Optimise your WordPress site conversions with these proven tips

Conversions are everything in digital marketing. They drive customer attraction whilst generating more sales. Everything you do in digital marketing is to win conversions and drive sales. But to drive conversions you need to know how and where you are going to win them!

Here, we will talk about the proven methods that win conversions and drive sales so that you can integrate them with your digital strategy with the highest efficiency:

But first, what are conversions?

Conversions are the actions you want people to take when visiting your website. This includes filling out inquiry forms, starting free trials, signing up for newsletters and making first-time and repeat purchases. Essentially, it’s any action that could turn a site visitor into a customer. What’s more, your website has a conversion rate, and this is the percentage of visitors that become customers.

Top performing companies have conversion rates of around 5%. If you notice your conversion rate slipping below 2.5% then it’s time to make some changes.

Start with the following:

Set new goals for conversions

The first step to improving your conversion rate is knowing how many conversions you currently receive. Primary traffic sources (how users enter your site) are also important, and once you start measuring these metrics you can start defining new goals to optimise your conversion rate.

To set your conversion rate goal, you first need to know about your website requirements. You might require direct purchases, email subscribers or lead generation – anywhere there is a gap in your conversion rate you must go to work on filling it

The different types of conversion goals

There is a diverse range of conversion goals you may need to cover, including:

• Button clicks: This is the most basic conversion goal form. It is as simple as it sounds: clicking a button. This can include anything from applying a discount code, buying a product, downloading an eBook or even redirecting to a new page.
• Email submission: You need to optimise your website for email submissions if you wish to build your email list. Email is one of the most powerful digital marketing channels and any site can harness it to its advantage.
• Lead generation: Trade and service websites depend on leads. Lead generation is essential to converting individuals into paying clients. Therefore, simply attracting a lead alone can be seen as a conversion goal, with the ultimate aim being to convert them into a customer. Popular lead generation strategies include landing pages, quality content, online ads, Google Remarketing and more.
• Purchase: Naturally, purchases are the ultimate conversion goal. Therefore, you need to be able to attract customers to your store, as well as guiding them through their customer journey and streamlining the checkout process.
• App download: If your brand has an app then you must optimise your website for users to download the app. Every app download adds to your conversion rate and you can use lead capturing as part of future conversion attempts through the app itself.

How to increase your conversion rate

Now that you know which conversions you want to achieve it is time to achieve them. This is a process known as conversion rate optimisation (CRO) and it is essential to your online success:

1. Market research

   You first have to know your market. Without understanding your market it is impossible to know how to reach them. When engaging in market research, you must ask yourself:

   • Does your audience want this product?
   • Is your audience already aware of your product and looking to buy it?
   • Do you need to conduct audience nurturing before a purchase is made?
   • Is your product well-priced? And, does it require a sales process and lead generation as opposed to a direct sale?

   Knowing these audience requirements helps you define your conversion goals. Market research can be conducted through surveys and polls as well as gauging audience thoughts and feelings through online forums and social media. Also, don’t dismiss your current online data – it will help you understand what has worked well in the past and what could use some improvement.

2. Analyse your leads

   It’s time to see if your web ads are optimised for lead generation. Ads exist to direct users to your landing page and they require the right target audience to be successful. Your ad content must be appealing and attract the user into making a conversion (clicking through to your landing page).

   To analyse your ads, check your campaign impression numbers and compare it with your website visitor numbers. This is called the click-through-rate (CTR) and is an essential part of the customer journey. CTRs vary across industries but you ideally want it to be between 1.50% and 1.90%. To gain a higher CTR it’s important that you have engaging and exciting ad content that compels the user into visiting your website.

   Naturally, ad content and implementing it through pay-per-click (PPC) methods can be daunting. Therefore, you might want to enlist the help of professionals to ensure your ad content is compelling and that it is reaching the right audience.

3. Enhance website performance

   You may already have a great CTR. However, if your conversions are stunted from there, then your website may have performance problems. WordPress offers performance metrics that include mobile responsiveness and page load times.

   We’re not being dramatic when we say that a slowly loading page is simply unacceptable in today’s digital standards. If this is the case with your website then you will have to go work on reducing your page load times. Certain WordPress themes can help reduce load times as does compressing images before uploading them and optimising your images. Finally, a quality server should facilitate fast loading times for your website.

4. Alleviate website distractions

   Does your user experience have unwanted distractions? You want to avoid distractions like unnecessary links that could pull customers away from your website. You want to focus on conversions and clear any distractions that could inhibit them from occurring. Therefore, it’s time to cut any links that distract from conversions and, consequently, sales.

   Here are some ways to remove UE clutter:

   • Remove the menu from the landing page if it doesn’t need to be there
   • Reduce page header sizes
   • Remove an unnecessary sidebar
   • Only use images that are contextual & necessary (avoid tacky stock images)

   Finally, your design must be stylish and guide the user through their customer journey. Once again, this is something that expert web designers and developers can do for your website. After all, a website’s design and coding is the work of professionals, although WordPress does make it easier for novices to still create a beautiful theme.

5. Add social proof

   Social proof increases your website’s credibility. Social proof is essentially showing your customers that you have a pre-established customer base who is happy to repeatedly buy your products or recommend you to other people.

   It can be one of the most effective tools for business owners looking to drive conversion rates through testimonials, especially as first-time buyers want to know that they are purchasing from a reputable company who will ensure their product arrives on time and in the highest quality.

   Some top examples of social proofing include:

   • Customer testimonials
   • Accolades and awards
   • Purchase counts
   • Customer case studies
   • Brand associations
   • High star ratings and reviews

6. Add opt-in forms and pop-ups

   As aforementioned, building your email list is one of the most powerful ways to generate sales. Therefore, you want to use opt-in forms with a solid lead magnet to attract prospects. A lead magnet is a method of providing high quality content in exchange for email signup. Certain opt-in form plugins will allow you to add pop-ups which you can then alter with different triggers like exit intent and on scroll.

7. The live chat function

   Live chat has come a long way in the past few years. They are especially helpful for driving conversions as they help answer questions in real time. This can be incredibly powerful for immediately turning a curious prospect into a paying customer, as some people just need that one question answered before making a purchase.

   Try the live chat function. It doesn’t get in the way of daily operations and can generate instant sales. What’s more, it’s a subtle customer retention hack as customers like to know that they had a personal interaction even in the digital sphere. They will feel comfortable with the knowledge that someone was there to assist them with their queries and this leaves a positive lasting impression.

   We can help at every step of the way

   Enhancing your website’s conversion rate is key to digital marketing success. Implement these proven strategies to see a significant boost in customer engagement and sales. For personalised assistance and expert advice, call us at 1300 663 995 or fill out our contact form to transform your digital presence today.