Running an online business means finding ways to attract visitors to your site and using various techniques to turn them into loyal customers. That requires creative thinking and excellent communication between your sales, IT, and customer support departments. Everyone involved has to focus on creating an exceptional user experience and put their heads together to increase conversions and boost sales. Regardless of the industry, you belong to, finding a way to convert visitors into customers is essential for your company’s success. You need a well-designed website built according to the best industry practices. Here are a few tips that should help you get started on the right foot.
1. Keep It Simple
There’s nothing worse than finding a great offer on a site that makes it hard to navigate and buy something. What good is all the flashy colors and modern design solutions if the visitor gets lost trying to find what they want? No one wants a map to get around a website, so the first thing you should focus on is to keep things as simple as possible.
It would help if you focused on creating a simple platform with intuitive features and layout. Your visitors should be able to find and purchase what they need with only a few clicks. Everything should be logical and divided into the correct categories. The best approach is to get a piece of paper and create multiple product categories where you can group related items to simplify navigation.
However, when it comes to website designs, trends are constantly changing, so you’ll have to update your plan once in a while. Something that worked great in the past might become boring and obsolete, so don’t forget to follow the latest trends and tune your website design to the current situation. Also, keep a close eye on your site’s traffic to see what your visitors are searching for the most, and possibly use those terms for different product types.
The bottom line is that you want to create a website that’s easy to navigate to allow your visitors to find what they need in seconds. Do that, and your customer engagement rates will increase. You can also conduct A/B testing to check the performance of multiple layouts and designs and keep only those features with higher engagement rates.
Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay2. Create a Better User Experience
Apart from simple navigation and eye-catching design solutions, you want to ensure that the user journey feels good at every stage. The best way to convert visitors into customers is to provide them with as much helpful information as possible. Here, the idea is to show your visitors that you want to help them overcome everyday challenges. If they find useful information, they will continue to the product page and buy something from your offer.
It’s the smallest details that make all the difference. For example, every product page should have high-quality images that allow visitors to view the product from multiple angles. You can also use short videos that show how the products are used.
When grouping products, put them into drop-down menus so they can find what they need with a few clicks. Furthermore, every product page requires a prominent CTA button that allows visitors to purchase the product with one click. It’s also good to add a few testimonials and reviews to product pages to make it easier for your visitors to see what other people say about the product.
3. Build Stronger Relationships With Prospects
Finding new visitors is essential for success. They are more likely to purchase if they heard about your brand before landing on your site. That’s why it’s necessary to create a solid social media presence that allows you to introduce your brand to a broader audience.
Social media networks allow you to communicate with your followers and see what they think about your brand. You can also use them to offer new products or discounts to your followers directly. The ones that take the time to visit your websites are the most likely to buy something. Therefore, you want to encourage them to make the first step by offering a discount or a free item with their first purchase.
On-site surveys can also help you understand your customers better. Surveys are very effective for discovering new opportunities. Try to offer rewards to everyone who takes a survey, and you’ll end up with a bunch of new customers before you know it.
4. Offer Something for Free
Let’s be honest; everyone likes getting something for free. However, if you’re only starting your online business, giving something away might seem wrong, especially if you’re running on a tighter budget. That mostly depends on the nature of your products. For example, if you sell golden jewelry, you can’t give stuff away for free. But, if your business is built on a subscription model, a free trial or limited access can do wonders for your sales.
Giving away free trials allows your visitors to try all features and options, answering their concerns and questions. It also shows that you’re confident in the quality of your product, which often has a positive effect on sales.
Photo by Arlington Research on Unsplash5. Implement Live Chat
Live chat is one of those website features you can’t do without in 2022. Remember that your customers have plenty of brands and businesses to choose from, so you have to do everything to make them feel like you’re the best choice.
A live chat feature is a must because of multiple reasons. First, it will help you reach out to more visitors and help them find an answer to their questions. Second, it will show them that you care about your customers. Finally, giving visitors the ability to contact the seller for more information is a welcomed website feature that can drastically boost sales.
On the other hand of the spectrum, most live chat software solutions come with user-tracking tools that make it easy to identify the reasons that turn your visitors away from making a purchase. Your agents can also set custom triggers that initiate conversations with prospects when it identifies potential problems. It won’t work on every visitor, but it will help you increase conversions almost immediately.
Conclusion
These are just some practices that can help you increase sales online. There are many more things you can try to improve customer engagement and increase revenue. Figuring out which approach works best for your business will require experimenting and constant A/B testing.
That will allow you to remove the site features that turn visitors away and keep only those that don’t. Follow the latest design trends and keep looking for new ways to convert visitors into customers and engage them, and success will follow. Good luck!
Author Bio
Sarah Watson is an economist and content writer currently employed with DigitalStrategyOne, who loves tech, digital marketing, and online games. She’s a passionate blogger expressing herself through her creative and informative articles about online marketing strategies.