Best Practices for Conversion Centric Websites

Boosting conversion rates is the best method to improve marketing results.  Converting visitors to customers and converting inquiries to invoices is the way to achieve business goals.  The real challenge is staying focused on improving conversion rates and properly using the tools available to get the desired outcome.  With conversion centric sites marketing investments provide better return and more efficient operations.

To generate online revenue for any business, there must be a plan in place to convert visitors to customers.  On the surface that seems like basic Marketing 101 – but in the online world there is much to be done to increase conversion rates than simply hanging up a sign and sending out a few emails.

Why are Conversion Centric Websites so Successful?

When a company designs their website using the best-in-class conversion techniques, there are several key items that occur almost immediately:

1. Visitor traffic increases – if the number of visitors go up for your website there is a higher likelihood that your conversion rate will go up as well
2. Quality of leads improve – the number of legitimate leads directly relates to better conversion rates.  Your sales or marketing teams no longer have to weed through visitor traffic that leads to nowhere.  Instead you get real contact information for potential customers that are sincerely interested in your products or services
3. Search rankings move up – when properly applying SEO along with a comprehensive conversion centric websites strategy your business will be noticed more often when searching for your particular products or services
4. Marketing is more effective – you will notice that your return on investment for marketing services will improve, making new campaigns and new launches more justifiable

Because the focus is on improving conversion rates, there is an extremely high success rate for using conversion centric website services.  Businesses from all types of industries can realize significant improvements.  Where a conversion rate may be around 5% before implementing, the rate can double or even triple after using the tools available!

Best Practices mean Better Results

There are certain best practices that should be a part of every conversion centric site management plan.  The following are some of the most effective practices:

Review Target Audience Profiles – on a regular basis review the information available for your ideal customer.  The data should include a look at your existing profile compared to actual customers plus a comparison to visitors and leads.  Because markets evolve and fluctuate it is important to set a routine schedule to review this information and update profiles accordingly.  This may include geographic information, income levels, buying habits, other common sites, and more.

Fine Tune SEO – the practice of search engine optimization (SEO) is not a one-time event.  Depending on your business and industry you may need to conduct optimization exercises weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly.  Refine and improve the keywords and phrases that are used by your target audience to locate your business.  Measure the results by checking search engine rankings, website traffic, and the quality of leads generated.

Address Abandonment and Bounce Rates – there are multiple reasons that a shopping cart could be abandoned or a visitor bounces to another website.  Analyze the reasons for these issues and identify ways to mitigate them.

Develop a Solid A/B Testing Process – each industry has certain key traits that will drive better conversion rates.  It is an important practice to test various solutions through A/B testing and quickly roll out the most effective pages.  A streamlined process should be in place to allow you to quickly test and then deploy updates to react quickly to market conditions.

Analyze Visitors versus Customers – through heat mapping and other tools, evaluate your website pages and understand what is working best to improve conversion rates, and what portions of the page need refinement or replacement.

Leverage Affiliates – through microsites and affiliate management your marketing can gain momentum with referrals and increased traffic.  A consistent customer acquisition retention centric practice will utilize affiliate marketing to boost your conversion rates.

Reputation Management – online reviews and referrals can be your best friend or worst enemy.  Carefully manage your business brand and reputation by tracking reviews, reviewing social media posts, and quickly responding to issues before they get out of control.

Multi-channel Marketing – take full advantage of all marketing channels to present a consistent and effective message.  This includes social media, email newsletters, blogs, website content, industry forums and even print media.  For example, do you include your business website and how to order information in printed media?  How do you know leads have used your printed materials when they visit your website to order?

Track Progress – make sure you clearly understand your current conversion rate along with other key metrics.  Then monitor the results as you implement new strategies and techniques.  Note what is working and what should be changed.