
Conversion Optimisation
Conversion Optimisation
Note: this is the third of our multi-part Optimise to Win series, where we show you how the best businesses get more conversions than their competition.
There are two principles of website user expectations:
While your company's founding principles may be incredibly interesting to you, if your user wants to see photos of your products, you are driving him/her away. On the other hand, if you present a prominent slideshow of your products and prices, but your users need to understand why your offerings are better than your competitors', you aren't capturing their attention or driving them towards conversion.
In order to meet your users' needs, you must first understand them. Only then can you lead them in a mutually beneficial direction.
Find an avenue that offers and highlights benefits to your users but that also provides benefits for your organisation, and point users down that path with a passion.
Some users do not fit your target audience. They may have no desires that you can fulfill within your expertise & offerings. Don't worry about them. Focus on the 20% who can provide 80% of your business.
This is the role of good design. Take users by the hand and show them a clear path to what they (and you) want.
These are best practices applicable to all website designs. Each of the following guidelines is designed to prevent users from leaving before a mutually beneficial conversion. Ignore at your own risk.
We'll discuss User Experience, Usability, and user expectations in Part 9, but in short, there are certain user interface patterns that people are used to, and that we need to follow to avoid confusing our visitors. This includes having a clear, easily parsable navigation that can quickly take users to where they want to go.
Not only does this mean that your links should be easy to find, look like links, and show a clear hierarchy, but before building your site, you need to consider your Information Architecture, i.e. how to best organise your content so that it is intuitive and interesting. Having destinations on your site that succinctly address your users' concerns and desires often makes the difference between conversions and unsatisfied users.
Additionally, don't split your information into different pages unnecessarily. Users are reluctant to click on a brand new page, even more so if they aren't on the fastest internet connection or your site loads too slowly. One-page sites are quite popular these days, and with good reason: they provide all the information a user wants without requiring additional webpage loading. If you can't sum up the essence of your company on one digestible page, perhaps you need to do some good content development (see Part 7).
We'll discuss simplicity, minimalism, and focus further in Part 4, but features to avoid in particular are:
The best way to explain what to do on your website or application is to lead users straight through the process. That means that every page needs a suggested next step. These calls to action must be action-oriented, about solving a problem the user has. Let's take a look at some examples:
Case Study: Nature Air moved a call-to-action to a prominent position in the content, and purchase conversions went from up 2.78% to about 19%.
There are some users who know what they want and where they're going. They will find their way, assuming you have clear hierarchical navigation. Next Step markers lead the lost without turning away those with direction.
Designing for conversions includes increasing aesthetic appeal and users' enjoyment of the site as well. This includes typography, imagery, stylistic approach, and layout.
All in all, focus on giving your users a consistent, helpful, friendly guide towards your common goal: conversion.
For more, check out our other Optimise to Win posts:
At Redfox Media, we employ all of these methods and strategies for clients in our Online Accelerator program. Enquire now to discuss how we can help your business, and get a FREE SEO report!
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