5 Ways to Increase your Website Conversion Rates: Part Two

Businesses spend a lot of money setting up their website and driving traffic to it. However, converting visitors into customers is an important part of a digital marketing strategy that often gets forgotten.  In day two of our five day series Senior Lecturer in Digital Marketing, Tanya Hemphill discusses how to optimise your website to suit your potential customers' browsing behaviour.

Make your website 'mobile friendly'

More people are now browsing on mobile devices such as mobile phones and iPads, instead of using traditional desktop computers. The majority of websites have not been mobile optimised, which means

that navigating around a site on a mobile device is difficult and some content /design disappears from the screen. Even large brands fall into this trap.

To check how your website appears on different screen resolutions, I highly recommend the free testing tool at http://mattkersley.com/responsive. Before you think about allocating budget either to change your website into one with a responsive design (i.e. it adapts to the device you are viewing it on) or to create a separate mobile site, it’s important to check what your ‘actual’visitors are using. 

This is where the free software tool Google Analytics (www.google.com/analytics) can help - it will tell you what devices your visitors are using to access your website. I’ve found that most consumer orientated

sites generally have a 50/50 spilt between mobile and desktop devices. Recent research suggests that brands can increase their mobile conversion rate by 19%-100% with responsive design.

It can therefore be argued that the ROI against the cost of implementation is potentially high. If you do have a mobile optimised website, think about using ‘click-to-call’ buttons instead of asking visitors to complete data fields for email addresses, etc. which can be ‘fiddly’ on a small hand-held device. Try to make the user experience as simple and easy as possible.

This article has been written by Tanya Hemphill, Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader in Marketing and Public Relations, based at the Warrington School of Management (University of Chester).
@DigitalTanya 
@WSofManagement

STOP PRESS:

The Warrington School of Management is launching an exciting new business service that will include networking events and ‘Master Classes’ to help small and medium sized businesses grow. If you are interested in registering for more information, please send your details to Beth Morris at b.morris@chester.ac.uk

5 Ways to Increase Your Website Conversion Rates: Part One

Businesses spend a lot of money setting up their website and driving traffic to it. However, converting visitors into customers is an important part of a digital marketing strategy that often gets forgotten.  In day one of our five day series Senior Lecturer in Digital Marketing, Tanya Hemphill writes about the importance of your website's landing pages. 

Optimise your Landing Page

If you are running an effective online marketing campaign that includes tactics like search engine optimisation (SEO) andPay-Per-Click advertising (i.e. GoogleAdwords) you should never drive all traffic to your home page.

 I’ve heard that just 5% of all John Lewis’ website traffic comesfrom their home page. Instead, your digital marketing efforts should drive visitors to the page that’s most relevant to their online search. These ‘landing pages’ should link to the visitor’s online search query.

The next stage is to make sure every landing page is optimised to achieve the highest conversion rate possible. Unfortunately, this is a weak area for most businesses with many driving traffic to a particular page in the hope that the content and design works for them. To help improve landing page conversion

rates, the following elements should be considered:

•  Highlight how you resolve your customer’s problems 

•  Explain how you help reduce buying risk – i.e. how do you overcome consumer concerns such as quality,cost, service, etc?

• Communicate a clear online value proposition (OVP) - i.e. why should they buy from you and not a competitor?

• Have a clear call-to-action - highlight what you want them to do next, such as go a particular page, sign up for a newsletter, call to make an appointment, etc.

•  Layout - improving the area ‘above the fold’ almost always accounts for increased conversion rates (a traditional publisher’s concept that also works online)

According to conversion expert and author Benji Rabhan (see further reading), most people think about design before lead generation / conversion and this is the wrong way around. He believes that

half of conversion rate optimisation is about ‘tweaking’ and testing design / layout and the other half is about the message and words on the page.

Further reading:

The Hubspot Blog: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/26866/9-Must-Haves-for-the-Perfect-Landing-Page.aspx 
Recommended book: Rabhan, B., 2013. Convert Every Click: Make More Money Online with Holistic Conversion Rate Optimization. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons Inc.

