When we work with our clients at Fivefoottwo Marketing, it’s not uncommon that we see the confusion in the eyes of founders when we start to talk conversion rates. Most early-stage founders know that conversion rates are an important metric, but it can be overwhelming to figure out what results really matter. It’s all too easy to become hyper-focused on one channel or benchmark (we see this a lot), and then get discouraged when the outcome isn’t what was expected.
But conversion rates don’t have to be as overwhelming or confusing as you think. In this blog, we’ll break down the basics of conversion rates, from why they matter to how to put them into action. Read on to learn how to build a realistic plan for effectively measuring all of your marketing efforts—and determine how you stack up.
Why Does Conversion Rate Matter?
Before we really dig in, let’s properly define conversion rate in the context of marketing. Conversion rate is the number of people who have completed an intended action—or converted. Typically, conversion occurs when someone provides you with information—like their name or email address—to get something in return, like an eBook, newsletter, or referral code. Conversion rates are also used to measure the number of people who have clicked on an ad, have booked a sales call, or have purchased a product. Higher conversation rates are almost always better because they indicate that more people have completed the desired action.
So why are they important for startups?
Let’s talk about a few important things to keep in mind when establishing your conversion rate benchmarks.
All conversion rates are not created equal. Benchmarks vary widely depending on the type of marketing, the vertical, and the tactics used. Organic channels, like your email newsletter for example, have an average conversion rate around 16% —while paid advertising has an average of 2.5%. Social media typically has the lowest conversion rate, which averages less than 1%.
Conversion rates also vary significantly from industry to industry. For landing pages, retail conversion rates average around 3%, while SaaS average around 7%. Media and professional & financial services tend to have the top-performing interest rates, averaging about 10%.
Whether your performance meets or exceeds industry benchmarks, the most important thing is to develop your own internal benchmarks. Understanding your current performance—and improving it—is vital to a successful marketing strategy. Conversion rates allow you to measure the performance of your marketing across different channels to help you better gauge success. Having the data and insights into performance allows you to measure things like cost per lead, customer acquisition costs, or general brand awareness. No matter what you choose to measure, having conversion metrics is vital to determining whether or not you’ve met—or exceeded—your goals.
PRO TIp: To get a better sense of benchmarks for your industry, check out thE Ruler Analytics Benchmark report or the Unbounce conversion benchmark report. These will help you measure your performance against industry averages to get a sense of where you stand.
How to Improve Conversion Rates
If your conversion rates aren’t hitting your goals, it’s time to optimize. Before you start updating your assets, first take a look at the entire user journey.
If you have a newsletter or an ad that is driving a lot of traffic—but there is a steep drop off in conversion rates—it could be because your landing page isn’t delivering a great user experience. Creating a lead magnet or landing page that is well-designed, has clear messaging, and maintains continuity throughout the sales funnel is pivotal to increasing conversions.
Conversion drop-offs could also be a result of incorrect targeting. Take a second look at your ideal target audience and evaluate who is landing on your site. If the two don’t match up, this could be the culprit for low conversion rates.
You should also evaluate your call to action or your offering. Whether that’s a demo, a discount, a promotion, or a purchase, it’s important to ask yourself, “What is the benefit for the end-user?” Be sure that you’re offering something that sets you apart and is likely to pique their interest. Standing out with a unique offer is integral to driving interest, and as a result, high conversions.
Once you’ve solidified your offer, start testing different elements within your assets to determine what resonates more with your target audience. For example, the headline you’re using could be missing the mark, or the image could be too generic to catch anyone’s attention. Low conversion rates can be caused by many things, so the first step towards improvement is to identify the problem.
One of the best ways to quickly improve your conversion rates is A/B testing. Test different headlines, images, calls to action, and layouts to gather more data and find the perfect combination to maximize your marketing performance. Just be sure not to test more than one element at once, because it can muddy your metrics. A/B test one thing at a time—like a headline, for example—to get clear and conclusive results that will help you improve incrementally.
PRO TIP: Develop a three-to-six month testing plan, so you can create more structure around your A/B testing. This will help ensure you’re not testing things at random and can instead incrementally improve your results over time.
