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Welcome brand builders this is Rediscover Your Brand™ podcast episode #16 brought to you by ArtVersion Interactive Agency. I’m your host Kip Russell. I’m a social media manager for multiple brands as well as marketing enthusiast and I’ve even wrote a TV theme song.
This week on Rediscover Your Brand™ podcast we are talking conversion rates based on a website redesign as well as a few other statistics.
So this week at the ArtVersion offices one of our customers contacted us to let us know that the redesigned website we created for him a year ago had increased his conversion rates from 4% to 8% in terms of visitors the contacted him threw his website and based on his overall traffic numbers.
This got me thinking if a website refresh design helped our clients double his online conversion rates what are the national or broader ranged numbers for all refreshed web 2.0 websites. So I did some research.
After a few days of research for this podcast because I want to make sure the numbers I quoted were accurate I found that the conversion rates average different based on your field and brand size. And let’s also be clear a conversion is any action taken on your website that you deem valuable. Here is the break down after checking numerous credible publications.
Larger brands with a well known name have conversion rates around 7-13%
While smaller brands and local business have an average conversion rate of around 2-4% some of these smaller companies that have very little traffic such as 500 visits a month are hard to track but if you’re getting around 1,500 you should be able to accurately understand your conversion rates.
Visit-to-lead conversion rates for non-necessary home services (like bathroom or kitchen remodeling), tend to be in the neighborhood of 1-4.5%.
B2B services companies, like fire protection companies, can expect visit-to-lead conversion rates between 5-8%. Be clear, when we say, ‘lead’, we are referring to actual verified LEADS – inquiries from prospective customers (vs. a phone call that has not been recorded and listened to).
Service based business such as HVAC, plumbers, electricians have a much higher conversion rates 15-22% because they customers generally call right away due to emergencies.
If your one of these companies I mentioned above and you are doing less than the numbers I mentioned above you have a serious problem and you need to redesign your website as soon as possible. Now that we’ve talked about the numbers let’s get into some ways to help improve your website to get more conversions.
Let’s remember your website is not a brochure it’s a sales rep so make sure you have a website that closes before you waste all your money marketing a site that doesn’t close.
11 Ways to Improve your Conversion Rates
1. Make The User’s Life Easy by having good UI/UX
a. Simply put if your users can’t figure out how to navigate your website they will go somewhere else. Your website interface design and user experience should be catered towards the product you’re selling. Your website should be easy enough for a 3 year old to figure its way around. Many of your customers will have limited web skills so its important to simply the process and lead them to the actions you want. If your doctor you want people calling your office you phone number should be on the home page in large font.
2. Be Clear, Open & Honest
a. If you ran out of your best selling product make sure users know that you’re out of stock. If you have high shipping rates make sure you’re upfront about all this info. The last thing you want to do is try to sucker your online client the trust level is already low so be upfront and honest about what’s going on online.
3. Have call to actions
a. Remember your website is a salesman and a good salesmen should always be closing so remember to have call to actions on all pages such as contact us now click here or call now with your number right there. Check out the artversion.com page to see what we are talking about our work with us button is the main focus of our home page.
4. Simple is better
a. Keep it simple the salesman that talks too much often talks his way out of a sale. Keep it short, easy to navigate and to the point.
5. Help the User Trust you
a. Most people still have low trust of online sites and giving the credit, address and personal info to a site that doesn’t look up to par will likely lead to zero closes. That’s why it’s vital you keep your website current with the times and use things such as PayPal, authorize.net and have BBB approved on your site anything to get the user to trust your site.
6. Have a ultra clear return policy
a. Users are impressed with sites with a good returns policy and are more likely to buy from them. Have people phone for returns – they can then explain the problem to a real person, which is always a good first step. Free return shipping is usually a good option, if commercially viable. People don’t like to pay to return things, especially if it is a mistake by the retailer. Finally, give the user plenty of time to return things. 28 days is fairly common, but if it takes you that long to deliver a product, what use is the return policy? 28 days from the date of delivery is better.
7. Keep your user informed
a. When someone buys from you online let them know that when and how they are getting the product. Keeping people involved in the process and up to date will build emotional value to you site and bring back loyal business. Dominoes new website and watch your pizza function is game changing it tracks your pizza from prep to delivery and it’s dramatically improved their business.
8. Offer different payment options
a. Basically a no brainer people use various methods for online payment so make sure you have them all covered.
9. Be Memorable
a. Being memorable, and making sure you stick in the user’s mind, is dependent on a lot of factors. You must have a USP (see the next point), and branding is important (no good if your visitors remember why you are great but don’t remember your name), as well as the quality of your site and information.
10. Know your Niche or Unique Selling Point
a. Know your niche if you sell flowers what makes you stand of from your competition. A good example of this is zappos. They sell shoes lots of people do but we all know how they made themselves standout be donating a pair of shoes for every pair bought on their site. This is your game changing factor find out what makes your special and make sure all your users know it.
11. Take notes from larger trusted brands
a. Larger brands have been doing it for years so use a brand in that is relevant to your field as a starting point for your own online business.
If your company is experiencing below average conversion rates and you haven’t updated your site in the last 3-5 years your first step is to contact and website Design Company that can get your site up to par and the current standards.
I hope this episode of Rediscover your Brand has been helpful I learned a lot while researching this topic. Good luck branders…
That’s it EPISODE #17 of REDISCOVER YOUR BRAND™. If you enjoyed this episode, please take a minute to rate the show on ITUNES.
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If you have any suggestions or comments, feel free to send us an email, we would love to hear from you. To get more information on ARTVERSION, visit our website at ARTVERSION.COM.
Next time on the REDISCOVER YOUR BRAND™ podcast EPISODE #17, we’ll be discussing the low cost of creating a new brand or business. That’s next time, until then, Thank you for listening – I’m Kip Russell helping you REDISCOVER YOUR BRAND.