Good content is key and consistent website traffic is necessary. But what your boss really wants to see are website visitors entering into the sales funnel. This week at #SproutChat, Sprout All Star and Inbound Marketing Consultant, Nicholas Scalice, joined us to share his expertise around optimizing conversion rate and avoiding common conversion pitfalls.
Start With Clarity
It may seem obvious, but having a crystal clear offering and path for your visitors to progress along is essential for effectively converting visitors into customers. Eliminate any unnecessary information so that your potential buyer isn't distracted. That's not to say your site should be overly sales focused, but rather make the prospect feel informed and confident in their decision to purchase.
A1: I'd say start with your offer. Most of the time, you don't have a conversion problem, but rather you have an offer problem. #sproutchat
- Nicholas Scalice (@nscalice) October 5, 2016
@SproutSocial A1: Providing relevant content to help them make a decision and avoiding information overload/too much fluff. #SproutChat
- Nicole Schneider (@missnicoleyyyy) October 5, 2016
A1. Have a clear user flow – both on the page and on the site. #SproutChat #CRO
- Reva Minkoff (@revaminkoff) October 5, 2016
A1: Clear call to actions and conversion path #SproutChat https://t.co/X0pB8y0ec0
- Katrina Douglas (@KDADouglas) October 5, 2016
A1: Ease of use of the website and the ordering process. Frustrate me, you can forget my order/booking #sproutchat
- Brad Lovett (@Brad_Lovett) October 5, 2016
A1) Limit landing pages to one call-to-action. It's always tempting to include multiple but it overwhelms visitors. #sproutchat
- Josh Schweigert (@joshschweigert) October 5, 2016
Review Your Metrics Along the Way
The initial and last actions an individual takes are often the most telling, but do your due diligence and analyze each step of the conversion funnel to see what may be most effective in driving sales and what is a deterrent for many people.
A3: But also, make sure you're looking at metrics for your entire funnel. From first click to conversion. #sproutchat
- Nicholas Scalice (@nscalice) October 5, 2016
@SproutSocial A3 When looking at conversions, keep people on your pages. Higher avg. pg per session & lower bounce rate are key #SproutChat
- Goodmanson Const. (@GoodmansonConst) October 5, 2016
A3: bounce rate / shopping cart abandonment rate. they came REALLY close to converting – find out what stopped them. #sproutchat https://t.co/wZaCiv80qj
- molly buccini (@mollybuccini) October 5, 2016
A3: Sessions originating from X social media channel is one I look at. #sproutchat
- Sarah Romero (@iHeartDates) October 5, 2016
A3: Make sure to look at the full conversion funnel! Don't just look at last click to conversion. #SproutChat
- Brandfolder (@Brandfolder) October 5, 2016
A3: It's important to count the secondary conversions (e.g. downloads, sign-ups) that lead to a primary conversion (e.g. sale) #SproutChat
- Katrina Douglas (@KDADouglas) October 5, 2016
A3. Look at the top paths to conversion report in @googleanalytics. It's the best at giving the whole picture. #SproutChat
- Reva Minkoff (@revaminkoff) October 5, 2016
A3. Beware of paths that jump subdomains – you'll lose the initial source in @googleanalytics and most other tracking tools. #SproutChat
- Reva Minkoff (@revaminkoff) October 5, 2016
Avoid These Common Mistakes
A lot can go wrong along the path to purchase. Ensure you're not making key mistakes, like neglecting social media communication, ignoring content personalization or providing a bad user experience.
A4: Making a decision based off of a very small sample size is common. Make sure your results have statistical significance. #sproutchat
- Nicholas Scalice (@nscalice) October 5, 2016
@SproutSocial A4: User experience design. If it is too complicated/hard to see on a mobile device, I won't go through with it. #SproutChat
- Nicole Schneider (@missnicoleyyyy) October 5, 2016
A4 Long forms, long content, requiring too many clicks, landing page/ads not matching, no clear value for user, pageload time #sproutchat
- Josh Schweigert (@joshschweigert) October 5, 2016
A4 a conversion path that is company process centric >.< #SproutChat https://t.co/4ZzO4Av0SX
- Lloyd Evaroa (@lloydevaroa) October 5, 2016
A4: in the B2B world, a form fill with 10,000 required fields is the #1 reason i won't download something i'd otherwise like. #sproutchat https://t.co/asJ35zdzEk
- molly buccini (@mollybuccini) October 5, 2016
A4: No CTA, language that makes it sound like a mass marketing product, unclear lading pages… #sproutchat
- Mayflower Tours (@mayflowertours) October 5, 2016
A4: Website not working, not intuitive, people not having confidence in security of credit card info #sproutchat
- Brad Lovett (@Brad_Lovett) October 5, 2016
Test Often & in Isolation
Invest time in A/B testing. Without testing often and in isolation, you'll never be able to decipher which components have a big impact on your conversion rate.
A6: I think everything should be tested. No limits!
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