Many businesses invest significant effort in driving traffic to their website through various channels, which is undeniably important. However, for most businesses, it becomes a major concern if those visitors aren’t converting into customers.
In this blog, we’ll explore ways to improve your website’s conversion rate. A conversion rate represents the percentage of visitors who complete a desired action on your website, such as making a purchase, filling out a contact form, or achieving another goal. It measures how effectively your website turns visitors into customers or leads.
For context, the average conversion rate for e-commerce websites typically falls between 2% and 4%, while lead generation sites often see around 4%. However, these figures can vary significantly depending on the industry. For instance, a luxury watch retailer might have a lower conversion rate, while a budget-friendly homeware store may experience a higher one.
In the sections below, we’ll discuss strategies to help you improve your website’s conversion rate, with tips for both e-commerce and lead generation sites. Some solutions can be implemented through simple apps, while others may require more investment. Regardless of your business or budget, we’re confident you’ll find actionable ideas to enhance your website’s performance.
Here’s a guide to help you boost your website’s conversion rate.
Ensure You’re Targeting Qualified Users
The first step in improving your website’s conversion rate is ensuring that the traffic coming to your site is qualified. Qualified traffic refers to visitors who are likely to find what they’re looking for on your site and are, therefore, more likely to convert. While this might seem straightforward, it’s often more challenging than expected, and many businesses miss the mark. However, attracting more qualified traffic is entirely achievable with the right strategies. Let’s focus on search marketing!
When it comes to PPC and SEO, one of the most effective ways to boost your conversion rate is by choosing highly relevant keywords to your products or services. This may require conducting more in-depth keyword research to find terms that are better targeted than those you’ve used before, but the extra effort is well worth it.
By using more specific keywords, you’ll face less competition and be more likely to attract visitors who are ready to convert.
Provide Multiple Conversion Options
Every user has unique browsing and shopping habits, so offering multiple conversion options is essential for improving your website’s conversion rate.
Whether you’re running a lead generation or e-commerce site, providing live chat options—whether through a chatbot or direct communication with your team via chat or WhatsApp—can significantly enhance user engagement. Many visitors prefer interacting this way, fostering a stronger connection with your brand. You can easily implement this by downloading an app or plugin for your CMS, with plenty of options depending on your business needs.
Lead Gen Conversion Options
For a lead generation website, offering multiple conversion options means providing various ways for potential customers to easily connect with your team. While you’ll likely have a primary contact form accessible via the main menu, it’s also important to include call-to-action buttons throughout service pages, and potentially a full contact form at the bottom of each page. By catering to different user preferences, you can significantly boost your website’s conversion rate.
There are many plugin options available depending on your CMS, and many come with a range of features, including advanced analytics. These tools can give you deeper insights into your visitors, such as their location, email, and company, allowing you to personalise interactions in real-time and make your outreach more relevant.
Ecommerce Conversions
For e-commerce, one of the most effective ways to improve your website’s conversion rate is by offering as many conversion options as possible. Once a customer has filled their cart and is ready to checkout, the process needs to be as seamless as possible. Providing a wide range of payment options—such as Klarna, ClearPay, ShopApp, Apple Pay, traditional credit card payments, and others—can make all the difference. Offering this variety ensures that you cater to modern consumers, who may quickly leave if their preferred payment method isn’t available.
Additionally, consider enabling features like auto-filling form fields and allowing users to set the same billing and delivery address with a simple tick. These small optimisations can make the checkout process smoother and significantly boost your website’s conversion rate.
Shorten Forms & The Checkout Process
While we’re on the topic of checkouts, another key strategy to improve your website’s conversion rate is to streamline your contact forms and checkout process as much as possible.
Reduce the Number of Form Fields
When asking users to complete a contact form, simplicity is crucial. The more fields you include, the less likely users are to fill them out. For instance, Dan Zarrella at HubSpot found that reducing the number of fields from four to three can boost conversion rates by nearly 50%.
Where possible, limit your form to essential information such as name, email, phone number, and perhaps one additional field. You can further simplify by combining fields—for example, using a single “Name” field instead of separate “First Name” and “Last Name” fields. Alternatively, make certain fields optional, but ensure the overall form remains concise. Implementing these changes can have a significant impact on your conversion rate.
Simplify Your Checkout Process
For e-commerce sites, keep the checkout process as brief and straightforward as possible. Reducing the number of steps required to browse, add items to the cart, and complete the purchase can dramatically decrease cart abandonment rates. Fewer clicks and a smoother experience will lead to a better conversion rate as users are less likely to drop off mid-process.
Showcase Testimonials
Including customer testimonials on your website can be highly beneficial for your business, particularly when it comes to boosting your website’s conversion rate. Testimonials showcase the positive experiences of previous customers, offering a fresh perspective on your products or services. This can be exactly what a potential customer needs to see to make the decision to purchase or enquire.
There are several ways to integrate testimonials into your site to enhance conversion rates. A simple option is to manually add them, which works well if you only have a few and are looking to gradually build your collection. For businesses with a larger volume of reviews, you can install apps on your CMS (such as Shopify or WordPress) that automatically pull reviews from popular platforms like Trustpilot. This method adds credibility, as users are likely to recognise and trust these external sources, knowing the reviews are genuine.
Testimonials are increasingly powerful because they help build trust by allowing potential customers to read about the experiences of others like themselves, rather than relying solely on the company’s claims. In a crowded online market, showcasing happy customer feedback can set you apart from competitors and significantly improve your website’s conversion rate.
Final Thoughts
There are many more strategies you can employ to improve your website’s conversion rate, but implementing as many of the tips mentioned above as possible is a great place to start.
At TSCA, we specialise in Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO), where we identify the barriers on your website that may hinder conversions. We use various techniques, such as heat mapping, user testing, and competitor analysis, to uncover opportunities for improvement.
Following our analysis, we provide a comprehensive report with actionable recommendations to boost your conversion rate. We can then either implement these changes for you or work with your internal teams to explore our findings in more detail.
To begin, contact us today to speak with a team member and discover how CRO can benefit your business!
