If you're the marketing manager responsible for aligning your marketing efforts with your website, I'll assume that you have some issues with how they currently fit together. You're doing all the right things, but your company's website is stuck in the dark ages (okay, maybe not that bad but it's not an ideal situation).
So how can you identify what is affecting the effectiveness of your website, and more important, what can you do about it?
The answer lies in conversion optimization, improving and establishing trust signals, mobile optimization, customer-centric messaging, and capturing traffic that isn't ready to buy now.
1. Conversion Optimization
Make sure you can answer two questions easily within a few seconds of being on their homepage. What does your business do? And, what is your call-to-action (CTA)?
If you can't answer those two questions quickly, then it is your job to communicate those more effectively.
Make sure your messaging is ultra-clear and the next step for your visitor should be easy to locate from any place on your site.
If you're selling a product, make the checkout process as smooth as possible. If you're trying to schedule a demo or consultation, limit the lead information to what is absolutely necessary.
2. Improve and Establish Trust Signals
Your website is the first method of trust-building between your business and your prospective customers. I mean, when was the last time you bought something online without reading a few reviews first. Or, tried a new restaurant without asking your friends for their opinion?
To improve or establish trust signals look to these website elements:
- Reviews
- Testimonials
- Social shares/likes
- Comments
Show your prospects that you have helped people just like them in the past. One of the best ways to do this is with a video testimonial. Video testimonials are great for prospects because a real review is hard to fake.
Happy testimonial videos will resonate with your prospects and aid in converting them.
3. Mobile Optimization
Mobile website traffic accounts for over 60% of browsing activity. When you are in B2C, that number is even higher. If your website isn't optimized for those mobile visitors, you are losing prospective customer interest.
In addition to making sure your website is in a mobile-friendly format there are other key elements that should not be overlooked when optimizing for mobile:
- Page loading speed. Make sure your images are formatted smaller than your desktop site so that pages load quickly. Every second longer your page takes to load means lost prospects.
- Mobile-specific conversion flow. Mobile sites behave differently and thus your conversion flow should behave differently. Make it even simpler to convert or for a prospect to give you their information.
- User experience. People don't browse on mobile like they do on desktop computers. Make sure that you're taking advantage of vertical scrolling, horizontal swiping, and intuitive mobile menus.
4. Poor Messaging
Bad messaging will kill a website faster than a bad design. Make sure your messaging is customer-centric. Establish how your service is unique or special, your customers only want to know how you can help them.
Another important thing to remember in regards to messaging is relevance and timing. Your messaging should be organized in a way where your website visitors get the information they need exactly when they need it.
The PAST method does exactly that:
- Problem
- Agitate
- Solution
- Testimonials
5. Recapture Lost Traffic
Approximately 96% of your website visitors aren't ready to buy yet. So what is your website doing to recapture lost traffic?
- Install the Facebook tracking pixel on your site. This allows you to retarget these visitors on Facebook with sponsored content, increasing the likelihood they will remember your brand and be more likely to convert into a customer.
- Build your email list. Creating a secondary CTA will enable you to capture basic information, like names and email addresses in exchange for content or downloadable tools. Then use those emails to retarget on Facebook, or through an email campaign.
