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I received a question
recently from a newsletter subscriber who asked, “How do I know if I’m losing sales on my website?”
The short answer is that
every website is losing sales every single day. There’s no way to convert
100% of the qualified prospects who visit your site. That’s just not
realistic. No more realistic than a salesperson closing 100% of proposals.
However, with that said, you
don’t have to settle for low conversion rates. In this article, I’ll
highlight 4 website mistakes that could be unnecessarily costing you sales.
1. Company vs. Customer
Copy
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The first mistake is using
company-focused, rather than customer-focused copy. By this, I mean answering
the prospect’s question, “What’s in it for me?” That’s what everyone is asking
when they first land on your website. How is your business going to help me? In
other words, the copy on your page needs to address all of the benefits of your
product or service. Explaining what you do is important, but you need to take
it a step further and relate it to clear benefits.
For example, a chiropractor
obviously helps relieve back pain. But so what? What does less or no back pain
really mean to your patients? It might be the difference between recovering
from an injury in weeks, rather than months. Or it might mean being able to
play baseball with your child, rather than sit on the sidelines. See the
difference?
2. The 3 Second Test
There have been studies that
show website visitors make split-second decisions about whether or not to stay
on a website. A rule of thumb is that you have about 3 seconds. If you don’t
capture your prospects attention in just 3 seconds, then she’s gone. Likely,
never to return.
This means two things:
1.
Your website must load
quickly. We’re all impatient and if your website takes a few seconds to load,
then your visitor isn’t going to wait.
2.
Everything on the top of
the page (aka “above the fold”) needs to be clear and compelling enough to get
the visitor to want to read more. You don’t have to sell or close the deal in 3
seconds, you just have to get the prospect to scroll or click around.
3. Weak or No CTA
Many websites that I review do
not have a strong CTA (call-to-action). In fact, some do not have a CTA at all.
That means the visitor has to want to work with you so bad that she’ll search
out your contact information on her own.
If you want phone calls, then
make the phone number CTA very prominent on the website. The upper right corner
is a common location where most visitors will know to look. If your goal is to
get prospects to start a free trial, then add a big button in the upper right
corner. This isn’t rocket science, but it’s often overlooked because we’re so
familiar with our own websites. Get feedback from someone who has never been to
your site to see if they know what to do. If they’re not sure, then you know
you need to make your CTA more obvious.
4. No Lead Magnet
The vast majority of your
website visitors are simply not ready to buy right at the moment they are on
your website. That doesn’t mean they aren’t interested. It just means the
timing isn’t right.
For these folks, you need
what’s called a Lead Magnet. A lead magnet is something valuable you can offer
on your website for free, in exchange for contact information. For example, on
our website, we offer different types of lead magnets, including free
checklists and guides, as well as webinars.
The beauty of a lead magnet is
that it gives you contact information for prospects who are interested, but not
yet ready to buy. And then, you can follow up via email to nurture, educate,
and build trust until the prospect is ready to take the next step.
So take a look at your website.
Are you making any of these 4 mistakes?
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