Hi friends, it’s Jack from Clayman Projects. Today I’m going to be talking about the essential ingredients for a website that generates more, and more qualified, leads. Let’s dive in.
Social proof: Why it’s important and how to use it.
One of the biggest goals of your website is the demonstrate credibility; and that’s where social proof comes in. Reviews are a great example of this. People buy from people they trust, not just any stranger on the internet. 95% of consumers read online reviews before making a purchase and almost half trust online reviews just as much as a personal recommendation (https://www.luisazhou.com/blog/online-review-statistics/). You can also showcase awards or certifications that your business has received, or highlight any high-profile clients you’ve worked with. I also recommend that you have prominent links to your social media pages and, if you have a decent sized following, include your follower count. It’s a simple way of showing legitimacy and that there are people who genuinely believe in your products/services.
The key is to make sure that the social proof you’re using is relevant and trustworthy. By doing this, you’ll build credibility and trust with potential customers, which can lead to increased conversions and ultimately, more sales.
Photography and Videography: Show me, don’t tell me.
One of the biggest rules in good art and cinema is “show me, don’t tell me”. The harder someone tries to convince me that something is “the coolest thing since sliced bread” the more sceptical I am of them. But, if you can show me that your business is valuable then, as they say, “seeing is believing”. Adding a video to a landing page can boost conversions on a website by over 86%, that’s an unmissable opportunity! Let me give you some examples of this to highlight some of the ways you can use good quality media on your site:
Don’t tell me you’re local, show me a photo of your store and and your address on google maps.
Don’t tell me you’re a small business that cares about your customers, show me photos of you and your team talking with real customers!
Don’t tell me that customers love your work, show me reaction videos of customers seeing the results of your work for the first time.
Don’t tell me about your service, show me timelapse videos or demos of you and your team in action!
So, when it comes to putting your website together remember to keep your copywriting short and to the point and think of ways to visually demonstrate what it is that your website does best.
Mechanisms for follow up: How to stay in touch.
On average it takes 8 contacts or “touches” with a customer before they’ll even take an initial meeting with you (https://www.rainsalestraining.com/blog/how-many-touches-does-it-take-to-make-a-sale). Mechanisms for follow up are critical for converting website visitors into paying customers. There are several different ways you can do this. One of the most effective ways is to offer a free trial or consultation. This gives potential customers a chance to try out your product or service and see if it is a good fit for their needs. Another effective mechanism for follow up is to offer a newsletter or email list with a free resource or other incentive for new subscribers. This allows you to stay in touch with potential customers, provide them with valuable information, and remind them of why they were interested in your product or service in the first place. You can also consider offering a live chat feature on your website. This gives potential customers an opportunity to ask questions and get immediate answers, which can help build trust and confidence in your brand. Finally, consider using facebook or google ads to retarget people who’ve visited your site with personalised advertising. It required some additional investment to chase down these leads, but you’re actually engaging with warm leads that’ve already demonstrated interest in your products which means that you can get more bang for your buck marketing this way.
Selling benefits instead of features: How to make them care.
When you’re working on your website and trying to make it high converting, it can be tempting to focus on the features of your product or service. However, it’s important to remember that customers are looking for benefits, not just features. Benefits are what your product or service can do for the customer, while features are the specific details of what your product or service includes. For example, if you’re selling wooden floors then it’s tempting to simple describe them as “top quality hardwood floors” but this is a feature not a benefit. A great alternative here would be “durable, easy-to-clean, hardwood floors that could add value to your home. Varnished to match your style for a coherent and beautifully finished interior.” Now those are some incredible benefits!
Customers buy products and services that solve their problems. By keeping in mind that it’s the benefits of your products/services that solve the customers’ problem (not the features) we can produce effective copywriting and layouts for our websites.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs): Handling objections and hesitations.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs) are an essential element of a high converting website. They provide visitors with answers to the most common questions they may have about your product or service. This not only saves time but also helps to build trust with potential customers. By providing answers to these questions upfront, you can help to alleviate any objections or hesitations they may have in making a purchase.
The key to effective FAQs is to put yourself in your customer’s shoes and anticipate their questions. Odds are, you hear the same questions from your customers over and over again so taking the time to answer as many of these questions as you can on your website will save you time later on. The more educated the customer is about your products and services, the easier it is for them to trust you and commit to a buying decision.
Easy calls to action: How to become a no brainer.
Good calls to action (CTAs) are simple and consistent. All throughout your website you want to make it consistently clear what the next step is in your onboarding/buying process. Is it “book a free consultation” or simply “buy now”? Adding additional CTAs like “read more”, “call now”, “find out more” only really serve to muddy the waters. Sure, sometimes we need to include links for users to do things like this, but there’s only one CTA that deserves a place on a “big shiny button”. Everything else is a secondary distraction.
The other concept to tussle with here is making your call to action a “no brainers”; and there’s two sides to this: good calls to action are both compelling and risk-free.
- We need the rest of the site to successfully demonstrate the benefits or your CTA so that customers actually feel motivated to do what you’re asking them to do.
- We need to reduce friction by demonstrating your credibility and assuring customers that your CTA is 100% risk free.
This is where slogans like “satisfaction guaranteed”, “0 commitment”, “free trial” or “try before you buy” come in handy. We want to take anxiety out of the buying decision by building trust with our site’s visitors wherever we can.
Transparency about pricing/cost: Cut to the chase.
Which brings me to the last, and I think most actionable, element for a high converting website: talking about pricing. Not stating clearly what the pricing is for your products/services is one of the biggest turn-offs for potential customers who are immediately left wondering “what do they have to hide?” You would order food at a restaurant that didn’t have prices on the menu would you? And yet, not being 100% transparent about their price on their website is one of the biggest mistakes I see businesses making today. Usually this is for 1 or 3 reasons:
- “We don’t want our competition to know what we charge.”
- “We don’t want to scare our customers away.”
- “Our pricing is different for each job we do. It depends!”
You might relate to some of these but, as your friendly neighbourhood web developer, I have to tell you that these are all nonsense!
Firstly, if your competitors really wanted to know what your pricing was they could definitely find out. In fact, they already know!
Secondly, if your price reflects the benefits you are highlighting on your website then only customers that are likely to be scared away are the ones that only make buying decisions based on price. Unless your business model is based on being the cheapest option in the industry, these customers might not be the best fit for you.
Lastly, I am sympathetic to variable pricing. But, there are ways around this! Forms for automatic quote estimation, offering packages that can be customised to give a “ballpark” figure, or even a pricing page dedicated to explaining to the customer what the biggest factors are that effect the cost for a cost or service you offer (including figures!) that paints a picture for customers of how much your product/service is likely to cost are all good options. For contractors, I recommend showcasing previous work alongside a costing breakdown and any notes about complications with the job or things to watch out for that could raise the price.
Whatever strategy is a best fit for your business, don’t create distrust between you and your customers by failing to address the pivotal question of cost on your website.
Conclusion
And that’s it! Those are my top picks for the essential elements of a high converting website. Are any of these missing from your site? What stuck out to you?
If you have any questions about this article, or other questions about setting up a world class website, get in touch using the comments section or the form at the bottom of the page, depending on where you’re watching this video. I’ll respond as quickly and fully as I can and you’ll probably inspire my next article!
For now, I’m Jack from Clayman Projects: thanks for reading!