We’ve been noticing something on the websites of quite a few businesses recently that bugs us (just a little). It bugs us because we know it’s losing those companies leads. It bugs us because it’s an easy and simple thing to fix.
It’s about dead ends and funnels.
What do we mean? How do these terms relate to a successful website?
Dead ends are just that – a place you end up without an exit. The only option being to turn around and leave. The same thing applies to a web page. If your website’s “About”, “Products”, and “Services” pages lack guidance to help visitors continue with the sales process and engage with your business. There should always be a clear, intentional route that directs visitors along the conversion pathway. Without a clear path through your website the chance of you losing valuable visitors becomes a lot higher.
Don’t leave your website visitors hanging out in a dead-end.
The key is thinking of your whole website as a funnel (pathway), and every page on your website as part of that funnel.
Your website should have a primary (Macro) conversion goal (Typically, a “macro” goal is a sale or an enquiry “lead”), which sits at the bottom of the funnel. Within the funnel we find “micro” conversion goals. These are smaller moments of success where visitors take actions that lead them further down the funnel and closer to the overall Macro goal of your website.
You want to ensure that every page on your website connects to the funnel and helps to move visitors through your individual sales process. For example, it may be that the next step (micro-objective) is learning more about your brand and your products, and then ultimately making contact or buying from you online.
The goal for your “Home Page” isn’t to immediately generate enquiries or sales. Its objective is to connect, build trust, and engage. This ensures visitors feel confident in proceeding to the next stage of the funnel – e.g visiting your “About Us”, “Services” or “Shop Online” pages. Therefore, the micro-conversion goal for your ‘Home Page’ would be to get the visitor to click through to the next page you know they need to visit in order to be ready to take the final action you want them to take (your Macro conversion goal).
Research shows that there are primary conversion pathway pages that each visitor to your website needs to see in order to be ready to make a buying decision. There are also supporting pages that a visitor might veer off to so that they can discover more about your business and services. Each of these supporting pages should always lead the visitor back into the primary pathway (funnel).
How does this work in practice?
It’s pretty simple. Start by going through every page on your site (choose the biggies first, like your “About”, “Services”, “Products” and your Blog if you have one) and make sure each of those pages have some method of guiding the user to take the next step in their purchasing journey. This could be as simple as a hyperlink to a related page on your site that you want them to visit next, a button linked to your contact page or online shop, or even a form so they can make an enquiry right then and there.
Think about your ideal customer journey, which pages do your visitors need to visit in order to be ready to enquire or buy? Lead your visitors through your optimal conversion pathway with a clear call to action on every page (a statement or button or link) that guides them to take the action you want them to take.
Without an easy to follow funnel you’re asking your site visitors to do all the hard work and, ultimately, leaving them at a dead-end. Many won’t know how to find their way out of this dead-end and will leave your site. They may come back (Remarketing Campaigns are great for this), but the more you can do to optimise your website, the more likely it is those site visitors will become leads and eventually customers.
Talk to us today about other simple but effective ways you can improve your website’s conversion rate. We’re always here and ready for a chat about your digital strategy.
