You’ve worked on your site design and are bringing in traffic, now what? Allow all that hard work to pay off by increasing your rate of conversion. These tips should be tested to determine which work best for your visitors-
Create a Trail to Your CTA
The idea is to allow the readers’ eyes to lead them to where you want them to go i.e. your call to action. This should be easily accessible with minimal scrolling. It has been shown that the prime real estate on a web page is the portion at the top 1/3. Keeping it high on the page does not mean that other authoritative items shouldn’t be added. Another call to action can be placed later in the page for those that want to read on.
Cut Down on Form Fields
The main reason for a form field is to collect information. It should be designed so that the wording is clear and easy to use. Visitors should be comfortable adding their details and able to do so quickly. The idea is not to make YOUR job easier by requiring your visitor to take extra time to fill out a lengthy form.
Reduce Drop Downs
The likelihood that a visitor is going to browse through the entire drop down menu is low. This means that an e-commerce site that relies heavily on this menu type to list products is going to be ineffective. A better option is to use pages that are separated by product category and include a photo with brief summary. Then the visitor can click through to the entire list for that category once their interest is piqued.
Visible Call-to-Action (CTA) Button
Once your visitor has reached the call-to-action, it should be clear. This means that the wording should say exactly what they will be doing ie; creating an account, starting a trial, requesting a free ebook, etc. The actual call-to-action button should be a contrasting color. This will make it pop out visually from the rest of the page.
Add Credibility Indicators
A way to differentiate your site as authoritative is to use indicators that you are a credible source. When asking a visitor to give you their time, money, or information they need to feel comfortable doing so. There are a variety of ways to add credibility to a site including; reviews, display awards, BBB (Better Business Bureau) badge, and statistics. Testimonials are another great way to show credibility. They are a way to facilitate social endorsement right on your page. When collecting testimonials its best to include a name and/or link to a site so that the provider would look legitimate.
Use Images
Images are a great way to draw interest to a page. They should be relatable to your site and having captions that are actionable. Captions should describe what you want the images to convey to your visitor. This reduces any confusion and time spent trying to figure out a potentially conflicting visual cue. To keep a site simple and attention on the trail to your call-to-action, opt for regular image types instead of those that rotate.
Clear Privacy Policy
Privacy policies are a necessary part of all sites. However, placing it as a link to a static page low on the page is not where it belongs. Visitors should not have to search through tiny fonts across the footer to find out whether or not they can trust your site. Instead, the policy can be a pop-up or an easy to find link higher on the page. Ideally, the policy itself is written with clear wording that is free of jargon. Legal wording can deter visitors who may not understand the terminology and should be minimized.