Websites and e-stores are usually built to achieve certain goals by prompting visitors to perform specific tasks in several attractive ways. One of the goals of the site or e-store may be to sell customers products and services in different forms.
The website owner may also aim to have visitors create an account on his site to increase the likelihood of them visiting it repeatedly.
Whatever goals you aspire to achieve with your website, understanding your conversion rate and knowing how to improve it will be of great benefit to you.
That is why we will explain to you here in a simplified way the conversion rate, and we will inform you of the most important strategies and techniques that will help you improve it on your website.
What is the conversion rate?
The term conversion rate refers to the percentage of visitors who performed a desired action on your site to the number of visitors to the overall site or the number of visitors to the sales page.
If you have an online store that sells products and services, and you get 400 visitors, 40 of whom purchased a product or service from your site, the conversion rate here is the result of dividing the number 40 by the number 400 multiplied by 100%, i.e. 10%, as this percentage represents the conversion rate. Conversion is for making a purchase on the site only. If you want site visitors to also take another action, that action will have a different conversion rate than the conversion rate for a purchase.
The action that the visitor is asked to perform in order for him to transform from just a visitor to a customer or user is determined by the site owner and based on his goal, and this action does not necessarily have to be related to purchasing products, but it may be any task he is asked to perform, such as clicking on a button, Or fill out a survey, answer a question, or vote for someone or something.
It is worth noting that the action that you ask the visitor to take is referred to as the abbreviation (CTA), which is an abbreviation for the English phrase (Call To Action) which is translated into Arabic as (Call to Action), meaning that the conversion rate is the percentage of people who responded to your call (customers). ) to the number of people invited (visitors).
The importance of conversion rate
The conversion rate is one of the most important metrics in e-commerce and digital marketing, because it increases the more visitors do what you want on the site, and decreases the fewer visitors do what you want, and this can help you evaluate the success of your project. A high rate means You are on the path to success, and a low rate means that you have to follow more powerful and effective techniques and practices to achieve your goal and push visitors to carry out the required task.
If you spend $200 a month on an advertising campaign that brings you 1,000 visitors to your online store, 100 of whom turn into customers by purchasing a product or service from the store, and you want to increase your sales, you will be able to do this by improving the conversion rate instead of spending more money. Money on advertising campaigns to bring in more visitors, and in this case you can invest money in other advertising campaigns to improve various aspects of your store or expand it.
How to measure conversion rate
For every action you want the visitor to perform on your website, there is a conversion rate. If you are displaying ads on your site to profit from clicks, and there is a membership system on the site, and at the same time you are selling products on it, you will have 3 conversion rates, the first of which is for clicking on ads, where The visitor’s conversion process takes place when he clicks on the ad, the second is for registering on the site, where the conversion process takes place when the visitor creates a membership, and the third is for selling products, where the conversion process takes place when the visitor purchases a product from your site.
The conversion rate for any action is calculated in the same way, as we take the number of conversions, divide it by the total number of visitors, and multiply the result by 100% to produce the conversion rate for the action. If you get 4,000 visitors, 20 of them clicked on your site’s ads, and 40 of them registered for the action. The site by creating a membership, and 300 of them purchased the products displayed on your site, the conversion rates for these actions are calculated as follows:
- Conversion rate for clicking on ads = 20 ÷ 4000 x 100% = 0.5%
- Conversion rate for registering on the site = 40 ÷ 4000 x 100% = 1%
- Conversion rate for purchasing products = 300 ÷ 4000 x 100% = 7.5%
It is also possible to calculate the conversion rate for one page of the site instead of calculating the rate for the entire site, and then we use the total number of visitors to the page instead of the total number of visitors to the site, and we use the number of conversions that occurred on the page instead of the number of conversions that occurred on the entire site.
When is a conversion rate good?
There is no fixed limit that a conversion rate is considered good if it is greater than it. A good rate varies depending on the industry. A rate that is considered good in one field is not considered good in another. A good conversion rate also varies depending on many other circumstances, such as the action required by the visitor to be converted into a customer, the amount of money you earn from the conversion process if you created the site for the purpose of profit, and so on.
But in every field of e-commerce (selling books – selling electronic tools – selling jewelry – …) there is an average conversion rate, and when your store’s rate is somewhere close to this average, it is considered weak and you must take measures to improve it to become within the rates. Conversion for the top 10% stores in your online store’s field.
