Before you read the following, allow me to offer 3 words of caution: Empty your cup. Just as a full tea cup can hold no more, a closed mind can’t increase conversions.
Imagine 3 people read this article. The first person says, “I’ve heard some of these before,” and dismisses the entire list. But is he doing these things? No. Are his conversions increasing? No. The second person reads this list and says, “These won’t work.” Again, her cup is full and her conversions never improve. The third person? Is you. You read through these and say, “That’s a good idea, yeah, I’ve been meaning to do that. I’m glad for the reminder.”
And then you get busy. Think your conversions will improve? Absolutely.
Let’s get started…
→ Use testimonials and case studies. A lot. Don’t just have a section for testimonials – work them into your copy, into your videos, everywhere.
→ If you don’t have testimonials and case studies, get some. Even if it means giving your product or service away or at a steep discount.
→ Use a guarantee. Or two. Or three. What sounds better, “If you’re not happy, you get your money back” or “You are 100% covered by our TRIPLE guarantee.”
→ Don’t make your guarantee contingent on anything but their satisfaction. Don’t say, “When you do every step in the program exactly as outlined, we guarantee you will get x results.” Instead, tell them if they so much as don’t like the font, they are fully covered. This takes all the fear away. Yes, refunds may increase slightly. But sales will increase even more.
→ Give them an ongoing bonus. Refunds do affect your true conversion rate, so reduce refunds by offering a terrific bonus that they get only if they don’t refund. For example, a valuable year-long membership can work well.
→ Use action verbs. Instead of, “Get yours today,” say, “Grab yours” “Reserve yours” or “Claim yours today.”
→ Reaffirm the sale repeatedly. Write an autoresponder sequence that kicks in after the sale. Each email should reaffirm how smart they were to buy the product, provide testimonials and show them something about the product they may have missed. “Did you see the trick in video 4 on how to get your mother-in-law to stop harping on you? Sally Smith used this exact technique and here’s what happened…”
→ On opt-in forms, use as few fields as possible. If you can just ask for their email address and first name, do it. If you need more info, consider asking for it later.
→ Use a two part opt-in. The first page announces the bonus and has a button to grab their copy. They click the button and it takes them to the second page where they put in their email address. These almost always out-perform one page opt-ins.
→ Pay a graphic designer to create a professional looking cover. Whether you’re giving away a book or selling a course, your cover should look as good as a New York Times Best Seller. If it does, your conversions will increase – sometimes dramatically.
→ Test and retest possible headlines. Sure, you’ve heard it before. But how many headlines have you tested on your squeeze page? Your sales page? It’s possible there is a headline that will literally double or even triple your conversions – you just need to find it.
→ Use video. On landing pages and sales pages, have a short, simple video showing that there is indeed a real live person behind the brand.
→ Create a dedicated landing page for… everything. You’re doing a guest blog post? Create a page that says, “Welcome readers of ABC blog.” You’re running a PPC ad? Create a dedicated page that perfectly matches what the ad said.
→ Include subscriber or social media follower counts. Anytime you can provide positive social proof, you’ll increase conversions. That said, if you have 5 followers or 10 subscribers, wait until your numbers are more impressive to share them with the world.
→ Use strong, clear calls to action. Never assume they’ll fill out the form if you don’t tell them to.
→ Lose the hype and “get real.” Customers can spot hype a mile away. So instead of “BUY THIS NOW,” try, “If you want (benefit) then I’ve found ABC product works well.” Then tell them why it’s not for everyone.
→ Prevent them from comparison shopping. Let them know that your product has no competition because you do things or offer things no one else does. (Do this only if it’s true. If it’s not true, make it true.)
→ Get visitors excited. Use emotionally charged language, tell stories and create desire. Get visitors eager to have your product or service.
→ Don’t use boring generic images. You know the ones – a stick figure at a computer, 4 people in suits sitting around a table, a lightbulb, etc. Use interesting images that capture attention and make the visitor look twice.
→ Test a single column layout. MECLabs tested having a sidebar versus not having a sidebar. The version with only one column won – and generated an astonishing 681% increase in conversions. But further tests showed this is not always the case – thus the need for testing it on your own pages.
→ Include headshots on your webpages. Again you want to show there is a real person behind the brand.
→ Spend serious time crafting your “about me” page. Include your bio, come across as a real person, include plenty of contact info, and talk about what you want to help the reader accomplish. Done right, your “about me” page can be your greatest selling tool.
Pick out exactly 3 and write them down. Do one of them today, one tomorrow and the third on the following day.
Then pat yourself on the back, because you’ve just done more to increase your conversions than 95% of marketers out there.
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