Website conversion is when a visitor to your site completes a specific action you want, like making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter. Website conversion is a concept that we keep in mind when designing and developing all websites. The higher your website conversion, the more successful your website is at driving forward your goals and growing your business.

As a website owner, you’ve probably spent a lot of time and resources developing your website and trying to ensure its success. However, increasing your website traffic through search engine optimisation or paid ads isn’t always enough to increase your revenue – a successful website encourages as many users as possible to carry out desired actions rather than just clicking on the home page and leaving.

Website Conversion Defined 

Website conversion is a key measure of how well your site turns visits into tangible results, whether that’s sales, leads, or any other action important to your business. Essentially, it’s about how effectively your site encourages visitors to do what you want them to do. This could mean anything from clicking a button to completing a purchase. Conversions are crucial because they’re a clear sign your site is not just attracting visitors, but also engaging them enough to take the next step in becoming customers or active members of your community.

Examples Of Websites Conversion

Some examples of successful conversions might be:

• Making a purchase
• Creating an account
• Booking an appointment
• Signing up for a newsletter
• Clicking the ‘contact’ button

 What Counts As A Conversion For Your Business?

Choosing the right action to measure for determining your website’s conversion rate depends on your business goals and what you consider a successful interaction with your site. Here are some steps to guide you:

• Identify Your Business Objectives: Start by defining what success looks like for your website. Is it selling products, generating leads, or perhaps increasing sign-ups for a newsletter?
• Understand Your Audience’s Journey: Consider the path you expect users to take on your website. Which actions are critical steps in this journey?
• Align with Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Choose an action that aligns with your business’s KPIs. For an eCommerce site, this might be a sale, while for a B2B company, it could be a form submission or a download.
• Assess the Value of Different Actions: Not all actions contribute equally to your business objectives. Evaluate which actions lead to the most value, such as a direct purchase versus a newsletter sign-up.
• Consider the User Experience: Choose an action that is easily trackable and represents a clear intention or interest from the user. This could be as simple as clicking a ‘Contact Us’ button or as significant as completing a purchase.
• Review and Adapt: Your chosen action isn’t set in stone. Regularly review if this action still aligns with your business goals and adjust if needed, especially as your website and business evolve.

By selecting an action that closely aligns with your business objectives and customer journey, you can effectively measure and optimise your website’s conversion rate, ensuring it accurately reflects your site’s success in achieving your business goals.

How To Measure Your Website Conversion Rate

Tools like Google Analytics are indispensable when it comes to measuring your website’s conversion rate. They provide a comprehensive view of your website’s performance and key metrics by tracking user behaviour, traffic sources, and more. You can set up conversion goals in Google Analytics to track specific actions, like form submissions or product purchases. Additionally, consider using tools like Hotjar for visual insights like heatmaps, which can give you a deeper understanding of how visitors interact with your site. These tools, when combined, give you a well-rounded picture of your website’s effectiveness in converting visitors and can highlight areas that need improvement.

Calculating Your Website Conversion Rate

Calculating your conversion rate is a straightforward enough process, as well as being a vital Key Performance Indicator (KPI) to make sure you’re achieving your goals. To calculate the rate, divide the number of conversions by the total number of visitors to your website over the same period, and then multiply the result by 100 to get a percentage. For instance, if your site had 200 conversions from 5,000 visitors last month, your conversion rate would be (200/5000) * 100, equating to 4%.

Regularly tracking this metric allows you to understand how well your website engages visitors and prompts them to take action, providing a clear indicator of your site’s performance and areas that may need improvement.

What’s A Good Website Conversion Rate?

Understanding the average conversion rate for websites can be a helpful benchmark, but it’s important to remember that this rate highly depends on your industry and the specific conversion goal you’re aiming for. Generally, the average conversion rate varies widely across different industries, with some sectors seeing higher rates due to the nature of their business and target audience. You can also expect to see seasonal dips and peaks in your conversion rate.

A good conversion rate is often considered to be around 2-5%, but this can differ significantly. For instance, eCommerce sites might have different expectations compared to service-oriented B2B websites. A 2% conversion rate might be considered a high conversion rate for some businesses. It’s important to measure your industry standards and set realistic goals based on your industry averages to truly gauge how effective your website is at converting potential customers or clients. 

What Is Conversion Rate Optimisation 

Website Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) is the process of increasing the percentage of website visitors who complete a desired action on your website. It involves understanding how users interact with your site and adjusting elements to encourage more of them to take specific actions, like buying a product or service.

