Website conversion happens on your website but the efforts it takes for your prospects to convert are actually spread out across multiple channels.
Depending on your prospect’s stage in the funnel, the challenge you face in converting them can be different. As a result, the methods used to address these challenges are different as well. In this article, we’ll help you find out why your website visitors aren’t converting and give you some insights as to what might help improve your conversion rate.
What could be the reasons that your website visitors are not converting?
- They’re not yet convinced about your product or service
- They don’t know what action to take
- They can’t find what they’re looking for
- They’re not the right fit for your product or service
It can be a whole other reason or a combination of many reasons.
But how do you know why your website visitors aren’t converting?
- When they’re not yet convinced about your product or service: your prospects could visit your website, look around your product pages but make no effort to follow your CTAs (in this case, you have unmistakable CTAs, but your visitors just don’t click on them).
- When they don’t know what action to take: if your website pages have a high amount of visitors but no conversion: it could be a sign that your prospects are confused about what they should do next. Whether you want them to subscribe to your newsletter or book a meeting, there should be CTA buttons so obvious that you cannot miss them at first sight. Check your website again and see if your CTAs are visible.
- When they can’t find what they’re looking for: this reason is more common for B2B companies with many product pages and prospects usually get lost inside these pages. One way you can determine if visitors are having a good time navigating through your website is to do usability testing once in a while. In addition, you can use a track click map or heat map using tools like Microsoft Clarity or Hotjar (it’s free!).
- When they’re not the right fit for your product or service: your website visitors might make a micro-conversion like submitting an application form, but it doesn’t mean that they’ll be a good lead and make the conversion that matters. You’ll often end up wasting time having to filter them out later.
What is a website conversion?
A website conversion is a visitor engaging and taking action on your website. This action is usually by entering their details on a form, bot or booking a meeting.
These actions are also known as different types of conversion events and are defined by your own parameters. This could mean that they left their contact information because they were interested in a certain product or service, subscribed to your newsletter or took another action and left their details allowing you to continue a conversation with them.
The Conversion rate on your website is simply the percentage of people who have visited your website and taken an important action.
How to calculate the conversion rate
Calculating your website conversion rate is very simple; Here’s how to calculate your website conversion rate:
For example, if 1,000 people visit your website in a given month and if two people express their interest by leaving their contact information, your conversion rate is 0.02%.
That is, 2/1000 = 0.2%.
Pick your poison
Have you figured out what could be the reason(s) that your website visitors are not converting? Let’s try to make an antidote together.
1. They’re not yet convinced about your product or service
Leads like these are in the consideration stage. They know about your brand and what you do. In fact, they quite like your products. However, compared to your competitors, they’re not sure how you can do better.
Your prospective customers are researching for the best choice out of the mix and would like to have more information. It’s in this stage that leads need to be nurtured the most.
In this stage, it is about direct interactions with your leads that could help them lessen their doubts about your brand and solidify their reasoning for choosing your product instead of the competitors’.
In the below image, we have what is called a “full-page bot”, where you can interact with website visitors by showing off your product on the right side and engaging in a conversation with your visitors on the left side.
On the right side, you can put either a video of your product, a 3D virtual house tour, or anything you would like to show in detail. On the left side, prospects can ask you more questions related to the products or services as they watch the video on the right side.
Another thing that you can do is creating more engaging website copy and more insightful content to let your prospects know that you understand their problems and know how to solve them.
Your website copy should be short and concise. Look at it as an elevator pitch. In just a few short sentences, visitors should be able to understand what you do and why they should care.
Apple’s website copy has always been top of the game. They use extremely simple but descriptive language - “Capture a caterpillar’s fuzz. Magnifying a dewdrop. Making the smallest details seem epic”. Sure, there might be a lot of ground-breaking technology involved, but do the average people care? No, they care about what the new iPhone can do for them
Let's look at another example;
Strand Properties is a real estate agency focusing on helping you find the best properties for resale and developments in Marbella, Spain.
With one look you can see that the front page is very clean and simple. As soon as you get here you read the words ‘Strand Properties’ and look at the background image. Now with that bit of information, you can easily guess that Strand Properties has something to do with real estate.
However, beyond this, you don’t have more information to find out what their speciality is. Are they more focused on rentals? What locations do they focus on? Are they a developer or constructor?
Strand Properties’ focus was hidden on the bottom of their website when it should have been highlighted in a prominent place at the top of the main page.
They made a change by bringing it out in the open with a chatbot.
Let’s take a closer look at what the chatbot is saying.
The chatbot simply welcomes the website visitor by saying “Hello! Welcome to Strand Properties.”
Then it tells the visitor what their unique selling point is by saying “We sell properties all over the Costa del Sol with a focus on Marbella and its surroundings.”
This highlights that their main focus is properties in Marbella. If a visitor is looking for a property in Barcelona, Strand Properties might not be the right fit for them but if they are looking in Marbella, the visitor knows they are on a highly relevant and useful page.
