21 Conversion Optimization Strategies to Drive More Sales and Leads

Typically, out of every 100 leads, hardly two purchases your product.

The number might appear awfully meager compared to the enormous efforts marketers put in, but the 2% conversion rate shows the business is doing quite well. It’s only when the rate dives below that you have much to worry about.

Most successful enterprises employ various strategies to optimize their conversion rates.

Some bear profitable results. A few remain mediocre. But each strives to keep the conversion rate between 2 to 3%—a goal all marketers hope to achieve.

Here, I am sharing those 21 powerful conversion optimization strategies that are not only highly effective and easily adaptable, but could improve your conversion rate.

Explore them individually to discover which might work best for your brand.

1. Accelerating Site Loading Time

Tell me, how long do you impatiently wait for a site to load before abandoning it. A few seconds?

Loading time is directly proportional to the bounce rate. The longer your site takes to load, the higher the bounce rate. Ultimately, you lose potential customers.

One in every 4rth visitor leaves if the site takes more than 4 seconds to load. And 46% of those who do finally visit it would be less inclined to repeat the experience.

Accelerate your website loading time to increase your conversion rate.

2. Optimizing Product Page

People generally touch an item before buying it. It’s a completely natural reaction as shoppers want to reassure themselves of their purchase.

While brick and mortar have no problem providing this choice, e-commerce stores, sadly, don’t have the luxury.

In such cases, optimizing your product page is your next best option.

Product optimization isn’t just about written descriptions. You can communicate your product value to potential customers spectacularly through engaging visuals. It’s one of the top five actions that influence a buyer’s decision.

Observe the iPhone product description. They use a blend of 3D photography and demo photos to stand out.

Or better, move down to the everyday consumer merchandise and browse Sawyer. The site has a demonstration video featured under their product description.

Take advantage of visuals to increase your conversion rate.

3. Polishing Value Proposition

Ecommerce has become highly saturated now. Pick an item, and at least 10 top sellers will appear. Amid such tough competition, how do you suppose marketers optimize their conversion rate?

By offering a customer value proposition.

CVP is a message that succulently conveys a brand’s unique value. It’s a promise of benefits the prospect would avail should they decide to buy your product.

While I admit, the core purpose of CVP is to hold your visitor’s attention, if written cleverly, this tactic may exponentially increase your conversion rate.

You can consider CVP to be a landing page copy as well. The first message on the landing page is the value proposition.

Polish your unique selling point to boost conversions.

4. Proposing A “Free” Deal

“Free” is an irresistible power word. It piques the buyer’s interest, enticing them to purchase your product.

Researchers call this phenomenon the Zero Price Effect. When you’re receiving a service for free, you believe you’re risking zero income on it, regardless of the product’s nature or price.

Take free shipping, for example.

Companies that provide free shipping options don’t exactly cut their profits. They simply add the shipping cost to the item or make them applicable under certain conditions.

Yet despite the relatively high prices, 73% of potential customers would likely pursue it if there’s free shipping involved.

Consider free deals to increase conversions. Buy one, get one deals, freemium, free trials, goodie packs; these are a few common tricks marketers employ.

5. Developing Customer Support

We are impatient creatures and want an instant response to our concerns. If the response wait prolongs, we move on to another site.

Almost 78% abandon a confirmed purchase because of poor customer service.

And since nearly one-third of us actively participate on social media, you risk losing 36% of conversions by not focusing on your customer service.

Add live chat to improve the user experience. You’ll find several tools to facilitate your customer service management.

Take a look at Chaport.

The free chat support software has all the features of standard chat, including; notification, history, analytics, and email integration. It also provides space for five operators.

Customer service can make or break your business. Develop it to increase conversions.

7. Running A/B Testing

A site layout plays a crucial role in increasing your conversion rate.

Your visitor literally takes 50 milliseconds to decide whether to continue or leave. If the layout is unattractive, 38% will immediately close the tab.

While designers take due consideration in crafting the theme, it’s your lead’s opinion that matters.

