It’s important that you convert as many visitors the first time they land on your website as possible, and it’s important that you command their attention and spark their interest within the first 20-seconds of that initial visit.
Why?
Because 70 to 96 percent of your website visitors are not going to return after leaving your website. They simply are not going to come back. You have one chance to interest them and convert them.
So, how do you increase the likelihood of them converting? One of the easiest ways is to keep them on your website longer.
The longer they remain on your website and the more content they consume, the greater the chance is that they turn into a lead or sale.
To help you convert more of your website traffic, here are four simple tips you can implement right away.
1. Create all of your website content with ‘skimming’ in mind.
Make sure you format your content in a way that makes it easy for a visitor to understand the message without having to read it word-for-word. Several small 2 to 3 sentence paragraphs work best, along with headings and sub-headings that contain the main points of each section. You have to assume most visitors are only going to skim the content, which is what the majority do. Very few will read every single word.
Use descriptive headlines, highlight important information with bullet points and don’t overwhelm the reader with huge paragraphs. Make it as simple to consume as possible and it will greatly improve the chances that your reader takes away the key points, even if they do just glance it over.
You want to write long-form content to satisfy the search engines, and give them plenty of content to index, but don’t completely ignore your formatting for the people that will be reading it. You can pull in all the organic traffic in the world, but if they your content isn’t presented in a way that makes it easy to consume your conversion rates will suffer.
Not all visitors are going to read your content word-for-word, so if you can get your main points across via a quick skim, it will greatly increase the chance of that visitor clicking through to a product page or to additional information.
2. Use page-specific exit-intent popups on your website.
There is a right way and a wrong way to use pop-ups.
You don’t want to interrupt your visitors while they are reading information or considering completing a form or making a purchase. Presenting them at the wrong time can disrupt the conversion process.
But, if the visitor is about to leave your website — and likely not going to return — then a pop-up can help convert what was about to be a missed opportunity.
Exit-intent pop-ups are highly effective, only firing when it’s detected that the visitor is going to leave. Here are a few examples of pages you can use them on and what purpose they serve.
- Shopping cart: Visitors abandoning shopping carts costs brands billions of dollars each year. You can use a pop-up to offer a discount code to try to keep the visitor in your cart (percentage off their purchase or free shipping), or you can push them to another page of your website, like a testimonial or review page, where you can help build their confidence and educate them on why it’s a good idea for them to buy now.
- Blog content: You can create exit pop-up offers specifically for each piece of content that offer to re-direct the visitor to a relevant blog post that he or she may also be interested in reading. By giving them additional information it can help educate and inform them enough to convert.
- Product pages: If a potential buyer is leaving a product page, present the opportunity to read reviews or more detailed information about the product they were just viewing. Create content that answers frequently asked questions — doing this greatly increase the chances of converting that visitor into a buyer. Video works well, and visitors will engage with that on a higher level than a traditional blog post.
3. Include strategic CTAs (calls-to-action) on every page of your website.
Each page on your site needs to have a CTA (call-to-action) that results in leads or revenue. For example, your content should include links to other relevant blog posts on your website, or reviews, information or testimonials about a particular product or service. If a visitor is thinking about converting, but not ready just yet, pushing them to more information can be all it takes to get them to pull the trigger before leaving.
It greatly improves your conversion rates across the board, as you are creating an opportunity on every page, regardless of what one that traffic originates on.
You can also create protected content, viewable if the visitor submits their email address. Some examples are case studies, video content and high-level reports. It’s a great way to grow your email list, allowing you to generate leads to market to at a later time.
4. Publish various forms of visual content on your website.
The longer you can keep a visitor on your website, the better the chance is that they convert. One way to keep them on longer is publishing content that really holds their interest. Visual content, like infographics and animated explainer videos are great examples of visual content that visitors love to engage with.
Some pages, especially a landing page with one specific goal, can use visual content to help keep the visitor engaged and deliver the information required to push them towards the conversion. Animated videos are a great way to explain products or services, which is why so many companies use them.
Image: PEXELS