Another way to make your products or services more convincing is by find out what channels they frequently use and the kind of content that they would like to see and constantly appear in front of them.
If you have their contact information or a designated account manager who can take care of these prospects, reach out to them once in a while with great content that could help them understand their problems or give great ideas about how to improve their business.
Most importantly, once in a while, you need to highlight the benefits that your products or services could bring to their brand and direct them to your conversion page. Consider engaging a promotional agency to assist you in enhancing your conversions.
2. When they don’t know what action to take
Leads like these are already interested in your product or service, they might even want to buy already. But they just can’t seem to locate the “Buy” button, or whatever CTA button that you have.
This kind of frustration is common and can send your prospects away from your website, especially if they’re in a time crunch. They’re better off shopping somewhere else.
Imagine, you’re going to the grocery store and have picked what you like already. When it’s time to check out, the cashier is nowhere to be found.
You would think that this is a no-brainer. But nope, we have seen so many websites like these that just frustrate people and send them away
Make it very obvious as to what actions you want your website visitors to take. If you have a blog and want more people to read it, put a “Subscribe to our newsletter” where people can clearly see.
Here you can also do an A/B test to determine which CTA button works better (text, shape, color, etc.).
If your call to action is to encourage visitors to sign up for a newsletter or download a resource, you can make a QR code with a "Scan now" message. Instead of traditional CTAs like "Buy now" or "Call today," using a QR code provides a simple and quick way for visitors to access more information or free resources.
For example, a website selling skincare products could add a QR code with a "Scan now for a free sample" message, which could lead visitors to a landing page where they can claim their free sample.
Or, if your CTA is to book a meeting, having an embedded calendar on your conversion page could do amazing for your conversion rate. Adding this element will help you cut down the back and forth of scheduling a suitable meeting.
For example, if you use Ourly, simply mark your availability on the calendar and ask your prospects to directly choose an available time that’s suitable for them. Done! They only need to show up at the meeting.
If your prospects have already followed a micro-CTA but have not interacted with your brand since, re-engage with them.
For example, they could have signed up for a free trial. But it turns out that the free trial was too difficult to use, so you should arrange a 1-on-1 with them to see how you can help. In addition, it might be better if you don’t call it a “Demo” (even if it is a demo), because your prospects might think that you’re only trying to sell the product to them.
This works well too if you set this CTA as a pop-up right after they’ve signed up for your free trial. Let them have the option to try the free trial themselves or receive a helping hand. If it turns out that they do need help, they can return to the website and sign up for the 1-on-1. Once again, if this is what you want them to do, make it obvious!
The CTA “Start Free Trial” is repeated and right in your face
Telling users the next step after starting free trial - upgrade plan or book a demo
3. They can’t find what they’re looking for
Let’s go to the grocery store again, but this time, you can’t even find what you’re looking for.
This means that having good website navigation will increase your chances of converting. Here are some tips you can use to improve website navigation.
Have a search bar and make sure it works. Always show relevant results that are able to bypass spelling mistakes and show related products when you don't have what visitors are searching for. Even better if your search bar shows recommendations before people finish typing.
Nowadays, companies are using a more advanced search option, where you can search the website right from the chatbot. This is a great way to engage with your visitors and help them quickly locate what they are looking for on the website.
Implement the 3-click rule. It should never take users more than 3 clicks to arrive at their desired destination. Usually it goes like this: Category - Subcategory - Product.
If they can't find what they are looking for - step in to help. Many times when people visit a website and what is being said isn’t clear or they can't find the information they are looking for, they are just going to leave your website. This results in a higher bounce rate.
When you understand they have been browsing for more than 1 minute, you could set up a pop-up or form to say "Did you not find what you were looking for?".
4. They’re not the right fit for your product or service
This happens often for venture capital businesses looking for startups to fill in a funding application, or educational establishments trying to get more admission applications.
In this case, your service is not for everyone and you’d want to prevent wasting time and energy for both you and the applicants.
In your forms or interactive chatbots, you can ask pre-qualifying questions that help you filter leads and get high-quality leads. Let your prospects know right from the start that this is not the right product or service for them.
What’s next?
Go back to your website and do a thorough analysis of your website - from website copy, content, to CTAs. Think about the journey that your website visitors might take, whether it’s from your social media, emails, or somewhere else. What is it that you want them to take away from your website
The answer is - the values and benefits that your products or services give to solve a relevant and painful problem that your potential customers have
Once they know that they have a problem and you have the solution, they should know the actions that they have to take in order to obtain this solution. Make it easier for them to do so.
You have heard of “explain this product to me like I’m a 5 year old”. Now you gotta hold your prospect’s hands and guide them like they’re 5 years old.
We hope this small guide has helped you figure out why your website visitors aren’t converting and have more knowledge about how to improve your conversion rate.
Here comes our CTA
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Now, if you want to increase your conversion rate but can’t be bothered with all this, book a free consultation with us.
We’ll help you identify your challenges and work out a solution together.
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