Nowadays, it’s not enough to just build a website that gets some traffic. You want visitors to subscribe to your email list, buy your products, and keep coming back. In other words, you want a website that converts. And conversion doesn’t just happen: you need to optimize for it.
Whenever users land on your website, they are having an experience and the quality of their experience has a significant impact on conversions.
Here are some numbers to get your attention:
- 88% of online consumers are less likely to return to a site after a bad experience.
- First impressions are 94% design-related.
A good user experience would mean that the user visited your website, scrolled through the different pages, understood what the website is all about, and finally, got converted.
Improve the navigation on your website
Very often web designers create attractive web-shops, however they do not take into consideration customer needs. Poor navigation confuses visitors and sends them away from your web-shop. How do you improve your website’s navigation?
- Have clear categories. Category headings must be separated visually from the sub-categories, even if the categories are links themselves.
- Make it mobile friendly responsive design. With so many people in the world using smartphones to surf the web, it’s a new standard for maintaining an online presence. Studies show that 50% search queries today are made on smartphones, and this percentage will grow to 70% by 2020. Moreover, 74% of people are likely to return to a website if it is optimized for mobile. This means appealing design with user-friendly navigation tends to attract users.
Use UGC To Engage Your Audience
What is UGC? User Generated Content is a form of content such as digital images, videos, blogs etc. that was created by end-users and is publicly available to other consumers.
With a practical understanding of your product’s unique qualities, you know the best way to emphasise it’s benefits and stand out from your competitors. When it comes to product image, it’s important to make your product glow. In fact, 85% of consumers find visual UGC more compelling than brand-created content, and the combination of professional and user-created content increases total brand engagement.
Here is a great example:
By posting user-generated content, Spirit Icons uses real stories to prove positive customer experiences. Moreover, they make this look shoppable and a customer does not need to leave the web-shop in order to purchase it.
As a result, UGC spread awareness about your business and solidify your brand image, enabling you to get a competitive edge. This is what brings more customers to the checkout page.
Include clear Call To Action
What is a Call To Action (CTA)? Call to action is a prompt on a website that tells the user to take immediate action. A CTA is typically phrased as a command or action phrase like “Shop Now”, “Add to basket”. Some common problems include CTAs not being obvious – not using an eye-catching colour – or there being too many calls to action on one page, which can be confusing. Make your CTA clear and honest. Misleading users will create a bad user experience which is one of the main reasons for high drop-off rates and low conversions.
Speed up your website
If you think that speeding up is not as important then you are wrong. Before making a purchase your customer will most likely browse, filter, and explore different products. A slow site will lead to a frustrating user experience and as a result people will leave your web-shop and look for the same products somewhere else. In fact, consumers in 2019 expect websites to load in 2 seconds and will abandon a page that takes three or more seconds.
Offer free shipping
Should you offer free shipping? Studies have shown that higher than expected shipping and handling fees is one of the top reasons that consumers abandon shopping carts. Instead provide free shipping or set a minimum order threshold. That could be enough to convince customers to buy more than they were planning to.
If you decide to offer international shipping, make it clear to your customers: state prices upfront, and keep it simple.