How to Increase Your Website Conversion with 5 Simple Tips
Welcome to our new weekly series “Online Success Tips for Busy Business Owners” where I’ll share strategies and news to help your online success.
For this week, I thought I would answer a question from a client on why their website is not selling for them as I see the same issues that people struggle with regularly.
My client asks “ Vanessa, I am getting lots of people to my website, but I am not getting any sales. Can you help?”
So here are the 5 main reasons people don’t buy from your website.
1. They don’t know what you are selling.
This sounds strange as you think, “this is obvious!” Its right there on my website. But if people find your website hard to navigate or there is not enough information about your product, then people won’t buy.
In an online catalogue have a good clear picture and description of what they get including measurements if appropriate (for larger items).
For digital products and especially packages of multiple things, list out exactly what they get, the format it is in and importantly attach a value to it.
Website Formatting is important for both types because if things are all bunched up and all one size text and colour, it makes it harder to read for skimmers. Whereas if you use bullets, boxes and headings on everything, the right information will stand out.
2. They don’t trust you.
These days online selling has become the norm, but people are still a bit suspicious of buying online in case they get “scammed” in some way. It helps to build trust by having the following on your website
- Contact details and map to place of business if relevant
- About us page telling more about who you are, what you do and why you do it (the only page where the focus should be on you rather than the customer)
- Business Registration details to show you are a real legitimate business.
- Testimonials/results/case studies from real customers showing that they were satisified in the product/service.
- Policy documents – privacy policy and return policy reassures people buying from an online catalogue
- A guarantee – if you are selling information or something intangible, people want to know they have options if they don’t like what they get.
3. They don’t “need” it enough.
Why should they buy from you really?
Are you selling something they can’t get anywhere else?
Is it cheaper? Do they get something different by buying from you?
Is there an urgency to buying now, rather than waiting or shopping around?
Without at least one of these reasons, it is not enough for the person to say to themselves “I have to have this now!”
You want to make sure your website visitors know why they should buy from you, and why they should buy now, rather than waiting until another time or continue shopping around.
4. You are not asking them to buy.
This one is critical. I have seen many websites where it is just not clear how to purchase or what to do next. Tell them!
Have big buttons with words like “add to cart”, “buy now” , or “join now”. If you don’t have an online merchant account, tell them to call you, or fill out you online form or whatever process you want them to follow to take the next step. Sometimes its just asking them to pick up the phone and call you.
5. Too expensive (or not communicating enough value)
Check out your competitors and if your products or services seem higher than the average price, then tell your customers why. What extra value do you provide? Why should they buy from you instead of someone else who is cheaper?
There is a good radio commercial I have heard recently for window shutters where they tell you exactly that – they are more expensive than their competitors because their product is superior in quality. They basically say that by buying the competiors you are putting yourself at risk by having less security. How can you say that on your website?
For digital products, such as a product that helps someone in business communicate how much it could help them to make, or perhaps, how much they can save.
I hope these tips have been useful on how to get more website sales.
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