The conversion rate is a key indicator of a campaign’s success or failure. A campaign that is getting leads but failing to convert them is miles away from success.
Enters Content Marketing
Content marketing aka the bottomline of SEO is the most effective way to increase the conversion rate. Across the internet, millions of sites deliver the same advice – How to create quality content so that the conversion rate flares up.
But my advice would be different – I’ll give you tips on how to increase the conversion rate without changing the content on your site.
Here are the tips:
Surveys can help
A software company surveyed their clients, got their opinions and by enforcing the changes suggested by them in the product lineup, saw a sharp 30% increase in the conversion rate. See the customer satisfaction result posted by them below:
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The key aspects of a visitor/customer survey include:
#Placement: Virtual windows containing survey questions popping up is an old-school method. It’s distracting. My advice, say goodbye to popups and opt for scrolling unaffected form-fields. You can place them in the top or bottom right navigation pane.
#The timing: Even happy customers don’t always bother answering survey questions and leave the site in a haste after making a purchase. Survey questions should be displayed to them when they are recommended additional products or when the return policy is explained to them.
#Survey type: Exit survey response rate is high for B2C sites. For B2Bs, email marketing surveys are useful. One case study shows open ended questions sent via email garnered a whopping 780% response rate.
#The questions: Open-ended questions are ideal because they lead to further questions. To frame this type of questions, you need to anticipate possible responses from the surveyees.
Survey response rate can drastically increase when you make it a part of an Email drip campaign
Email drip campaign
Email drip campaign is automated email marketing. New users receiving welcome emails after signing up, autoresponders sent as acknowledgement, emails sent out to clients automatically on a scheduled basis are all examples of email automation.
Email drip campaign is equally effective for B2B and B2C businesses. Customer surveys can be carried out using drip marketing. So can be lead nurturing. Below, you can find how email drip campaign works:
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All options are open ended – both “Yes” and “No” lead to further options. Only when a prospect refuses to watch a video, it leads to a dead-end. Such prospects are disengaged and should be removed from the list of qualified leads.
Here’s a case study that gives off some valuable marketing insights:
A California based software company called KANA Software sent more than a million emails to over 120000 prospects and registered a click-through-rate (CTR) of 3.6%. After running a successful drip campaign, their CTR stood three times higher and their CPC landing page submission rate was up 31.55% (From 2.64% to 34.19%).
You don’t have to blindly follow what the software company did. You can use this case study as a learning resource and add your 0.2 cents to spice up the drip campaign. Another thing; the success of email marketing largely depends on selecting the right software. So select one carefully.
Retargeting
Besides a sharp increase in the conversion rate, retargeting helps you retain your existing customers.
Remember the 80/20 rule? According to this rule, 20% customers give you 80% sales. If you doubt this rule, then read this amazing article, which categorically explains why retargeting the existing customers is financially more lucrative than finding new customers.
Retargeting depends on surveys and drip campaigns – Customer loyalty surveys can increase renewals as well as referrals. Above everything, you need to sort out the retargeting baits.
To sort them out, you should
- Identify which customers have been consistently buying from you.
- Identify which customers spent the most money recently to buy from you.
- Identify which customers have demographic details that match your niche.
Loyal customers don’t turn to other brands and a consistency can be found in their buying pattern. If a customer invests a sizable amount of money in your products, then he trusts you.
How demographic details matter? Imagine you sell designer clothes. Your customers are mostly women who are 18-40 years of age. If you sell uber-expensive designer clothes, then you have to target upscale customers.
Hence, sort out customers who are most likely to buy from you and then retarget them. This will escalate your chances of retaining them and having them purchase more from you. This way, your conversion rate will perk up.
Customer service
Brands are no longer following the archaic model of customer service, in which a CCE’s job was to read a script and take customers through various irksome and often unnecessary steps, making them feel that they are being stonewalled.
Now, the CCEs are supposed to show hospitality to customers. Almost 70% customers read online reviews before buying a product and each of them reads 10 reviews or more. Positive experience transfers from one customer to another.
Below are the skills, necessary to improve relationship with customers:
Clarity in communication: Customers often call up the CCEs for clarification. Many don’t understand the difference between getting 40% discount on a product and getting 40% more products. The CCEs need to clear their doubts and resolve their confusion.
Cool temper: CCEs need to have a thick skin. A customer can scold them, even resort to name calling, but they cannot reply back in the same tone. They should rather act in a patient and suave manner.
Social media: Customers prefer multi-channel support, A study conducted by Zendesk shows customer satisfaction depends on the channel involved. Social media is the channel that all customers prefer. Social media can reduce your spending on customer care as you won’t need live chat software.
So educate your customer service reps and use multiple channels including social media for attending customers. In case you need learning resources, here’s how 14 brands are setting example for how to use social media for customer support.
Loading time
In the past, loading time was believed to be a necessary condition for an upsurge in conversion rate, not the sufficient condition. But now the perspective has changed. To know why, see the infographic below:
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Every second counts in business – The infographic above explains why. If you need another eye-opening infographic to validate this aphorism, then see the one below:
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With the help of numbers, the infographic above explains how the removal of each second is directly proportional to an uptick in the conversion rate. If more than 7 seconds are removed, then a 3% increase in the conversion rate is likely.
Conversely, an e-commerce site making $3 million a year can lose up to $2.5 million worth yearly revenue in sale if there’s a delay of just one second. Among the reasons a site gets slow is multimedia content. Short-duration multimedia content drives engagement up, but slows a site down.
File storage sites offer a solution to this problem. Tools like SendThisFile, OneHub and 4Shared ease up file storage, sharing and integration. 4shared review shows file storage can be integrated into mobile apps and websites. OneHub allows for Google Drive integration and SendThisFile lets you customize your files after you integrate them into your site.
When everyone is following the cliched strategies to improve the loading time, you can be innovative and integrate file storage tools into your website.
Small screen optimization
Unless your site is optimized for handheld devices, your conversion rate can never improve. Multi-screen experience is gaining traction, making it necessary for you to build your presence across all types of devices.
Having a site optimized for Smart devices has its perks – M-commerce users are increasing in number; so are customers who browse through a retailer’s collection online but prefer to buy offline. Having a responsive mobile site or an app alongside a physical store indicates you aren’t missing out any customer segment.
Does mobile optimization benefit B2B sites too? Yes, it does. In 2014, more than 60% B2B customers downloaded work videos on their handheld devices. Webinars can be accessed through mobile devices, leveraging apps like GoToMeeting.
The rising importance of mobile led to a paradigm shift in the field of digital advertising. Many top brands are reducing their TV ad spending and investing in digital ads. While digital and TV ad spending are in a headlock right now, forecasts from the experts indicate digital ad spending will soon exceed TV ad spending. Hence, not making your presence felt across small screens translates to being stuck with a knee-high conversion rate.
Conclusion
Remember, content marketing is and will always be relevant for sales conversion. But over-reliance on it may drive your attention away from other techniques, which can have an equally positive impact on it. The six tips discussed here are among these techniques. Hence, follow them.