“There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else” – Sam Walton.
Amidst the coronavirus outbreak, these lines ring true. With internet usage at an all-time high, online visitors are slowly becoming a potential source for businesses worldwide.
That’s why it has become essential to focus on these customers.
There is no magic wand that you swish and flick and hope things turn your way. Without a proper strategy, it’s an uphill battle to convert your latent prospects into long-term paying customers.
This article will guide you through four secrets of converting online visitors into paying customers that you can implement to understand your customer and increase your revenue.
Let’s get into it.
4 Secrets for Converting Online Visitors into Paying Customers
With fierce competition and business leaving no stone unturned to drive website traffic, standing out in the clutter is what differentiates a successful business from an unsuccessful one. Here are four actionable ways to increase your conversion rate.
Focus on usability testing
If you’re in the online business realm for a while, you probably know that usability testing is the black horse for boosting conversions.
Why?
A well-designed user interface increases your website conversion by 200%, and a fantastic UX design could result in conversion as high as 400%. You can uncover issues related to your website UX and design using usability testing. However, with the current scenario of maintaining social distancing, getting all users to test from a single place may prove tricky.
That’s where remote usability testing comes in. Without all testers being in the same physical space, you can improve your website’s usability.
This user testing method gives you direct inputs on how real customers are likely to interact with your website. You may have designed your website based on what you believe will result in a great user experience. As you’re not an end-user, your instincts may be wrong. Usability testing allows you to uncover issues you probably never thought of.
The insights you gain from this testing are pure gold.
For example, through usability testing, the New England Foundation of Arts (NEFA) found that the information architecture (IA) of their website was keeping visitors away. Due to the complex IA structure, visitors were not able to easily find information on their website. Usability testing is one of primary sources of data for CRO agency Conversionrate.store that published 12 CRO case studies on 7-81% average revenue per user uplift based on insights from usability testing.
That’s the power of usability testing, and it’s one of the most critical aspects of converting online visitors into paying customers.
Pro-tip: Never ask your remote testing group to check your website in general. Instead, ask them to address one pain point at a time. It could either be checking a sign-up process or finding specific information on your website. Take one step at a time!
Prioritize content marketing
With attention span reducing to just eight seconds and a surge in demand for smaller screens, your content marketing strategy plays an essential role in converting visitors to paying customers.
Your website content, blogs, whitepapers, case studies, and infographics are excellent tools for sales.
There’s no point in writing large chunks of text to fill the space. In this fast-paced digital world, no one has time to read long-winded sentences. So, focus on creating digestible and scannable content. For doing so:
- Keep short paragraphs and capture the reader’s attention. To further make your content
- Craft solid beginning of your blog or content
- Use images to break your content
- Use sub-headings and bullets to increase readability
Do not overwhelm your customers with tons of content. Create content based on where your customers are in the marketing funnel.
- Top of the funnel: Your customers are just starting to understand their problems. Content like blogs, infographics, landing pages, and social media posts would educate customers on the type of solution they require to solve a problem.
Notice how GiftRocket creates a compelling and attractive landing page with a CTA to attract new customers.
- Middle of the funnel: Your customers are deciding by evaluating their options. Content like whitepapers and webinars will give them insights into why your product is better than others on their list.
- Bottom of the funnel: Your customers have made a decision and are ready to become paying customers. So, it’s essential to share case studies and product demo for giving a final nudge of encouragement.
To further increase your conversion rate, monetize on customer’s emotions by using language that evokes positive emotions. It’s your content coupled with a pinch of trust that drives attention and forces a customer to become loyal to your brand.
Irrespective of the marketing funnel stage, it’s exemplary content that resonates and gets the ball in your court.
Pro tip: Always remember that solid content is present and future of marketing, and it will always help in converting online visitors into paying customers.
Enhance your customer service
According to an old business saying, “Customer is right.”
Reread these lines every time you are sloppy on customer service.
Customer service is about reducing the efforts of your customers. It serves two purposes:
- Converts visitors into paying customers
- Results in customer loyalty
For making life easier for customers, include widgets all over your website. These widgets allow customers to quickly contact your support team for queries and help them find an answer themselves. ‘Help’ widgets could be a potential game-changer for increasing your conversion rate irrespective of where your customers are in the marketing funnel.
Notice how Upwork has a dedicated help widget and an extensive knowledge base to help visitors search for information and contact their support team.
So, does customer service end with a knowledge base and a help widget?
Probably not!
It’s customer service that prevents visitors from switching over to competitors. Your customer service ensures a memorable experience and garners positive reviews on social media platforms and reviews sites.
But did you know, 50% of customers switch to competitors after one bad experience, and 80% switch when they have more than one bad experience?
The bad experience is not necessarily related after a purchase is done. It could be as simple as facing issues with sign up or coming across a non-clickable CTA on visiting your website for the first time. Even for first-time visitors, you need to have stellar customer service. You can achieve this through live chat or phone support.
Stellar customer service is not just saying ‘Hello! How are you’ during a chat or phone conversation. It’s much more than that. Customer service entails every interaction before, during, and after a purchase. It also means handling complaints and converting bad customer experience to sound experience.
Instead of ignoring customer complaints, show a positive attitude and acknowledge all complaints you receive. Don’t take complaints to your heart. It’s part and parcel of doing business, and it’s bound to happen. The attitude with which you resolve the complaint matters the most and forms your customer service’s backbone.
Follow these steps when you receive a customer complaint:
- Listen to your customer’s issue
- Apologize because your “customer is always right”
- Offer a solution
- Follow up with customers after resolving their complaint
Pro-tip: The more you focus on customer service, the better you can position yourself as a brand that gives prime importance to customer’s concerns.
Remove perceived risk
Often, increasing the conversion rate of online visitors is about reducing the perceived risk of customers. When customers are unsure about your product or believe it’s risky, they’re less likely to make a purchase. To remove these apprehensions, put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Ask yourself about the potential roadblocks that are preventing visitors from converting into customers.
It could be as simple as a lack of information on guarantee and warranty or no refund policy. Warranties and guarantees are a form of risk-reversal and serve as a building block for customer’s trust. The presence of a refund policy and warranty information builds confidence as your customer knows they can always return a product or get it repaired if a fault develops.
Notice how Tutorialpoints clearly define their return, refund, and cancellation policy.
Here are a few ways of removing these perceived risks:
- Highlight your social proofs
- Offer a clear privacy statement
- Provide a guarantee
- Make return easy
- Display payment icons
- Display your contact information
- Use badges, certification, and memberships
Reducing these uncertainties is what drives conversion and leads more visitors to purchase from your website. With identity and online thefts increasing every passing day, providing a secure and safe environment makes the consumer feel better about sharing their personal information and punching their card details.
The rule here is simple,
The more an online visitor trusts you = the higher will be the conversion rate.
Pro-tip: The key to success is inspiring confidence and delivering assurance.
Conclusion
A persuasive content marketing strategy, combined with a stellar customer experience and in-depth usability testing, can be a driving force for converting your online website visitors to paying and loyal customers.
After reading this post, you would know some key elements for acing user testing and creating exemplary content to ensure maximum conversion rate.
How are you converting online visitors into paying customers? Which of these four secrets helped you increase your conversion rate? Do tell us in the comments section.
Author’s bio:
Priya Jain is a copywriter working with Skale. She has an MBA and engineering degree. When she is not writing, you will find her teaching math, spending her day running behind her toddler, and trying new recipes.