Conversion Optimization: 4 Basic Steps to Follow

Conversion optimization is used to increase the amount of traffic on a website that actually takes a desired action, such as a signup, a sale, or a subscription.

Let’s look at four fundamental ways to help entrepreneurs achieve their desired conversion rates:

#1 Create a Personalized Visitor Experience

The best way to offer your customers a tailor-made experience is by creating personas. This involves the formation of fictional characters representing different user groups you’re targeting. Giving your users a face and personality makes it easy to create a customized website design and layout that has a greater impact on them.

Use these data points for persona creation:

• Demographical studies
• Market research
• Usability testing
• Competitive environment
• Zip code demographics
• Existing customer analysis
• Data from multivariate and A/B testing

#2 Add User Sources

Your personas will impact your website design and layout as well as user flow. How? Look carefully at the analytics for answers. Track the top traffic mediums/sources over a period of 6 months to a year. Identify the top ten sources and evaluate each source/landing page from the point of view of your personas.

Answer 8 key questions for every page:

• What kind of layout and information would persuade persona “x” to proceed to the next page of my website?
• What concerns would they have while navigating the page?
• What type of website copy will create maximum impact with them?
• Which trigger words will have the most powerful impression?
• Which words should be avoided altogether?
• What type of headline would grab their attention?
• What type of visuals will most appeal to them?
• What distracting elements should be avoided for persona “x”?

#3 Study the Buying Funnel

Not all website traffic is looking to take action. Different visitors are at different buying stages, with only 15-20% at the action stage. It’s important to study the buying funnel carefully and take appropriate action.

A buying funnel typically has the following stages:

• Awareness
• Research
• Weighing alternatives
• Action
• Post-action

Now think about the buying stage that each of your website personas is at. Once you’re done, it’s time to answer the eight questions again, this time based on their buying stages. Your website design, layout and copy will change accordingly.

#4 Test Each Scenario

It’s the first rule of marketing: never introduce website changes unless you’ve tested them thoroughly and are confident they will deliver. Conduct an A/B test or a multivariate test, but keep certain considerations in mind:

• Do not conduct overly large or complicated tests. The more specific the test, the more reliable the results!
• A hypothesis is a must if you want to achieve effective results.
• Keep a time limit: your tests should not run less than a week or longer than a month. This will help you derive accurate and consistent data.
• Remember, conversion optimization doesn’t come with quick fixes, but requires full-term commitment.
• Use the test to gain practical and workable marketing insights to improve website performance.

At Power To Be Found, we’re well versed with the latest techniques for conversion optimization, so get in touch with us to discuss any questions or concerns and we’ll be glad to help you achieve better results!