You’ve spent a small fortune on driving traffic to your web site, but you aren’t all that happy with the results you’ve seen in terms of your conversion rate. While conversion rates can be caused by a number of things, I’ve got five tips that I’ve put together based on my experiences that should help you in determining if your site is streamlined enough to entice customers to purchase from you.
1. Can your customers reach their shopping cart from anywhere on your site?
Regardless of where on your site your customers may be, they should always be able to click over and view their shipping cart or check their account. Be sure to include links to these two functions at the top of every page on your site.
2. Is there access to any specials you offer from the home page?
People don’t want to have to hunt all over your web site for a deal. Why irritate them? The quicker and easier the process is to locate your special deals, the more likely the customer is to buy. On top of this, be sure that there are as few steps as possible to reach the checkout when it comes to specials.
3. Search
Ensure that you have a search function so that customers can easily find the products they are interested in. Add a search box to every page on your site. Why make it difficult for someone to do business with you? By having to hunt around for a search box, you are doing just that.
4. See the content of a page at a glance
Use CLEAR headings and labels. People are naturally drawn to the biggest type on the page. Every page on your site should have clear and relevant headings at the top of the page. If you are presenting a long list of products, ensure that there are relevant subheadings throughout as well. Take a look at how CNET organizes its site if you need an example of a well done site.
Maintaining a streamlined site is a critical component of getting your visitors to convert into customers. By paying attention to the above 4 strategies, you’ll go a long way to ensuring your site is not what’s keeping your traffic from converting.
