Today I’m going to give you 5 conversion rate optimization tips, this is gonna help you build your email list faster, get more leads into your marketing funnel and sell more stuff.
Table of Contents:
Reduce Form Fields
The first one that I’ve got for you is to reduce the amount of form fields on your website.
Form fields allow visitors to type in their name, email address and physical address.
To increase the percentage of people completing your opt-in form you gotta get rid of everything you don’t need and only use what is absolutely necessary to continue the conversation with them.
This lets people save time, so they can sign up quicker – nobody wants to fill in forms, it’s not pleasant experience.
Fewer form also reduce your amount of work you have to do, too, because there’s less information for you to process.
This isn’t just some theory that sounds good, this has actually been tested on multiple websites.
For example a company called Imaginary Landscape managed to increase their conversion rate by 160% when they reduced the number of form fields on their website from 11 down to 4.
Not too bad, right?
Contrasting Colours
The second tip that I’ve got for you is to use contrasting colours on Call-to-Action (CTA) buttons.
This isn’t about choosing a particular ‘prove to work’ colour but instead focus on the contrast and how it relates to the rest of the page.
The trick is to make it stand out.
Listen, I know that there’s a lot of debate online about which colours produce the higher conversion rates; should you use yellow or should you use green? Should you use red?
It doesn’t really matter too much – there is a little bit of research about it which I’m going to explain in a minute, but generally it’s all about the contrast.
Whatever colour you choose has to be vibrant and that stand out against the rest of the page.
Now with that said, a sociologist at the University of Maryland called Philip Cohen found that the colour blue increases trust for both men and in women.
Some food for thought maybe.
A website called Performable increased their conversion rate by 21% just by changing their call-to-action button to a contrasting colour.
But let’s think about this okay.
If Philip Cohen found that the colour blue increases trust, well that doesn’t necessarily have to be on the call to action button itself.
Just seeing the colour blue has an influence on us, just like seeing the colour red does because they are opposite sides of the colour spectrum.
So, for example, you might have a blue and white themed website. The background might be white and then you might have blue elements, such as a header or a sidebar.
In that instance the best colour for your call-to-action button is probably going to be red because it’s the polar opposite of blue and it provides the most contrast.
And that is a good way to decide what type of color to use on your pages for your call-to-action buttons.
CTA Above the Fold
The third tip that I’ve got for you is to put your call-to-action button above the fold.
However, if you already have the call-to-action button above the fold then move it down below the fold.
I’m gonna explain why in a second.
But first, the Unbounce website managed to increase their conversion by 41% by moving their call-to-action button to above the fold, so that’s a good indication that this strategy works.
You see, if your call-to-action button is below the fold it means that your prospects will probably have to be highly motivated if they’re willing to scroll down.
But this in itself could be a qualifier, and it might also mean that you’re only engaging with prospects that are highly motivated and more likely to buy from you.
But a marketer called Michael Aaggard tested this.
He did a split test between an above the fold call-to-action button and below the fold call-to-action-button.
Surprisingly, when he moved his call-to-action button below the fold on a long-form piece of content his conversion rate increased by 304%.
That’s astounding, right?
What this tells us; it really comes down to your audience.
And this is something that you will want to test for yourself.
So if you currently have a call to action button that’s above the fold and you’re not very happy with your conversion rate, test it.
Stop using Stock Photos
The next tip that I’ve got to help you increase your conversion rate is to stop using stock photos.
This is a real pet peeve of mine, but I am just as guilty as anyone else.
I fell into the trap of thinking that stock photos look professional, they look slick, and surely they create the right image for my brand? I was wrong.
Using stock photos really comes from the theory that showing a face a human face on a website increases trust, it builds rapport quicker, it increases the likability of the website and it makes it a bit more human.
So for that reason I do think it’s a good idea to show a friendly human face on your website.
We’re pre-programmed to recognise and remember faces, it’s one of the things that human are best at.
So using one on your website is going to make your brand just a bit more memorable as a result.
But you gotta stop using stock photos – they’re not authentic.
Everyone uses the same pictures, so it makes your website look a bit generic – and even worse at the other end of the scale it just makes you look kind of fake.
If you can use a real picture of your actual face, or whoever represents your company, do it!
For example, the Marketing Experiments website split tested this.
They tested a stock image versus a real image, and they found that their conversion rate increased by 35% from that simple change.
As a result their client’s website looked more authentic.
Add Your Phone Number
The final conversion optimization tip that I’ve got for you is to add your phone number.
Add your phone number to your sales pages or to your opt-in forms will help to increase trust in your brand.
It proves that you’re a real person and that you’re accessible, you’re easy to contact and that you’re around to provide after-sales care and support should anything go wrong.
It gives people confidence in you.
They know that you’re on hand if they need help either during the sales process or with the product afterwards.
Because it makes you accessible, it makes you more trustworthy.
So add your phone number to your sales pages.
Final Thoughts
Okay so now you’ve got 5 conversion rate optimization tips that will help you to get more sales get more leads and all that good stuff.
But this is just the beginning.
You gotta test everything I’ve given you here.
Testing everything has to be the most important part of conversion rate optimisation. Every niche is different, every audience is different, every offer, every website is different.
The variables are astounding so we need to test.
And it’s really through repeatedly testing different ideas, that we find the sweet spots and grow our businesses as a result.