If your site is already getting a decent amount of traffic but you’re frustrated by the low percentage of visitors that are converting into leads or customers, there are plenty of things you can do to address this common problem. In fact, almost all campaigns have to be adjusted and maintained to facilitate optimal results on an ongoing basis, so conversion rate optimization is really just a part of the game.
However, a horrible conversion rate typically indicates that there’s something inherently wrong with the way you’re presenting the site, the kind of traffic you’re attracting, or the way you’re calling visitors to action. All of these essential factors can be improved upon by using certain tools, techniques, and strategies as the foundation for a successful campaign.
Before you start searching far and near for the best tools to help with your dilemma, it’s strongly recommended that you first attempt to correct any obvious flaws or deficiencies in the site’s design and content. Once those fundamentals have been covered, then you’ll want to start utilizing an arsenal of conversion-improving tools like the ones mentioned below:
Exit Intent and Scroll Triggered Pop-ups
Contrary to popular misconception, pop-up windows can be highly effective tools for boosting conversions. However, random tabs opening out of the blue will rarely achieve desired results, which is why it’s important to deliver pop-ups at strategic times based on visitor behavior and other dynamics. Exit intent pop-ups are a perfect example of using conditional timing to your advantage, often creating conversion increases of more than 200% by making the most out of visitors who attempt to leave the site.
Likewise, scroll-triggered pop-ups can appear only after the visitor expresses interest by scrolling down. Taking this approach is an excellent way to increase conversions because you’ll be displaying the pop-ups to a more refined group of targeted visitors.
You can even set the pop-up to appear only after the visitor has scrolled all the way to the bottom – that way every impression has the highest chances of converting because you’re only displaying the pop-up to the most interested visitors. Thus, scroll triggered campaigns offer the dual benefit of a higher conversion rate and a more functional, less cluttered site for quick visitors who do not wish to scroll down (because the pop-up only appears when you scroll down).
Time Display Control Pop-ups
Similar to exit intent and scroll triggered pop-ups, time display control campaigns let you set a specified delay before the pop-up appears. The primary benefit of this approach is that it gives the visitor time to browse the site for a bit before being interrupted, and they don’t have to scroll down or exit the tab to trigger the pop-up.
If you’ve been placing a strong emphasis on publishing quality content, as every webmaster should, then it’s important to allow time for the content to make an impression on the visitor before you make any propositions or introduce any promotions. Time display control lets your content do its job – impressing and captivating the visitor – before letting the pop-up take center stage on the screen.
The intentional delay gives the visitor enough time to see that they’re browsing a reputable site, and preferably just enough time for them to also develop a basic level of interest. This is important because leading with a pop-up as the foremost content is never a good idea, particularly on a home page. You want your site’s design and content representing the brand on the front line, followed by strategic pop-ups that serve as secondary calls to action (CTAs).
Using Campaign Scheduling for Limited Time Promotions
If you’ve ever shopped online (read: if you don’t live under a rock), then you know that the best brands regularly hold sales during holidays and other special events. If you haven’t been partaking in this classic marketing trend, then you’re probably losing quite a bit of conversions via sheer promotional absence.
There are so many creative ways you can approach each holiday, and many of them are perfect for targeting specific groups. For example, an online sports equipment shop could easily benefit from holding a Father’s Day sale because their product fulfills a common demand among the holiday’s chief demographic.
There are dozens of similar holidays just waiting to be capitalized on, including Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, New Year’s, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Halloween, Veteran’s Day, Memorial Day, 4th of July, etc.
Of course, it can be difficult to keep track of all the different marketing materials used during each sale, which is where campaign scheduling comes into play. With a preset schedule of campaigns ready to be unrolled, you’ll be able to take a set-it-and-forget-it approach to the year’s biggest promotional seasons.
Device-Based Targeting
Being that nowadays more people are browsing the web on their smartphone than on their computer, it makes sense to customize your campaign materials and pop-ups to appear optimally on a range of devices. In fact, this is an absolutely essential step if you want to avoid a poor conversion rate, as every site is frequented by a large percentage of mobile visitors.
Mobile pop-ups and calls to action are a bit different from their desktop counterparts because mobile browsers open pop-ups in new tabs that are often ignored or closed immediately. Thus, campaign appearance and formatting have to be carefully handled to allow for responsive and ideal display across a range of devices. The difficult way to achieve this is to develop a different landing page to accommodate each device size and type (i.e. one for smartphones and another for tablets). A much easier way is to simply use a device-based targeting tool.
Drag & Drop Form Builder
Building custom opt-in forms using plugins like WPForms can help you increase conversions by making the actual process of taking action more visually welcoming. Simple and well-designed forms that are easy to fill out should be what you’re aiming for. Sadly, many site owners and marketers opt for premade templates rather than making their own forms to accommodate a specific purpose.
Fortunately, resourceful entrepreneurs will quickly discover that you don’t need to learn programming or any other complex skills to utilize one of the many drag n’ drop form building tools available.
With these convenient utilities, you can quickly design custom forms by dragging and dropping form components into optimal spots. Perhaps even more importantly, they make it easy to develop the font, formatting, imagery and messaging of the form, so you’re not just inserting fields onto a blank canvas.
Custom Campaign Creators
Custom campaign creators like OptinMonster’s Canvas provide ideal platforms for quickly and easily developing pop-ups using HTML, Javascript, CSS code, and shortcodes from WordPress. With a campaign creator, you can insert videos, quizzes, raffles, contests, and even Facebook and Twitter Like and Follow sections within your pop-ups.
The Importance of a Well-Rounded Marketing Arsenal
Online marketing is no small or simple task, but the battle can be largely reduced to an intellectual challenge if you use the right tools to streamline and automate tedious and mundane tasks. In other words, a well-equipped marketer doesn’t need to commit to any extensive labor in order to produce satisfactory results – they just need the right tools and processes.
Author Bio: Zoe Price