50 Ways to Improve Conversion

I mentioned some of these at a recent talk & found that a lot more Australian businesses need this list than I first thought. So help yourself, take action & make some little changes that could have a huge difference on the usability of your website & it’s conversion rate.

Usability Checklist

Fonts

• increase the size. At least 10, preferably 12 or 14, maybe even 16 point size
• let your visitors choose the size that suits them
• choose a font designed to be viewed online (eg Arial, Tahoma, Verdana)
• use whitespace wisely so text can be read easily

Text

• your headline is the most important copy on the page – it needs to be benefit driven (not “welcome to our website”)
• headline colours: black, red or blue
• headline should be left justified (unless only 1 line)
• 2nd most important copy is the text on your call to action button
• Main body copy is the least important, but still needs to be well-written
• Don’t show big blocks of text, use 2-5 line paragraphs & short sentences
• Write as you speak – you’re not trying to win any literary awards

Images

• use great images (try www.iStockPhoto.com)
• use images of real people not stock photos where possible
• make all images clickable
• use a caption under the image (like a newspaper)
• make sure images aren’t fuzzy or pixilated
• optimize the filesize – they must load quickly
• the image should add relevance to the story being told, if not don’t use it

Contact Us

• include your phone number on every page (top right corner generally works best)
• make the link to your ‘contact us’ page obvious
• include contact details ‘above the fold’ on contact us page (& ideally on homepage too)
• consider adding google maps to show prospects where you are (especially if you have multiple stores)
• consider a mini version of the contact/enquiry form on every page

Navigation

• must be easy to use
• obvious what each section is (don’t only use icons, use words!)
• ideally have only one menu – either across the top, or down the left side. Sometimes you need both, but don’t add a third across the bottom of the page
• make your logo link to your homepage

Trust

• add testimonials throughout the site (not just on their own page)
• consider using case studies
• add trust icons eg padlocks to show secure pages
• add credit card logos (if you accept them) on a shopping site

Enquiry/Checkout Forms (this is the really low hanging fruit!)

• names: do you really need both first & last?
• postal address: are you going to post something to this prospect? If not, don’t ask for the address!
• maybe get the postcode … but only if that changes who will call the prospect
• drop down lists – are 90% of your prospects/customers from 1-5 countries (or 1-5 cities)? Can you rearrange the drop down list to help the majority? ie put Australia, NZ, UK & USA at the top!
• fax number: do you really need it?
• phone number: if possible don’t insist on it, include the field just don’t make it a required field (you’ll only end up with about 20-40% fake numbers)
• required fields: make it obvious which fields are required (eg a star, or coloured box in which they type)
• email address: don’t force them to enter it twice. They know its important & will spell it right 99% of the time. Sure you might get 1 or 2 incorrect, but you keep 98% of your prospects happy.
• how did you hear about us: asking for this only helps you. At this stage they don’t care about you… use analytics instead
• submit button: get rid of that nasty grey submit button. Use colour if possible & match the text to the headline on page (or very close to it)
• reset button: remove it. When did you last use one?
• use checkboxes not drop down lists or even radio buttons
• use one column of input fields not two as this generally converts more people
• remind them their details are safe. eg link to your privacy policy

Analytics

• do you have an analytics package installed? Eg Google Analytics
• do you regularly read the reports generated?
• do you have a list of 4-7 KPIs for your website that you measure weekly?

for more information about AdWords, Analytics & Conversion please email Mike@WebSavvy.com.au