On page conversion optimization

themodernsource · 30th May 2014, 10:46 AM

Hey Guys!

First post.

I'd really appreciate some unbiased insight and suggestions on changes I could make to increase my conversion rate. My site has been around for over 4 years, and with little paid marketing I've managed to create a pretty decent income generator, However my conversion rates are low (less then .5% now). They were around .75% and in the last month or so have died down.

I can't pin point the reason for the drop in conversions, traffic has been quite steady. I feel like there must be some on page changes that could help. I know without analytics access you can't provide a ton of info but any tips/ advice would help.

We get aprox 100-150 uniques per day and feb and march 2014 were my highest grossing months to date we did about 25k and 30k in revenues and april may were back to the 12-15k range. Ideally I'd like to get the conversion rates over 1%. We are selling fairly high ticket items (furniture) with a lot of comparison shopping and competition.

I've been in touch with several digital marketing agencies and they all seem to have varying opinions.

URL is THE MODERN SOURCE - Mid Century & Modern Classics for home or business

Thanks

Dave

kre8ivecanada · 30th May 2014, 11:53 AM

I have a knack for digging through Google Analytics for the purposes of conversion optimization. I can take 15 to check yours out if you would like. PM me.

I don't want to say something generic like "make your phone number larger and stand out better" or "put your site on https://" simply because the changes that you really need to make may not be that big of a deal. It could be things you aren't even aware of or haven't looked at such as page load time, broken/dead internal linking, high cart page drop off rate, or many more. Perhaps a page in the checkout process is causing users to shy away from committing to a purchase.

Like I said, the offer's open.

jtunkelo · 1st Jun 2014, 11:23 AM

Kind of difficult to know what has changed without knowing any of the history or other specifics.

In any case, a conversion to sales of under 1% indicates there's definitely a problem. 1-3% would be something of a benchmark for e-commerce sites like this.

Do you have goal tracking set up well in Analytics? If not, now's the time to do that. Because once you have a little history to look at, you can create advanced segments that help you narrow down the source of any significant changes in conversion or otherwise.

RickDuris · 1st Jun 2014, 01:39 PM

Question: where's the traffic coming from? I know it's paid, but where is it coming from? Keywords?

Also, do you track visitor engagement? What can you tell us about how people buy? For instance, how many times do they visit your site before they purchase? Do you get a lot of repeat business?

Stuff like that would be helpful to know.

Will Compton · 1st Jun 2014, 02:06 PM

If it was me I would put a headline and a little explanation about why I (the consumer) should do business with you as opposed to anyone else, or not do anything at all... it's commonly called the Unique Selling Perspective (USP).

But really the only way to tell if something is going to improve numbers is to test, test, test.

Test the market, test the message, and test the media.

The most important thing being the market, even more than your copy. For example, if you're wife was pregnant and some guy came up to you and, in broken English, tried to tell you that your wife was giving birth to triplets, would you care about his grammar?

But you could write the best sales letter possible for a refrigerator but you couldn't sell that to an Eskimo.

And really conversion rates are good to look at and improve, but what's more important is your return on investment. How many dollars are you making back per ad dollar spent. In other words, if you are spending $1000 on advertising per thousand customers and making $2000 off those customers, then you have a 2-to-1 ROI.

I mean, if your cash per transaction is $2,000, and you are spending $1,000 per 1000 prospects and you have a conversion ratio of .01% (meaning you convert 1 prospect in a thousand), you are still making a 2-to-1 ROI. And you can know that each person who walks into your store (or goes to your website) is worth about $2 gross.

But without being able to look at the arithmetic, this is all just speculation...

But I would definitely add an opt-in form to capture your visitors name and email by giving out a free report called something like: "The 7 Biggest Mistakes Homeowners Make When Buying Furniture... And How To Avoid Them!"

Do you have an in-house list? Are you using direct mail? You're probably sitting on a gold mine...

You should check out the Robert Collier Letter Book, and specifically, the "scratch and dent" sell.

Gary Halbert talks about his client Sam Fishbine, who owned a furniture store, using "Reason why" copy and drama to sell with great success.

