Site Layout and Closure Rates
Ok, you have decided to build your own website. Congratulations on having the foresight to see the need to get online with your business. The purpose of this article is to discuss the importance of proper design on your website. It is important to understand that selling online is different than selling from a local store.
When selling locally you should enjoy a very good conversion rate. The bulk of the customers that come into your store are probably buying from you. This will not be the case when selling online. That is why it is important to drive as much traffic to your site as you can. (We will talk about that in a different article.)
If you had a website that was designed perfectly and you market that site perfectly you would probably experience about a 1% to 2% closure rate. That is right, over 98% of the customers coming to your website will probably leave without purchasing from you.
When looking at my online sales I have often thought about how much more success I could enjoy by simply raising my closure rate by 1%. My sales would increase by about 35%. That is what this article is all about. You need to understand the need to continually adjust your website to increase your closure rate.
My description of closure rate
Simply put it (your closure rate) is your end game goal. What percentages of the people landing on your site are reaching your end target? For some websites your end target is to simply get them to read an entire article and fill out an information page. More than likely for this industry your endgame is probably to close a sale.
So how do you design your site to improve your closure rate? When I first started we wanted to get ranked so we just wrote a bunch of content with no real endgame in mind. This is a mistake. You do need a good content plan. However make it relevant and easy to follow and understand. When a customer lands on your site you have less than 5 seconds to make that customer believe they are at the right place. So how do you do that? First of all you must know what the customer is looking for. You know this by the page you have led them to. For example if you have a Google ad about boat lettering and the customer clicks on that ad you do not want it pointing to a window lettering page. You know what the customer wants because they have clicked on a relevant ad or link that leads to your page. So make sure your page is laid out in a way that makes it very obvious to the customer that they are at the right spot. With the internet it is very easy to simply hit the back button and go back to the search page where they will find additional ads to click on.
So you are aware of what is necessary to improve your closure rates. Now what is the next step? It is time to evaluate your results. Look for good results and bad results. Keep in mind when you find a less than lucrative campaign, do not immediately jump to the conclusion that the advertising is not working. Maybe you should re-write your ad. Or maybe you should land it on a different page. Track your customers. Evaluate the results and make a new decision. Then start the process over again. Keep working towards perfecting a particular campaign. Once that is done start another one.
Some things to consider when setting up a page
Make sure your page matches the needs of the audience you are pointing to it.
Catch them with a quick paragraph explaining what you offer.
Each page should have its own little endgame or in some cases more than one endgame option. For example they should instantly see the options they have to move on. A bunch of text will not do this they will leave before they read it. You need them to understand what you offer and see the next step on each page you produce.
Keep each page simple and too the point. Do not bore your customer or they will leave.
In closing I would like to recap a bit. You are looking to close as many customers as possible. Focus on that with your advertising, your copy, your graphics and your layout. Keep it simple. Keep evaluating your campaigns, tweak them and re-evaluate. This recipe will lead to your own online success story.