To know the average conversion rate in the field of your online store or website, or what your conversion rate should be in order to be among the first 10% in the industry, you must search the Internet and research in depth, because many sites do not publish their conversion rate data. It keeps it for itself so that competitors do not benefit from it, but the following chart shows the average conversion rates for a number of e-commerce areas in light of data whose source was obtained from more than one source.
Strategies to improve your conversion rate
Improving the conversion rate means making decisions that aim to increase the conversion rate of the site, online store, or web page, and implementing these decisions correctly, by relying on techniques that will increase the probability of the visitor taking the desired action, and this is done by studying users’ behaviors and reviews. And their insights, taking into account the general conversion rate optimization tips and techniques that we will provide in this paragraph.
Conversion rate optimization increases the number of customers without increasing the number of visitors, because it helps you convert the traffic you already get into conversions.
It is worth noting that the process of improving the conversion rate, which relies on many methods and techniques, must be done continuously, regardless of your site’s rate, whether high or low, as you must always strive for the best to raise the level of success of your business, but this process is important. The more, the lower the conversion rate on your site.
And if you don’t know how to increase your conversion rate, here are the best techniques, practices, strategies and tips that will help you do that for your store or website.
1. A/B testing
A/B testing or split testing is a method to compare the effectiveness of two forms of a web page in converting visitors into customers. It consists of displaying the first form (A) of the page to a section of visitors, and displaying the second form (B) to the other section, and benefiting from Data showing the number of visitors who were converted into customers in each of the two formats to determine which format is better.
There may be one difference between the two figures, or there may be more than one difference. For example, the title in Figure A may be different from the title in Figure B only, or there may be a difference in the title and some of the images as well.
This test may be useful in many cases. If you learn from your customers’ opinions, for example, that the design of your website or store needs improvement, you can make modifications to the design, or you can change it completely, but before you adopt the new design, You should really make sure that it is better than the old one and makes your site conversion rate higher.
You can do this by using A/B testing, where you show the old-designed form A to 50% of visitors, and the new-designed form B to the other 50% of visitors. If form B converts more visitors to customers, you can count on it. To improve your site’s conversion rate, if Form A converts more, it is better to keep the old design, work on another new design, and re-execute the A/B test again.
There are many plugins and methods that provide the ability to conduct split testing on a WordPress site, and one of the most prominent and best of them is the Nelio AB Testing add-on , which provides you with the ability to apply A/B testing to many aspects of the site, including pages, articles, titles, images, and menus. , widgets, and templates.
This add-on also provides you with the benefit of heat maps to know what a visitor is doing on your site. There is a free version of it available in the add-ons section on WordPress.org, but you will need to purchase a paid plan.
2. Use pop-ups
Pop-ups draw attention and create a sense of urgency for the visitor, which makes them a good tool to increase the website conversion rate when used correctly while ensuring that the visitor is not annoyed by them. Therefore, use them on your site if you want more conversions, but be sure to perform A/B test it before adopting it on the site, and use the most effective form of it.
In fact, many visitors consider pop-up windows to be annoying and distracting, because they interrupt their browsing of the site and make it difficult for them to access the content they entered the page or site to reach, but this mainly includes pop-up windows with content that is not related to the main page content, and pop-up windows that appear Once the visitor reaches the page.
Therefore, it is better to show pop-ups when the visitor wants to leave the site, and to make sure that they have features that reduce visitor disturbance to the maximum possible extent.
Using pre-exit popups is useful for improving your conversion rate in many cases, including the following:
- In order to prevent the potential buyer from abandoning the purchase
- To promote a specific offer that a visitor is likely to be interested in receiving
- To obtain feedback about the website or its products
You can create pop-ups in WordPress by using the Popup maker plugin or the OptinMonster plugin , which allows you to easily create appropriate pop-ups, and display them to the right people at the right time, and in the appropriate way depending on the type of device used to visit the page.
If you want more information about pop-ups and how to create them, read our detailed article in which we talked about them ( What are pop-ups? And how do you benefit from them on your site? ).
3. Facilitate the implementation of the required action
Whatever action a visitor is asked to perform, there will always be more than one way in which it can be carried out, and to get a good conversion rate for any action, make it as easy as possible to perform it so that the visitor does not spend a lot of effort or time.
No one will buy from your store if the purchasing process is difficult or takes a lot of time, and no one will fill out a form if you ask for a lot of information in it, so keep everything simple to get the most out of the process.
For example, if your site has a membership system, and you can register or log in, do not make the registration or login page complicated, and do not request information that you do not need from the user on the registration page. Rather, make the page simple, and request only the important information that you will need. This contributes This action will greatly increase the conversion rate on your site.