What they were doing was, Sam went up into the ceiling, drilled a hole, and then poured water through causing some water damage to an end table or something. Then they would run ads saying, "You know it's been raining a lot lately and we had a leak and some of our furniture has a little water damage, that's why we're going to give it to you at a big discount if you come in today."

What's your "reason why"? What's your story? Give your site some personality and you'll double profits, easy. Have you ever bought something you didn't need because you like the salesman?

ewenmack · 1st Jun 2014, 02:38 PM

Give the visitors what they want first, their questions answered.

What are their most common questions?

I'd suggest your buyers want more touch than
a Walmart experience.

One company went from web conversion to buyers at 4.5% to 45% when they
concentrated on getting site visitors to phone in. 10X.

Another company went from 6 qualified leads per month to 6 qualified leads per
day by making a catalogue of stock and prices available as front and centre of page.
This was in exchange for their contact details. This was done in the first place because
that's what the phone in questions were, "do you stock this product and how much?".

Those are 2 areas I'd look at so you can have more responses and revenue.

Best,
Ewen

RickDuris · 1st Jun 2014, 02:50 PM

One quick tip:

I know you went for a minimalistic, modern design, but see how you can get pictures of people integrated on the site.

One business I worked with doubled their conversions by having product shots with people in them.

Another business got over 400% improvement on their optin landing page by adding a picture of an attractive, smiling woman. (It wasn't a stock photo.)

Give it shot.

ewenmack · 1st Jun 2014, 03:32 PM

Originally Posted by RickDuris

One business I worked with doubled their conversions by having product shots with people in them.

Thanks Rick.

I've just passed that on to a friend who sells animal hides online.

Best,
Ewen

savidge4 · 2nd Jun 2014, 03:06 AM

I personally own a 1930's post Victorian pre craftmanish home. Once you step inside it is a very eclectic mix of the old and new. My Floors are all original hardwood - but stained a very dark brown. My moldings are for the most part all original - except painted white. My interior paint is 4 tones of grey through out the house. I didn't have built ins when I bought the home, now they are everywhere with the Ikeaish modern flare. I have concrete countertops, not only in the kitchen but along with the built ins in the entire lower floor. ( I might add they are a bright gloss white )

All that being said. I would and could be a potential customer and your site disconnects with me on many levels. You are self described as being "The Modern Source - Mid Century and Modern for Home or Business" Yet your navigation is "Products" and "Mid Century Collection" Anyone like myself does not buy products. we buy "Pieces" "Collections" refers more to room sets IE PotteryBarn Bedroom Collections

I would personally break your navigation "Products" section into "Home Décor" and "Business Décor" as your site title suggest. I probably would test "Mid Century Collections" with "Mid Century Pieces" If nothing else go out to Pinterest and search the 2. Look specifically at the images. which one are you trying to sell?

I would suggest breaking your Mid Century Pieces section down by chairs tables coffee tables etc on the first page instead of listing them all out. Go out to your Mid Century Collection page scroll down to the bottom... would you go through 9 pages of product looking for something?

Be it the Products button or the way you have the Mid Century Pieces listed you are creating work to find the items you customer is looking for.

A listing of the Designers might be nice.

Why exactly have you decided to place the "Sign Up for our Newsletter" on the single product page? ANY and ALL pages but there. You are giving the customer an out of the purchase.

I will more than bet, that improving your sites navigation and targeting your overall message to your clients would increase sales.

As others have said the imagery is very blah. As tho it is a "Product" In my humble opinion you are selling ART. If you cant get better images, you might want to consider getting some images for room ideas, that implement some of your products.

Hope that Helps!

Pritom · 6th Jun 2014, 11:11 AM

Yeah.. I do agree with you... I love the way you wrote the conversion optimization

Thanks

NK · 7th Jun 2014, 06:31 AM

Have you tried experimenting with brighter/bolder colors? And also try to keep your rotating banner images about the same size so the whole thing feels more cohesive.

Minor aesthetic changes can really change how people view your site so I'd say it could be worth trying and see how that works for you.

websiteonlinesolution · 10th Jun 2014, 12:02 AM

Instead of optimizing your website’s homepage for all of your keywords, you should have optimized specific landing pages within your website for each keyword phrase you are targeting.

