Summary: If you don’t want to read the whole article, you must know that for every 100 visitors you have on your website, 2 or more should take action. A phone call, an form enquiry, a download of a document etc…Anything lower means that your website is not doing its job.
From the early days of barter trade right through to the invention of currency, growth (be it in asset or monetary value) has been a crucial element of business. This is no surprise, as most businesses are founded on the idea of achieving ongoing financial freedom, it’s a desire for progress that led to the formation of the marketing industry as we now know it. To make a sale, you must convince potential customers that they need what you have to offer. However, trying to sweet talk or nudge along each potential buyer that walked through a market five centuries ago was a different ball game compared to what we deal with now – marketing to thousands or millions (perhaps even billions) of people with buying power from all over the globe on the Internet. The new marketplace is a virtual location, where everyone is fair game.
Businesses have to take into account a broader spectrum of demographic and digital data to figure out their target market(s). This complicates things because it’s no longer as simple as basic supply and demand. There are many potential markets that your business might not be aware of that could help you make more money. Your business website’s conversion rate is the key to monitoring how effective your digital marketing is and unlocking practical new ways boost your sales.
It might all seem a little daunting right now, but that’s what SANDBOX is here for. In this article, we demystify the concept of conversion rates and how they work in the modern world.
Understanding What A Website Conversion Rate Is
Let’s start at the root. To understand what a website conversion rate is, one must first understand the call to action (CTA). Every business uses this marketing staple as a bottom line for their advertising campaigns. Why is it there? To direct people that view or hear your messages to what they can do to experience your product or services. Digital marketing examples of this include well-known phrases, such as “shop online now”, “subscribe for a newsletter”, “book your appointment today”, “call now”, “download our app”, and they usually appear on product landing pages.
How does this tie into a website’s conversions rate? The website conversion rate is the rate at which people follow through on the CTA. Many companies hire conversion optimisation experts to help them improve their website conversion rates. These experts develop systems that are designed to get the most out of website traffic; that is, to ensure that visitors become paying customers or at least generate leads in the forms of contact numbers or email addresses by following CTAs. The effectiveness of these systems is monitored, and the ones with the best results are used to optimise conversion rates on an ongoing basis.
Down To A Science – The Conversion Rate Calculation
Conversion rates are calculated in percentages, which means they look at how many sales are made per 100 potentials for sales. The calculation includes:
Number of Conversions ÷ Number of Website Sessions x 100 = Website Conversion Rate (in%)
For example, if 80 000 people visit your website and you make a sale with 5000 of them, you would calculate your conversion rate as follows:
5000 ÷ 80 000 x 100 = 6,25%
You can monitor your conversion rates at monthly intervals and make a comparison to see if there’s any upward or downward movement. Like with everything, both advantages and disadvantages come with conversion rate calculations.
An upside of conversion rate calculations is that you can track where your marketing campaigns work and where they don’t, based on the numbers. This way you can always make the appropriate changes to improve sales.
A downfall of this calculation is that it works better with websites with high amounts of traffic. Websites with fewer sessions don’t have a large enough sample size for the data collected to be accurate.
What’s A Healthy Conversion Rate?
Is this a trick question? In some ways, it is because there’s no universally correct answer. The truth of the matter is that expectations vary, depending on the industry. According to online marketing software company, Unbounce, the average website conversion rate across industries is 4,02%. This makes the generally accepted standard of 2%-5% a good ballpark.
The scale, goals and nature of your business will play a role in how the numbers play out. With the help of a conversion optimisation specialist, you can track your history, review your current sales and work out what’s a healthy number for your business to aim for and build on. A tailored strategy means that your business will be able to make the necessary changes to push conversion rates to greater heights.
A Few Practical Strategies To Optimise Your Conversion Rate
As you will know, it’s not enough for your business to make the same amount of income every month. We’re not subsistence traders anymore – we’re in the business of building commercial brands. Nobody starts a company with the intention of remaining stagnant; not in a world of rapid change and development, where businesses need to be as durable as they are agile. So how do you know what needs to be changed to ensure growth? Here are a few ideas to get you going with your conversion rate optimisation:
- Conduct A Split-Test Of The Website
Approach the split-test method like a scientific experiment. This means you must be open to any possible results and base your next course of action on them.
Create two or more landing pages with variations on details. Play around with button shapes and colours, imagery, fonts, wording and other elements to give website visitors different experiences. Divide the traffic evenly to get a good idea of the interactions. Monitor any progress for each page, then compare the interactions to see which one secures most conversions. This will be the one you should go with for optimal conversions.
- Follow The Lead By Remarketing
Sometimes it takes more than one campaign to achieve a sale. Pipeline business is the name of the game. You need to work your leads to remind them why they need to invest in what you have to offer. Targeted campaigns on other platforms, such as social media sites, mobile apps and Youtube speak to potential clients after their initial visit to your website. You can also conduct email marketing to provide additional information and initiate conversation. This will make the client trust your business more, opening them up to buying your product or service.
- Highlight The Benefits With A Clear Customer Value Proposition (CVP)
Essentially, you need to do a “value for money” show and tell on your landing pages that turns the features of what you have to offer into an attainable benefit someone can imagine enjoying. For example, if you own a boutique that specialises in formal gowns, you could include a phrase like “Become the belle of the ball” or “Turn heads at every event” to get a customer interested. Use the CVP to answer questions such as “why should I trust you?” and “so what?” before they’re are even asked.
- Make It Snappy – Create A Sense Of Urgency
This approach is simple. Create demand by giving off the idea that you’re in short supply. Phrases such as “book now – seats are limited”, “while stocks last” or “first 100 customers get 20% off” are great for this effect. Nobody wants to miss out, right? Potential customers will rush to buy if they worry that you may run out of products.
Your business invests in marketing – and your website – for a reason. Make sure you’re getting the most out of your spend by focusing as much on tracking and improving on conversion so you can attract new business.
If you are not sure how those leads are treated as well, you should look into integrating a CRM – Customer Relationship Management System
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