When it comes to running a successful online business, driving traffic to your website is only half the battle. While many business owners have mastered the art of using social media to generate web traffic, they have yet to learn how to turn that traffic into conversions. Luckily, here are some clever strategies designed to help you increase conversions and maximize your ROI.
Refresh Your Conversion Funnel
If the social traffic conversion rate of your site isn’t where you want it to be, start by looking at your conversion funnel. Your conversion funnel designed to lead customers from awareness to action. While there are lots of different variations of the conversion funnel, the most successful ones consist of 4 major components:
Awareness. This is the phase of your sales funnel where customers become more familiar with your product or service. The goal of this phase is to help viewers transition from visitor to potential customers. Things like crisp, engaging copy with attention-grabbing headlines can help you achieve this goal.
Interest. Once you have informed site visitors about your brand, the next step is to get them interested in your product. The goal at this stage is to convince potential customers that you have a product or service that could be useful to them.
Desire. The third stage of a successful conversion funnel is to channel your customer’s desire for your product. Your customer is already interested in your product, they just aren’t yet convinced that they want or need it in their lives. This phase of the funnel is where you can use elements like brand value, price or free shipping to create a sense of desire for your product.
Action. The final phase of a successful sales funnel is to spur the customer into taking a specific action. This is where your prospective buyer transitions to an actual customer. You have already convinced your customer that they want or need your product or service, the next step is to make it as simple as possible to buy it. Things like 1-click checkout and premium shipping options can encourage customers to quickly purchase items in their online shopping carts. While graduates of this phase will always represent a small portion of your overall incoming social traffic, your goal is to refine each stage of your funnel to maximize the success of this phase.
Understanding the natural flow of your conversion funnel will help you better design it to increase sales.
Split Testing
Once you have designed a conversion funnel that you are satisfied with, the next step is to test it. Using A/B split testing tools or software can help you measure the impact of small changes to your sales funnel. Everything from colors and titles to images and the layout of your site can be tested. The information you gather during split testing can be used to further improve your conversion funnel.
Bringing it All Together
Ultimately, the success of your online business depends on your ability to both generate traffic and convert visitors. While many businesses focus their efforts solely on generating traffic, the more important figure is how many of those visitors actually make a purchase. Follow these clever conversion funnel tactics and you will be well on your way to maximizing conversions and increasing your bottom line.