When you’re maintaining a business website, the primary focus is that of generating sales and leads. However, not all visitors commit to making purchases or contacting the company when visiting the site.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that what you’re selling is unattractive to the average online shopper. In fact, inspiring sales from your target audience may need nothing more than words of encouragement.
What can you do to increase the conversion rate of those who view your pages?
1. Be as Descriptive as Possible
You don’t want your consumers to be surprised by what they purchase. You need to make sure your descriptions are informative regarding what to expect from doing business with your company.
From services rendered to details of products, this is the beginning of a superior customer experience.
Images of the product or service can do much to alleviate some confusion. From photographing input ports on a tablet to showing visitors what to expect in a hotel room, descriptions can make or break a transaction.
2. Social Sharing
Roughly 30% of consumers admit they would buy goods from social sites like Facebook and Twitter. Since social media plays such an integral role in the lives of millions, nearly every website offers the ability to share content.
By providing a call-to-action to share your content, you can convince patrons they can help your business thrive by simply clicking a button.
Social sharing works exceptionally well when it comes to creating conversions. When someone clicks on the product or service description in a site like Facebook, they are already interested in what you have to offer.
This means that they are already more likely to interact with your business before even visiting the website.
3. Online Chat
Online shoppers are more likely to buy something from a website that supports live online chat. In fact, 42% of consumers are more likely to use live chat for customer service than other methods.
This is a form of the digital customer experience which many consumers appreciate. It lets people know they are not alone during the shopping experience.
Most people feel more comfortable when there is assistance available. It’s important to note that live chat platforms often receive a much higher satisfaction rating among consumers.
It can help reduce confusion while assisting visitors with the details of services and items.
4. Upselling Products or Services
Have you ever visited a site to purchase something only to have a display of things other people bought in addition to the product you’re viewing?
This is called “upselling.” Essentially, it’s showing people other goods or services that may have a correlation with what they’re interested in.
Upselling can be quite effective when it comes to generating greater sales. People may not realize they want something until they see it side-by-side with what they’re willing to purchase.
In many cases, it helps persuade shoppers to add the item or service to their cart. You may have to try a few different upselling strategies in order to find the one the works best with your business.
5. Customer Reviews
Reviews do two major things for your website: inspire people to spend money and boost the reputation of your brand. The same can be said for testimonials from other consumers.
It helps make a personal connection that people can identify with. This is exceptionally beneficial for local SEO to engage in-person customers.
Most consumers today will research a brand or product before spending money. A large number of customers will gauge the experiences of others to help make their decisions.
By implementing these reviews, your visitors don’t have to leave your site to find information regarding the company. When thanking your customers for their purchases, politely remind them to help the site by leaving a review of their experiences.
For customers that created an account on your site, you could send an email in a few weeks to ask for this review as well.
6. Streamline the Checkout
Making the checkout process easy is one of the most important aspects to increase a conversion rate. Most shoppers will abandon a cart if the site takes too long to load or if there are too many steps to buy the item.
Most consumers are those who thrive off of instant gratification. You don’t want to make these individuals work to simply buy your goods or services.
Depending on your eCommerce software, there could be a myriad of ways to streamline the checkout process. Many will implement “guest purchasing,” which is buying things without making people sign up for an account.
This reduces the number of potential customers for future email marketing, but it inspires a large number of people to buy your products or services.
7. Mobile Optimization
A large portion of those looking for products or services are taking to the Internet by using mobile technology. In fact, as many as 62% of smartphone users have bought something online in the last six months. This means optimizing for smartphones and tablets is ideal for both online and offline businesses.
It’s not enough to simply have a responsive design for mobile platforms. For instance, optimizing landing pages for image use, easy-to-understand checkout systems and fast servers all play a role in how well you can engage the mobile audience.
The better the experience is for consumers on the move, the higher rate of conversion your site will have.
Bonus Track: It’s All In What You Say
While some of the people coming to your site have intentions of spending money, others need just a little push to convince them the purchase is in their best interest.
You don’t want to seem too pushy or salesy, but you do need to convince some people on a subtle level that they “need” your product or service. Be straightforward with what the consumer can expect.
You’d be amazed at how far direct and open honesty can go in terms of commerce.
Take an Active Role in Conversion Rates
Boosting sales is about giving shoppers what they want when visiting the website. Take steps to implement features and functions that are conducive to increase the conversion rates of your online business.
Some of the simplest of changes could lead to greater consumer interest.
Great post , it is indeed helpful article. I guess we can add another important point like Single sign-on(SSO) as it simplifies the registration process on a website/blog which gives good user experience and also increases the count of returning visits. Also through SSO we can use friend invite that helps in engagement as well as spreading your content.