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Digital marketing

What is conversion optimization?

Conversion optimization is about getting visitors to your website to do exactly what you want them to do. This could be buying a product/service, subscribing to a newsletter or contacting you via a contact form. The end goal when we talk about conversion optimization is usually to increase the profit of the company.

Why should I spend time on conversion optimisation?

Spending time to get more visitors to your website is a given for most people. Many companies invest a lot of money in advertising on Google. Taking care of visitors once they visit your website should be just as obvious. Yet many people seem to think that once visitors have found their way to your company's website, it will "take care of itself". It's not that simple.

There are endless ways to design a website. You have probably visited websites and thought: "what is this?". - and in the next second closed the tab to continue surfing elsewhere. There are websites that are so mushy and unclear that visitors immediately feel they don't want to spend any time there. Equally, there are websites with a clean, clear and inspiring look and content that make it a pleasure to stay, read and eventually buy a product or contact the company in question. We're sure you want your website to fall into this latter category. Conversion optimization is all about creating a website that appeals to your visitors and gets them to do what you want - so your business can increase its profits.

How does conversion optimization relate to search engine optimization?

Search engine optimization is about getting as many visitors as possible. You can achieve this by optimizing your website with the right keywords and relevant content. Advertising on Google is another way to attract visitors. Conversion optimization, on the other hand, is about taking care of the visitors who actually find your website. Because what good is it if you get lots of visits but only a few visitors who actually make a purchase or contact you?

How you can work practically with conversion optimisation

  • Set goals: the first thing you need to do is figure out what you want your visitors to do on your website. Are they going to buy products? Order a service? Or contact you via a form?
  • Collect statistics: once you know what you want your visitors to do, it's time to collect statistics. Find out what your visitors are doing on your website. And find out what they're not doing. You can do this with Google Analytics.
  • Analyse: once you have statistics on how your visitors are behaving on your website and where the non-converting visitors are disappearing, it's time to start thinking and analysing. Think about what the reasons are for visitors' behaviour.
  • Create hypotheses: now it's time to think about how you can redesign your website to get more visitors all the way to your goal. Maybe it's about stripping out unnecessary information. Or maybe it needs to be clarified what you actually want the visitor to do. Are you having problems with the way your website displays on certain operating systems?There could be many reasons why you are losing potential customers. There are no one-size-fits-all solutions, but you need to think about how your website can be improved.
  • Redesign: once you have a hypothesis about how to improve your website, it's time to implement that improvement. Rewrite the content, redesign, clarify and scale down. Make sure it's clear to the visitor what's involved and what the path to the goal is supposed to look like.
  • Testing: once you have redesigned your website, you can test your new version and compare it with your old one. This is called A/B testing and involves presenting different versions of the website to different visitors.Once you've achieved enough visits, you can compare how your visitors react to the different versions and see which one leads to the most conversions.
  • Repeat: by the time you've got this far, you'll probably have already increased your conversion rate. But you're not finished! Conversion optimisation is a work in progress, because now it's time to repeat the process. You probably have a large number of visitors who still don't make it all the way to the "Submit" button on the contact form or to the "Order" button at checkout. Analyse the statistics and think about how you can improve your website and try again, and again and again. Now you're up and running!

Let's take a closer look at some common conversion optimisation measures.

  1. A website that works on all devices
    The most basic requirement for getting visitors to do what you want is that your website works properly. It should also be user-friendly and look good on all types of devices. Google Analytics allows you to see what devices your visitors are using. It is important that your website is responsive so that all content is presented well on phones and tablets.There are plenty of tools online to test how a website works on different devices. For example, you can use Browserstack. The service shows you any deficiencies and suggests ways to fix them.
  2. CTA - a clear message to the visitor
    CTA means Call To Action and is a basic concept that you need to know if you are going to work with conversion optimization. A CTA describes to the visitor what you want him or her to do. For example, it could be a phrase: "Book a consultation today!". With a clear and prominent CTA, you can increase your conversion rate. Guide your visitors and offer both hard and soft conversions that meet both those who want to buy now and those who are interested. You can read more about soft and hard conversions here.
  3. Relevant content creates trust
    Relevant content is another concrete thing to work on if you want to succeed with your conversion optimization. If you sell products or services, you can have longer, descriptive texts on your product category pages. By answering your potential customers' questions, you'll capture visitors who would otherwise move on to another website in search of answers. Relevant content keeps your visitors on the page and builds trust. Feel free to link in the text to pages that bring the visitor closer to the goal. Offer the visitor an experience. Create content in different formats such as video, text, images and audio. We all want to consume content in different ways and therefore you want to give the visitor all the different opportunities to do so.
  4. Social proof creates security
    Do your customers appreciate your website? Show it! By showing how many people like your pages on social media and by linking to customer reviews of your site, you can gain trust. Customer cases are a great way to build trust. Interview your customers and present the value you have created for them. People who visit your site want to feel safe. Seeing others using your products or services builds trust and increases conversion rates.

Which websites are suitable for conversion optimisation?

A prerequisite for working with conversion optimization to be fruitful is that you have enough visitors. You need a rich and comprehensive statistical basis to be able to draw relevant conclusions. If your website is newly established and does not have many visitors yet, it may be more relevant to first work with SEO and Google Ads. Once you've done that, you've probably increased the number of visitors to your site and can start to shift your focus to working more on conversion optimization. But do not forget that there are some best practice parts that are important to have in place so that you do not start spending lots of money on advertising and then it turns out that no one converts.

Start conversion optimising your website today

To succeed with conversion optimization, it's important to analyze visitor behavior, create relevant goals, and continuously test and adapt the website to maximize conversion rates. By integrating these strategies, businesses can ensure that their digital presence not only draws in traffic but also converts visitors into engaged customers.

There is no need to wait. We've given you the knowledge you need to get started with conversion optimisation. And the tools you need are available. Google Analytics and your own CMS go a long way. Start the exciting journey to a conversion-optimised website today!

If you would like to learn more about conversion optimization, please feel free to schedule a meeting with us!

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"Thanks to the collaboration with Contitude , we have been able to create an efficient sales and marketing function that generates more revenue for the company."
Robert Conzato
CEO - Headhunting agency Closers

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