Website conversion rate optimization is necessary for business success. It should be of utmost importance, given the same priority to quality production and advertising. Because without it, a business could run down even with its beautiful products and exceptional services.
I don’t need to stress the need for conversion rate optimization because every business owner knows what it means to produce and not sell. Moreover, I have said much about that in the previous blog. You can read it first if you’re yet to understand conversion rate optimization
Unlike other websites, we think it is better to spread this subject over a series of blogs because we don’t want to force this massive information down your throat at once. Conversion rate optimization is a journey; taking it one step at a time is wise. In the first blog of the series, we told you the things to add to your backpack to begin this journey. Now, we will teach you how to make the first step.
A conversion rate audit is a comprehensive evaluation of the customer journey on your website. It helps identify all technical and user experience problems preventing fantastic conversation rates.
However, this article will help you set reference lines for your conversation rates. Also, this article will help you figure out some basic improvements you can make and how to go about them.
Research Industry Standards
Are you familiar with the terms “competition analysis” and “market analysis”? The former is the act of evaluating one or more businesses in your niche to discover and model their marketing strategy to boost your business performance. Market research and Industry analysis is the broader version of competitor analysis.
In business, you compete with your past achievements and every other brand in your niche. Everyone is striving for the top position and dominating the market. It’s usually fierce competition, even more aggressive in this digital marketing era because every brand can easily research their competitors.
Using some tools, you can perform competitor and market research. These tools include SEMrush and Similarweb. They allow you to view key performance indicators (KPIs) and web rankings of your competitors.
However, before you dive into this research, you need to understand the goal of this activity. The purpose is to set standards by which you know whether your current conversion rate is good or bad. If I tell you a business website has a bounce rate of 30%, you can’t say whether it’s a good or bad score until you compare it with others.
Similarly, you can’t decide whether the conversion KPIs you measured based on our instructions in the first blog are good or bad. You can’t until you compare with others in the niche and set some standards.
The first thing in market research is to compare your current conversion rate with the previous. But I want to assume that this is your first attempt at conversion rate; you have only those from the last exercise in the previous article, so you have no past record.
In that case, the starting point will be your competitors. On a competitor research tool, type in the domain name of your competitors in the search bar and hit the enter button on your computer to begin the search. The software will populate a lot of data about the brand. There will be so many that you might get confused if this is your first time with this tool.
You don’t have to bother yourself with all the numbers; only a few KPIs. For a service business, you should check your competitor’s marketing channels, conversion rate, website rankings, bounce rate, page loading speed, pages per visit, average time spent, pages with the most visits, and website visitor locations.
These are just a few KPIs; you can also track other key metrics that apply to your business. It might take more than one tool to get all these metrics.
You should do these for at least four brands in your niche to have a good market overview. Then, research a big company in the niche too. When you have examined all five, keep these data in a table. The table should show each brand against and their scores for each metric. Your metrics should also be on the table, making six brands altogether.
Observe the differences between your baseline and the market benchmark
Now that you have your competitor’s KPIs and conversion rates, you can compare your baseline to the market standard. The baseline is your current ratings and metric values, and the benchmarks are those from your competitors (better than yours). With that, you can set goals and know what improvements to make.
Make small fixes and go for small achievable goals
At the moment, you might not have what it takes to level up to the market standard and beat your competitors. Those long-term goals take a lot of time and work to achieve, so don’t rush it. Instead, you can use quick fixes to keep your website in good condition and boost your conversion rate.
Improve your website loading speed
A fast-loading website drives traffic and conversions. Therefore, you should ensure that your web pages load faster, 3 seconds at most. You can do these by clearing your caches, using lesser plugins, and performing image optimization. The fast-loading speed will encourage more people to explore your website, leading to more purchases.
Make your website mobile friendly
Today, most internet users are browsing with their smartphones. Likewise, a more significant percentage of shoppers make buying decisions while on their mobile devices. For this reason, you must ensure that your website perfectly displays on all mobile screens. No one would buy from a website whose “buy button” is one part visible and the other cut off.
Make your web copy brief
At first, almost everyone started with a long and well-detailed web copy because they wanted their audience to understand their offerings. It’s cool but better when you cut it down to become scannable. Most people don’t have the time and patience to read that long text. For that reason, you should make it short, brief, and well-detailed. Use more bullets.
Adjust your call to action
It’s good to be unique, but not with your call to action. Don’t use call-to-action that cannot be easily understood in the name of uniqueness. Use something popular and straightforward for people to understand.
Ensure web forms are shorter
They want to be your fans and subscribers, don’t make it look like they are registering for the national identification card. Make it short and simple for everyone to participate. Many will get discouraged and leave your website if it’s too long.
Make your company’s value proposition clear
Your offerings to whoever hires you for a service should be clear. Ensure you tell them all the benefits of your services and offerings.
Boost the incentives
People love bonuses. They want to buy one product and get some other free things. Hence, boost your incentives to attract more buyers and conversions.
Improve trust
There should be a testimonial section on your website. Ensure that you have at least three testimonials on your home or service page. It helps to gain more conversion.
Conclusion
It’s meaningless to embark on a journey without having a clear view of the destination. Though conversion rate optimization is continuous, you need goals to keep you pushing forward. These goals could be to meet the market benchmarks and beat your competitors. And then to be the leading brand in the niche. But all have to start from some baby steps.
