10 easy ways
to optimise your conversion path
1. Whom are you talking to?
The most essential question to ask yourself when creating content is:
Whom are you talking to? Who is your primary target group, what
characterises them, and where do we find them? What are their needs
and interests, problems and concerns, and how can you help them?
Are you communicating relevantly to users at different stages of their
decision making process, or are you like most focusing your communication
to that precious 1% who is actually ready to buy?
Maybe your buyer persona is in the awareness stage, where they are
experiencing symptoms of a problem and ready to be educated. Or
maybe, they are a bit deeper down the funnel in the consideration stage,
or at the end of their decision making process and ready to click buy, if
they can just get that last piece of information.
If you are thinking about posting content to your target group, and you
can’t answer “yes” to “this content will be helpful, inspiring, relevant or
involving” then don’t post. Remember, that you want them to love your
product, so don’t become a nuisance.
2. Be found
When you create a new page or a blog post, always think about the
keywords. What is your target group searching for, and which phrases
would they typically use in their search?
Don’t limit yourself to the primary keyword. Extend the list and add niche
words and long tailed keywords like: “the most trendy shoes for the summer
2016” and your chances for higher ranking increase significantly, and you
will attract more salesready leads.
When you find the right keyword, be sure to create a lot of content arount
that keyword. The more you have, the better chances for higher ranking.
Include the keyword in the title, URL and even in captions for images. In the
body copy use it in a logical context. Don’t force the same word or sentence
over and over again, but use different variations so the language flows
naturally.
Linkbuilding is very important, and you even might want to add 1-2 links to
other authoritative pages. That shows you did your research, and Google
likes that as well.
Remember to check that your meta descriptions are giving a clear image
of what to expect on each page. If misleading, you miss out on potential
visitors.
3. Determine the goal
Each page is there for a reason.
Define a clear goal reflecting what action you want users to take on each
and every page. If a page has no clear purpose, weed it out! A goal could
be anything from generating new lead, subscribers or sales to having people
share your content or like your new Facebook profile.
Don’t confuse visitors with 5 different call to actions or choices on one page.
The clearer your message, the higher your chances for engagement. This is
not to say, that you can’t have secondary messages, but there should be no
doubt about the primary – what you ultimately want them to do here.
And again, be sure to send the right message/offer to your specific target
group in the context of where they are in their customer journey or decision
making process. The format and content structure varies depending on
archetype and where they are in their decision making process. When you
are in the awareness stage, inspiration is probably more engaging than a
price comparison sheet.
Always be sure the message is clear, and helps address the users questions,
concerns and doubts.
4. Build a landing page
Your landing page is the page that presents your offer and where you
hope to convert users. This is not the place to list all your products or
great prices, unless that is the goal, of course.
Build the landing page to serve that one purpose, to convert visitors to
leads. Remove all content that doesn’t serve this purpose, and be sure
your communication is loud and clear.
Here are some best practises for the elements on your landing page:
• Remove the navigation, it will only divert the user from fulfilling your goal
• Have a clear message in the headline
• Have a clear and short body copy, as most scan web texts rather than
read them
• Use bullets to divide your body copy
• Highlight primary words with bold
• Use images/video relevant to your offer
• Always include a clear Call-to-action, and make it stand out
• A form
• Social share or follow buttons (secondary)
Remember: One page - one goal
5. Forms
When you determine which fields your form should include, think about
what the content offer is worth. Permissions is a currency – would you
trade yours for this particular piece of content? Keep it short, easy and
hard to resist.
To sort the information you receive when a user fills out your form, make
sure there is no doubt about how you want the information. A field to fill
in country might be answered with variations of USA or United States,
and maybe your contact book can’t handle the diversity? Use a dropdown
with predefined answers whenever possible, or use a placeholder tekst
to guide them.
Make sure to use the information from your forms to segment your leads
thoroughly. The important information for segmentation can vary from
industry to industry from job role to postal code.
Be sure to include the essential information you need. Other ”nice to have”
information should not be asked up front as too many questions prevent
people from filling out forms. Instead these questions can be saved for later
in a nurturing process to further enrich your contacts/leads.
6. Call to actions
A Call-to-action button should be the most visible item on your page. This
little button that makes all the difference, so you want your leads to click it.
