The Building Blocks of a Successful High-Converting Website
Every company’s website’s ultimate objective is to convert visitors into leads and customers. Unfortunately, since there are hundreds of factors that influence conversion rates, it may be difficult to determine what modifications to make to enhance them. The only way to find out is to start trying and seeing what works. These are our 10 tips to build a high converting website.
As rDialogue’s main strategist, Jeremy Abel, once said:
“A website without conversion rate optimization is like a vehicle without wheels — it won’t get you anywhere.”
It’s tough to predict how a change will affect your conversions unless you’ve done thoroughly split testing. The good news is that many conversion rate optimization professionals have examined these characteristics and, as a result, can provide some important insights to help you enhance your conversions. KISSMetrics, for example, has recorded several case studies demonstrating that a single modification may raise conversion rates by 25 to 591 percent.
Start with your research
A Google search will reveal that there has already been a significant amount of study on conversion rate improvement. Of course, you’ll need to do your testing since your visitors may react differently from the people in these case studies.
However, implementing the majority of the best practices outlined in these case studies will almost certainly considerably increase the performance of your digital marketing operations.
Here are 10 tips to build a high converting website
Tip 1: Seek constructive feedback from customers
When it comes to improving your website, your consumers are always your greatest advisers. Monitoring how your clients engage with your website is critical; nevertheless, it is not always evident why people react in a certain manner while browsing your website. Sometimes asking your clients for extra information is the greatest approach to figuring out how to arrange your pages. Their responses may reveal some unexpected information that may assist you in improving the efficacy of your website.
Kevin Woodbury explains some of the modifications his team made to enhance conversions for Moz in a case study given by Conversion Rate Experts. One of the things they did was ask Moz consumers a series of questions about which aspects were most important to them. They also walked through the Moz sales funnel to get a better knowledge of the customer experience, and then utilized this input, as well as their observations, to optimize their landing pages for conversions.
The most unexpected revelation Woodbury and his team uncovered was that buyers were less concerned with the length of the landing pages and more concerned with how engaging they were. This input was integrated into the team’s landing pages, which increased conversion rates by 51.83 percent.
Takeaway: Set aside any preconceived notions you may have regarding the best strategies to increase conversion rates. Listen to your clients by conducting interviews with them or motivating them to do surveys. Their point of view is the only one that counts.
Tip 2: Remove unnecessary elements
Your website most likely has a variety of aspects. Some of them are so ingrained in your site that you don’t even consider them. However, if you’re not cautious, these components might dramatically impact your conversion rates. Some of them may be exceedingly bothersome to your visitors and should be deleted from certain areas of your website.
Tip 3: Optimize your navigation bar
One of the first aspects of your site to be examined is the navigation bar. In general, it plays a crucial function in assisting clients in accessing your site, but it may kill your landing page conversions by luring users away from your landing page and onto other areas of your website. Several studies demonstrate that eliminating navigation menus from landing pages may considerably increase conversions.
Yuppiechef, a South African eCommerce business that distributes culinary utensils, completed one of these case studies. They used the Visual Website Optimizer to run split tests to assess how consumers would react if the navigation bar was eliminated. Finally, they discovered that eliminating this seemingly-necessary element increased conversion rates on their sign-up pages, providing support to the argument that deleting this seemingly-necessary feature might boost website performance without harmful side effects.
However, Yuppiechef isn’t the only firm that has researched the advantages of deleting needless navigation items. IMPACT’s John Bonini conducted a similar experiment by deleting the sidebar from his blog. What was the result? His website’s conversion rate climbed by an astounding 71 percent.
Don’t, of course, delete the navigation from your whole site. You want to make sure that readers can quickly discover your landing pages, and your navigation bars help them do so. That being said, you should carefully consider eliminating navigation bars from your landing pages, since they may be driving away prospective leads before you have a chance to convert them.
Tip 4: Remove the registration form?!
Did you realize that eliminating the sign-up form from your landing page might improve your sign-up rates? This may seem insane, yet it’s precisely what Vendio went through.
Before their testing activities, Vendio had a well-performing sign-up form on a landing page, but they were afraid that the form’s extensive fields might turn off their potential clients. As a result, they decided to try a new method.
The sign-up form was relocated from the landing page to a separate page by Vendio. Customers were then sent to another webpage to join up by clicking on a link. At first look, this seems to be a bad idea, since website visitors are often lazy and do not want to go through any more processes. Vendio, on the other hand, discovered that their conversion rates jumped by 60 percent.
This case study fully debunks one of the most widely held industry myths regarding landing pages and sign-up optimization. When you think about it, it also makes a lot of sense, since certain clients may be put off if they’re met with a lengthy sign-up form the instant they arrive on a landing page. Requiring an additional step may also have helped sort out the tire-kickers by ensuring that only those who were interested accessed the form.
Of course, this does not imply that you should delete your sign-up forms from all of your landing sites. Your own users’ reactions may vary. This case study demonstrates that sign-up forms on landing pages may be needless additions that reduce conversion rates. It is unquestionably in your best interests to experiment with split testing variants without them.
