Every visitor that comes to your website and doesn’t – at a bare minimum – provide you with their email address is a lost opportunity.

It makes me tear up when I see websites leaving money on the table.

That’s why I wrote this article for you…

You see, once a prospect leaves your website, you might as well wish them, in the words of Arnold Schwarzenegger, “Hasta la vista, baby!”

Kiss them goodbye – they ain’t coming back.

So, what can we do to better monetize this traffic?

Glad you asked…

Here are six things you can do today to turn more of your website visitors into buyers:

1. Add Some Social Proof

63% of customers are more likely to buy if a website has customer reviews. (Source)

Credibility is key when selling anything online…

Adding social proof to your website is relatively easy, but it can make a big difference to your sales.

So how can you add that proof?

• Have testimonials from customers and industry peers
• Include “As Seen On” logos from media outlets where your business has been featured (i.e. Forbes, CNBC, local news networks, famous blogs, etc.)
• Add reviews of your products and services from your previous customers
• Use case studies to show that you can deliver results

My friend Chris Brisson, founder of CallLoop, said:

“We stuck our clients’ logos on our site (with their permission), and have seen a huge boost in quality of leads and customers. Companies I could have never imagined have now come to us, without us doing anything different. It’s amazing that this ONE simple thing had such a dramatic effect on our business.”

2. Give Visitors Multiple Opportunities To Sign Up

If you aren’t email marketing already, why not?

After all…

77% of customers prefer to receive marketing communications through permission-based email. (Source)

But to build an email list, you also need to give your site visitors opportunities to sign up for your newsletter. Make it easy for potential buyers to register for your email newsletter by providing opt-in forms:

• At the end of your blog posts
• At the top of the sidebar
• On your “about us” page
• In the header of your page
• As a “pop up”

Create multiple chances to sign up, and prospects will see (and likely fill out) the forms no matter how they navigate through your site.

Derek Halpern of Social Triggers said using a feature box that spans across the top of his home page was one of the key factors behind his email list – comprised of tens of thousands of subscribers.

3. Make Your Content Readable At A Glance

Only 16% of website visitors read content word-for-word (Source)

Big blocks of dense text can be turn off for visitors…

If you want to make your content easier to read – and increase conversions – you should make it easy to pick up on the message at a glance. Here’s how:

• Use bullet points
• Highlight keywords and add hypertext links
• Use clear subheadings
• Keep paragraphs short and to the point

According to Nielsen Group, content converted from “dense” text into easily digestible content can increase usability by as much as 124%.

Find pages on your website that are already attracting visitors, and use the tactics above to make them easier to read!

4. Understand Your Unique Advantage Point (UAP)

What is about your offering is truly unique?

Your Unique Advantage Point (UAP) is that “special something” that makes your customer want to buy from you – instead of your competitors.

Some examples of UAPs include:

• Tom’s “One for One” pledge of giving a free pair of shoes to someone in need with every purchase
• Zappos’ 365 day return policy and exceptional customer service
• FedEx’s guaranteed overnight delivery

Understand what sets you apart… and make it perfectly clear to your prospects and customers.

5. Offer A Stronger Guarantee

Every customer knows what it is like to be burned…

They bought a product and it didn’t perform as promised – or it broke apart after a single use.

This kind of experience, as I’m sure you know, isn’t a whole lot of fun…

So when it’s time to decide whether or not to buy, people want to avoid regret almost as much as they want to solve their problems! When visitors come to your website, you need to prove to them that – if they choose to buy from you – they aren’t going to regret it. 

You do that by offering a strong guarantee.

Dominos Pizza is a company virtually built on a strong guarantee:

“You get fresh, hot pizza delivered to your door in 30 minutes or less or it’s free. “

Or how about the Nordstrom guarantee to take back any product you buy, in any condition, with no time limit at all!

These are the kind of trust-building guarantees that get people to buy with confidence.

6. Test Your Call To Action Buttons

Small changes in your call to action buttons can make a big difference for your conversion rates…

Test simple changes to these buttons to see what effect it has on your prospects.

Test variables such as:

• Wording of your call to action – i.e. “Sign up” vs. “Register here”
• Color used for your buttons
• Position of the buttons on your website
• Size of the buttons used

A/B testing is critical for discovering what changes are working, and determining what you should leave the same.

For example, red is often considered one of the best colors for a call to action button, but when marketing firm Crazy Egg tested red for their call to action, they saw their conversion rate drop by 10%!

The only way to know what works with your unique audience is to test, test, test!

Many of these changes cost very little to execute, but they can make an outsized difference to your sales…

Tweak and test thoroughly, and you can win far more sales conversions from your existing visitor traffic.

In your corner,

Charlie