Having a nice-looking website is something you can use to show your friends and family and get compliments about, but having a nice-looking website that truly converts is what you want for your business. I know that in reality, this is more overwhelming than practical but no worries! In this #fridaysfivethings's third episode I've put together 5 actionable tips for you to get started.
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This may sound obvious but often businesses track vanity metrics, aka numbers that don't say or do anything for their business. You MUST define what web conversion means for your business. Is it selling more products? Is it booking more clients? Is it create more engagement? An easy way to start establishing metrics is by defining your business goals and how you are going to achieve them. This will help you see the role of your website within your business strategy. Remember that you'll also need to understand what your customers' needs are, and how the website will help them fulfill those needs. This takes me to tip #2.
Action item: Define your success business metrics.
Understand your customers. Truly get to know them. Not just demographically but also psychographically. What do they like? What do they need? What and how is your business helping them achieve? The evident solution your business may be providing to them could be functional (for example, a customer buys a dress because they're going to a party). However, often the buying decision is not functional. They are often emotional (for example, a customer is buying a new dress to feel more confident at the party). They could also be social (for example, a customer buys a new dress to feel more accepted in a group of people). However, emotional and social buying decisions won't be the answers you'll get right away. You'll start hearing these stories as you build a relationship with your customers.Talk to your customers and get to know them better. It takes time and patience but it only brings great results.
Action item: After talking to your customers and learning from them, evaluate your website and confirm if your copy and images portray the solutions they want to achieve. If not, refine them. Bonus tip: When you do this, be sensitive, authentic and genuine.
Use colour to drive attention. In brand identity design, the colours of a colour palette have a role. A few of them should be considered your "accent colours". Ideally, these are the colours you use when you want to drive attention (for example, the main button of a webpage, aka the call-to-action). The accent colour should have a high-contrast with the background, so people notice it easily. You can drive attention with other elements as well but colour is the easiest to understand and implement. This takes me to tip #4.
Action item: Define your accent colour and use it in the main button of each webpage.
Have a clear call-to-action. Do you want customers to buy a product? Do you want them to return a product? Do you want them to see more details of the product? Ideally, you should have one main call-to-action per webpage or web section. Especially for the key webpages of your site, the call-to-action should be aligned to your business strategy, the users' needs, and therefore the metrics you'll measure.
Action item: Evaluate every webpage of your site and ask yourself: 1) Is the main action of this page clear? and 2) How can I make it more clear?
Create a connection with your customers. Make them feel and know that there is a person or a group of people behind your business. People usually buy based on their perception of a brand and how it aligns with their values and aspirations. You can use your website as a place for that. You want to turn customers into raving fans and be on top of mind every time they need the solution you provide.
Action item: Share the behind the scenes of your business, your brand story and what makes your business unique. The about page and sections of the homepage can be a great place for this.
I hope you found these tips helpful :) There is so much more you can do to drive conversion in your website but start small, test and refine. I'm sure that these little tweaks should bring you great results.
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