People often think too hard, wait too long, procrastinate, or simply don’t respond when presented with a call to action. As a result, many of these potential leads or customers don’t end up converting at all. By creating a sense of urgency, you can persuade your users to react more quickly, reducing some of the mental friction created by offering too much time to make a decision. Experiment with incorporating techniques such as scarcity, countdowns or loss-aversion into your sales copy to improve conversion rates.
Copy
Ask people to share, like or rate your content
If you want more people to like your posts, share your content, or rate your product, just ask. Direct calls to action for social engagement can often be the nudge your audience needs to react the way you want them to. It’s not uncommon for studies to show triple digit percentage increases in engagement when users are simply asked to like, share or follow a page. A call to action is one of the most important pieces to your marketing campaign and including one in your social strategy should be no exception.
Personalize your content
Nurture your users by personalizing the content they see. If you have it, pull information such as name, location, referral source, etc. from your database or link appends, and dynamically insert it into your page or email copy. For example, let’s imagine we have a job board with a headline that reads, “Companies are hiring people like you:”. If we know where they’re searching, we can personalize the headline with dynamic fields. It then becomes, “Companies in Cleveland are hiring people like you”. This adds to the user experience by speaking more specifically to each user’s needs. Of course, you might not always have the information to dynamically insert for every user, so always be sure to set a default entry, such as “in your area”, or word the content in a way so that the dynamic fields can simply be left out, as we did in the example above.
Communicate form validation errors clearly
If you’re using any kind of form validation on your site, be sure to communicate input errors clearly. Let your users know why the form wasn’t submitted successfully. Rather than vague “All fields are required” error messaging, tell your users specifically what they missed or why their input wasn’t accepted. Did their phone number not have enough numbers? Were they missing the “.com” from their email address? Give clear instructions as to how to fix the problem and successfully resubmit their information.
Let your users know what to expect next
Leave out the guesswork. Set expectations. Being vague won’t get people to click on your button or call to action. People like to be in control. Don’t leave them guessing what the next step will be. Show your users where they stand in lengthy processes. Incorporate progress bars. Be clear about what will happen once they complete a lead form or place an order. Clicking submit without knowing exactly what to expect next creates uncertainty. Uncertainty creates friction—and friction can kill the success rate of your page.
Mention your privacy policy near the form or submit button
One of the top reasons users don’t fill out lead forms is the uncertainty of what might be done with their information. Set expectations. Provide a link to your privacy policy under or near your form that ensures their personal information will be safe and won’t be sold or distributed to third parties. If you don’t have an official privacy policy, try implementing a short line of copy that reassures users their contact information won’t be abused.
Give users enough time and information to make a decision
The more complex the product or service, the more time it may take your customers to make a commitment. What are the risks associated with making the wrong decision?— Is the product expensive? Does it require a significant time commitment? Could it pose a health risk? Put yourself in your users’ shoes. How much information would you require in order to make an informed decision? The more risk associated with potentially making a wrong decision, the more research we typically seek out as part of our decision-making process. Experiment with things such as copy length, filtered content and comparison charts. Don’t be too aggressive up front and make sure you’re providing your user’s with the right amount of information.
Focus on a single call to action
Multiple offers confuse the user and confused users means lower conversions. Determine which single call to action is most important and make it the focus of your page. Make all other options clearly secondary. Create an obvious hierarchy. All links are not equally important. Attempts to be all-inclusive can create leaks in your sales funnel by distracting users ready to commit with unnecessary information.
Look at your users’ decision-making process
We typically require differing amounts of information depending on where we’re at in our decision-making process. Early in the process, users will most likely be researching and gathering information. During this educational phase, try utilizing lengthier page content or microsites that provide more information—especially for products or services that require a more complex level of consideration. As users move from the research phase and drive closer toward their decision, don’t distract them with unnecessary content. The closer you get to closing the sale, the less you should have on your page. Consider testing anything that could be reduced, from supportive copy to design elements to navigational items, or even implementing a single-purpose landing page.
Simplify!
Take an inventory of your website, landing page or email template and remove anything that isn’t absolutely necessary. Look at design elements, copy, form fields, and anything that isn’t needed to get your point across. Resist the urge to include every last detail. Excess information can clog up your conversion path — especially late in the buying cycle. Simplify until there’s nothing left to remove. Be direct and to-the-point. Avoid fluff copy, big words and fancy verbiage. Sum things up. Figure out which aspects are the most important to your conversion funnel and make them a priority. Follow Pareto’s law of the vital few: What 20% of your page is contributing to 80% of your goals?