When you’re the only person running, promoting, and growing your company, site conversions may take a back burner. Yet, if you can grab the visitors who land on your website and turn them into customers, you’ll automatically grow your business. If there is one task for your website to focus on this year, it should be figuring out how to increase conversions.

 

The average conversion rate across market segments is around 1.78 percent. Since most sites don’t convert many of their visitors into customers, this is an area where you can improve big. Being a solopreneur requires quite a juggling act. But when it comes to improving site conversions, there are ten clear things you can do. Even making a few minor changes moves your conversion rate (CR) in the right direction.

 

1. Create a Pretty Landing Page

The first impression site visitors have of your site is your landing page. If it isn’t aesthetically pleasing, they are likely to bounce away and never return. In order to capture your site visitors and turn them into paying customers, you must first grab them and keep them on your page.

 

Take a step back from your computer and look at the screen. Is everything uncluttered and easy to find? Are images clear and relevant to your product or service? If you aren’t quite sure, pull in a design expert for some advice about how to beautify your site.

 

2. Add a Strong Call to Action (CTA)

You may already know you need a CTA as a means of moving the buyer from your landing page to your sales page. However, nearly every website can improve their CTAs and increase conversions.

 

Look at every factor of your CTA. It should be placed so it pops on your page and users notice it almost immediately. You want a color that contrasts sharply with the background and against the other colors on the page. The button needs to be large enough for mobile users to easily tap it with a finger. Even the words of your CTA can make a difference in how many people go from browsers to customers.

 

bigbackgrips

 

Big Back Lifting Grips does a good job of putting the focus on their CTA, which simply reads “Shop.” The image is highly relevant to their product, showing it in action as men with large muscles highlight how to use the product. The CTA itself is a bold yellow that pops on the page but is also used as an accent color in the header. The user’s attention immediately goes to the CTA. Use a contrasting color to draw attention to your own CTA.

 

3. Know Your Purpose

Have you ever visited a website that seemed to be going off in all directions at once? Slow down and figure out the purpose of each page of your site. Anything that doesn’t relate to that purpose or move the user toward the goal of the page needs to be cut. The more you can narrow the focus, the fewer choices for a person to make and the more likely they’ll take the action you desire.

 

4. Limit the Fields for Contact Forms

In one study, researchers found a shorter form field increased conversions by about three percent. The researchers simply took the length from nine fields to five.

 

It’s important to keep your forms short and to the point, especially in a world where more and more people access the internet using mobile devices and don’t want to input too much information on smaller digital keyboards. However, keep in mind that form field length is only one factor in whether people complete your forms. Use the length as one tool toward increasing conversions.

 

reynoldssolutions

 

Reynolds Solutions does a good job of limiting their contact form to only the information they truly need to move forward and provide additional information. They ask for your name and some information about your company, but they also only require a few of those fields. If someone is in a rush, they can provide their email, info on a planned project, and a brief message and still get a response. Figure out which fields you need for your contact form and which fields are unnecessary.

 

5. Include a Phone Number

There are some elements on a page which are trust factors and signal to the user that you are a reliable company. Trustworthiness may be particularly important for newer companies that haven’t yet established a firm reputation among their target audience.

 

Consider adding a toll-free phone number to the top of your landing page. For those who aren’t sure about sharing information online, they may pick up the phone and speak to someone about your services and products. Of course, as a solopreneur, that person will be you. Who better to share information about what you do and your philosophy as a brand?

 

6. Create a Sense of Urgency

One way you can increase sales now rather than later is to put a time limit on a special offer. For example, you might offer the customer free shipping if they place their order within 24 hours. You can also offer specials that are available for a limited time. Just be authentic. Don’t say a deal is only for that day and then offer it again in a week or two. Customers are very savvy to that type of bait and switch and you’ll lose fans.

 

 

If your solopreneurship looks like an online retail store, Icing is a good example of how to turn visitors into customers. Notice how they use bold typography to highlight their specials along with relevant images. They also use the technique of creating urgency by saying the 50 percent off deal is for two days only, which encourages people to buy now rather than later. Think about other ways you can add urgency to your landing page and drive conversions.

 

7. Add a Video

Around 83 percent of businesses using video on landing pages believe it gives them a good return on investment (ROI). Adding a video grabs the attention of site visitors and gives them an easier way of absorbing information about your business. You can use an explainer video or customer testimonials, or use a video to highlight the benefits of using your product over a competitor’s.

 

8. Offer a Satisfaction Guarantee

Put yourself in the shoes of the person thinking about buying from you. The customer doesn’t know you and you’re a small company. Can they really trust that you’ll follow through if they have a problem with their order? One thing you can do that adds assurance is offering a money-back guarantee if the customer isn’t fully satisfied. Just be aware that if you offer it, you must follow through on it.

 

9. Simplify the Language

If you’re in a highly technical industry or just know your business well, you may have let jargon creep into the language on your home page. Unfortunately, someone who’s new to what you offer won’t understand the words and may grow frustrated.

 

Study your pages for “industry speak” and replace any unclear words with ones that a layperson understands. If you’re unsure, ask someone outside your industry to check your pages for words that don’t make sense.

 

10. Create Multiple Landing Pages

If you’re like most businesses, you have more than one buyer persona or more than one product. Create different landing pages which speak specifically to each audience type. The more personalized your page, the more likely the buyer will connect with your message. Create a user profile for each segment of your audience and then write all copy and even choose images based on that personality type. It is a bit more work to create more than one landing page, but you’ll also better track marketing campaigns by seeing where the traffic goes.

 

Conduct Frequent Testing

One of the best methods for improving your conversions is to run A/B testing on your pages. Make a change, such as the color of the CTA button, and test conversion rates. Add a feature, such as a video, and test conversion rates again. The more testing you do, the better handle you’ll have on what works with your site visitors. With time and effort, your conversion rates should exceed industry standards.

 

Author:

Lexie Lu is a web designer and UX content strategist. She enjoys covering topics related to UX design, web design, social media and branding. Feel free to subscribe to her design blog, Design Roast, or follow her on Twitter @lexieludesigner.

;