These landing pages should be able to satisfy the search user’s query and help them make the next step, whether it be submitting a lead form to making a purchase.

richpage75 · 12th Jun 2014, 01:55 AM

I optimize websites like these all the time... here are a few major things that need improving to increase sales:

- You don't offer any way of sorting and filtering on your category pages - this makes it very hard for visitors to find what things they are interested in.

- Your email opt-in popup is very generic - in particular you need to actually offer a coupon as an incentive (10% off first order).

- Your unique selling proposition isn't very prominent - you don't explain what your specialize in (other than 'modern' stuff) and you don't give reasons to use your site instead of your competitors. Here is a good article on the importance of value proposition:
Why Your Unique Value Proposition is Killing Your Landing Page Conversions and How to Fix It | Unbounce

Would love to help more - PM me for details.

Thanks!

30th May 2014, 10:46 AM	#1
themodernsource Warrior Member Join Date: 2014 Posts: 1 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	On page conversion optimization Share on: Hey Guys! First post. I'd really appreciate some unbiased insight and suggestions on changes I could make to increase my conversion rate. My site has been around for over 4 years, and with little paid marketing I've managed to create a pretty decent income generator, However my conversion rates are low (less then .5% now). They were around .75% and in the last month or so have died down. I can't pin point the reason for the drop in conversions, traffic has been quite steady. I feel like there must be some on page changes that could help. I know without analytics access you can't provide a ton of info but any tips/ advice would help. We get aprox 100-150 uniques per day and feb and march 2014 were my highest grossing months to date we did about 25k and 30k in revenues and april may were back to the 12-15k range. Ideally I'd like to get the conversion rates over 1%. We are selling fairly high ticket items (furniture) with a lot of comparison shopping and competition. I've been in touch with several digital marketing agencies and they all seem to have varying opinions. URL is THE MODERN SOURCE - Mid Century & Modern Classics for home or business Thanks Dave

30th May 2014, 11:53 AM	#2
kre8ivecanada Active Warrior War Room Member Join Date: 2012 Location: Canada Posts: 94 Thanks: 21 Thanked 8 Times in 6 Posts	Re: On page conversion optimization Share on: I have a knack for digging through Google Analytics for the purposes of conversion optimization. I can take 15 to check yours out if you would like. PM me. I don't want to say something generic like "make your phone number larger and stand out better" or "put your site on https://" simply because the changes that you really need to make may not be that big of a deal. It could be things you aren't even aware of or haven't looked at such as page load time, broken/dead internal linking, high cart page drop off rate, or many more. Perhaps a page in the checkout process is causing users to shy away from committing to a purchase. Like I said, the offer's open.
	Kre8ive Canada - One of the most creative & professional design service on Warrior Forum with a FULL portfolio.Currently offering 50% off our website pricing for WARRIORS ONLY: Banner Design - Landing Pages - Squeeze Pages - Amazingly Creative Website Design - WSO Sales Graphics - More!

1st Jun 2014, 11:23 AM	#3
jtunkelo HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: 2007 Location: Helsinki, Finland. Posts: 162 Thanks: 35 Thanked 47 Times in 35 Posts	Re: On page conversion optimization Share on: Kind of difficult to know what has changed without knowing any of the history or other specifics. In any case, a conversion to sales of under 1% indicates there's definitely a problem. 1-3% would be something of a benchmark for e-commerce sites like this. Do you have goal tracking set up well in Analytics? If not, now's the time to do that. Because once you have a little history to look at, you can create advanced segments that help you narrow down the source of any significant changes in conversion or otherwise.
	Need a quick, effective copy critique to boost your conversion? 24-hr turnaround: http://juhotunkelo.com/copy-critique/ Want world class copy to sell your world class product? Get a free evaluation today: http://www.emergingonlinetrends.com/...-juho-tunkelo/

1st Jun 2014, 01:39 PM	#4
RickDuris CopyRanger.com War Room Member Join Date: 2009 Location: Keaau, Hawaii Posts: 2,203 Thanks: 1,462 Thanked 3,396 Times in 1,230 Posts	Re: On page conversion optimization Share on: Question: where's the traffic coming from? I know it's paid, but where is it coming from? Keywords? Also, do you track visitor engagement? What can you tell us about how people buy? For instance, how many times do they visit your site before they purchase? Do you get a lot of repeat business? Stuff like that would be helpful to know.
	CopyRanger.com

