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There are many ways to get visitors to your website.
But this is only half the battle. Unfortunately many of
these efforts fall short once that click is made to the
website due to poor conversion rates.
Overall, the idea is to encourage the site visitor to
take some further action. And measuring the number
of those 'actions' is your 'conversion rate'.
The foundation of your strategy to convert website
visitors to leads/sales should be rooted in two key
elements: your specific goals, and your
understanding of the target audience.
It's funny, but many of the companies I consult with
on a daily basis want to develop a website for no real
purpose. Sure, at the time there is some sort of
rationale - "you need one these days, don't you?"
or "our competition has one, so we must keep up".
Unfortunately these reasons provide no guideline for
the creation of a site. Nor do they contain any
criteria for measuring success.
To compound the problem, they give no real
consideration to the needs, desires, and
characteristics of their target audience. In my
opinion, this has led to the plethora of un-navigable,
poor content, zero conversion websites that seems
to be the standard for many of the websites in
corporate America today.
So what do you do?
First, I'd suggest that you carefully consider and
write down your specific goals for your website.
These should be written remembering that your site
is a corporate resource that must provide an ROI,
just like any other corporate resource. To simplify
matters, there are 3 common goals that you might
want to consider:
- To generate leads
- To generate on-line sales
- To generate qualified referrals
Now stop for a moment. Was your current
site built
based on any of these objectives? How is it
performing? (FYI, the typical (poor performing)
website has a 1-3% conversion rate of visits to
action, whereas successful sites convert 20- 30% of
their traffic.)
Typical secondary goals include:
- Building credibility
- Establishing expertise within a certain industry
- Projecting a credible image
- Building your database
You can also use the Web to provide cost effective
customer service (through the use of knowledge
bases), create communities (such as chat rooms and
forums), and as a delivery method for what used to
be printed materials.
With a clear understanding of your primary and
secondary goals, you are ready to consider what you
know of your target audience. Consider demographic
information - sex, age, etc. But also think about their
needs and desires. You'll use this information to craft
emotional calls-to-action, and provide compelling
offers.
Hopefully, your target audience is somewhat
homogenous. This leads to the creation of a highly
targeting (and highly converting) website. If your
target group is diverse, you might want to consider
creating multiple websites - especially if you have
different products that attract different groups. At
first glance, this option might seem cost-prohibitive,
but we have found that the difference between a 3%
conversion rate, and a 25% conversion rate can
often justify the extra expense of creating multiple
sites, and provides a return-on-investment after just
a few months.
With a well-understood target audience, you can go
about creating a look and feel, messaging, calls-to-
action, and offers that are comfortable and
compelling.
Now that we have discussed identification of site
goals and understanding your target audience, let's
explore how to design an effective web presence.
Design
In addition to the items above, there are 4 key areas
for consideration when creating a high-conversion
website:
- Site Structure
- Messaging
- Calls-to-Action
- Graphic Design
Site Structure
In essence I would suggest that you build your
website backwards. What I mean is: begin with your
site goal (i.e. a conversion) and create a site
structure that effectively leads up to it.
For example, instead of creating a very open
navigation structure with many clickable links,
consider reducing the number of clickable links in
order to drive visitors down a specific path. Let me
tell you why I think this is important. Imagine you
have the opportunity to sit down with a potential
client to do a sales presentation. My guess is that
you have a 'story' you tell in a specific sequence. In
other words, layer-by-layer you build the intellectual
and emotional reasons for owning your product or
using your service.
I believe that effective websites use the exact same
strategy, guiding visitors down a specific path that
builds an understanding of the value of your
product/service.
Messaging
In many ways, your messaging is the single most
important element of your website. The key is to
speak to your target audience in a way that they
really understand. Just like an effective email
newsletter, promotion or any other marketing copy,
your web text needs to be concise, clear, and
compelling.
- Concise: We're all busy, so don't use 57 words
when 7 will do.
- Clear: I understand that some target audiences
are more technical than others, but if your message
requires a PhD or a technical manual to be
understood, then you've probably lost most of your
visitors in the first sentence.
- Compelling: You need to appeal to emotion as
well as intellect. Tell me why I want it before you
tell me what it is.
Remember, your message is what highlights your
unique value in the marketplace. It's what sets you
apart from your competitors. Give people a reason to
do business with you. Get them excited about the
benefits of working with you.
Calls-to-Action
There are really two types of calls-to-action on the
web. The first type is what I call the "next best
click." This is basically a 'signpost' that shows your
visitors the ideal sequence to browse your site.
Essentially it says, "if you like what you read here,
then go here next." Examples are "click here for
more, " or "next" links at the bottom of a web page.
This type of call-to-action is used to guide visitors
through site information sequentially, rather than
letting them click around at random. It's one of the
elements that turns a website into an effective sales
presentation rather than an on-line brochure.
The second type of call-to-action is your 'offer.'
When visitors accept your offer - that's a
conversion. Here are some examples:
- The visitor purchases a product in an eStore
(conversion = dollars in exchange for a product).
- The visitor signs up for an email newsletter or
other email contact (conversion = permission to email
the visitor in exchange for valuable information).
- The visitor signs up for a free trial (conversion =
permission to follow-up with the visitor in exchange
for a free test of the product).
The key to an effective offer is that it must be of
high-perceived value to the site visitor, and low-cost
to the company. If you use this measurement, you'll
find a "contact us for more information" isn't terribly
effective...
Graphic Design
Graphic design accomplishes 3 things:
- Graphic design provides AFFINITY. That is the
instant recognition that you've arrived on a site that
was built with you in mind. If you're 25+ and have
ever visited a website designed for teenagers then
you know precisely what I'm talking about.
- Graphic design creates CREDIBILITY. This opens
the door for the visitor to make a buying decision. It
makes the visitor say, "this is the sort of company
that I'd consider working with."
- Graphic design provides FOCUS. Good design
makes your message clear and easy to read, it can
illustrate benefits and spotlight your calls-to-action,
etc. If your design is so cool that it actually distracts
from your message, however, it will harm your
conversion rate.
Remember to consider the four areas of Structure,
Messaging, Calls-to-Action, and Graphic Design
against the backdrop of your site goals and target
audience. As you tweak and refine your website
presence to align these elements, you'll find that
your conversion rate increases and your revenues
grow.
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