Google as clients.