This article has been written by Tanya Hemphill, Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader in Marketing and Public Relations, based at the Warrington School of Management (University of Chester).
@DigitalTanya 
@WSofManagement

STOP PRESS:

The Warrington School of Management is launching an exciting new business service that will include networking events and ‘Master Classes’ to help small and medium sized businesses grow. If you are interested in registering for more information, please send your details to Beth Morris at b.morris@chester.ac.uk

How to avoid the frustration of traffic jams

IF you are a car-commuter then you will know so very well the frustration of traffic jams or failing services eating into your time.

Warrington's workers suffer from the impact of motorways incidents (the M6 appears to be particularly bad?) local bottlenecks and bridge raises regularly. Peak periods can be a nightmare! These delays are costly to both companies and individuals alike in both time and fuel.

Enlightened employers can help to make folk's lives easier, improve productivity, get better staff and improve customer service by reviewing their working patterns. Fewer industries are now sticking to 'standard working hours'. Customers, both businesses and private consumers now require extended hours of service.

Staggering workforce start times can help to cover twilight service requirements and link into international time zones. How about allowing your workers to work from home some of the time? Technology allows this with no impact on service for many operations. 

Research shows home-workers are usually more productive. The office can be a distracting place. Home can be more family friendly too, attracting quality employees. When time is money then perhaps it's time to review your arrangements, for the benefit of all long-suffering commuters of Warrington.

Professor Lawrence Bellamy is Associate Dean at the Warrington School of Management, University of Chester Warrington (Padgate) Campus.




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WSM students take a Leaf out of PR veteran's book

PR veteran and author Robert Leaf

Over forty-five PR and business students on the University of Chester’s Padgate campus attended a guest lecture from Robert Leaf, former International Chairman of Burson-Marsteller, about public relations this week.

Robert entertained and informed students about his varied career in ‘perception management’, from bringing PR to the Soviet Union during the Cold War to setting up the first official PR firm in China. Throughout his 55 year career in public relations, Robert has set up offices around the world and worked with clients such as Rocco Forte and Robert Maxwell.

The American PR veteran, who is listed in ‘Who’s Who in the World’, has published memoirs about his career in the book ‘The Art of Perception’. He told the Warrington School of Management students about some of the defining moments of his career and provided them with career advice, based on having conducted thousands of interviews during his time at Burson-Marseller.

Professor Lawrence Bellamy, Associate Dean of the Warrington School of Management, says ‘We were delighted to have Robert as a guest lecture at the business school. Students not only enjoyed his talk but went away with first-hand insight regarding International public relations and some great tips about job seeking and preparing for interviews. The business school actively seeks visiting lecturers of Robert’s calibre to provide students with inspiration and industry knowledge.’

 

 

 

 

To find out more about Warrington School of Management, visit our website and follow us on Twitter

Register now for free business help

Small and medium sized businesses across Cheshire are invited to make an early New Year resolution and register for a free programme of business support at the University of Chester, starting in January

The Knowledge Action Network (KAN), which is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund, has already helped more than 25 Cheshire businesses in the past year.The project brings together local businesses and University expertise to encourage creative approaches to innovation and growth.

Business owners are asked to take a critical and objective look at their companies with support from specialist speakers, University experts, individual business coaches and business peers. Recruitment has now started for a new group of businesses to take part in KAN during 2014. The latest programme will include workshops, business diagnostic sessions and networking opportunities with other KAN groups in Cheshire, Manchester and Cumbria.

Kay Kent, University Project Co-ordinator, said: “KAN provided an exceptional opportunity for small and medium sized businesses to work with the University and with a network of like-minded businesses on a fully funded business support programme.”

She added: “Do get in touch with us to find out more and register your interest, as places on the 2014 programme are limited to ensure we can give individual support to each business.”

Delegates at the first KAN session in July 2013

At the first KAN event in July Professor Lawrence Bellamy, Associate Dean of Warrington School of Management, commented : “At the University we know that small businesses are at the heart of the UK economy with creative, innovative and entrepreneurial ideas. However, we also understand that setting up and developing a business can create obstacles and challenges. Through our work with small businesses we have found that when business owners work together to share, support and network, it sparks creative and innovative thinking which is a catalyst for growth.”

 

Businesses interested in joining the Knowledge Action Network should contact Catherine Theobold on 01244 511177 or email mailto:c.theobold@chester.ac.uk for a programme brochure.