Simple Conversion Boosters
There are a number of simple ways you can improve your conversions, along with a few more advanced methods that I’ll cover at another time. For now, we’re just going to take a look at the following simple conversion boosters you can put to use for quick results.
Headline or Topic
Your headline is an important element to any marketing segment. If you have a sales page or landing page, you’ll use a standard headline. If you are involved with email marketing, your headline is your email subject. In video marketing, it’s your video title or the opening introduction.
The headline is most likely the first thing people see – so it should be compelling, powerful, and exciting. Too many people make the mistake of quickly creating what they believe to be a great headline. But then, find out later that it has little impact on the typical visitor.
This is one good reason to utilize split testing (another topic for a later date). That’s because the headline is one easy element you can split test. Compare it to see which one of several options will give you the best conversions.
Call-to-Action
Aside from your headline, the call-to-action is another easy change you can make. And the result can be one of the most powerful. A call-to-action is where you actually tell visitors what action you want them to perform next. If you don’t have a call-to-action, you need to develop one as soon as possible!
As an example, let’s say you have a landing page where you’re trying to get people to sign-up for your email list. Your call-to-action might say something like:
“Enter your name and email address in the box below and we’ll send you this free report right away!”
That might convert fairly well, but you could also test variations like:
“Ready to get your own free copy of this amazing report? Just enter your name and email below”
Or
“Enter your name and email address below and we’ll rush a free copy of this life-changing report to your inbox in minutes!”
Usually each variation is similar to the original, but makes a slight shift in focus with minor changes. Remember, minor changes can sometimes become big conversion boosts!
Contact Information
Believe it or not, something as simple as including your contact information on your website can improve conversions… sometimes to a huge degree.
You see, a number of people have been scammed online by companies or individuals they had no way to contact and understandably, they have become leery of such things.
So it’s comforting to them when you display your contact information openly, because at least it gives them a sense of security that comes from knowing they can get in touch with you if there’s a problem.
Not only that, but if you can include a phone number and/or address, you’ll go a long way toward convincing visitors that you’re a “real” company.
Guarantee
Anymore, most sales pages offer guarantees – but did you know you can also use guarantees in other ways?
For example as an affiliate marketer, you can offer your own added guarantee. You can tell prospects if they buy the offer using your link and don’t like the product, they will not only get a refund through the company’s guarantee, but that you’ll give them some kind of bonus of your own.
This could be anything from a free report, access to a membership site you own, a few bucks out of your own pocket, or so on. Most people will never collect on this, anyway. But if they do, be sure you can deliver what you promise just in case someone actually does so.
Also, keep in mind that a longer guarantee can improve conversions significantly. A 90-day guarantee is much more powerful in the eyes of a customer than a 30-day guarantee.
But don’t panic! Enough studies have shown that a longer term guarantee actually lowers refunds.
This is because most people end up forgetting about the guarantee after being assured of such a long time period, and in the case when they do remember – it’s usually past the time period when they can claim it.
Plus, a 90-day guarantee helps minimize chargebacks, also, because most credit card companies won’t allow chargebacks after 90 days.
Credibility
Another method to give conversions a quick boost is to improve your credibility rating by having those “trust” seals on your site as you have seen on other websites.
Some of the places you can get these from are like the Better Business Bureau, McAfee and Verisign (Now Owned by Symantec – Norton Secured). Believe it or not, these simple seals actually do help people trust you, and have definitely been shown to improve conversions.
The down side to trust seals is that they are not free and there are a number of “services” offering this service (not all are made alike). Be prepared to pay a monthly or annual fee for this.
Like all things, you have to weigh the benefits from the costs – if you can increase sales that result in higher profits above the security fees, then it’s worth it. Otherwise, move on to the next method.
Design
Colors, fonts and other design elements have a big impact on conversions. And the truth is, the “obvious” design choice isn’t always going to convert best.
Most sales pages for lawn mowers use the color green because of the green color of the grass on a lawn – but did you ever wonder if that color actually helps sales? It may. Then again, it might not.
Sometimes the “obvious” choice may actually hurt sales. For example, you might choose red for a product geared to help women with their romantic lives, but psychologically red doesn’t only signify romance – it can also represents anger and aggression.
Therefore red could potentially have the psychological reaction of making some women fearful if they’ve experienced aggressive, power-hungry men in their past and lose sales.
When using fonts, stick with only a few easy to read typeface ones. Too many fonts cause the site to lose continuity and become confusing. Same goes with script type fonts (use sparingly).
Also, keep in mind that a beautiful graphically design website may boost your ego and make you feel proud to own it, but it doesn’t mean that it helps to make conversions.
Sometimes the simplest, open spaced designs can convert much, much better than something that’s elegant.
Test various graphics, colors, and even fonts. You will never know what minor changes might increase your conversions significantly until you try it!
Final thoughts…
Anyone of the 6 simple conversion boosters given above can make a difference. The important thing to remember is to test several versions to see which one works best for you. Also it is best to do only a few at at time before moving on to the next one. 🙂
