Conversion is the new black

Haven’t paid yourself in two months? Here’s some tips to get more web sales through the door. FRED SCHEBESTA

Wages are due in 25 days, you have $1567.45 in the bank and you haven’t paid yourself in two months. You need to sell some business quick or it will be “last one out turns the lights off”.

The quickest way to turn this situation around is to use the same traffic you are getting but just convert more of it into potential customers. Here are some tips on how to do that.

1. Ensure your money button is super obvious

There are always just a couple of buttons on your website that actually make you money:

1. Contact us.
2. Add to cart.

Dress both in an eye catching colourm and make sure the text is legible. It needs to be super obvious what the button leads the user to do.

Revise button text with words like “submit” (no one likes to submit to other people). Use words like “Apply now” or “Buy now” or “Book online now”. These words tell the user what exactly to do next; it directs them as to how they can take the next action to becoming a customer.

Example: A bad button

• This button looks good although might give the user the impression that if they click this they will need to continue on and fill out 10 other fields of their information.
• The copy does not tell the user what to do.
• There is no promise as to what will happen on the page afterwards.
• The colour is not appealing to the eye

Example: A good button

• It’s obvious what the user needs to do next.
• The button has a time pressure and tells them to do it now so that you are not waiting for the order for two weeks before you go out backwards.
• The lock gives the perception of security; it implies that anything you do on the next page with your personal details will be protected. Internet security is still a big concern in Australia and every little hint that the user is protected will help you to generate new business.
• The green colour is positive (green means go!) and eye catching.

2. Scarcity, scarcity, scarcity

When there is a limited number of items, people tend to act faster so that they don’t miss out.

Ultimately you want your customer to take action, now. Lost sales are because you didn’t give your customer enough reasons to act now, instead of when your competitor gives them a better reason to act now. Ensure you build an element of scarcity into your website to get more people to take action, now!

Words that get customers to take action include:

• Limited stock.
• Limited time only.
• Offer ends midnight.
• Exclusive online offer.

Example:

3. Use comparison tables to improve conversion

 The stage just before someone purchases – when they are weighing up the different options – is generally called “consideration”. During this phase you either win or lose the customer. If you have a superior product/service or can make a significant argument vs other substitute products, or if you have two different options to your product, a comparison table works well for this.

Credit card comparison websites have been doing this for quite some time with great success. People need to weigh up the options when selecting a card and generally want to get the lowest interest rate possible.

Example:

The comparison table makes it easy to see which card to select. These websites make their money from helping consumers select the best card and making a commission on the applications; it’s pretty similar to the mortgage brokers.

Calculators, tickbox lists, comparison tables and wizards all help the user to make their decision – and get you more sales.

Fred Schebesta’s company Freestyle Media is an established innovative online marketing agency specialising in building search engine friendly corporate websites and running online marketing campaigns.

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