Conversion Rate Optimization

Conversion Rate Optimization:
Conversion Rate Optimization is the continual process of making your Website and landing pages generate better results from your visitor traffic. For example, more leads, opt-ins, and more sales.

Conversion Rate Optimization is also the fastest and easiest strategy to increase your sales without spending more money on increasing your traffic.
In fact, the most successful companies test everything. For example, a MarketingSherpa.com case study showed that www.GoToMyPC.com increased their conversion rates by 400% by testing the following…

Headlines Call to Action Copy Images Graphics Button Look Button Text

Button Location No Links Press Quotes Testimonials Pricing Flow Through Process And more

A 400% increase in conversion rate is like getting four times the amount of customers for the same advertising budget. As you can imagine, conversion rate optimization can be a great strategy for increasing your leads and sales. Here's how to do it...

Optimize Your Landing
Page’s "Conversion Funnel"

If you review your website statistics (called "log files") you’ll notice the following
4 things are happening on your landing pages…

Optimize Your Landing Page Conversion "Funnel"

The largest percentage of your visitors are bailing (leaving) within 0-8 seconds after briefly viewing your landing page. The second largest percentage of visitors bail when they decide your landing page does not prove compelling or relevant to what they're looking for. A small percentage of visitors attempt to convert (buy or use a contact form to become a lead) but fail. Some of these people will call you if you provide your phone number. A small percentage of visitors convert.

Conversion rate optimization is the process of optimizing your landing pages to minimize your "bail out rate" and maximize your "conversion rate" (CR).

The Top 6 Landing Page Components
To Optimize for Maximizing Your Conversions

The following are the top 6 conversion components that should be tested and improved to boost your conversion rates…

1. Headline - Since your headline is the first line that your visitors will read, the headline of your web page offers the biggest opportunity (about 80% of the opportunity) for improvements in conversion rate. Use headlines that clearly state the biggest benefit(s) that your product offers. Tell them exactly what they can get on your landing page.
   
2. Offer - Since your offer is the "call to action" that asks your visitors to act (purchase, sign up, opt-in), your offer accounts for the second the biggest opportunity for improvements in conversion rate.
   
3. Lead - The “lead” or first paragraph is the third biggest opportunity for improvements in your conversion rate. Leads must be written with strong benefits that capture your visitor’s attention and make them want to continue reading.
   
4. Benefits - The "benefit bullets" (bullet-point format) are the forth biggest opportunity for improvements in conversion rate. List your benefits in the order of your product’s "value hierarchy" to your target market. In other words, state your product’s strongest benefit first, and its weakest benefit last.
   
5. Images - The images you use have a big impact on your conversion rates. The best practice is to use images that clearly portray the biggest benefit your product or service offers your customer (rather than generic "feel good" stuff like unknown logos and clip art). Studies show that product images usually work best when placed to the left of your product description (or lead paragraph) since it makes it easier to read your copy from left to right. Plus, people like to read"captions" under your images almost as much as they read your headlines. So, add powerful captions and make your images clickable to the order/sign up page.
   
6. "Look & Feel" - According to a recent study by Stanford University, 46% of Web sales are lost on websites that lack the critical elements that build value and trust with website visitors. The number one reason the people indicated why they wouldn't buy from a website was because it had an unprofessional "look and feel" that lacked credibility and did not "feel" trustworthy. Having a professional look, and trust building logos (such as VeriSign and BBBOnline certifications) help convert significantly more of your website's qualified visitors into new customers.

Other Important Conversion Elements to test:

• Buttons – Button text, color, look, etc.
• Pricing
• Formatting and placement of page elements, images and copy
• Navigation links versus no navigation links
• Press Quotes
• Testimonials

Other Conversion Best Practices and Tips:

• Reduce your "bail out" rate by optimizing your web pages to download within 5 seconds on a 56k modem – Test your pages on Andy King’s "Web Page Analyzer" http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/
• Add a 1-800-Number and Call to Action above the fold (top of the page)
• Add a Logo and a powerful "Value Proposition" to the top left
• Instead of letting visitors click off your landing page, put all your information on one page (This tactic alone increased the conversions of a landing page by 55%)
• Use colors that fit your target customer’s personality

Conclusion:

When you use "Conversion Rate Optimization" to test and improve your web pages and landing pages you can double your sales (possibly even quadruple) when you add up all the performance improvements. Of course it takes time and work but it's well worth the effort.


Source : http://www.interactivemarketinginc.com

Posted in: Conversion optimization