So, you’ve just started your own business. Because you understand how the digital era works, you’ve invested in a website for your business and had it built by professionals because you believe this will entice and attract new customers. Aesthetically, your website looks pleasing to the eye. It contains all the information your customers could possibly ask for. However, your website hasn’t brought any new customers to the business for months. It didn’t cause your sales to increase. In short, all of the efforts you poured into your website appear to have been useless.
It’s important to understand that creating a website for your business is not the cure-all to your problems. If you want your business to thrive and grow, you should ensure that your leads are converted into actual, buying customers. Here are some ways in which you can achieve that goal:
1. Open up communication with your customers
Nobody wants to do business with a company that’s only concerned about the money they’ll make. If you want to gain loyal customers online, your platforms should make them feel as though they’re being heard and that most of your business decisions are based on their opinions. Once you listen to your customer’s feedback, you’ll have a better idea of what areas in which you need to improve.
Here are some of the ways you can open the lines of communication with customers:
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Survey website visitors
Place surveys on important pages on your website so you can understand what your customers’ needs are. Based on your customers’ feedback, you can then make changes to your business which will help to convert browsing visitors into customers.
Tap into your social media followers
Social media can work wonders if you want to get in touch with your customers. You can host a Twitter chat to know what issues are being experienced by your customers and use this information to benchmark for your business. You can also use this as an avenue to determine the friction points around your business since you’ll be able to see what people are saying about your company.
Encourage reviews
Your website should include a page which enables customers to easily review your products and services. This will allow your customers to voice their opinions while letting others know how dependable you are as a business.
2. Polish your website navigation
Sure, your website might be accessible to anyone who has your link, but can they navigate around it with ease? Because if they can’t, it’s safe to assume that they’ll immediately hit the close button once the page loads. Nobody wants to browse a website when they can’t even find what they’re looking for. To ensure that this isn’t a problem for your website visitors, here are some handy tips:
Forget about yourself
Keep in mind that you made this website for your customers and not for yourself. This is why you should forget about what aesthetics you like personally and avoid creating categories just for the sake of it. Instead, you should use different tools such as Google Analytics to determine which landing pages your customers frequently visit and then link these to your site navigation. Everything about your website should be easy and convenient for your customers.
Sort categories by popularity
You should position your categories in ascending order – meaning that the most visited categories should be placed at the top of the page. This will allow your customers to easily find what they’re looking for. You can also arrange categories alphabetically.
3. Make your homepage more appealing to visitors
Yes, your website should be an avenue to entice customers to do business with you but you shouldn’t go overboard. When customers arrive on your homepage, avoid bombarding them with too many ads or offers. This can make your customers feel confused and they may end up leaving your website. To ensure that this scenario isn’t experienced by your customers, you should optimize your website’s space by keeping it simple and easy to navigate.
Here are some key elements to think about:
Feature your top-sellers
There are many analytical tools available which can help you create reports in order to determine which products or services perform best. Try to focus your marketing efforts on these and highlight them on your page. You can also use banners and high-quality imagery to promote these throughout your website. Your potential customers are most likely looking for these products and services (which is why they are popular).
Call out important information
Do you have a promo for your customers? Do you offer free shipping or warranties to your customers? If you have anything to offer which you think gives you an edge amongst your competitors, highlight them on your website. These are important for a potential customer so make sure this is placed front and center.
4. Think about your product pages
Your website should serve as a one-stop shop for your customers to learn about your products. And you shouldn’t just stop at informing them; you should make sure that when they see how your products are presented online, they’ll be interested in doing business with you. It’s a good idea to beef up your product pages – here are some ways in which you can do that:
Craft product descriptions that sell
Your product description can make or break your opportunity to sell to customers – this is why you should keep your product descriptions simple and “skimmable”. You want your customers to understand everything about your products effortlessly. Your product descriptions should also include links to your warranty policies, sizes and FAQs.
Have clear product options
If your product comes in a larger or smaller size, or different colors, you should convey this information in your product descriptions. More often than not, customers will want variety in the items they buy. When customers know that there are more options for them, they’ll be more attracted to doing business with you. You’ll also be able to satisfy the needs of a larger target market when you make more options available to them.
Use high-quality product images
All of your attempts to sell will be useless if you don’t compliment them with high-quality images. This is a major way for customers to assess whether your products are actually worth purchasing or not. If they like what they see, they’ll be much more likely to purchase from you.
Showcase product videos
There are many benefits to utilizing product videos. You can use them as a way of showing your customers how easy it is to use your products, or what comes with the product once they purchase them. You can even include examples of how past customers have used your products to help improve their lives.
Make sure your prices are visible
Your customers may like your products, but if they don’t know how much they cost, they won’t be very likely to buy from you. Your pricing will be one of the main deciding factors for customers and may determine whether they decide to click the “buy now” button on your website. Prices should be clearly visible next to your product descriptions.
In Conclusion
Ensuring that your leads will actually do business with you isn’t easy. There are many things which you should and shouldn’t do in order to achieve that goal. Time is also a factor in the process. But if you’re willing to take risks and make drastic changes for your business, you should consider implementing the tips presented in this article. If you need help with this process, you can always enlist the assistance of a conversion rate Optimization agency to help you out.
Conversion Rate Optimization and A/B testing obsessed digital marketing agency, Web Marketing ROI. They help brands with high-traffic websites optimize their conversion rate using A/B testing and personalization.
