It's frustrating when people don't convert. Spending a ton of time and energy setting everything up, only to have underwhelming results.
When that happens, there are a number of things you want to look at before making and changes.
The absolute first thing you need to ask is, is there an audience and a market? Hopefully this was already done before doing all the work. But if you haven't asked this question, ask it now.
Once you've confirmed that this is a viable market, here's what you should ask next:
1. How accurate is your audience-targeting strategy?
There’s nothing quite as frustrating as watching hundreds of people visit your product or landing pages, only to be left with empty carts and no opt-ins.
It’s not easy to figure out what’s holding them back, but one of the first questions you should ask is whether you’re targeting the right people.
You may very well have a great product for the market, but if you’re presenting it to the wrong audience then you’ll never generate significant interest. This holds true for major, established brands as much as new startups.
2. Has trust been established?
Asking people to hand over personal and financial information on the web requires a huge leap of faith. You need to establish trust before asking them to add a product to their carts and complete the checkout process or even to give you their email address.
One study from Taylor Nelson Sofres showed that consumers might terminate as many as 70% of online purchases due to a lack of trust. People may really want what you’re selling, but if they don’t trust you, then they’ll never convert.
There are several ways to establish and grow trust, which include:
- Testimonials and reviews from real customers (which consumers consider more trustworthy than brand advertising)
- Company contact and location information
- Trust seals
- Customer logos from recognizable brands
- Trade group affiliations
- Awards and recognitions
3. Do customers understand the benefits and value?
For customers, everything comes down to value, which is the foundation of your unique selling positions (USP.) You can’t just convince someone to buy something through conversion tricks like big buttons and snappy graphics. If they don’t understand the product’s value or how it might benefit them, then they have no reason to buy.
You have to communicate the value of your products accurately and succinctly, breaking down what you’re selling to the most basic level so your customer sees the benefits, rather than just the features.
4. What is the purchase experience really like?
It’s important to understand the journey your customer has to follow in order to reach the point where they’re willing to convert. While your landing pages or ecommerce site might look clean, the next step toward a conversion could make the whole thing come crashing down.
Providing top-notch user experiences across all devices is imperative, which includes minimizing the number of clicks necessary to complete the transaction.
5. What does the data say?
Whenever possible, you want to make changes based on the data you’ve accumulated. Don’t focus solely on the conversion metrics of your website; analyze the data from your social ads and insights, visitor flow, bounce rates, time spent on page and more. Let the data drive your actions; otherwise you’re just firing wildly into the dark and hoping to hit your target.
Whether we’re talking about the ROI for content marketing or boosting ecommerce sales, data always matters. When you make changes, measure the new data and monitor those changes against the original. It’s the only way to know if you’re headed in the right direction.
6. How are my competitors selling this?
While I always warn people not to follow their competitors, you should still be aware of what they’re doing to leverage competitive insights garnered from their market research.
If your conversions are plummeting for specific products or services, look to the competition. How are they positioning their products? What are they doing differently to hook and engage the target audience? Draw comparisons and see how they align with the insights you’ve gleaned from your data to determine which elements you should test and improve upon.
You can read more at Unbounce.
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