Copy Techniques to Improve Conversion Rate
Propose value in your Call to Action (CTA)
Replace plain and boring calls to action with calls to action that offer something valuable to your readers in your conversion rate optimization process. For example:
- Replace the CTA “Sign Up” with “Get Started for a FREE Trial.”
- Replace the CTA “Click here” with “Yes, Send Me My Free Report On How to Make $300 a Day.”
Demonstrate social proof on your CTA
Social Proof is a powerful conversion rate optimization booster. If your pages or posts have Facebook Likes, comments, and shares, show them to your users. In addition, display customer testimonials, the number of users, the number of downloads, or any other proof that shows people trust and love your brand.
Add numbers in your headlines
Using numbers in your headlines increases readership. When you use it in your blog post, an email subject line, or even on your ad copy, you immediately hook your reader’s interests. Try using “7 Ways to Be a Better Sous Chef” than the ordinary “How to Be a Better Sous Chef” as the former yields 12-25% more traffic to your site.
Add reassurance copy around your CTA
Mention a money back guarantee, free shipping, free trial, or your privacy policy around your CTAs. These “Click Triggers” make the user comfortable about their decision to take action. Booking.com is full of “Click Triggers”, as they are found everywhere on their site. Just one hotel listing has four Click Triggers.
Create a sense of urgency in your CTA
Creating a sense of urgency to your call to action is another great way to boost conversion ratio on your website. For best results, add numbers to your CTA. Using phrases, such as, “Order in the next 24 hours to get 50% discount” or “Hurry up! Limited seats available” or “Only 2 hours left” doubles conversion rate on your website.
Ask for micro-commitments
Micro-commitments are like going on a “date” before marrying. It can be used in two ways:
- At the top of your sales funnel – Offer a free trial or a monthly membership.
- In your sales copy – Use a call to action, such as “See a Sample”, instead of using high pressure “Get a FREE Quote” CTA.
Demonstrate Social Proof
Bestselling products and viral content with 100s of shares, likes, and comments demonstrate social proof, which can boost conversions.
Do not advertise the numbers on your subscriber’s list
Removing the text “25,000 people already subscribe” improves conversion, Derek Halpern found in his experiment. Several other marketers discovered the same result. Why? Perhaps, people want to feel they are part of a small, yet intimate, email list. Showing off a giant email list makes them feel as if they will only be slammed with generic sales emails.
Hide negative social proof
You know that social proof (testimonials, shares, likes, comments, etc.) can significantly boost conversions. But if you have 2 positive reviews and 10 negative reviews about your product or services, your social proof can backfire you. So, remove any indicators of negative social proof from your website.
Feature profitable products above the fold
Place them in the front and center (above the fold) of your website. The same principle applies to your home and categories page.
Engage your audience, even if they do not buy right away
If you only have two CTAs (“buy” or “not buy”) then you are losing all those potential customers, who might not be ready to buy, today. Even if they do not purchase from you today or sign up for your list, you can still engage them in some small ways. It could be something as simple as offering a free trial to your products or services, asking them to watch a video, or uploading their avatar. However, measure whether more engagement leads to more sales. Remember, there is a fine line between engagement and distraction in conversion rate optimization.
Offer lot of information
Do you have an expensive or complex product to sell? Create a landing page with lots of information to boost conversion. Why the long sales letters? Because your people need a lot of convincing, before they are ready to invest in a pricey product or service (e.g., SEO 101 Online Course). Landing pages designed to capture leads (email addresses) need not have a lot of information. A free eBook offer is a common trick used in conversion rate optimization.
Increase the number of landing pages
Did you know that simply increasing your landing pages (with 10+ landing pages) on your website will generate 55% more leads than using 5 or fewer landing pages for a company? Check out this screenshot:
More landing pages equal opportunity to promote more offers and send more traffic to search engines. Be careful: That does not mean you should create 30 designs for the same offer. Each landing page must be unique (at least 90%), promote different offers, target different customer segments, among other things.
Make Your Headlines Very Specific
Shady headlines do not sell (it is a fact). So, do not feel shy or afraid of being super specific about what your product or services do for your customers. Yes, you might lose some people, but your target audience will eat everything up. Rather than using the headline, such as “Semen Retention Increases Testosterone,” try using a specific headline, such as “Semen Retention Increases Testosterone Levels by 45.7% after 7 days.”
Use bullet points instead of large chunk of text
Your people do not like to read huge blocks of text (especially if you are promoting expensive and complex products). Include bullet points in your landing pages that break up a large piece of text and make them easy to read and digest, which leads to more conversion.
Use plain English, instead of jargon
When crafting sales copy, leave your MBA and Ph.D. degree behind your door. Hyped up jargon, such as “We are a software company that is determined to provide excellent customer service with revenue-driven solutions throughout our sales cycle”, does not work in the world of marketing. Instead, craft a copy that everyone can understand and relate to: “We will help you get more sales.”
Replace “Buy” CTA with feature- or benefit-rich CTAs
The word “Buy” creates commitment pressure for the customers, which is not a good practice for conversion. Instead of using “Buy”, use feature- or benefit-rich phrases, such as “Reserve my seat” or “Start my 30-Day Free Trial”, which is much more likely to get clicked.
Use action-oriented copy
Copywriters have long known that action-oriented copy is more persuasive and, therefore, more powerful for conversions. So, rather than outlining facts (“Our software builds backlinks from high-quality sources”), use active voice copy (“Build backlinks from High PR sites and drive hungry customers to your website”).
Use guarantees
Anything you do to reduce risks will boost your conversion rate optimization outcomes. Risk reversals have been working for centuries and will continue to work like gangbusters today and years to come. This is because guarantees build credibility, trust, while reducing risks on consumer’s end – three things necessary to get your potential buyers to pull out their wallet.
Use price anchoring
Do you want to make your offers affordable, without slashing the actual price? Try price anchoring. How does it work? Well, when you display a certain price, your potential customers are “anchored” to that price for a short while (that is why you see infomercials showing higher prices before revealing the actual price). In the conversion rate optimization example above, Crazy Egg shows the most expensive plan first, which sets the standard for the rest of the negotiations.
Use specific numbers and stats in your CTA
Sprinkling stats and figures in your copy boost credibility. The phrase “Drives 1000 visitors a day within 30 days” is much more powerful than “Bring more traffic to your site.”
Here is an example from the Hubspot homepage:
Make your deal more attractive with bonuses
Adding a bonus to your product gets more value than selling those two items bundled together. This is a fact, backed by science. According to research conducted by Dr. Jerry Burger, people preferred to buy a cupcake that came with two free cookies than a bundle that contained a cupcake and two cookies.
Use scarcity to boost conversion rate
Scarcity always works. We always crave what we cannot have. We want to be the owner of that rare item or be a part of that private club. For that, we are also willing to pay a lot. When something is restricted (either by being scarce or exclusive), the value of the offer and demand for it increases proportionally. Here is an example of how Amazon uses the principle of “scarcity” to boost their conversion rate.
Conclusion:
If you are running a brick-and-mortar business, a blog, or an e-commerce site, you will love this guide. Before, these Conversion Rate Optimization techniques were scattered all over the Internet. Now, with the help of our marketing researchers and writers, we have put together the best Conversion Rate Optimization practices. Based on your individual goals, you can apply any of these conversion rate optimization techniques.
In our next lesson, we will talk about Web Analytics and its importance in improving your online marketing results.
