Drive Digital Conversions With Strategic User Experiences

by Matt Ocello

A website is one of the most important marketing tools in a company’s arsenal.

Marketers put enormous amounts of work into driving traffic to this channel, but some cut efforts short once audiences reach it. They neglect to focus on building pages for conversions.

Website pages with strategic user experiences play on human intuition and keep visitors interested longer, encouraging them to take action with your company.

For a strong website to be built from the ground up, the design process needs to start with a user experience strategy that will increase potential for on-site conversions. To build a strong user experience, start by focusing on the three following page elements:

Page Layout
Consider what your target audiences seek and how your company can fulfill their needs. This will help when building a layout of your website pages to increase potential for user engagement. Design experiences by weaving a path for your visitors through a story punctuated with visual clues.

Articulate your unique selling proposition early and often, and back up your claims with proof. You can do this with customer testimonials or data showing how your company positively affects customers; a combination of both often works best.

Also consider the source of your visitor – how he or she arrived at the website – and cater to/build upon the previous site experience. Build upon that messaging to persuade website visitors to either navigate to more pages to learn more or convert immediately. This is the first step on site that drives users into the sales funnel.

Calls to Action

Believe it or not, website visitors want to be told what to do next. Writing enticing calls to action helps direct them to take the next step in the sales funnel.

Use audience-specific messages that leverage triggers and hooks related to your unique sales proposition. Remember that you’re trying to solve a problem each visitor has. Build compelling calls to action with wording speaking to your company’s ability to do just that.

Calls to action should look at least slightly different from other elements on your pages, standing out and catching a visitor’s attention right away. Many companies use colors related to their branding, but to pull eyes toward a specific message, consider implementing contrasting colors and shapes.

Focus on removing all types of barriers and friction, as converting should be simple. Visitors should never have to hunt for a way to take action. A call to action should always be visible from all areas of the page. At minimum, a visual one should be at both the top and the bottom of the page. If you have long pages requiring multiple scrolls, more calls to action should be featured throughout the page. Be persistent when telling your audiences to convert.

A/B Testing

If you’re unsure about how well your page elements are working together and want to determine whether moving a few things around could increase your conversion rate, try A/B testing. On test pages, you can evaluate the success of subtle changes, such as page layout, call-to-action wording or color, form fields, and copy placement.

To compare one page with another, evaluate specific page metrics, such as bounce rate, time on page, and – of course – conversion rate. This data will help you determine how each page element is affecting users and their decisions to convert.

Don’t forget to consider the differences between simple testing and multivariate testing. Testing one element at a time is obviously better but is a painfully slow process. Most digital marketers build extensively different page designs to test against one another.
Remember the basic rules of testing: Have a control page for data comparison. Allow the testing process enough time to see real results to avoid a false positive. Don’t confuse causation with correlation, and don’t confuse statistical significance with practical significance. Data looks great on paper, but if the end result isn’t more conversions, the page isn’t working.

Are you ready to evaluate your company’s website pages and start creating more strategic user experiences but not sure where to start? SteadyRain’s team of digital strategists can help you design conversion-driving pages built specifically for your target audiences. Learn more at www.steadyrain.com.

SteadyRain Internet strategist Matt Ocello has more than 10 years of experience working in the digital space, including web development, online marketing and application development. Contact him at matt.ocello@steadyrain.com or 314-446-8894.