subject: 3 Powerful Tips for Better Conversion Rates [print this page] 3 Powerful Tips for Better Conversion Rates
All online businesses want to increase conversion rates; however, it can literally mean testing and tweaking many aspects of the sales process. We know you're all dying to boost those conversions, so today we're going to discuss a couple cool tips to help you out.
Think about this, before you shop and purchase something new, what comes to mind when you're really thinking about buying it? People rightly are concerned if other people have benefited from the product. This principle has been valid for a long time now, and it works the same way even for your online sales. You can give your conversions a shot in the arm by the skillful use of testimonials that are sincere and most of all - real. Testimonials accomplish a lot of things just one of which is they lend credibility to your business and product. Those with more details and specific information about how the product helped are more powerful. It's important for you to know that there is a law, in the US, that has made the use of fake reviews or testimonials illegal. There has been so much abuse on the net over the years, and if anyone detects or suspects that you're using fakes, then they may very well report you. Always be sure to add some kind of identifying information such as geographic location and first/last name. All you can do is tell the truth, and some still won't believe it but that cannot be helped. The order of power and effectiveness with testimonials are: video, audio, text/audio, and then just audio. A high percentage of potential customers abandon the shopping cart, and one thing you must do is make it stupid simple with no hiccups. Minimize the overall number of steps, clicks, etc, and that is just one thing that will help. So you're not home-free when the visitor clicks through to buy, although you're closer but everything still needs to be super-painless. Your overall marketing flow has to work well together, and the cumulative effect cannot add-up too much in the unfavorable way. Stated simply, one or two page check-outs will help you to reduce the rate of abandonment.
Speed of site load - it matters, as you probably know already, but it can be a very serious matter. It's easy to find free apps online that will test the browser load times of your site. Some long copy sales lettes are graphic intensive and slow to load; the solution is to use tables and break-up the letter into their own table. There really are not many times when it's unavoidable to use Flash, so if you do not have a compelling need then best to not do it. So keep this in mind if you want your visitors to stick around and not leave as soon as they come.
Short of contracting a freelance copywriter, just be patient and learn about it; and then write and test all you do.
