3 Tips For Better Conversions

Your new website has just gone live. You've invested quite a bit in it - money, hours, sweat, etc. It's been project-managed perfectly; the brief has been adhered to perfectly.

And it's been worth it. Beautiful Flash design, swirling animations, all the bleeding-edge technologies that your designers advocated, a shimmering Java applet of your office's reflection on the Liffey...beautiful. Just beautiful.

You sit back and wait for the enquiries.

Nothing.

Three months later, you're wondering where it all went wrong. Where has your target market disappeared to?

The likely answer is they've gone down the road to a competitor with a website that they can use. 

If you're planning a web project, these tips will give you a bit of a background to usabililty. Your website needs to CONVERT visitors to customers and qualified sales leads. Usability is the science of doing this.

A recent study found that users decide whether they like a website or not within half a second. Yours needs to appeal from the start. So read these tips and use them.

TIP #1: Visit the following websites: Google, Yahoo, Amazon, Ireland.com, DAFT.ie and RTE.ie Spend a few minutes on them. This is the Internet to millions of people, and these people want all websites to work like this. The more your site is like these websites, the better your site will convert. Simplicity is key.

TIP #2: If you want visitors to do business with you, make it as simple as possible to do business with you. If Dunnes Stores made you run an obstacle course with shopping basket in hand, would you keep shopping there? People don't have much time these days - make it easy for them. Don't make them have to open an account before they can purchase anything. Don't make them have to click six times to get to their product. Don't use long, unwieldy forms to collect personal data. This is an extension of TIP #1. Keep it simple!

TIP #3: "Speak to the dog, about what matters to the dog, in the language of the dog" (Jeff Eisenberg, 'Call to Action'. Your copy needs to be geared towards your target market. People don't want to know that:

• they're welcome to your website.
• you are a total solutions provider.
• you empower global communications providers with real-time data.
• they are visitor number 538.

People do want to know that:

• there's a 40% discount on blue widgets until Friday.
• your site is on a secure server.
• you offer free delivery.
• you guarantee the cheapest widgets in Ireland.

Remember, unless the first impression is favourable, visitors will leave your site and never return. A few simple changes can make a big difference. And if you're planning a re-design, make sure you take these tips on board.

Have you seen any of the above design mistakes? Leave a comment below.

Comments

[Enyr Thomas]

Hi,

Getting more traffic is important to all of us but don't forget your conversions. I recently started using this service www.traffic2sales.net and I have had really good results, my sales have already increased 5-7%. And even better, I only pay for converted sales so no upfront costs. You should try it, you have nothing to loose. http://www.traffic2sales.net?ref=wcb

[Dave Mc]

Great Blog!
On the issue of tip 1, I don't think rte.ie is a great example. The content is cluttered, and the widespread use of pale colours doesn't create enough of a contrast between the different content areas. Check out www.bbc.co.uk - clear contrast, yet simple!

[Dave]

Ah, tis good to see Mahon still likes a good ramble! Come on you Spurs! (ha, ha!)

[J]

What's the story with the applet? Thought that went out years ago ;)

[J]

'nother good article Dave. When's the book coming out!

[Kevin]

Like the article, very Jakob Nielsen views. Simplicity is key!