You have a website. Maybe you even have steady web traffic. But if your lead conversion rate is abysmal, then your sales will shrivel up and die.
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First, let’s define “lead conversion” in the context of the web.
Lead Conversion is the process of a web visitor converting either by completing a web form or purchasing directly on your website.
So then “lead conversion rate” could be defined as the rate at which visitors convert. The formula would simply be (leads/visitors) or if you received 1 conversion from 100 visitors then your lead conversion rate would be 1%.
Now that we’ve defined what lead conversion rate is, let’s cover the most common reasons that users don’t convert.
There can be many reasons someone comes to your site, doesn’t like what they see, and heads right back out the way they came in. So let’s cover some of the reasons someone could “bounce” and strategies to entice them to take the next step instead.
- You don’t offer a clear conversion path – or in other words, you’re missing a “call to action” (CTA) so the user lands on your page, reads the content, but it’s not clear what their next step should be, so they leave.
- Poor website design – dated graphics, broken elements, typos, and walls of technical text can turn a user’s offer or at least seriously deter them.
- Slow to load – users are incredibly impatient these days. According to some studies, for a one-second delay, a website sees a 7% decrease in conversion rate and an 11% drop in organic page views. Not convinced? See this Hubspot blog for more terrifying slow page statistics.
- Not enough information – if your website is too minimal with little content or details of what you do, then users won’t know enough about you to want to take the next step.
- Poor traffic – sure, you can buy cheap traffic on the dark web, but it won’t convert. The same goes if you post irrelevant topics on your blog that don’t attract your target customers.
- Irrelevant landing page – matching the audience to the right landing page is critical. Users won’t browse past the first page if they don’t see what they came. This is a symptom of not pointing marketing traffic to the appropriate landing page or not having the appropriate content on your site.
- Too many distractions – just like #1 gives the user no clear next step, giving them too many CTA’s can confuse and overwhelm them. Excessive pop-ups, moving objects, video ads, and similar elements can accidentally steer them off course.
- They simply aren’t convinced – the website didn’t give them enough reasons or wasn’t enticing enough for them to progress.
According to Databox, most websites have less than a 5% lead generation conversion rate, and 10% of sites convert less than 1% of visitors. This leaves a massive opportunity to grow conversions with the traffic you’re site is already getting without more ad spend or marketing initiatives.
Ok, we’ve covered the main reasons users bail on your site, now let’s talk about what you can do about it with 27 useful tactics!
1) Clear CTA
The addition of a big, bold button for “Download Our Ebook” , “Buy Now” or “Book a Meeting” can make a huge difference.
2) Benefits with Features in Your Copy
Features tell a user what your service or product does, but benefits tell them how that benefits them. What do you think they are more interested in? BENEFITS! Yet many marketers just spew tech specs and product features. Try adding in some benefits to help your prospects visualize why they need you.
3) Visualize Information
Icons and graphics can make it easier for users to understand what you offer at a glance. Below is an example from Upwork.com:
4) Quizzes
Quizzes command attention and force a reader to be actively engaged with the questions in front of them. They can be easy to build with a platform like LeadQuizzes.com and can be a powerful conversion tool. Neil Patel has a great article on using quizzes to generate leads you might want to check out to learn more. Below is an example from Country Rebel Clothing that generated over 39,000 email signups!
5) Marketing Landing Pages
A good marketing landing page laser-focuses the user on a single action (i.e. Download the Ebook) without navigation or other information. They can be highly effective for paid marketing traffic (i.e. Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Facebook Ads, etc). Below is an example marketing landing page from Split Software (an Upgrow Client).
6) Live Chat
Making it easy for customers to get quick answers and help may have a big impact on conversion rates as well as customer satisfaction. Some research shows live chat can add 30% to conversion rates! You can see a live chat example right here on Upgrow.io!
7) Calendar Booking Tool
Do you hate going back and forth try to coordinate a time to speak with someone? So does the customer! Skip all that and show them your calendar so they can find an available time that works for them. Here is an example from MercerAdvisors.com: their financial planner contact page.
8) Client Logos
New visitors to your website might not know you’re an established business with experience and a history of results. Adding client logos lets them know instantly you’ve worked with known brands that vetted and hired you already. This is even better if the logo is similar to the prospect so they can relate. For example, if you have a landing page for financial services, show your financial services clients logos instead of your software client logos.
9) Reviews
Either add a form for users to submit reviews, or import reviews from an industry review website. The latter is especially good since it may even appear more authoritative and unbiased. TheGood.com a CRO Agency has a complete article on strategies for using reviews to improve conversion rates.
