Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Don't Forget The Obvious On Your Website

By David B. Ascot

In this article, you'll find one tip which may seem like a no-brainer but is not implemented by a shocking number of websites; this technique can increase your conversions. If this all seems too simple at first, keep reading; there are some more advanced aspects to this method which you may not have thought of before.

Can prospects contact you easily?

I'm occasionally contracted to analyse the conversion rate of a website and suggest ways to improve conversion. One of the blindingly obvious conversion mistakes that I spot more often than you might think is the complete absence of a "Contact us" page (or one that's very well hidden).

A "Contact us" page is normally the key response device in a lead generation website, yet many websites leave it out. Simply by making your "Contact us" page highly visible to prospects, you can increase conversion rate by a significant margin. In one case we did this and enquiry volume immediately jumped by 25%.

Make it straightforward for the prospect!

I saw one website which did feature this page as a link in a drop-down menu, but it was nested inside the "about us" sub menu. This makes your contact information harder to find. Instead, put your contact us page link where it is easy for any visitor to your site to find.

Other sites have this page and put the link in a visible enough place, but call the link something different (Details, Enquiries, etc.).

This is a case where it's wise to avoid being original and use the accepted teminology that the majority of your visitors are used to seeing.

Exploring this idea further:

You can also achieve an increase in your conversion rates by including variations on your call to action throughout your page.

Follow each call to action with a "contact us now" link ? catching your prospects in various places and give them more chances to get in touch with you.

A "contact us" link at or near the beginning of your copy works well for your regular readers (and for the impatient).

However, most visitors will be more responsive to these links when placed immediately after compelling points in your copy such as bulleted lists of the benefits of your product; try to catch them when you've just triggered an emotional response.

Toward the end of your copy, put your final call to action.

Placing your "contact us" links throughout your copy is far more effective than simply placing a single link at the bottom of each page. While it won't necessarily work for every website, it can do wonders for lead generation efforts.

As always, test and see!

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