In the context of eCommerce, conversion rates are a vital metric that indicates how effective your website is in convincing visitors to make a transaction. By using CRO, businesses can more easily meet their website goals, whether it’s increasing sales, generating leads, or driving other forms of engagement. It’s about optimising the user experience to convert a higher proportion of the total number of website visitors into customers, thereby boosting overall business performance.

How To Increase Your Website Conversion Rate

If your website has a low conversion rate, don’t get discouraged – it doesn’t necessarily indicate failure. Instead, it’s an opportunity for you to optimise your website and adjust your strategy. Fortunately, there are some pretty steps you can take to increase your conversion rate – mostly centred around improving your overall website experience and following best practices when it comes to website design and website performance.  Here are 9 of the most fundamental steps to improving your conversion rate: 

• Identify friction points
• Ensure your Website is responsive
• Implement website personalisation
• Highlight your value proposition
• Simplify navigation 
• Add clear calls-to-action
• Streamline the checkout process
• Optimise web page speed
• Use trust signals

Identify Friction Points 

To boost your website’s conversion rate, start by pinpointing any friction points. These are areas of your website where users might be getting stuck or losing interest. Heatmaps are a great tool for this. They show where users are clicking and how they’re scrolling through your site through mouse tracking. By studying these patterns, you can find out where visitors might be dropping off or facing hurdles, like complicated navigation or unclear calls to action. Addressing these friction points makes for a smoother, more inviting user experience, encouraging more visitors to take the actions you want.

Ensure Your Website Is Responsive

As of December 2023, over 55% of website traffic comes from mobile devices, meaning responsive web design is imperative. Your website needs to look and work great, even on mobile devices. Websites that aren’t mobile-friendly can frustrate mobile users and push them away, harming your conversion rate.

A responsive design automatically adjusts to fit the screen it’s being viewed on, making your site accessible and user-friendly no matter how people access it. In 2024, most users expect a fully responsive design on mobile websites, and this is especially true for business websites. If you’d like to learn more, check out our article ‘What Is Responsive Design?‘.

Implement Website Personalisation 

Adding a personal touch to your website can significantly enhance the user experience and, in turn, your conversion rate. Personalisation could be as simple as showing relevant product recommendations based on browsing history or as complex as customised landing pages for different user segments. Tailoring the user experience to meet individual needs or interests makes your site more engaging and can encourage visitors to take the next step.

Highlight Your Value Proposition 

Your website should clearly communicate your value proposition through compelling website copy- what sets you apart from the competition and why visitors should choose you. This should be prominent on your site, ideally on the homepage and any landing pages. A strong, clear value proposition can resonate with your audience, giving them more reason to engage further with your site. Our guide to Creating A Marketing Strategy can help you get a clear idea of your unique value proposition.

Simplify Navigation

Lastly, don’t underestimate the power of simple, intuitive navigation. Your website’s layout should make it easy for visitors to find what they’re looking for without getting lost or overwhelmed. Streamlined navigation helps guide visitors smoothly through your site, leading them towards taking the desired action, whether it’s making a purchase, signing up for a service, or getting in touch. Making critical actions easier for people to find is one of the most fundamental ways to improve conversion rates.

Clear Calls To Action

Your website copy should have CTAs that are easy to spot and understand. They guide visitors on what to do next, whether it’s making a purchase, signing up for a service, or getting in touch. A good CTA can significantly influence a visitor’s decision to take action, meaning better results for your business. 

Streamline the Checkout Process

For online stores, the checkout process should be as smooth as possible. Minimising the number of steps to complete a purchase can lead to fewer abandoned carts and more completed transactions, increasing conversion.

Optimising Web Page Load Speed

A fast-loading website is crucial for keeping visitors engaged. By optimising elements like images and server response time, you can prevent potential customers from leaving your site due to slow load times. Unsure how fast your website loads or how to make improvements to your site that increase load time? Check out our guide to improving website load time.

Using Trust Signals

Trust signals like customer testimonials, SSL certificates, and industry accreditations can boost the credibility of your site. They reassure visitors that your site is trustworthy and that you’re a reliable business, meaning a higher percentage of people turn into paying customers.

Want To Increase Website Conversions?

At Futuretheory, we understand the importance of website conversion and how it can be a game-changer for your business. Our team focuses on creating and refining websites that not only attract visitors but effectively convert them into loyal customers or active community members with our bespoke web design.

If you’re looking to elevate your website’s performance and drive tangible results, we’re here to help. Our expertise in web design and development, combined with a keen understanding of digital marketing and what drives conversions, means the websites we create are powerful business assets for our clients. Contact us for a free quote to discuss how we can ensure your business is growing.