2 min read (425 words)
In 2010, I worked for one of the top conversion optimisation agencies in the world – serving clients the likes of Google, Facebook, and Paypal. Working there was like getting…
… a “million-dollar education.”
The founders of the company – who incidentally were credited with coining the phrase ‘Conversion Rate Optimisation’ (CRO) back in 2007 – developed a unique process to make websites convert more prospects into customers.
Before serving their high-profile clients, I had to go through 3 months of training on their unique methodology.
It was a dream come true to learn their methods.
With CRO, there’s a lot of very poor advice online. Advice that leads people down a path of testing layouts, images, and button colors.
The result of which is:
- Zero improvements.
- Wasted time.
- And lost sales.
Conversion optimization is a two-stage process:
Find out WHY people are not converting on your website (by uncovering their objections) – and then fix it.
Seriously, that’s it.
However, the devil is in the details.
The process of finding out why people are not converting has many layers. And designing a/b tests to fix it––requires a little creativity, empathy, and experience.
Here are the top 3 conversion mistakes Solopreneurs make:
1. Lack of Empathy:
A deep understanding of your market and knowing their true “motivation to act” – is imperative.
What are their problems, struggles, and desires?
What do they truly want?
What keeps them awake at night?
Why haven’t they solved their problem in the past?
What “objections” do they have to purchase from you?
>> These are all things you need to know and address when communicating with your visitors.
2. Ignoring Funnel Leaks:
If you are not tracking conversion rates across your entire sales funnel – from when people first hear about you…
(ads, organic, social)…
… right through to becoming a customer, you’ll never discover the weakest converting parts of your funnel.
Isolate the weakest part.
And “ask visitors” – with in-page feedback tools – with carefully designed questions – to discover their objections.
>> Quick wins lay here. This is where you should start with a/b testing.
3. Testing Small Changes:
Are people really not converting on your website because your button colour is red and not green?
Of course not.
The truth is:
big changes = big improvements.
Your job is not to randomly test, but to create a “hypothesis” as to why visitors are not converting based on data.
Data that can only come from research and understanding of your visitors.
>> Objections are the key: Find out what they are, and overcome them on your website.
