Increased Traffic May Not Mean Increased Conversion Rates: How to Change That

Since you are already here, we can safely assume that you know the true value of conversion rate optimization. While most website admins are sweating about traffic, you have already figured out the big secret. Not all the traffic in the world can get your website the success and sales it deserves unless you optimize your conversion rates. Now, all that’s left is to figure out how to do it.

You may have already done the ubiquitous split tests and experiments to determine what works best for your websites. You must already have a to-do list to overcome all hurdles that stand in the way of conversion but right now, you are still missing something – a cohesive framework! This is basically the Ace of Spades that lets you win at every website game. Research conducted by eminent marketing groups shows this can help with website lead generation and get your conversion rate to above 5% (the bland average that victimizes most optimized websites)A unified model helps you realize what your potential customers are thinking during each stage of visual interaction.

The model is built on a number of case studies that have helped marketing experts perfect it over time. We think you should first understand and address the obstacles before scrounging every bit of your marketing fundamentals for a solution.

And here’s what we think of the persistent discourse between the increasing website traffic and seemingly constant conversion rates –

1. Right now, users have too many online stores to shop from. It costs your users no money to look around and shop for the same product from your competitor websites. This is quite different from physical, land-based shopping. Think about the driving around or at least the walking around they may have had to do if they were shopping at a mall. This is the major reason why your shoppers are likely to hit the exit button without buying anything.
2. Most of the online “shoppers” are there to window shop. They look around; compare the features and prices so they do not have to waste too much time buying from land-based stores. While it may not make much difference to a brand store, it hurts the conversion rates and ROI of new e-commerce stores that are still saplings.
3. There is a gap between the needs of customers and the services of online retailers. This is especially evident in the case of new retailers who know little to nothing about consumer behavior. Online customers are not like the store customers strolling through the main door with the intention to purchase. Online customers hardly ever have the idea to purchase a particular product from a new store, unless they are given a significant incentive.

This is possible because of the gaps in the buying funnel. It does talk about recognition, information, awareness, campaigns, evaluations, and the purchase process. It does leave out significant decision-making processes including the very purpose of these key steps. The model does not elaborate on the behavioral traits of new customers, returning customers, and loyal customers.

The Missing Half of The Story –

While the points mentioned above elicit the problem with the discourse and relates it to the buying funnel, it does not paint a complete picture. Web experiences are a very important component of the buying funnel that needs to be incorporated in order to engage your customers and boost your conversion rates.

Before we proceed, we must remind you that there is no link between the principles of operation and sales of physical stores and online stores. Therefore, here are 5 lead-generation ideas that work wonders for websites –

1. Make social buttons visible: simply including social media buttons is not enough. You need to make them visible and appealing so your visitors feel like using them. You need to devise strategic locations to place the social media buttons.
2. Add the note of urgency: you may have noticed small ribbons and badges stating, “Limited period offers”. This is usually done to create a sense of scarcity in the offers so more people are inclined towards availing them.
3. Engage your customers: competitions and contests are really effective ways to engage your users. People love to take part in these because of the lucrative offers and prizes. You can easily integrate the contests with your conversion improvement programs. You can employ sign-up forms or surveys for this purpose.
4. Video is everything: ever since Facebook introduced video posts, people have gone crazy over videos. Video marketing is booming and it is here to stay. According to popular research, video marketing can generate positive responses and prompt them to stay longer on a website.
5. Pay attention to your content marketing and blog channels: Google’s new algorithms pay utmost attention to website content and social signals for website rankings. You will need high-quality content and blogging activities to convince Google’s spiders. Social media channels including Pinterest, Google+, and YouTube are really effective in generating content-focused activities.

The key to higher conversion rates is to keep the user in mind while designing your website and its content. The entire user experience must be pleasant and the structure of the website must guide the user to a call of action that will contribute towards the growth of the conversion rate.

Pro tip: As a budding entrepreneur, you should optimize your social media ad conversion with Google Analytics. This very important and indispensable tool allows you to track your growth in real time. You can start with the immediate integration of Google Analytics to your website or to a particular campaign. To properly tag and monitor your promoted links you can take active help of Google’s Campaign URL Builder. You will need just three mandatory fields for the process –

• Campaign source
• Campaign medium
• Campaign name

The fourth field is completely optional. However, you should consider including this fourth and last field if you are interested in A/B testing of different types of advertisement content.