Here, A/B testing helps you select the best possible layout. The idea is to analyze which theme attracts more traffic.

A/B testing displays two layouts of the same site to different groups, and through a series of trials, you pick the optimized version.

Try Google Optimize to run the test.

The tool is user-friendly and allows you to integrate Google Analytics into it.

Download a free extension and start experimenting.

7. Following the FOMO Approach

The fear of missing out is one of the powerful motivators to spur prospects into buying a product. It’s a psychological phenomenon where one perceives they’re being left behind and takes impulse decisions to beat the race.

Think back to Black Friday. Did you feel the strong urge to get an item?

Black Friday deals use the time as an emotional trigger. Upon noticing a limited-time offer, you subconsciously sense the need to buy it before the stock sells out.

That’s how marketers employ FOMO to drive their sales up.

There are multiple techniques to increase your conversion rate. For instance, marking a few products sold out to imply others will surely follow if you don’t secure it quickly.

Explore the web. You’ll find plenty of FOMO examples.

8. Adding pop-ups

Pop-ups might be one of the most annoying marketing techniques, but they work just as effectively as any other conversion-optimization strategy.

I know it sounds incredulous, yet there’s a reason many Fortune 500 companies set up pop-ups. In fact, the Fortune500 site itself runs it.

Pop-ups have an average 2% conversion rate, which is higher compared to other strategies.

The company that published the above pop-up research? They have stellar stats on their list-building pop-ups.

Give pop-up advertisements a try to boost a specific product or event.

A call-to-action, subscriptions, sales announcements, pdf download, they’re among a few pop-ups you can use to improve conversion rates.

9. Publishing a Tutorial Video on the Landing Page

Explainer videos are remarkably effective. Put them on your landing page, and you can increase your conversion by 20%. 

How?

Video gives your visitor a virtual tour of your product. Getting all the information in one place reduces bounce rates.

Moreover, since people retain 50% of information through visuals, marketers find explainer videos an efficient mode of communication.

Tech companies especially take full advantage of explainer videos. You’ll scarcely find any who hasn’t a tutorial on their landing page.

10. Placing Persuasive CTAs

Call to Action is the marketing technique used to persuade your lead to click the button. Whether your potential buyer follows through depends on how convincing your CTA is.

For instance, Amazon uses the “Add to Cart” CTA to prompt visitors to buy. CrazyEgg has a more personalized CTA “Show me my heat map” to facilitate user navigation.

Merely adding “free” after “sign up” can maximize your conversion rate!

Marketers adopt these compelling words to optimize CTA.

11. Giving Value Added Services

Value-added services are after-services businesses offer to enhance their product value. They personalize your lead’s experience, increasing the chances of a positive conversion.

Free tech support is a typical example.

The after-service attracts people with little to no tech knowledge, prompting their decision.

Some companies also acquire third-party services to add value. For instance, a furniture manufacturer may extend interior decorating consultations.

VAS specifically comes in handy for selling luxury or expensive items.

Introduce value-added services to your customers.

12. Initiating Browse Abandonment Emails

Browse Abandonment emails do exactly what the term says. You send a “why did you leave” email to a visitor every time they leave mid-browsing.

95% withdraw from your site without making any purchase. Browse Abandonment email retargets those leads by sending them reminders to reconsider.

You can automate multiple browse abandon emails customized to your buyer’s journey through various plug-ins your CRM will likely have.

But independent tools are also available for a more personalized experience.

Check out Pure360 Abandonment Recovery Service.

They offer email solutions for almost all scenarios, such as; recovery emails on abandoned page browsing, incomplete forms, and carts. Additionally, they provide templates along with discount codes.

13. Offering Alternative Logins

Third-party alternative logins are gaining quite popularity because of their twin advantage. Your visitor browses your site without the fuss of signing up, and you get your prospect customer’s data to connect with them.

Take the example of this travel solution company.

Easytobook previously struggled to create engagement despite heavy traffic. When they introduced alternative logins, their engagement multiplied by 68%, boosting their sales.