Make sure that it stands out in the foreground, in clear and bright colours.
Contrast works.
The text in the button should be to the point and leave no doubt about what
happens when I click it. A CTA with the text “GET IT HERE” might not be
as clear as “DOWNLOAD THE GUIDE” or even better, include the keyword
“DOWNLOAD THE 10 EASY WAYS TO OPTIMISE CONVERSION GUIDE”.
Well, that may be a tad long for a button, but it can stand alone and the user
knows exactly what to expect when clicking it.
Here are some best practises for a CTA:
• Make sure the CTA is highly visible
• Use clear, bright or contrast colour
• Use strong and appropriate on-page placement
• Place preferably above the fold
• Use a clear action verb
• Make sure that no one have any doubts what happens when they click
And finally, A/B testing will also provide you with very useful information
about what your target group likes and dislikes.
7. Blink test
When you are done creating the landing page, give it a blink test. A blink test
is to get someone (who didn’t work on the page) to look at your page for 10
seconds. Let them tell you what the page is about. If they tell you that this
page is about conversions and you can download a guide, you have passed.
If the reader is confused try change the headline, the action verb in the CTA
or the related image.
If possible, try to hold all the content above the fold, to get an overall
impression at once. Build up the page logically, in the steps the eye
usually follow from top left corner to bottom right corner.
1)Image
2)Headline
3)Subheader
4)Body copy
5)Form
6)CTA
Again, be sure to use a clear headline that includes the keyword “Download
the guide 10 easy ways to optimise conversion”. This way, the user will know
instantly what this page is about. If your download content is a book – show
an image of a book. This is not the place to be to creative or mysterious,
so don’t go down that road, you might end up losing a lead if they don’t
understand your message. And remember you only have less than 10
seconds to get their attention, so be loud and clear.
8. Direct to a thank you page
A thank you page is where your offer is delivered. So when your visitor has
become a lead, by filling out a form on your landing page, you want to thank
them. The best way you can do that is to direct them to a landing page,
where the content is delivered.
Be sure again that the communication is clear and leaves no misunderstandings
or disappointments. If your content offer is a free consultation, you don’t
want to write “We will get back to you shortly” but instead “We will call you
within two business days”. Shortly can be five minutes to one and one week
to another.
A thank you page can also be used to move the lead even further down the
funnel, with another relevant content offer, like “other users also read” or
“other relevant guides” with another CTA. Unlike a landingpage, a thank you
page should include the navigation, so the lead can easily browse back onto
your website.
Here are som best practises for the elements on your thank you page:
• Include navigation
• A clear headline of what to expect
• Include the title of the offer
• A clear verb in the CTA
• Another relevant content offer
• Social buttons (link to your landing page)
9. Distribution
Sadly, no matter how many hours you have spend on creating your new
content, we live in a busy world where it is very hard to catch any attention.
So a tweet or a post on LinkedIn doesn’t automatically give you the
thousands of likes or followers.
Don’t be shy, you have to spread your content on all the relevant channels:
on your website, in blogs, newsletters, on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin,
Youtube, Instagram, in your email signature – wherever you have a relevant
autience.
And as long as the content is still relevant you can keep sharing it again.
Different content performs better on some channels than others, and you
can adjust your content offer to fit individual channels. Make it to an
infographic for Instagram or Pinterest, a video for Youtube, ect. Always
think about the platform you post to and optimise for the best result.
And of course, the device.
10. A/B testing
A/B testing is a great tool to get to know your target group even better, and
to find out what they like and dislike. Since you already have used a great
number of hours on producing content, you might as well make sure that it
converts optimally.
When A/B testing, you want to change one small thing at a time. If you want
to test on a CTA that doesn’t perform very well, try to change the color or the
placement. Change only ONE thing at a time, otherwise you won’t know if
it was the colour or the placement that was the reason for the better
performance.
Try also with different action verbs like: “Request”, “Download” or “Receive”
to see what your target group likes better. Or try different sizes of the button,
add round corners, shadow or add a hightlight on the colour.
You will be surprised how much a small change can increase the
conversion rate.
Thank you for downloading this guide. We hope it was helpful, and that you feel inspired
to increase the conversion rate on your own site or your landing pages.
If you feel, we left out some important stuff or have suggestions about this content, please
send me a mail on [email protected]