1st Jun 2014, 02:06 PM	#5
Will Compton Scientific Copywriter War Room Member Join Date: 2010 Location: El Paso, TX Posts: 140 Thanks: 156 Thanked 122 Times in 44 Posts	Re: On page conversion optimization Share on: If it was me I would put a headline and a little explanation about why I (the consumer) should do business with you as opposed to anyone else, or not do anything at all... it's commonly called the Unique Selling Perspective (USP). But really the only way to tell if something is going to improve numbers is to test, test, test. Test the market, test the message, and test the media. The most important thing being the market, even more than your copy. For example, if you're wife was pregnant and some guy came up to you and, in broken English, tried to tell you that your wife was giving birth to triplets, would you care about his grammar? But you could write the best sales letter possible for a refrigerator but you couldn't sell that to an Eskimo. And really conversion rates are good to look at and improve, but what's more important is your return on investment. How many dollars are you making back per ad dollar spent. In other words, if you are spending $1000 on advertising per thousand customers and making $2000 off those customers, then you have a 2-to-1 ROI. I mean, if your cash per transaction is $2,000, and you are spending $1,000 per 1000 prospects and you have a conversion ratio of .01% (meaning you convert 1 prospect in a thousand), you are still making a 2-to-1 ROI. And you can know that each person who walks into your store (or goes to your website) is worth about $2 gross. But without being able to look at the arithmetic, this is all just speculation... But I would definitely add an opt-in form to capture your visitors name and email by giving out a free report called something like: *"The 7 Biggest Mistakes Homeowners Make When Buying Furniture... And How To Avoid Them!"* Do you have an in-house list? Are you using direct mail? You're probably sitting on a gold mine... You should check out the Robert Collier Letter Book, and specifically, the "scratch and dent" sell. Gary Halbert talks about his client Sam Fishbine, who owned a furniture store, using "Reason why" copy and drama to sell with great success. What they were doing was, Sam went up into the ceiling, drilled a hole, and then poured water through causing some water damage to an end table or something. Then they would run ads saying, "You know it's been raining a lot lately and we had a leak and some of our furniture has a little water damage, that's why we're going to give it to you at a big discount if you come in today." What's your "reason why"? What's your story? Give your site some personality and you'll double profits, easy. Have you ever bought something you didn't need because you like the salesman?

1st Jun 2014, 02:38 PM	#6
ewenmack VIP Warrior War Room Member Join Date: 2006 Location: Auckland, New Zealand Posts: 6,620 Thanks: 3,448 Thanked 6,446 Times in 2,868 Posts	Re: On page conversion optimization Share on: Give the visitors what they want first, their questions answered. What are their most common questions? I'd suggest your buyers want more touch than a Walmart experience. One company went from web conversion to buyers at 4.5% to 45% when they concentrated on getting site visitors to phone in. 10X. Another company went from 6 qualified leads per month to 6 qualified leads per day by making a catalogue of stock and prices available as front and centre of page. This was in exchange for their contact details. This was done in the first place because that's what the phone in questions were, "do you stock this product and how much?". Those are 2 areas I'd look at so you can have more responses and revenue. Best, Ewen

1st Jun 2014, 02:50 PM	#7
RickDuris CopyRanger.com War Room Member Join Date: 2009 Location: Keaau, Hawaii Posts: 2,203 Thanks: 1,462 Thanked 3,396 Times in 1,230 Posts	Re: On page conversion optimization Share on: One quick tip: I know you went for a minimalistic, modern design, but see how you can get pictures of people integrated on the site. One business I worked with doubled their conversions by having product shots with people in them. Another business got over 400% improvement on their optin landing page by adding a picture of an attractive, smiling woman. (It wasn't a stock photo.) Give it shot.
	CopyRanger.com

