Even the best sites only convert a small percentage of the visitors they get. However, if you’re raking in the views and seeing a trickle of conversions, or none at all, there’s something wrong with your approach. These five common problems account for a lot of missed conversions. Solve these problems before you look for more obscure ones.
1. Too much information
Whether you’re giving or receiving, too much information can be off putting and difficult for viewers. You can start by making sure that your product or service descriptions are concise and attractive to read. Break up big paragraphs with subheadings and bullet points. Make your descriptions easy to read and understand.
When it comes time to check out, break up the information that you need from your customers. Entering data into a huge form can feel intimidating. Break up your form into sections like billing info, shipping info, etc., to ensure that people don’t get intimidated or frustrated while filling in the forms.
2. Sticker shock
Not every company can afford to offer free shipping. Unfortunately, certain big retailers have set an expectation in customer’s minds. You want to make sure that all the costs, from base to tax to shipping, are shown early in the checkout process. This gives your customers a chance to get used to the number on the screen. If they see it jump the last page before confirmation, it can feel like you’re trying to trick them out of money–even if they would have been fine with the amount earlier in the transaction.
3. Muddy layout
Simple frustration steals more conversions than we’d like to admit. If your layout makes things more difficult than they have to be, people are going to jump ship in droves. Make sure your layout is clear, and the “checkout now” button is always easy to find. You want it to be as easy as possible for people to give you their cash.
4. You’re not using a good call to action
Sometimes people need a little prompt to go down the sales funnel. Calls to action tell people to “order now” or “call today” to try your product or service. While a call to action can be a little more sophisticated than these examples, it needs to be bold enough to be effective. Evaluate the calls to action on your site. Are you being strong enough? Is there a more effective way to get the action you need?
5. Image management
You need to inspire trust in your customers. In most cases, testimonials are a great way to manage this. It’s easy to put up a feed that brings up a random sampling of your positive reviews. It’s easy, but it’s not the most effective. Some high star reviews leave lukewarm comments. “Works as expected” is not going to inspire someone to buy your product right this minute. Take some time out of your schedule every quarter or every month to update your testimonials with fresh, high quality reviews.
These five reasons aren’t the only reasons you might not be selling, but they are reasons. Before you go hunting for unique reasons, make sure you’ve covered your bases. More conversions could be a testimonial or layout update away.