It is also worth noting that you can easily test the effectiveness of facilitation in increasing your conversion rate by using the A/B testing we explained above.
4. Make the value proposition clear and compelling
Creating a clear and convincing value proposition to a potential customer is more important than choosing the most beautiful design or the most consistent colors in order to improve the conversion rate. No one buys a product, service, or takes any other action unless they know why they are doing it. No one will register on your site if you do not There are no benefits to registering, and no one buys a product that does not have a clear description that tells the buyer exactly what they are getting and why they should make the purchase.
Therefore, make sure to make the descriptions of products and services in your online store clear, convincing and honest, and try to sell products and services that are superior in at least one way to the products and services sold by competing online stores, and focus your value proposition on giving the potential buyer the benefit he seeks from reading the offer with the least amount of distortion. Words: Do not list the history of your company in the product description if there is no need for that, and do not repeat the features of the product or service, but rather make your statements clear, convincing and unique.
The presence of a countdown timer on the product page, offer, or other increases the conversion rate, as the countdown timer contributes to increasing the number of visitors who are converted into customers or members because it creates a feeling in the visitor that prompts him to buy the product or register on the site. When the visitor sees the price The previous product and its price are included in the offer that will end after the countdown timer numbers reach zero. He feels that he will regret it when the offer ends if he does not seize the opportunity and get it, and therefore this will contribute to pushing him to make the purchase.
For more information about the countdown timer and its marketing benefits, and how to add it to the pages of WordPress stores and websites, we advise you to read our comprehensive article in which we explained all of this in detail and in a practical way ( How to use the countdown timer in WordPress and its marketing benefits ).
6. Allow adding reviews
Most potential customers are reluctant to buy products that do not have reviews and opinions from previous buyers, and almost all buyers (97% of them) believe that reviews and opinions influence the decision to purchase the product or service or not, according to a survey conducted in 2016 , where the survey concluded Potential customers read previous reviews and pay attention to their details to see if anyone had problems with the product or service, and to know how their problems were responded to.
This means that not allowing buyers to add reviews and opinions on product pages will cause you to lose a large number of conversions, so add sections through which buyers can add their opinions and comments, and make sure that all your customers are satisfied with dealing with you so that they add positive reviews in order to raise Visitors’ trust in the website.
To learn about some of the best ways in which you can allow customers and visitors to add reviews and ratings to your website, review our article ( Ways to show reviews on your website or store to increase visitors’ confidence ), in which we explained this in detail and with pictures.
7. Compare yourself with competitors
Only a few users buy a product or service without comparison, as most people compare products offered by competitors before making a purchase, and this is actually very logical, as everyone wants to get what is best.
You can use this fact to your advantage. Instead of letting potential customers compare your products with others’ products, you can do that, saving them the trouble of comparing themselves, and explaining to them exactly what distinguishes your product from others’ products at the same time, as people usually don’t look at it. Except for the main features and price.
You can use the method that you deem appropriate to compare your products and services with the products and services of other competitors, and if you do not know which method is more appropriate for making the comparison, search on the Internet for methods in which products and services similar to yours have been compared with each other, and use the method that you deem more clarification and convincing to you. But be careful that your comparisons are honest, and that you show the advantages of your products in a clear, good, and useful way to potential customers.
8. Improve site speed
Loading speed affects the conversion rate. The faster the page loads, the more likely the visitor will perform the desired action on it. Many studies have indicated that companies can achieve good improvements in their conversion rates by reducing the page loading time.
Walmart found that the conversion rate increased by 2% when it reduced the page load time by one second, and Mobify found that the conversion rate increased by approximately 1.1% for every 100 milliseconds that it reduced the load time of the company’s home page.
This is why you must make your site pages as fast as possible in order to improve the conversion rate. You can learn how to speed up your WordPress site by reviewing our comprehensive article in which we talked about this topic ( the most important procedures for increasing the speed of your WordPress site ), and it will also be useful You should check out the article ( Updating Core Web Vitals and instructions to make your site compatible with it ), because Core Web Vitals factors are closely related to website speed.
9. Make the site compatible with smartphones
The incompatibility of your site with a smartphone affects the ranking of its pages in Google, as it leads to a decline in its ranking in search results, which makes the number of visits less and reduces sales if it is an online store.
But incompatibility with a smartphone also contributes to a lower conversion rate, because it makes it difficult for visitors to perform the desired action when they enter your site or store from their phone.
