The number of active web users in the UK has increased markedly since 2006 when just 16.2 million Brits could be regularly found online. This number grew to exceed the 40 million mark in just 10 years, while it peaked at a whopping 46.6 million during 2020.
This has at least partially contributed to the rise of eCommerce in the UK, as brands are able to target higher volumes of inbound traffic and increase their reach in the virtual world.
However, driving traffic to your website means little unless it converts into bottom-line sales, which is key to helping you maximize your ROI. So, here are some steps to help you achieve this objective.
Getting Started – Why is Inbound Traffic so Important?
In simple terms, inbound traffic refers to the individuals who visit your website during a particular time-frame and one of your core marketing objectives should be to optimize the number of target consumers who are directed online.
Arguably, this is more important than ever in the current climate, as competition in the eCommerce space has been intensified by Covid-19 (which has also increased the total online consumer spend in the UK).
It’s also important that you analyze your inbound traffic and determine its point of origin, as this is key to understanding the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns and gaining an insight into the typical customer journey online.
Make no mistake; this delivers invaluable insight to businesses in an age of complex and integrated marketing campaigns, particularly in terms of the value of assisted conversions and each individual advertising channel.
How to Optimize Your ROI Through Inbound Traffic
The question that remains, of course, is how can you look to optimize your ROI through inbound traffic and ensure the optimal level of conversions?
Fortunately, there are several ways in which you can achieve this goal, including the following steps:
Focus on the Design of your Website
Have you ever heard of the term “analysis paralysis”? This concept suggests that having access to too many choices can inhibit a person’s ability to make a decision and this issue can be particularly prevalent online.
So, when welcoming visitors to your website, it’s crucial that you create a slick and streamlined design that focuses their attention and minimizes the risk of them being distracted or confused while browsing.
For example, the use of so-called “whitespace” can help to add structure and organization to the layout of your individual landing pages, drawing attention to key elements and potential calls to action. This will help to optimize conversions in real-time and boost sales incrementally.
Consider the Importance of Call Tracking
If you’re a call-centric firm, it’s important to integrate inbound call data with digital analytics to create more detailed insight over time.
This can be achieved through the use of advanced call tracking software, which combines these two metrics seamlessly and provides a quick and efficient way of capturing key datasets from your marketing campaigns.
The upshot of this is a far greater understanding of your sales conversion rates, along with an insight into how you can improve your processes in the future.
Be Mobile-friendly
Mcommerce is undoubtedly on the rise in the UK, thanks to a combination of increased mobile penetration and sustained technological advancement.
Interestingly, 79% of smartphone users are thought to have made a purchase online using their mobile devices during the last six months, with this trend expected to increase incrementally in the months and years ahead.
With this in mind, it has never been more important that you create a responsive and accessible mobile website and one that can facilitate both searches and product purchases.
This also offers potential marketing benefits, as there remains an inherent link between mobile channels and offline advertising platforms such as billboards.