- Have you built a beautiful website
and invested a ton into driving traffic
only to find out that most visitors bounce away
without taking any action.
Hmm.
If so, you've got yourself a website conversion challenge.
But don't worry.
Jamal from HubSpot, and I'm gonna help you fix it.
Let's get started.
Think of your website as a store.
If the store's empty, nobody's coming in at all,
you probably have some kind of marketing
or even a product problem.
But if the store is full of people
and only very, very few
are actually making their way to checkout and buying stuff,
yeah, that's a conversion problem.
The good news, a lot of things had to go right
to get people to your site in the first place,
so you've got a product or service
people are actually interested in,
and that's no small thing.
But when they get to your site,
they're just not quite seeing what they need
to help them make that decision to buy or to get in touch
or to fill out that important form.
Those actions, purchasing, getting in touch,
filling out a form, they're examples of conversions.
It just means when your web visitor takes an action
that has a high value for your company.
So, what's more good news?
Well, if people are coming to your website,
there's a lot you can do to make them more likely to convert
to help them do what they actually came to do.
So, that's what this is all about, designing your website
to get you the most possible conversions.
The art and science of conversion optimization
can get super detailed and super specific.
That's why HubSpot has put together
this free "Ultimate workbook for Redesigning your Website."
If you're planning to optimize your website,
I can't think of a better resource
for you to use, (mouse clicks)
but for now, I'll break down a few fundamental principles
that can dramatically raise your conversion game.
To illustrate our points,
we'll use a fictional fashion company, HubSocks,
maker of fine socks and other sock-based accessories.
Some key principles to make your website convert better.
First things first, make your homepage
a clear, compelling introduction to your company.
You wouldn't show up to a first date not looking your best.
Similarly, your homepage is the most important page
of your entire website.
Your homepage needs to instantly orient the visitor,
show them what you're all about
and make them feel they've come to the right place.
You've only got a few seconds to grab people's attention
and make them want to explore further,
so lead with strong, clear benefits.
Focus on the top use cases
and make it about the buyer, not just about you.
For HubSocks, that means showing the visitor
that this is the place for a wide range of quality socks.
The homepage needs to be clear, compelling,
and professional.
It has to show the socks
and how people find just the socks that they need.
Your own website might sell a single product or service
or it might sell a whole range of different products.
Make it as easy as possible for people to pick a lane
to get on the right journey towards their goal
and your goal for them.
For HubSocks, the homepage makes it easy
for people to choose either socks or accessories.
Once they choose, you can give them the best experience
and the easiest journey for what they're trying to do,
like the parent that's sending your kid off to school
and you give them a nice little lunchbox
with their favorite little goodies in it.
That's what the homepage experience is supposed to be doing.
You're sending your kid off
to have a good day at school.
That brings us to the next key principle, prioritize.
If you put equal emphasis on all your different products
or calls to action, you're likely to confuse your visitors.
You need to decide which product
and which conversion behavior is the single most important
and get your visitors to focus on that.
Think of your homepage as a clear focus landing page
for that most important thing.
But you can't expect everyone to just hit the homepage
and choose to buy Your product.
Life isn't like that unfortunately.
You need to think about the key steps
in the purchase journey
and lead visitors by the hand through each step.
For HubSocks, we know people who see our demo video
are more likely to buy,
so the "Watch the Demo" call to action
is prominent in key places.
Once people have watched the demo,
the CTA is all about talking to a sales rep.
It's a step-by-step journey.
The key is to understand that journey
and make sure your website supports it
and also provides clear, simple navigation
so any user can choose their own adventure.
The next key idea, use the power of social proof.
Before you buy any product, it helps to know other buyers
have been happy with that product.
This is why social proof is so important.
And luckily for us,
HubSocks gets amazing ratings and reviews,
so we show them at key points in the buyer journey,
like on the homepage, the pricing page,
along with strong customer quotes
and deep dive case studies.
To inject a bit of urgency, you might even use a plugin
to show how many products are in stock right now.
So the next key principle, make your CTAs sing.
Design big, bright, clear CTAs.
Make sure people know they're clickable,
then track and measure which ones work best.
HubSocks saw a bump in conversions
just by changing from yellow to blue CTA buttons.
We also made our primary CTA stay on screen
even when the user scrolls
with a sticky CTA bar on the side of the page.
And for people not ready to buy,
there's always a secondary CTA,
in this case, signing up for the HubSocks newsletter.
All these are great examples
of an even more fundamental principle of web conversions,
reduce friction.
Your buyers are in a hurry
and your competitors are always one click away.
You want that journey to be buttery smooth, right?
You want your customers to be saying,
"I can't believe it's not a friction-full journey."
If they sense even for a glimpse of a moment,
an iota of a second, that this is going to take a long time
or be difficult for them, they're gone.
You've lost them.
HubSocks analyzed our bounce rates
to find our friction points
and decide to cut our form fields in half
and remove the form altogether for some key content.
We also reduced the average number of clicks
for finding the right socks from eight to 4.5.
That's a lot of friction removed.
Part of reducing friction for the user
is clear, coherent design.
HubSocks uses plenty of white space,
clear headings and icons, useful charts and images,
and short, punchy text blocks,
all held together by a simple color palette
and a clear, consistent use of fonts.
Okay, let's zip through what we've just seen.
The key principles of web conversion
we really want to take away
are make your homepage clean, clear, and compelling.
Prioritize the conversion behavior you most want to see.
Create clear lanes
and purchase journeys for your different users.
Streamline your CTAs and reduce friction
by simplifying, clarifying, and emphasizing.
And just for you, 'cause I care about you a lot,
here's a bonus tip.
For people who've come this far with me,
keep improving your conversion rate by test, test, and test.
Run simple A/B test to see if one landing page, CTA,
headline, or content converts better than another.
And it really is that easy.
Apply these simple principles to your site.
Track the conversion rates and engagement metrics,
and you're sure to be improving in no time.
You've invested in your website and in the marketing
to get people to your site.
Invest just a little bit more time and energy
into making sure your website converts
as well as it possibly can,
and without a doubt, (cameras click)
fame and fortune will be yours, my friend.
Try it out and let us know how it works for you.
And to help you out on the way,
don't forget to check out our free guide,
"The Ultimate Workbook for Redesigning
(mouse clicks) your Website."
Truly one of the best things that we've put out there.
So I want to know, what website design choices
have changed the game for your business?
Drop some comments below and don't forget to subscribe
for the latest and greatest
marketing tips and tools. (bell beeps)
Now, if you'll excuse me,
I wanna go purchase a couple HubSocks for myself.
My toesies are a little cold, and, you know,
it's not getting that much warmer where I'm from,
so until then, I'll see you next time.
(upbeat music)
- I can't find this client info.
- Have you heard of HubSpot?
HubSpot is a CRM platform,
so it shares its data across every application.
Every team can stay aligned.
No out sync spreadsheets or dueling databases.
- [Narrator] HubSpot. Grow better.
(upbeat music)