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.
Avoid using CAPTCHA puzzles
CAPTCHA puzzles nearly always add friction and a level of frustration to the conversion process. Unless SPAM is such a problem that it is completely unmanageable, you should avoid using them. They certainly aren’t helping your conversion rates. If you must implement a CAPTCHA, take the time to choose the right one. Some CAPTCHA technologies have improved greatly in recent years, but others can be outright impossible to solve. Don’t build such a roadblock that you block qualified leads from completing your form.
Remove the “clear fields” button from your form
This one should be pretty obvious, but you still see a lot of forms out there with them. Offering your users an easy option to clear fields that they’ve already completed just doesn’t make a lot of sense when you’re trying to get people to complete the form fields. Stop making it easy for users to change their minds about whether or not to provide their information! Yes, there may be a case or two out there where someone might argue that providing this option helped them improve the quality of their leads or the accuracy of their database information because they were auto populating the fields, but in most cases it’s just plain not going to get you more lead conversions.
Add an actionable icon like an arrow to your primary button.
Experiment with adding some strategic iconography to your primary button. Choose actionable icons, such as forward-facing arrows, that suggest to the user that something expected is about to happen next as a result of clicking on it. For downloads, you might test out a down-facing arrow or even file type icons, such as the Adobe pdf icon. Actionable icons can reinforce anticipation, or even set expectations and can help persuade your visitors to take the next step.
Add a directional cue or arrow
A strong hierarchy is important to any goal-driven webpage design. While there are many ways to develop a strong hierarchy, directional cues are a great way to help you reinforce it. Directional cues are visual elements that direct visitors’ attention to certain areas of your page. They can be explicit, like lines or arrows that point in the direction of your goal—or suggestive, like a photo of a person gazing, pointing or making a gesture toward your goal. Experiment with different ways to direct visitors toward your goal.
Align what you’re requesting of the user with the benefit being offered
Whether you’re utilizing some kind of link bait to drive email signups or campaigning for large scale initiatives, always make sure that what you’re requesting of the user aligns with the benefit being offered. As an extreme example, requiring users’ Social Security numbers might be completely acceptable for a college application. The benefit of obtaining a college degree outweighs any risk of providing personally identifiable information. On the other hand, if you were to require Social Security numbers in return for a flimsy pdf download, then you’d likely have a lot of trouble obtaining leads! But, it may not always be this obvious. Even more common fields, such as a phone number or street address, could have the potential to negatively effect your form completion rates, depending on the benefit being offered. Take a look not only at your form fields, but at any hoops your users are being required to jump through in order to get to what they’re looking for.
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.
Make your site look more professional
Your visitors begin forming opinions about your business before they’ve even read a word of your copy. The second they land on your site, they’re presented with visuals that instantly begin forming impressions based solely on outward appearance. And because trust plays such a crucial role in whether or not your visitors will convert, it’s important that your site look trustworthy. If it doesn’t, many visitors may just bounce. Avoid looking “spammy” by investing the extra money to hire a professional designer. It shouldn’t look like you threw it together with some cheap drag and drop software in the mid-late 90’s. A website that looks expensive and professional usually is. It’s no different than being approached on the street by a disheveled homeless man versus a clean-cut business man in a suit and tie—would you turn and walk the other way or would you stop to listen what he has to say?
Pay attention to the page fold
In most cases, the higher on the page you can keep your most important information or calls to action, the better. Ideally, visitors will see the most important elements the second they arrive on the page, without having to scroll. However, if what you’re selling has a large price tag or is something that requires a significant amount of research or consideration before the sale, consider testing your call to action placement below the fold so that it follows the copy.
Use action verbs that convey value to your users
The implications behind certain action verbs can often affect users’ willingness to follow through. Pay special attention to what your buttons and calls to action might suggest. A phrase like “order now” could imply to some users that they will have to wait to get whatever it is that they’re looking for. Others, like “apply now” or “join now”, could suggest that something might be required of the user in order to be a part of whatever the group is that they’re joining. Rather than focusing on what the group’s requirements are of the user to join, focus on what the user requires of the group. How will they benefit? Try using gain-focused words (ex: get, view, enjoy, discover, see, play) over effort-focused (ex: submit, start, activate, learn, pay, go). If the user is interested in a free download that you’re offering in return for them joining your email list, instead of “Join now” (what you want them to do), maybe your button reads “Get my free download”.