If you don’t want to eliminate your complete sign-up form, you may try deleting some superfluous fields. According to QuickSprout research, merely removing the phone field from your sign-up form may increase conversion rates by 5 percent.
Tip 5: Don’t overdo it with the images
Visual components are important for attracting clients, but they may also divert attention away from your calls to action and boost your bounce rate. As a consequence, you must ensure that your photos are properly chosen and that you do not employ so many that your landing pages become congested, hence reducing conversions.
In a research done by Bradley Spencer of iCouponBlog, it was discovered that deleting a single picture increased conversion rates by 400 percent. What surprised me the most was that the picture was a security badge. This was another intriguing discovery, considering most businesses believe that security badges enhance conversions by providing social evidence.
The key conclusion is that creating a leaner landing page might be an excellent strategy to boost conversion rates. Unfortunately, it isn’t always evident which components on your site help your conversion objectives and which ones impede them. It is your responsibility to thoroughly test all of them. Allow yourself to be swayed by preconceived notions since as a number of these case studies demonstrate, features that you believe are beneficial may be harming your conversions.
Tip 6: Maintain clear navigation paths
As previously indicated, including navigation menus on your landing pages may reduce conversion rates. Improving navigation across the remainder of your website, on the other hand, is critical when it comes to converting clients. To ensure that customers can find their way to your landing pages, you must provide a clear navigation route.
When designing a navigation system for your website, there are two crucial guidelines to follow:
- Make it as simple for clients to reach your landing pages or other conversion-optimized destinations as feasible.
- Reduce their workload as much as possible.
One method is to restrict the number of layers in your navigation bars. Jesse Aaron of Steamfeed highlighted Victor Pest’s website as an excellent example of how to achieve this. The top tier of the website’s navigation bar is used to educate clients about the many kinds of specialty items that they provide. Lower levels assist clients in locating the precise goods that they need. This structure makes it much easier for consumers to locate the things they’re searching for.
Aaron’s point of view makes it reasonable, but does it stand up in practice? According to recent PrintGlobe research, emphasizing the initial level of navigation may increase conversion rates. PrintGlobe built a carousel navigation option with a grid view, allowing clients to simply choose the product category of their choice and see results in the body of the page. This method made it much simpler for clients to discover the goods they were searching for, resulting in an 18.5 percent increase in conversion rates.
Key takeaway: Make sure your clients can quickly browse your website, whether that means limiting the number of layers you utilize or taking additional steps. This is particularly critical for big eCommerce shops that offer a variety of items, since visitors may quickly get overwhelmed if your navigation panels have too many levels.
Tip 7: Build in a sense of urgency
The adage “the squeaky wheel gets the oil” is especially applicable to businesses attempting to optimize their websites for increased conversions. In this context, it means that to convert more clients, your website must portray a feeling of urgency.
The terrible fact is that being overly passive might cost you sales. This may be tough for marketers to accept if they are aggressively promoting on social media since the ideal practice is to give value while avoiding being too salesy. However, keep in mind that your landing pages are one of the few locations where aggressively selling to consumers is required.
Neil Patel released a piece on Marketing Land earlier this year on the advantages of leveraging urgency to enhance conversions. Here is some of the research he used to back up his point:
- Making a feeling of scarcity is an excellent place to begin. People are more inclined to purchase an item if they believe there are just a few left since they will naturally worry that there won’t be any if they don’t move quickly. A Toyota dealership in Norway ran a split test and discovered that alerting buyers that the offer was only available for a short period increased conversions by 27 percent.
- Because the color red evokes a sense of urgency, many websites employ red buttons. According to one Hubspot research, utilizing red call-to-action buttons raised the conversion rate by 21 percent.
- You may utilize timers on your website to persuade clients that if they don’t act promptly, they will lose out. However, you must be careful not to give them too much time, or they will lose the feeling of urgency that would compel them to make a purchase or fill out your lead form. According to one Hillsdale College research, implementing a timer reduced the conversion rate for their registration page by 26.9 percent. According to the researchers, this happened because they provided participants too much time, which encouraged them to explore other websites instead of opting in.
You may use a variety of strategies to generate a feeling of urgency, but be cautious of being viewed as misleading. One of your key priorities should be to keep your visitors’ confidence.
The key message is that if you want to convert your visitors, you must offer them a cause to act. Convincing them that they will miss out on a critical chance may be an extremely effective strategy to increase your conversion rate.
Tip 8: Use visuals to increase trust and engagement
One of the most significant things you can do to increase conversion rates is to choose the correct aesthetics for your website. Avoid overused stock picture sources and instead concentrate on obtaining photos that will build trust and engage your visitors.
- Include security badges. As previously said, adding security badges isn’t always guaranteed to enhance conversions, however, VeriSign discovered that utilizing the Symantec badge raised their conversion rate by 30 percent. This is hardly unexpected given that 17 percent of buyers who do not finish a transaction do so due to security concerns.
