If you haven’t already read the Eisenberg brothers’ book Call to Action, then you need to! You don’t have a choice in this matter if you’re involved in any aspect of website marketing. When I read it I took note of some brief pieces of information that really stuck out to me.
- You must go beyond usability. This isn’t simply removing obstacles. It is creating the desire that drives action.
- Make your website about the customer instead of about the company.
- 74% of visitors reach websites by direct navigation (type the URL) or bookmarks; 16% via links from other websites; 11% via search engines.
- The world’s finest players sport double-digit conversion rates of somewhere around 12-14 percent.
- What 5 things should e tailer’s measure? Visitors, conversion rate, average sale, margin, overhead.
- Building your visitor’s self-assurance is based on answering the questions visitors are asking.
- If there is no perception of value, the visitor is gone.
- Ask yourself if your persuasive system identifies the qualities of value that are important to your visitors.
- Majority rules; you must realize your customer is Mr. basic user, not Mr. techno-wiz.
- Proven fact; eliminating extra steps in the buying process improves conversion rates.
- They won’t buy from you if they don’t trust you!
- 80% of site visitors want to know the same stuff, so develop a useful FAQ. Don’t make them have to click the contact us button.
- The 8 second rule; If he arrived from Mars and had never heard of your company or visited your website before, would he know what your website is about in eight seconds (no matter which page he landed on)?
- Read your headings. If they were the only words a visitor read on this page, would they communicate the basic point?
- The only content they want is stuff that will directly help them make a more confident buying decision. Anything else only confuses them, or distracts them from buying, or slows the sales process, or bloats your website.
- If you write less than 300 words, it may be nearly impossible to properly explain what you offer over your competitors. Writing copy for a website is about making a point correctly rather than quickly.
- About 50% of all website searches end in results that don’t meet visitor expectations. Visitors expect search results to be accurate and relevant. 33% of customers look first to website search instead of navigation.
- To help lower shopping cart abandonment, add a link back to the product details page inside the checkout process, and place a thumbnail image of the product inside the basket, this can increase conversion by as much as 10%.
- At the exact point when your customer has to start filling in a form with personal information, reassure the customer that privacy is sacred to you.
- A longer average time on site (ATOS) indicates greater interest in the product/website.
- A conversion rate will not tell you what’s wrong. It only indicates whether you’re too hot or cold, based on a standard.
- Know your site’s conversion rate and shopping cart abandonment rate!
- Lead generation sites should measure form abandonment.