How to improve your website conversions

By: Pawel Reszka

What is it and why is it important?

Website conversion is quite simply the conversion of the incoming traffic to sales. It is the crucial indicator of the success of your business. Your website might be receiving tons of traffic but if you're not able to convert them into sales, it's all effort gone to waste. You'd be surprised at how many businesses spends tons of money to divert traffic but do not invest the time and money to convert them into sales.

How to increase conversions? There are many ways you can turn that visitor into not just a customer but a repeat customer. That means he or she will not just love your site but tell others and they tell others about your site. Get the picture? And that's just one customer we're talking about. Imagine if you could do that with all the traffic that comes into your site? We're talking exponential sales!

So now before you scratch your head and start day dreaming about your booming business, let's get down to the basics. Here are a few simple tips to jumpstart your website conversion rate:

Shopping cart. As obvious as this seems, most people do have a shopping cart. But the thing they overlook is the ‘add' button next to it. You need to mention something like ‘Ad to shopping cart' or ‘Add to the shopping basket' etc. This is also known as the call to action and plays a crucial role in getting your visitor to do what you want them to do - shop!

Be honest. Let's face it - if you don't have stock of some product, mention it upfront. Customers will respect you for it for having not wasted their time. That'll also save them the hassle of digging through the online catalogue and adding it to the shopping cart - only to find it's not in stock. What a waste!

Easy accessibility. It is essential to get your site visibility on the Internet. I mean, there are hordes of e-commerce sites out there literally waiting to get their customers' business. What makes you think your website is so special?

- Therefore use appropriate keywords to get traffic to your site.

- Optimize your website to ensure better search ranking.

- Use persuasive articles that get the reader's attention.

Selling the ‘right' products. When it comes to selling you want your website to do well, right? Well that's only going to happen if you sell products that customers want. Also important is ensuring you're selling to the right audience. Imagine selling mascara to a baby! Unthinkable, right?

Easy payment. Customers today have little patience. And we don't mean it in a bad sense. It's only natural they are impatient - there's loads to do and the Internet is just a speck in their lives. If they wish to purchase something they want it done fast, smooth and hassle free. If you want your website to convert more sales, you'll need to ensure the payment gateway on your website is fast, secure and reliable. Most importantly there should be no slow pages. This can literally kill any sale. If the customer can't shop fast and secure on your site he or she will go to some other site.
Search functionality. Our customers are patient too. Contradictory? Not really. Not if you consider that if they do not find what they're looking for, they'll try searching for it on your website. But you don't have search functionality in your website? All hell breaks loose and the customer has vanished from your site in no time! Sounds familiar? It's time to get a search box included in your website This is basic but still many businesses think they can get away without one. Big mistake!

Customer behavior. Analyzing backend search logs to analyze customer behavior can really pay rich dividends. Do customers visit a particular product only during holiday season or during sales? Make sure to keep enough stock handy during these times. Or do customers try downloading an e-book only to leave it midway? An analysis will tell you if the cause is a broken link or slow internet speeds.