The problem with most websites is that they are designed from the inside-out. Marketers design their sites based on what they think visitors should see and how they want their visitors to behave. Your visitors are selfish, though – They have their own agenda and will gladly leave your site if you make it difficult for them to accomplish what they want to do.
So despite marketer’s best efforts, most sites miss the mark. Want proof? Look at their site’s conversion rate – the metric that measures the success of converting website visitors to customers.
The solution is called Conversion Optimization. Through years of split testing web pages, digging deep into visitor behavioral studies, and applying neuro-marketing techniques, conversion optimization specialists have developed a disciplined approach for designing higher-converting sites based on understanding visitor intent and applying best practice usability.
Sometimes the solution involves minor tweaks of mission-critical pages and the organization and structure of the content on your site. Other times, the path to a higher converting site involves a complete overhaul and redesign.
A helpful way to look at conversion optimization is to understand that there are 4 major components to high-converting sites:
- Aesthetics – a professional design imparting a favorable look & feel that communicates trust while removing all distracting elements and overuse of font treatments;
- Messaging – Compelling marketing messaging that clearly communicates your value proposition in terms of benefits to the visitor and is supported by social trust;
- Usability – Intuitive navigation and organization of content; ease of readability of content; setting appropriate expectations on all calls to action;
- Relevancy – understanding visitor intent throughout the research and purchase cycle and creating clear entry points and navigation to meet all visitor needs. If you’re trying to force every customer to convert, you’re guilty of ignoring relevance.
In upcoming newsletters, we’ll dig a little deeper into each of these with helpful tips on how to transform your site into a high-converting marketing vehicle.
