In the digital world, people do judge a book by its cover. Luckily, you can use this to your advantage when developing your online marketing campaign. Visitors will draw an opinion of your website and company within seconds of viewing the landing page (the first page they will come across). The challenge is to create a user-friendly and appealing website while incorporating quality content and social media queues to draw in potential consumers. Digital marketing is like fishing; you have to bait and reel in visitors to begin building lasting relationships.
A CRO Brief
What is conversion rate optimization (CRO) and why should you care about it? In a nutshell, CRO is a multifaceted approach to digital marketing that entails search engine optimization (SEO), content optimization, social media and website design. Ultimately, it is the ease by which users can perform and complete an action on your website, or the “reel in” part as mentioned above. The various features that come into play are all crucial to a CRO campaign’s success. The end goal? Convert as many potential consumers into actual clients directly from your website. Let’s take a closer look at how website design in particular can make or break your CRO campaign.
Banking on Usability
You’d be surprised with how many websites lack a logical approach to their design features. The last thing you’d want is for a visitor to leave your site just as quickly as they came in. Clutter, outdated designs and lack of easy access to important information may make a potential consumer quickly exit. On average, you have about 8 seconds to capture someone’s attention, and usability on a website plays a major role in accomplishing this. User-friendly websites encourage visitors to take the final step in conversion. You can bank on user-friendly layouts because they provide the consumer with what they want from a company website without having them jump through hoops to find it.
It’s All About Eye Candy
It’s like leaving a trail of crumbs that leads straight to the “Contact Us” page, or the brightly colored bait at the end of your fishing hook. A modern or creative layout that draws attention to certain queues and areas on a page acts like eye candy to a visitor. For example, a large slider with a relatable picture and a strong message could be accompanied by a clickable button, e.g. “Find Out More”. Using this as a focal point for any page will draw the gaze of a visitor and encourage their mouse pointer to do the rest. That’s all it takes. In advertising and marketing, the right degree of visuals improves a visitor’s unique marketing experience.
Case in Point: IGEA Brain & Spine
One of our clients came to us a year ago with a drab color scheme and a website interface that demanded a usability boost. As a medical institute, IGEA Brain & Spine knew the importance of catering to their target market’s needs. We went to work on a complete website revamp and CRO strategy to improve their online presence.
Within the first year, some of the changes our design team made to their website included blending a user-friendly interface with visually appealing details. This included:
- Easy access to important information for improved usability
- Promotion of call-to-action messages to encourage visitor activity
- Brightening the color scheme to lighten mood
- Using relatable images to make viewers feel welcome
- Access to consumer reviews for reassurance
The bounce rate for this client decreased 20% by the end of the year. Bounce rate is simply the percentage of sessions where a visitor left the landing page without interaction with the website. In other words, a decrease in your bounce rate is great. During the same time period, visitor behavior improved substantially as average page visits and the duration of time spent on each page nearly doubled. The goal was to promote action. In this case, visitors had faster access to the “Contact Us” page, encouraging them to take the final step in CRO: act.
Let’s Work Together
Let’s be frank, whatever competitive strategy your business employs, whatever value platform your company enforces, the end goal will always be to increase profits. Exploring various profit-making avenues, like CRO, can steer you in the right direction. We know the tricks of the trade to improve your conversion rate optimization campaign to aid in meeting your end goals. Let’s get started to drive customers to your business.