It is an ongoing process that really never stops, the art of conversion optimization. All websites whether the operators know it or not deploy some techniques of conversion optimization. They are the tools to increase e-commerce website sales.
Once a website is launched, one of the main goals is to gain an increase in website visitors. An organization or individual invests into several methods to gain the website traffic. Usually, methods such as marketing services, paid advertising, PR, and other forms that can yield an increase of traffic to a website. Some of these methods are very costly.
To gain the most out of an investment made to increase a website’s traffic, operators deploy conversion optimization tools to have a greater return in investment (ROI). So, what is conversion optimization?
Conversion Optimization Explained And Defined
In the online marketing world, conversion optimization is the method of creating elements for a website on the home page or/and landing pages, to increase the percentage of visitors that convert into customers.
The elements are an array of tools and techniques deployed by marketing professionals to get better results from the original investment made into the website and marketing of it.
The tools can be a variety of items such as:
Testimonials are a common way to gain some trust with potential customers and increase a chance of sale through basically references.
Associations & Affiliations such as the Better Business Bureau BBB, can aid a website in increasing sales by lowering risk to the customer.
Click Through this is something to review for each website. How many clicks does it take until purchase? The less clicks it takes for the purchase, the better the chances of a sale. User-friendly navigation is critical.
Guarantees can help a website push the visitor over to a customer by offering some guarantees for the sale. Money back, Satisfaction, etc.
Promotions & Sales can be used to stimulate sales online through price sale, no shipping charges, two for one, etc. any form of discount and promotion.
Cross Sales & Suggested Products help a website e-commerce site advice visitors on products and services that are similar or somehow related to what they already expressed interest in. This further enhances changes for a sale.
Product Reviews are a fantastic way to increase sales online through e-commerce websites. Shoppers love reviews and are influenced by them when shopping.
Quality Content can significantly increase sales. Talk about your product informatively and educate your future customers on it well.
Freebies free giveaway items in exchange of information collected such as name, email, phone number, etc.
Quality Design one of the main modalities is the visual one. This is true especially for shoppers, and very much true online. With quality design of a website and online store, a website has much better chances to convert visitors into shoppers.
There are many conversion tools and techniques available. All of them or some can be applied to an e-commerce website to increase sales. Before applying any new conversion optimization techniques or making an investment into changes, get the details first.
E-Commerce Website Reporting Tools, Analytics, And Statistics
E-commerce websites and online stores must have a good understanding through reporting tools, analytics, and statistics what their website is doing. It is not enough to know how many sales or lack of them are generated. This is especially true if any money is being allocated to functions such as marketing, advertising, PR, sales, etc.
Having the ability to monitor progress or the lack of it is critical to working with conversion optimization tools. Tools to monitor and measure the impact on a website are essential to working with conversion.
Google Analytics, Webmaster Central, and other tools can significantly enhance a conversion optimization process and investment. Most importantly, prior to making any changes or utilizing conversion tools, a website must be measured and analyzed to determine the health of it and current status. This acts then as a benchmark to compare future efforts against.
In other words, it starts with the analysis of a website to gain a better understanding of its current activity and status. Then, goals are reviewed and conversion optimization tools designed, created, and implemented into the website to meet the objectives.
Conversion optimization services are available by professionals and companies who have experience improving online stores and e-commerce website sales. Increasing sales from existing traffic without any additional investment into marketing or advertising campaigns.
Image courtesy of KROMKRATHOG / FreeDigitalPhotos.net