- Display high-quality photos of your items. People want to see what your product looks like before they purchase it. As a consequence, you should always include a product image on your landing pages. Brick House Security discovered via split testing that incorporating graphics on their websites raised conversion rates by 100 percent. To create a positive impression, utilize clean, high-quality, and engaging images.
- Display photographs of optimistic individuals. Visitors are more likely to interact with a website if they see images of individuals in a positive mood. According to one High Rise research, including an image of a joyful lady enhanced conversions by 102 percent. Furthermore, research at a South African bank attempting to advertise new loans discovered that exhibiting an image of a smiling lady raised response rates as much as lowering interest rates by 4 percent.
Of course, there are several sorts of photos that may be used on landing pages. It is up to you to choose the ones that will best complement your brand and conversion objectives.
However, keep in mind that photographs aren’t the only visual components you might use. Video may also be an effective tool for increasing conversions. Unbounce, for example, discovered that utilizing video on one of their landing pages doubled their opt-ins.
The key message is that visuals are one of the finest methods to engage with your visitors. Create certain that you carefully choose them to build trust and make a positive impression.
Tip 9: Make your CTAs stand out
The calls to action on your landing pages are undoubtedly the most critical features. However, you must ensure that they are readily visible to attract visitors to do the necessary action.
Changing the color of your call-to-action buttons is one of the simplest methods to bring more attention to them. To improve contrast with the rest of their site, Ignite Visibility updated the color of their call-to-action button. They also utilized less eye-catching hues for supplementary calls to action. In only one week, these adjustments resulted in a 64 percent boost in conversion rates.
Another essential issue is the placement of your call-to-action buttons, which is something that many people do incorrectly. Many individuals believe that the call to action should always be above the fold. However, the button may do more good if it is put in a location that helps decision-making.
According to one Contentverve research, moving their call-to-action and sign-up form below the fold increased conversion rates by 304 percent, presumably because it was situated closer to where the readers would be looking when they were almost ready to make a choice.
Key takeaway: Increasing the visibility of your call-to-action buttons may drastically increase conversion rates, particularly if your visitors discover it while they’re in the ideal frame of mind to make a purchase.
Tip 10: Provide social proof
Providing online evaluations might be an excellent method to gain the confidence of others. According to BrightLocal research, 88 percent of shoppers trust online evaluations just as much as personal recommendations.
Given the amount of confidence that testimonials can foster, it’s not surprising that a lot of studies suggest that online reviews may be effective at increasing conversions. Andrew Girdwood, DigitasLBi’s Media Innovations Director, did research on the advantages of online testimonials and discovered that they played an important part in driving online sales. One of the sites he examined was Figleaves, which was able to increase its conversion rate by 35 percent by just adding a few testimonials to its website.
Furthermore, a more in-depth analysis by Internet Retailer discovered that adding reviews to online retailers may increase conversion rates by 14 to 17 percent.
People are more inclined to convert if you can demonstrate that others have profited from what you’re selling. Providing social evidence is an effective method of converting people.
Pre-Optimization Suggestions
Conversion rate optimization case studies may greatly assist you to boost the ROI on your campaigns—but bear in mind that research is only effective if you can comprehend how the results apply to your company model. Before you optimize your campaign, consider the following factors:
- Conversion objective. Are you utilizing your landing pages to generate leads or to offer things to your consumers directly? The finest methods for enticing visitors to fill out one of your lead-generation forms may not be appropriate for selling things to cold traffic.
- Price range. Brands offering low-cost products may not need to spend as much time warming up leads. For example, they may discover that short-form sales copy converts better, but firms offering more costly items may need a more thorough copy.
- Customer profile. Conversion rate optimization takes into account age, gender, ethnicity, country, and other demographic parameters. Consider how demographics affect how visitors engage with your website.
- Sources of traffic. Create your website around the traffic sources you’ll be relying on. A landing page that draws visitors using native Facebook advertisements may need a different design than a page that gets new users via Adwords.
When it comes to optimizing your website for improved conversion rates, previous research may provide an excellent beginning point, but you’ll still need to take the time to study your visitors as much as possible to choose how and where to use this research.
The case studies provided above are a good place to start, but you should ultimately base your judgments on your facts. Never stop split-testing because there’s always more you can do to boost your conversions—and you won’t find those solutions in anybody else’s case study.
Never stop experimenting and improving
Because there are so many various modifications that can be performed, conversion rate optimization is a highly detailed science. Unfortunately, drawing broad generalizations is difficult since different audiences will react differently to the same changes. While these 10 tips to build a high converting website show some of the changes you can make to increase conversions, it is up to you to identify the right mix for your specific visitors.
Doesn’t know where to start?
If you don’t know where to start get a free business assessment. Your website is at the heart of your business. We will review your website and suggest an action plan that you can implement yourself to improve your conversion rate. Click [HERE] to start.
Thank you for reading the 10 tips to build a high converting website! Do you have any further ideas about what constitutes the anatomy of a high-converting website? Please leave your opinions in the comments section below: