Improving Conversion Rates via User Testing
I read an interesting article this week on improving website conversion rates for a US based online store, Boots.
If your website continues to get high traffic but does not bring in sales or lead enquiries, then it’s probably about time you looked into your conversion rates. Changes to your website design to improve conversion rates are generally minor but in many cases critical. This is often referred to as ‘conversion rate optimisation’. Conversion rates are the data formulated by the number of visitors to the website that ‘convert’ which can be easily calculated from various traffic sources.
More than likely, the majority of visitors to your website will click through from one of a number of search engines, an advert or even a referring website or campaign; either way, expectations are generally set before the user delves too deep into the website and therefore it is critical that you provide the right impression immediately. You can do this by ensuring that images and text is relevant to the business and its market.
When a user visits your site through to the relevant page and their expectations are not matched; which can be due to the design or its features, the bounce rate will naturally be higher. It’s important that you seek to employ measures which will assist you in reducing your website bounce rates and find a way to increase the user’s desire on each of your most visited landing pages.
Something which we have been doing more and more of lately is requesting feedback from visitors through user testing in order to determine whether there are any issues with the site’s usability which can be easily modified. We can also use this feedback to identify areas when the information is confusing or lacking. This can provide critical insight into user behaviour which is invaluable.
There are a number of ways to get more from your website and increase your website conversion rate, it’s just about asking the right questions and focusing on the most relevant areas within your site. Something which research and user testing can facilitate.