10) Testimonials
While reviews are great for high volume and eCommerce sites. High dollar, high consideration purchases (mostly B2B) can use testimonials for meaningful quotes from customers to provide trust and credibility. See this great article from Donald Miller at StoryBrand for tips on collecting great customer testimonials. If the client is a big brand in your target industry, that’s ideal.
11) Certifications
Things like BBB rated, Google Ads Professional Certified, or whatever the certification of your industry is, helps you to gain instant authority.
12) Press
Quotes or logos of known publications where your company has received press make you look like a popular, leading brand.
13) Awards
Showcase your awards and accolades to demonstrate your brand’s recognition in the industry.
14) Site Search – especially if you have a large site with many pages, site search can be an incredible feature. Imagine navigating a site like Amazon.com without a site search! It would take hours to find anything with so many categories and filters to navigate. Adding site search can be relatively simple and painless too; check out SiteTuners.com guide for all the details on site search best practices.
15) Video
A strong video can give a user a fast overview of your brand and what you do in just a few minutes and most users prefer to watch than read. Some studies show that video can increase the conversion rate by 86%!
16) Recent Sales Pop-ups
Notifications of recent sales let the user know that your site is getting a lot of sales, creating excitement and confidence that others are buying.
17) Improve Page Load Speed
Identify your biggest page load killers and resolve them. Things like oversized images and excessive code can slow things down to a crawl. Tools like GTMetrix and the Google Page Speed Tool can show you your website’s issues.
18) Decrease Form Fields
Only collect what you need from a user and make sure your offer is juicy enough for them to give up their info. (Here’s a Marketing Sherpa study showing how one fewer form fields improved CVR by 11%!) At the same time, more fields and user information can improve contact-rate (i.e. collecting phone number), so find the right balance. See stats and more strategies on reducing form fields on this excellent article from Unbounce.
19) Add a Guarantee
Give users peace of mind that if the product or service doesn’t work, they can get a refund. There is some potential cost but typically the boost in conversion rate and customer satisfaction exceeds the expense. Conversion Rate Experts shows a case study detailing a 49% increase in conversion rate by adding a guarantee!
20) Add User Generated Content
An Instagram feed where customers can showcase your product and share their love of your brand can add a lot of engagement and credibility. Flockler.com gives a great overview of how to use an Instagram integration with an example from Metallica.
21) Email-Gate Premium Content
Require a user to signup to access your most premium content which should be strong enough to justify their effort
22) Match Your CTA Offer to the Content
When you have a good-sized library of CTA offers (i.e. ebooks, webinars, products, etc) then you can match it to the page’s content. For example, if you visited Upgrow’s SEO Services pages, you will see our CTA offer is an SEO Grading Tool that collects emails, but there is a different CTA on the PPC page.
23) Try Anchor Text CTAs
Sometimes anchor text within content can work even better than a button, or in addition to your CTA buttons. One study by Hubspot found a 121% increase in conversions by switching from buttons to anchor text!
24) Add Company Stats
Another way to quickly let a new prospect know you’re a proven partner is to show them big stats. Just like McDonald’s promotes “billions and billions served”, you can drop impressive stats to show your experience. Here is an example from Juniper Square, a real estate syndication software.
25) Employ A/B Testing
Testing different designs, content, and offers is the only real way to know which works better. Platforms like Optimizely, Google Optimize, and others make this manageable for nearly anyone.
26) Improve Image Quality
Using weak generic stock photos is a serious red flag and makes it looks like a company that puts little thought or investment into your image. Use professional photos where possible. Services like Snappr.co make it easier than ever to get an affordable photographer quickly. In fact, we used them for the photos on this site! Not convinced? CXL has a masterful article on the advantages of pro photos and how to use stock if you must.
27) Implement Comprehensive Conversion Tracking
What gets tracked, gets optimized yet most many websites have little or no conversion tracking setup. A study of over 2,000 sites by Disruptive Advertising found less than 30% of Google Ads advertisers are correctly tracking conversions. Make sure you track not just eCommerce orders or sales lead forms but also phone calls, live chats, email signups, and anything else that captures a lead. We highly recommend using Google Tag Manager, and you can always connect with us to help set this up for you.
Final Thoughts
With all these strategies, your conversion rate should easily be 900-950% 😉
I will mention that not all of these work for every website so trying and testing is the only way to find the best strategy for your brand. If you’d like to discuss strategies more specific to your site, book a free consultation with us now to get into the details.
Which strategy on the list do you plan to try first? Tell us in the comments below!
