What is the end goal or purpose of your website? Is your site setup with the proper funnel in place to ensure your success?

Conversion optimization will be slightly different for every website. There are actions that can be taken by following these four steps:

  1. Measure
  2. Analyze
  3. Test
  4. Optimize

I recently presented for the Columbus Web Group at a Meetup event. Below this post is the video where I go through the importance of lead magnets, email providers, email autoresponders and Google Analytics to measure your sales funnel.

Since I’m guessing you don’t have an hour to devote to watching the presentation, let’s break each step down to the most basic level.

  1. Measure and track the key performance indicators (KPIs) that matter most to you (sales, traffic, social shares)
  2. Analyze what pages/posts work and achieve the most engagement or traffic on your site compared to the ones that don’t
  3. Revamp or remove poor performing material; make changes to your landing pages and/or opt-ins so they convert at an even higher rate (optimize!) and test again
  4. Change headlines and split (A/B) test the remaining pieces of content that will push your website to new levels of conversions
  5. Repeat! Repeat! Repeat!

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There are also common elements that might interfere with your conversion optimization process. Think of these as the ‘leaks’ in your sales funnel or the point in which customers abandon their shopping cart or leave your site altogether.

These things might include:

  1. Copy that is confusing, misleading or different from what is expected (ex. coming from a FB ad to a landing page with a different message)
  2. No clear call-to-action or a CTA that’s too demanding too early in the process
  3. Not enough perceived value provided by the offer or the copy explaining the benefits (ex. not giving testimonials for a monthly membership course)
  4. Too many steps which frustrates users — make things extremely easy!
  5. Lack of a double opt-in or a slow email response containing the product/lead magnet (set your email provider to immediately deliver the freebie or login credentials so as not to keep an eager user waiting — avoid a negative first impression!)

There are other possibilities as well, but the above-mentioned items are typical and cover a wide-range of businesses. You can’t account for users being distracted or closing their browser. That’s why retargeting is so popular.

If you can identify users who make it to a certain step then you can send them targeted emails to gently prod them back to the path of your desired result.

[Tweet “Sometimes a customer needs to see something 7-8 times or more before they make a purchase.”]

You should focus all your efforts on an optimized site.

Is your slider or banner image driving traffic to the right location or is it static and being ignored? Are your headlines catchy and search engine friendly? Are your images eye-catching and do they match your content?

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Does your lead magnet give enough value to be worthy of an email sign-up? Do you provide ample opportunities for users to sign-up for your email list or is it hidden?

I’m super passionate about the whole process (if you couldn’t tell) and I love helping entrepreneurs and small businesses solve their conversion optimization puzzle.

Let me know if you’re having issues with your website or sales funnel. Sometimes an outside set of eyes can catch something obvious that might have gone unnoticed!