Since the big bang of Big Data and the upgrade of the current technological era, online businesses need a change of perspectives in order to grow. This change has embodied a new job title called Growth Hacker, who needs to solve the good old problem any online business has.
How do I get customers to my brand?
Unlike traditional methods, a growth hacker answers this question with A/B testing, landing pages, UI optimisation, mobile platforms and big data analytics, some of the things that this article will cover.
Is your business facing growth stagnation? Here are 3 growth hacking strategies to help you drive more user conversions:
# 1. Optimising the speed of your site
The faster the better! This is vital when it comes to the speed of your site. You will be surprised to know that most websites take up to 7 seconds to load on average, ideally you want to keep your page loading time under 2 seconds. Why? Because a 1 second delay in page response can result in a 7% reduction in conversions, according to KissMetrics.
Having a fast responsive page can, by all means be achievable with a reasonable cost, moreover, the same source states that by simply reducing the time your pages take to load you could increase conversions by up to 21%.
Your website should read social proof all over. Because social proof is the only thing that will feed your on-the-fence customer enough trust to make him take the action you want. Make sure you place your reviews, testimonials, case studies and community assets where your Call-To-Actions are: on your landing page, on your sign up page, on your thank you messages and just about anywhere you have a white space and don’t know what to fill it with.
Let’s see a few ways of maximising your social proof to inspire trust and reliability to your customers:
• Use testimonials – your marketing message is always stronger when someone else puts you in the spotlight rather then when you build a throne for yourself.
• Engage comments with a comment manager to give a sense of community. Look at sites that focus on engagement like Mashable, TechCrunch and TweakYourBiz. Don’t you just love to see all those opinions, suggestions and smart thoughts from real people in the comment section?
All the best sites out there prompt you to select your social profile before publishing your comment. It is how the community is brought together and you can achieve it by installing a simple comment manager like Disqus or LiveFyre.
• Show logos. This is an effective way to make your brand more trustworthy in the eyes of your clients. Display a list of logos of your customers or of the websites you have been featured on.
But what to do if you are just getting started and you don’t have any clients yet? In this case it would be extremely useful if you could display logos of any partner you might have. For instance, does your website support different payment methods? Show PayPal or Visa logos on your page. Are you experienced with certain softwares? List down their logos. You can see some examples in the pictures below:
• Create case studies. Case studies are a type of testimonial but instead of just quoting a key phrase you tell the whole story of how your client solved one or more problems by using your product. You will see case studies displayed in a dedicated section on a website, in blog posts or as downloadable documents.
Whatever form you choose depends on your own needs but remember, case studies with informative statistics can help your customers identify their problems easier and better understand what your product can do for them.
# 3. Enhancing your user interface
In today’s digital era not having the best user interface is a sin. The key point is to help your customers use your product right away, for this it is essential to have the following features:
- One goal for your landing page.
Clean your homepage of useless information and make sure your landing page has one goal only and not more. Copyblogger explains why:
“If thy landing page hath zero goals, it is a “branding” page, and such vanities shall bear no fruit.
If thy landing page hath more than one goal, thou shalt confuse thy visitor, who shall leave thy site in disgust and anger.
Thy copy shalt not be divided amongst more than one goal, for such shall surely drive thy visitor to lamentation and thy copywriter to madness.”
- Design CTA buttons that convert.
In order for your users to do something, they need to be motivated, convinced or incentivised. This is where your CTA buttons come in. Your call-to-action buttons are defined by two main elements: the copy and design, both equally important.
Did you know? In one study, a 90% increase in CTR was achieved by changing only one word in the button copy.
Designing effective CTA buttons is a science in its own and if you are planning to become versed in buttonology you want to start with this article: 10 Call To Action Case Studies and Examples From Real Button Tests
Remember, your CTA is the turning point between bounce and conversion!
- Test everything you are not sure about.
A/B Testing is one of the master tools growth hackers use to optimise conversion rates. No matter if you are new to the laws of the web or a full-time Conversion Guru, you don’t need to know what to do from the beginning. In fact, nobody does. The beauty of it is that you can test every possible and hypothetical solution you might have and see what works best for you.
Driving user growth is essential for today’s online business. Fortunately, the web is filled with valuable resources to help you offer the best experience to your customers. All you need to do is be motivated, ask the right questions and look for answers (which you can find by posting your comment below!)
Images: ”3d illustration of ladder and concept of growth strategies. /Shutterstock.com“
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