Add third-party alternate sign-in to optimize your conversion rate. 72% favor social logins regardless of security concerns.

14. Applying Simple Language

Some use jargon to appear professional. The more conservative the business is, the more complex would be the sentence structure.

What many fail to realize is that buyers are ordinary folk who merely want to learn about your product. By using jargon, you lose your lead’s interest, ultimately hitting your conversion rate.

Remember, your visitors prefer plain and digestible content to connect with your brand. Why else do you think CRM, like WordPress, has a readability score?

Unless your target market is a specific group of professionals, I suggest ditching the jargon in favor of a colloquial tone.

15. Reducing Choices

Many companies launch extensive product lines to gain an edge over their competitors.

While diversity appeals to the public, it can also backfire terribly.

Dan Ariely, a psychology and behavior professor, proved it beautifully in his “Jam” case study.

He held two testing sessions in a grocery store, presenting 24 Jams flavors in one and 6 in another. The first test attracted a crowd, yet only 3% made the purchase. But in the second test, 30% bought the Jam.

The customer, given too many choices, feels stressed out and ends up leaving with none. If your conversion rate is poor despite a decent product line, you might want to cut down a few items.

16. Choosing Minimalist Themes

Bombarding your visitors with colors, context, and complex layouts distracts them from the main product. Overwhelmed, they often quit your site.

Minimalist themes lead your prospect’s eyes to where you want them. The simple layout unclutters your page, making it easy to navigate. With minimal content, loading time also speeds up.

Combined, they inflate your conversion rate.

It is the reason Minimalist themes are so popular.

Remove unnecessary content and run A/B testing to evaluate your layout. You’d be surprised at how much using negative space affects your traffic.

17. Granting A Return Policy

People experience a certain level of apprehension at buying from an unfamiliar brand. They prefer not to risk their money on an item that may prove unsatisfactory later.

Offer your clients a return policy option to reduce their insecurity. They will feel more confident purchasing your product and might even refer you to a friend!

Return policy naturally has its cons as it decreases some of your revenues, but given the fact, 92% will probably become repeat customers, it’s worth considering.

18. Using Trust Badges

Trust badges are thumbnail size seals brands show on their site to boost credibility. The badges scream legitimacy and make people feel secure in sharing their personal information.

Getting a trust badge can significantly increase your conversion rate.

Companies share multiple seals customized to their business nature. An eCommerce site might likely have payment badges along with a security certificate, while an organic brand may go for sustainability certificates.

Earn a badge you believe will build trust in your target market.

19. Personalizing The FAQ

FAQ section is the first page visitors click to get answers to their queries. If your answers resonate with your lead’s problem, your prospect will likely feel an instant connection to your brand.

Optimize your FAQ section to increase conversions.

To achieve it, find out your customer’s needs and personalize your answers to satisfy their curiosity.

Typically, the Buyer’s concerns relate to payment methods, shipping details, return policy, or privacy details. Whether you put it all together or separate them into categories, it’s entirely up to you.

If you’re not certain, check NIKE FAQ for inspiration.

20. Sharing Testimonials

A product with fewer reviews is hard to sell.

The lack of enough feedback implies the brand is still relatively new. And we all know, none wants to be the first to venture into uncharted territory. In fact, 72% will only buy an item if it has positive reviews.

Testimonials build trust. Adding them will act as social proof, putting your prospect’s mind at ease about your product and services.

You can use testimonials in several forms. For instance; Kissmetrics uses customer testimonials on their front page in their quote form.

But an influencer’s quote, an expert opinion, a screenshot of comments, or a success story works well as well.

21.Improvising AD Copy

Most often, it’s not the campaign or competitor that lowers your conversion rate. Your offer simply is not appealing to your target market.

The reason could be as simple as a poor AD copy. Your advertisement either might not be hitting your lead’s pain points, or the content is boring.

In such a scenario, I recommend hiring an expert copywriter.

Good luck!