Most companies spend a ton of money getting traffic to their site. They run paid media campaigns, they hire SEO consultants to do research and come up with great pieces of content to rank on organic social, and they hire social media and PR people to shout about them from the rooftops.
But getting eyeballs on your site is only half the battle. The other half is turning those visitors into leads.
For most companies, conversion optimization is the single lowest hanging fruit their organization can pursue in order to increase revenue. Here are five tactics to get you started now.
1. Test your CTAs to boost conversion optimization
There are two primary ways of getting customers to convert using HubSpot’s marketing tools- calls-to-actions (CTAs) and forms. Let’s start with CTAs. Technically, a CTA is a button used on HubSpot content to drive traffic to your website so they can then convert on a form. But CTAs within HubSpot can be so much more than just a button.
You will find the CTA section inside of the Marketing Hub under the Lead Captures menu item.
When you create a CTA you can customize it in the following ways:
- Button text
- Button style
- Button color
- Advanced styling
You also have the option to use an image for your CTA instead of creating an actual button.
It is a good practice to test your CTAs using all of the above options. A great test would be for button styles.
Some website benefit greatly from going with embedded, link style CTAs that do not appear to be buttons. Think of these like an undercover CTA that gets past most people’s aversion to banner style advertising.
The only way you will find out what works is if you start testing!
2. Experiment with pop-up forms for a conversion boost
Pop-up forms are forms that pop-up, either in the middle of the page, as a slide-in box, or as a dropdown banner.
The use of pup-up forms are as varied as their placement on your website can be.
You should reserve your most enticing offers for your pop-up forms, as people are naturally accustomed to ignoring elements of a site that appear to be an interruption in their site experience.
People hate interruptions, even if they don’t seem that intrusive to you.
So make sure the pop-up offer is worth taking their attention away. A couple of ways to increase conversions on pop-ups is to:
Make sure the pop-up is relevant
Your pop-up should be relevant to the visitor based on what you know about the visitor. If the pop-up is showing on a specific page then you know that your visitor is interested in specific content. If it is a returning visitor and you gleaned information from their last visit, use that information to personalize your pop-up offer.
And again, keep on testing!
3. A/B test on your landing pages for better performance
A/B testing landing pages is essentially the definition of conversion rate optimization.
Landing pages are where site visitors engage with your offer and decide if they like you enough to give up their information.
In this day and age, that is no small feat. Every time someone gives you their email address, it means that they must really really like you.
But finding out what works isn’t about creative genius- it is about trying stuff to see what works.
HubSpot’s A/B testing tool allows you to set two design against each other and figure out which one is better at converting your customers.
But it is up to you to decide what to test. It could be design features like colors, branding, or positioning. Or it could be content characteristics like offer and copy.
The first thing you should likely be testing are your offers. This is because if visitors are not converting on your offer, most times changing around the color of your buttons will not do much. Focus your efforts on finding offers that resonate with your audience- then go for the incremental wins on design.
4. Use progressive fields in forms to optimize for conversions
Progressive fields in HubSpot forms are for visitors who have already converted and submitted a form on your site. But if your content strategy is on-point- then these visitors will keep coming to your site and engaging with your content.
The mistake here would be to keep on showing them the same forms over and over that are asking for the same information over and over. Why ask for their email and name when you already have their email and name?
Enter Progressive Profiling.
No, it is not car insurance.
Progressive profiling allows you to show different form fields to visitors that have already converted. So if you already have their name and email, the form next time will ask for their company size and industry.
This allows you to build a progressive profile of your customers and increase your conversions by making your form fields more relevant to visitors.
Start by making a list of fields and properties that would translate into information that you would like to know about your customers. This information should be stuff that will allow you to deliver a more relevant marketing experience to your customers. Then start testing out these new fields with progressive profiling.
5. Add live chat to your web pages
Live chat software allows you to engage with visitors in real-time and offer specific guidance and support at the convenience of the visitor. Most visitors prefer chatting online versus email or phone call.
You can even automate this process through HubSpot’s messaging and live chat software.
But even if you do choose to automate your live chat experience, the rules of conversion optimization still apply — the offer needs to be personalized, timely, and relevant to the visitor. That’s how you make sure your live chat stays alive!
Conclusion
Traffic will always only ever be part of the question when it comes to marketing. Once your visitors get to your site, you have to convince them to become a part of your community. The way that that is measured is through conversions.
When looking for new tests to run, try to always put yourself in the shoes of your visitor. Try to figure out what is important to them and base your tests on the hypotheses you have around your visitor’s intent. These will ensure you are always optimizing toward your visitors.
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