There’s a lot to be said for producing a great website and content that excites readers.
However, what do you do when they’re about to click ‘X’ in the top corner of their screen? You want to avoid risking them saying “bye” to you before you get started, but how do you keep their interest?
Creating a conversion process! You need to have a defined process for funnelling a user through your site so that they ‘convert’.
Start by creating promotional and engaging content marketing activity that actually resonates with web visitors to attract them to your site. After that, you should create conversion points that allow your site to capture their data in exchange for a valuable piece of content marketing (whitepaper, ebook, webinar, etc.).
What next? Once a lead is generated you can nurture them with further content (email marketing) and eventually build a strong reputation in their mind, so they convert - into a customer!
Use customer testimonials
Let your customers do the talking (preferably the happy, chuffed-to-bits ones)!
Sometimes you can get more power and benefit from customer reviews than you can from talking about yourself - people are more likely to believe that you’re the company for them if other people back them up.
Testimonials give you that extra star power because it’s not you rambling on about how amazing your company is, but other people who have paid for your work are doing the shouting from the rooftops!
Consider how you will showcase testimonials, it’s always great to use one or two-star testimonials on appropriate printed products, but keep them on your website - and not just as a rolling widget on your homepage.
Have a page dedicated to the amazing things that people have said about you and ensure that they look appealing and suit your website’s design.
Headlines are important
Although we might look upon those who produce wondrous content as creative geniuses, there is a way that the rest of us can write excellent stuff (including landing pages, social media statuses and blog posts).
A lot of the time, headlines come last. You write blog posts, then you come up with the best headline. No matter when you write it, ensure that when that headline is live, it is a super-duper one!
Conversion comes after a reader has skimmed, scanned or allowed their eyes to just flash across the page. They’ve made their mind up.
Focus your killer writing skills (or the best you can come up with) on:
- Your headline
- The subheadline
- Images
- Calls to action
Customers don’t always read the rest (i.e. subheaders, bullets, paragraphs and image captions) so be smart with every piece of text.
Focus on customer benefits
What is more important to you when purchasing something? A never-ending list of features? An explanation of what that specific product will do for you?
For us, it’s a no brainer. We need to know the benefits, not just the solution. We know the problem and we know (or we can Google) the solution needed to solve our problem.
What our knowledge - and Google - lacks are the specific benefits that we can achieve from your solution. Don’t just say:
“We can provide a widget to fit your appliance”, add on: “that will halve the time your appliance usually requires”.
Benefits will always outweigh solutions. Increase conversions by shouting about the benefits of your product and service – put them first.
Write like a human
You’re in a shop in 3021. Sales assistants are few and far between. There’s the choice of the ever-popular robot and a human being like you and me.
Which would you choose for better customer service? Although I can’t guarantee that robots will be as ‘robotic’ as we know them today, you can guarantee a flowing conversation out of a human, more than a robot (at least you can with most people…).
People will always choose humans, in cafes, shops, over the phone and in any other way. Which is why it’s still best to write like a human.
Be personal, relatable and let your brand personality shine through your copy:
- Write as you would if you were speaking
- Use normal words, even slang and colloquialisms, if appropriate
- Be funny
- Write in the first person
- Use short sentences
Bottom line? Don’t write stuffy, dull copy, instead, write like it’s a conversation.
Ask readers to do something
Don’t just let a reader find that call to action. Point them to it. If you’re not requesting conversions, you ain’t going to get them, quite simply! Allow readers to read a blog post and then give them the option to delve in further with a call to action.
Remember! Call to actions aren’t just “Download Now” buttons – add some enticing text there, to create a spoiler of why they simply must delve in and download your content.
Sometimes it’s better to leave the clicking up to them, choose to write about the benefits and leaving subtle suggestions, rather than forcing them to action. Forcible actions include:
- Buy Now
- Download Now
Instead, subtle suggestions can be more beneficial, such as:
- Read Now
- Add to Basket
Use facts and figures
Everyone loves a good statistic. That’s why so many content creators do really well with lists that start with:
- 87% of people said…
- 11 reasons to…
- 9 times you will…
Don’t just be general, but choose specific facts and figures to encourage lead conversion. The more exact you are with your numbers and statistics, the more believable you are – it’s just the way it is.
Anybody can claim to improve conversion rates, but can you put an exact figure on it?
Spending time to work out with sales just how many sales you’ve made may seem time-consuming, but the specificity of that figure is more powerful than “hundreds”.