A few best practices to keep in mind across all channels:
Use clear, concise copy that strongly highlights your value proposition
Add a clear call to action, so users always know what to do next
Use only high-resolution and high-quality images
Add video when relevant
Optimize all of your channels for mobile devices
Only ask for the information that you need—the less that is required, the more likely people are to take the action
Keeping these things in mind will help you optimize for conversion across all of your different channels, from your website and landing pages to your paid social ads and SEM efforts.
3 Quick Tips for Increasing Your Conversions
Ready to improve your conversion rates? Implement these changes and watch your performance tick up and up.
Rewrite Your Call to Action
If you feel that your design, images, and copy are hitting the mark, there might be one thing you’re missing: a strong call to action. The call to action is pivotal to increasing conversions because it’s the last thing a user sees before they click. Instead of the overused “Learn More” or “Contact Us,” options, think more creatively. When developing your calls to action, keep these best practices in mind:
Use action-oriented language, like “Download,” “Sign up,” or “Buy now.”
Play around with the color of your call to action button. A bright, contrasting color may work well, but be sure to test a variety of color options to see what works.
Test different button shapes. While square and rounded squares are popular, a more unusual shape may work well with your audience.
Keep it short and sweet. Calls to action between two and five words tend to perform best.
Put your call to action button at the top of the page or above the fold. Removing a scroll on your web page or landing page will make a big impact on your conversion rate.
Only use one call to action. Adding multiple CTAs can cause confusion and dramatically lower conversion.
Whatever changes you make, be sure to test and try new versions to see what delivers the top-performing results.
Improve Customer Support
Making customer support readily available on your website is a fast and easy way to up your conversions. When companies focus on improving their customer service, they also see a higher overall conversion rate on their website. While customer support and conversion rates might not seem directly related, it’s all about making things easier for the customer.
For example, if a customer wants to know more about a particular product or can’t find something on your website, they’re likely to just call it quits and search for another option. But if your site has a live chat feature, it’s easy for them to simply pop their question in the chat, get the answer, and convert. Streamlining this process and simplifying it for the end-user has been shown to increase conversions by as much as 156%, making it a strategic investment for both businesses both big and small.
Optimize Your Website
Creating a cohesive user journey is pivotal to help increase your conversions. From consistent messaging to strategic design, it’s important to look at your site with a critical eye to ensure it’s making it as easy as possible for visitors to convert.
Create one clear call-to-action so users aren’t overwhelmed by choices, use the rule of thirds to create a streamlined design aesthetic, leverage high-quality images, and write clear, compelling copy. By implementing these website best practices, you’ll create a smooth user journey from the very moment visitors land on your website.
It’s also important to take a closer look at your load times. There’s nothing worse than landing on a webpage and waiting seconds or even minutes for it to load. Even worse, even a one-second delay can lead to a 7% loss in conversions—and if a page takes more than three seconds to load, 40% of users will abandon the website altogether. Load time is also a ranking factor for Google both on desktop and mobile, so it’s also an important part of making your site more visible for organic search.
To help your page load faster and keep users engaged, be sure to:
Check that your photo files aren’t too large. Images over 1MB will drastically slow page load time.
Keep your HTML clean and streamlined.
If you have extra media stored in your backend, it can create a lag. Be sure to clean up your media library to get rid of unwanted or large files.
Invest in your web hosting. Often, your site’s load speed is directly tied to the hosting platform. Opt for a managed hosting platform for faster load times.
Making all of these small changes will add up in a big way to help you speed up your webpage and, as a result, increase your conversion rate.
Putting it All Together
By understanding why conversion rate matters and evaluating current performance, startup founders can make strides in understanding how they stack up in their industry, against competitors, and overall. Whether you’re beating benchmarks or need to make steps to improve, assessing the current status quo should always be step one.
If the marketing strategy isn’t meeting standards, there are actionable strategies you can use to bolster your performance. From something as simple as swapping out a CTA to a more comprehensive overhaul of your existing tactics, you know have all of the tools you need to take your conversion rates to the next level. Using these quick tips, come up with a cohesive and actionable plan that will help you incrementally improve performance—and you’ll be crushing those benchmarks before you know it. But if you’re still feeling a bit overwhelmed about where to start, don’t worry—we can help. Contact us today for a free 30-minute consultation.