7 Website Tricks Every Marketer Needs to Know

Did you know the average website only converts about 3 percent of visitors? So what about the other 97 percent of potential customers? Sadly, most people don’t do anything about them.

Instead of showing you how to get more visitors, most of whom will leave your site, let’s plug your leaky funnel and convert more of the people who are already arriving at your site each and every day. Even if you implement just a fraction of what you’re about learn here, it will make a real difference in your business.

Brian Downard is the co-founder of ELIV8, a management consulting firm that helps businesses maximize growth in a digital world.

These are Brian Downard’s seven best tips to optimize your conversions:

1. Give away a highly specific “Lead Magnet” to convert more website traffic.

The chances of someone becoming a customer the first time he or she visits your site are slim to none. That’s why converting website visitors into leads is a crucial first step to closing the deal. The best way to do that is to offer them a Lead Magnet.

A Lead Magnet is any offer you give away for free in exchange for your visitor’s contact information. According to QuickSprout, people are 300 percent more likely to buy from brands who offer a Lead Magnet. It is important that your Lead Magnet promises and delivers a desired outcome your audience has that’s aligned with your core offer. That way, you’re providing value and generating highly qualified, sales-ready leads.

2. Use personalized content and behavioral targeting to increase conversions.

There are a number of powerful tools that let businesses personalize each visitor’s experience by displaying unique offers based on where they come from, pages they visited, their shopping history, and more. This empowers businesses to give shoppers exactly what they want, without guessing.

Amazon is one of the best examples of how to effectively personalize each customer’s experience by creating custom suggestions, cross-sells, and upsells based on past purchases and products viewed. In fact, more than 35 percent of Amazon’s sales come from these personalized recommendations.

3. Bring cold traffic back to your website with retargeting ads.

A little known lead generation tactic is to find people who visited your website or Lead Magnet but didn’t opt in, then use highly relevant retargeting ads to bring them back to your website with the goal of converting them into a lead. It’s important to note, if they didn’t convert on a specific landing page the first time, you should redirect them to a different landing page, since the first one didn’t work.

4. Splinter your core offers into low-risk “Tripwire” offers.

One of the most powerful ways to get more qualified leads and customers is to offer prospects a super low-ticket, irresistible offer known as a Tripwire. The best Tripwires repackage parts of your core offering in a way that moves them close to their desired after state, but also teases what else is in store if someone chooses to buy more from you.

Let’s say you’re selling BBQ grills. Your prospects want to grill mouth-watering food. A Tripwire offer could be a set of wood chips, marinades/rubs, wood/salt planks, and grilling accessories. The idea is that you’re getting a micro-investment from your leads. Why? Because getting money from someone the first time is hard, but the second time is much easier.

5. Ask leads point blank: “Do you need help with [desired outcome]?”

Most people assume a contact form is enough to convert traffic. It’s not. Instead, you should send qualified prospects to a landing page on your site that simply asks if they need help with the desired outcome/solution you offer.

• Do you need help learning how to play the piano?
• Do you need help getting more distance on your golf swing?
• Do you need help growing your audience on social media?
• Do you need help planning a vacation to Hawaii?

As you can see, it works in almost every industry. This converts at a much higher rate than traditional contact forms. After someone opts in, you should send him or her to a second page where they can leave a deposit or fill out a questionnaire to get in touch with your sales team.

6. Build automated email series to acquire customers while you sleep.

The single best thing you can do right now to streamline your customer acquisition process is to create multiple automated email series to follow up with leads and customers based on their actions. For example, if someone abandons their shopping cart, send them a reminder email. If a customer purchases a product, send them relevant cross-sells and upsells. Developing these kinds of automated email series are one-time investments that empower you to sell 24/7.

7. Flood your sales funnel with highly-targeted, paid traffic.

Most businesses don’t have the time, money, or knowledge to acquire enough organic traffic from blogging and search engine optimization (SEO) to build a profitable business. That’s why one of the quickest ways to fill your funnel is to drive targeted traffic to your Lead Magnet offers from places like Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. For better or worse, advancements those companies have made in online advertising allow marketers to target people based on almost anything! This makes finding your target audience easier than ever before.