If you do not know whether the pages of your site are compatible with a smartphone, there are many tools and methods that allow you to check it, such as the ( mobile compatibility test ) tool from Google, which enables you to check the compatibility of any web page – whether it belongs to your site or not – With mobile phones, using the tool to perform a check will only require you to place the page link in the designated field and then click on the (Try URL) button. The page will then be analyzed and the result will be shown to you within a few seconds.
10. Use photos and video
It is certain that the use of images and videos contributes to conveying information to the visitor better, faster, more accurately, and much easier than words. In order to describe a table in words, for example, you will need an entire article to do so, and the description may not be accurate for some reason, while a video or several created images can You can carefully convey the specifications of the table to the visitor as soon as he sees it. This makes it easier for you to bother describing the table, and for the visitor to have to bother with reading the article to find out the details.
Of course, this does not mean that it is always better to use images instead of words, but images are also important and contribute to increasing the conversion rate, and their role is no less important than the role of text or description, so use them on the landing page, and various other pages of the site.
Note: The landing page is the web page that the visitor arrives from somewhere different from one of the pages of your site. When you place an advertisement for a product that you sell in your online store on another site, the landing page can be the page of the product itself, where the user who He clicks on the ad on this page, which is supposed to prompt him to buy this product, transforming him from a visitor into a customer and contributing to raising the page’s conversion rate.
To learn more about the landing page and how to create one in WordPress, review our comprehensive and detailed article ( Creating a Professional Landing Page ) in which we talked about everything related to the landing page.
11. Use effective and effective headlines
The main title of a web page is often the first thing that catches a visitor’s attention, so it is necessary and useful to use this to your advantage by making the main title on the page influential and contributing to the visitor’s ability to carry out the desired action.
To help you make your titles effective and influential, we list here the most important types of titles that are supposed to contribute more than others to increasing the number of conversions when used correctly:
- Command Headlines: These are the titles that include a command verb that the visitor must carry out, such as (Discover the best way…) and (Get the full mark…), etc.
- Direct Headlines: This type of heading conveys the idea directly to the visitor. Examples include (a tutorial for creating a blog using WordPress).
- Question Headlines: These titles include a question and end with a question mark, and an example of it is (Is it possible to make money from WordPress?).
- Problem Solving Headlines: These headlines explain that your product solves a potential problem for a potential customer, such as (Get rid of excess weight in 3 months with the help of a distinctive exercise device).
- How-to Headlines: These are titles that begin with the word (how), such as (How to create a professional website).
To make your title more effective, try to include an English translation of the main term in it, put an odd number in it if possible, and make it 8 words long. The probability of getting more visitors and profits will be higher in this case.
12. Add live chat to the site
Some visitors encounter problems with websites sometimes, others are concerned about something in the product or service, and this results in these visitors not converting into customers.
In order to avoid losing such visitors, add a live chat to your website. If a visitor encounters a problem while purchasing a product, or if he has a question about the product, or wants to obtain more information about it, he can then speak to the support employee. The technician is on your site to get what he wants, and he continues implementing the procedure after solving his problems and answering his questions, which leads to an increase in the conversion rate on your site.
If you use the WordPress content management system, you can easily add live chat to your site by using WordPress plugins, and to learn about the practical method that allows you to do this, see our detailed article in which we talked about this topic ( Create a live chat in WordPress to communicate with customers in a way better ).
13. Offer a money back guarantee
People do not like to take risks. Rather, they prefer to be sure that they will get the same product or service offered in the online store before they pay any money for it. The money-back guarantee creates reassurance for them and makes them more confident in your description and certain of its honesty. This prompts a greater number of customers. Visitors decide to buy from the store, because in this case they know that if the product does not meet specifications, they will be able to get their money back as if they had not paid anything, and this leads to an increase in the conversion rate.
In fact, many experiments have proven that a money-back guarantee contributes significantly to increasing the conversion rate, and it has also been shown that a money-back guarantee with a longer period improves the conversion rate better than one with a shorter period.
So, it is clear that you can improve your conversion rate by offering a money-back guarantee to your potential customers, but in order not to get many refund requests and build trust in you among visitors, always be honest in everything you offer, and bear the responsibilities that you place on your shoulders towards your site’s customers. And his visitors.
Thus, we have finished explaining the conversion rate and the method of calculating it for any action on the site, and informing you of the best practices and tips that will contribute to raising it and increasing sales and profits without the need to generate more visits. In conclusion, we reiterate the importance of understanding the conversion rate and applying methods to raise it. On various websites, especially online stores, so be careful to apply what we have mentioned in this article to achieve more successes that you seek on your website or online store.
