Every digital marketing strategy has to include a significant conversion rate optimization component in order to deliver ROI. Social media reach and website visits matter little if they don’t turn into actual leads, and eventually customers. But how can you move from one to the next? How can you make sure that once you have your audience’s attention, you encourage them to take that all-important next step? 

The key to success is conversion rate optimization. Simply put, you need to make sure that every aspect of your marketing message drives your audience towards converting into leads, and then customers. It’s not always easy, but every company can take measurable steps towards improving their conversion rates.

Here are 10 Quick Tips—in Plain-English—on How to Improve Your Conversion Rate Optimization: 

#1 Know Your Audience 

A successful conversion rate optimization strategy requires that you first understand your target audience’s online journey—from the search terms they use, to how they navigate through your website. Once you can clearly visualize how your visitors travel through the content on your website, you can identify what needs to be where in order to help them convert. Click here for our post on how to identify your online buyer’s journey. 

#2 Narrow Your Focus 

Instead of confusing your website visitors with cluttered layouts and multiple conversion paths, keep it simple. Ideally, every page of your website should include only a single conversion point. If you have more, build them out into separate pages. 

#3 Make the Next Steps Obvious 

Your visitors won’t convert if they don’t know how. A good example of how our brain reacts to prompts is when you call someone, how you’re still prompted to “leave your message after the beep.” You’d think this step is pretty obvious, but your brain is primed to respond to prompts. When visitors arrive at your website or landing page, this is your opportunity to tell them exactly how to take that next step. Make it as obvious as possible, with large headlines and call-to-action buttons. 

#4 Incorporate Social Proof 

It’s difficult to overstate the power of social proof. Adding testimonials to all of your landing pages can serve to give your audience that final push they needed to actually fill in a form or become a customer. 

#5 Condense Your Forms 

Shorter sign-up forms mean more conversions. You might be tempted to ask for as much information as possible, but your audience is not nearly as likely to give you that information. Keep your form between 3 and 7 individual fields to increase your conversions, and remember: the less information you request from your visitors, the better. 

#6 Optimize Your CTA Buttons 

Sure, submit is an obvious prompt at the end of a sign-up form. But is it really the best option? Research strongly suggests otherwise. Instead, use this opportunity to tell your audience exactly what they will get through action words and personal language. 

#7 Keep it Visual 

It’s simple: our brains respond more favorably to visual information. Rather than intimidating your audience with long blocks of text, add plenty of visuals that actually show your audience the benefits of conversions. Relevant videos, infographics, and photos can all be effective. 

#8 Maintain Consistency 

Visitors tend to convert on your website after they see an ad, email, or other marketing message. To ensure that is the case, you must maintain messaging consistency. In other words, your ads should tell them exactly what they will get once they go onto the next step in their conversion journey. 

#9 Find the Barriers 

Do you know the reasons your audience is not converting? If not, it might be time to find out. Google Analytics can tell you about your exit pages, which are the places your audience is most likely to jump off. You can also survey your audience with simple questions on why they didn’t follow through. 

#10 Go for Micro Conversions 

As hinted at throughout this post, not every conversion directly results in a customer. Micro conversions matter just as much, and help you gauge prospects most likely to eventually add to your bottom line. Paying attention to these micro conversions can help you reach your bigger goals. 

#11 Stay Above the Fold 

Finally, a simple tip: keep your most important conversion prompts on your website above the fold. That way, you maximize exposure by limiting the amount of scrolling your audience has to do before actually becoming a lead or customer. It’s just another step to minimize your conversion rate optimization barriers. 

How to Take Your Conversion Rate Optimization to the Next Level 

Of course, the above conversion rate optimization tips are only the beginning. Ultimately, your entire marketing strategy should be optimized to generate leads and customers. That requires a strategic approach, which we can help you with. 

Since 2002, our team at McAllister Marketing has been helping clients like you not only increase audience attention, but also convert that attention into tangible results. To learn more about how we can help you improve your conversion rate optimization tactics and grow your business, contact us today. We’re super easy to work with, serving as a flexible extension to your business’s in-house team.