2nd Jun 2014, 03:06 AM	#9
savidge4 Midnight Oil Warrior Join Date: 2013 Location: Bridgeport, WV. Posts: 6,791 Thanks: 3,612 Thanked 6,621 Times in 3,497 Posts	Re: On page conversion optimization Share on: I personally own a 1930's post Victorian pre craftmanish home. Once you step inside it is a very eclectic mix of the old and new. My Floors are all original hardwood - but stained a very dark brown. My moldings are for the most part all original - except painted white. My interior paint is 4 tones of grey through out the house. I didn't have built ins when I bought the home, now they are everywhere with the Ikeaish modern flare. I have concrete countertops, not only in the kitchen but along with the built ins in the entire lower floor. ( I might add they are a bright gloss white ) All that being said. I would and could be a potential customer and your site disconnects with me on many levels. You are self described as being "The Modern Source - Mid Century and Modern for Home or Business" Yet your navigation is "Products" and "Mid Century Collection" Anyone like myself does not buy products. we buy "Pieces" "Collections" refers more to room sets IE PotteryBarn Bedroom Collections I would personally break your navigation "Products" section into "Home Décor" and "Business Décor" as your site title suggest. I probably would test "Mid Century Collections" with "Mid Century Pieces" If nothing else go out to Pinterest and search the 2. Look specifically at the images. which one are you trying to sell? I would suggest breaking your Mid Century Pieces section down by chairs tables coffee tables etc on the first page instead of listing them all out. Go out to your Mid Century Collection page scroll down to the bottom... would you go through 9 pages of product looking for something? Be it the Products button or the way you have the Mid Century Pieces listed you are creating work to find the items you customer is looking for. A listing of the Designers might be nice. Why exactly have you decided to place the "Sign Up for our Newsletter" on the single product page? ANY and ALL pages but there. You are giving the customer an out of the purchase. I will more than bet, that improving your sites navigation and targeting your overall message to your clients would increase sales. As others have said the imagery is very blah. As tho it is a "Product" In my humble opinion you are selling ART. If you cant get better images, you might want to consider getting some images for room ideas, that implement some of your products. Hope that Helps!

6th Jun 2014, 11:11 AM	#10
Pritom Hyper Active Warrior Join Date: 2011 Location: Munich Posts: 483 Thanks: 25 Thanked 37 Times in 35 Posts	Re: On page conversion optimization Share on: Yeah.. I do agree with you... I love the way you wrote the conversion optimization Thanks

7th Jun 2014, 06:31 AM	#11
NK Advanced Warrior War Room Member Join Date: 2007 Location: Cat City Posts: 515 Thanks: 35 Thanked 100 Times in 84 Posts	Re: On page conversion optimization Share on: Have you tried experimenting with brighter/bolder colors? And also try to keep your rotating banner images about the same size so the whole thing feels more cohesive. Minor aesthetic changes can really change how people view your site so I'd say it could be worth trying and see how that works for you.
	[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] Affiliate Link Cloaking & Tracking Software - The most powerful tool available for affiliate marketers who are sick and tired of making way too little money!

10th Jun 2014, 12:02 AM	#12
websiteonlinesolution Micheal James Join Date: 2014 Location: London Posts: 29 Thanks: 2 Thanked 29 Times in 26 Posts	Re: On page conversion optimization Share on: Instead of optimizing your website’s homepage for all of your keywords, you should have optimized specific landing pages within your website for each keyword phrase you are targeting. These landing pages should be able to satisfy the search user’s query and help them make the next step, whether it be submitting a lead form to making a purchase.
	Website Online Solution

12th Jun 2014, 01:55 AM	#13
richpage75 Conversion Rate Optimizer Join Date: 2013 Location: Cologne Posts: 29 Thanks: 0 Thanked 9 Times in 8 Posts	Re: On page conversion optimization Share on: I optimize websites like these all the time... here are a few major things that need improving to increase sales: - You don't offer any way of sorting and filtering on your category pages - this makes it very hard for visitors to find what things they are interested in. - Your email opt-in popup is very generic - in particular you need to actually offer a coupon as an incentive (10% off first order). - Your unique selling proposition isn't very prominent - you don't explain what your specialize in (other than 'modern' stuff) and you don't give reasons to use your site instead of your competitors. Here is a good article on the importance of value proposition: Why Your Unique Value Proposition is Killing Your Landing Page Conversions and How to Fix It \| Unbounce Would love to help more - PM me for details. Thanks!
	Rich Page http://www.rich-page.com \| Twitter: @richpage Author of 'Website Optimization: An Hour a Day'