Are you struggling with a low conversion rate? Or worse no conversions at all? It’s a common concern for marketers, especially when you start out with ads. It can be even more alarming when you notice your ads attracting plenty of clicks, but they don’t quite translate to conversions. 

Something is seriously broken but can we fix this? 

This problem boils down to one of two things - either your ad campaign or your website. One of the two is inadequately optimised. 

The website you are working on may look good on the surface, but it may be lacking in conversion rate optimization (CRO), which implies it’s doing a poor job for nurturing trust with visitors and isn’t offering the best user experience. 

Likewise, your campaign may be fully set-up, but inconsistencies in your ads, keywords, and landing pages can disrupt the conversion funnel, ultimately making your ads miss the mark with your required target audience (TA). 

There’s good news though! You can fix the problem and turn traffic into leads and eventually loyal customers.  

In this week’s blog I’ll walk you through a few key changes that you need to undertake to make your website more customer-friendly and best optimise it for conversions. 

Let’s commence with first impressions. The minute visitors’ lands on your page, they begin by sizing up your business, your brand, and your products. If your landing page isn’t ready for such scrutiny, then be willing to see them judge and leave within the very first few seconds. Hence, first impressions matter big time in digital marketing, especially when you’re trying to sell products and services. The biggest challenge is instilling trust in your brand, as without it nobody will ever buy from you.  

Take a good look at your website now, and analyse it based of the following pointers to determine whether or not your site is one that people will believe in: 

Is it Relevant?  

You only have around 30 seconds or less to grab your visitors’ attention. Make it count by adding strong brand messaging. This includes making it consistent across all web pages. From the tone of the copy to the keywords, all should be aligned because, if not, visitors who clicked will quickly lose interest. This doesn’t mean you need to overwhelm people with messages or bombard them with offers and superfluous details. Give them what they need in the form of clear call-to-actions (CTA’s) which need to be strong, clear and speak directly to the needs of the TA.  

Tip: The key to a good website is Update! Update! Update! Always keep your landing page up-to-date and tie it in with current affairs or recent developments where applicable.  

How is your user experience (UX)? 

Remember how I mentioned only having a few seconds to gain the visitors’ trust? Well a slow loading website is the bane of any marketer’s hope of conversions. In fact, 40% of polled internet users report abandoning a site if it takes three seconds or longer to load. Google has also indicated that site speed is one of the signals used by its algorithm to rank pages. So always beware of pages with slow page speed as it could easily negatively affect your indexation. The next step would be the web design and layout of all your pages. Having a clean and clear user interface makes it easier for your visitors to navigate and engage with your website. Speaking of engagement, use blogs to establish brand voice and position yourself as thought leader.  

Tip: A live chat or forum is always a good idea as it encourages a conversation with your audience.  

What is your perceived value? 

Every company tries to enhance the perceived value in customer’s minds by adopting several marketing mix elements such as advertising, promotion, sales force, etc. The customer is not always aware of the cost incurred by the firm in producing the product but what they only care about is the final price and how much it varies from the competitor’s product. Higher prices are a huge deterrent, and sometimes all it takes is a little reduction to convince people they are getting value for money - which helps you get more conversions. In addition, perks and slogans like ‘free P&P’ or ‘lifetime warranty’ which can persuade more visitors through your sales funnel are a must-have!  

Tip: If you’re associated to big brands in any way, mention it! This instils more confidence in your brand and products.  

Do you have social proof? 

Nobody is going to buy from a completely unknown entity. By building brand awareness online (organically or paid), people will soon familiarise themselves with your company. Don’t be a stranger online – if someone interacts with your posts on your social media channels, make an effort to respond and engage in conversations. This humanises your brand.  

Tip: Make sure to add true and glorifying testimonials, trademarks, awards, and achievements to your site to nurture more belief with prospects.  

Getting people to your website is just the beginning though. You need to convert that traffic from your ad campaign to be a success. This takes considerable time and patience to learn and requires you to adopt an analytics-driven approach to your marketing. 

With frequent analysis and optimisation, you can identify problems in your campaign and on your website and make changes when and where they’re needed to improve conversion performance. 

There is, however, one key area I’ve not yet covered; what impact does your ad campaign have on conversions? Specifically, what impact will it have on your business? Stay tuned for my blog next week as it will be solely dedicated to this topic.