You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. You’ve likely heard this saying before and there’s definitely some truth to it. This phrase means that you can make it easy for someone to do something but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they will do it. So by now, you’re probably wondering, “Isn’t this a digital marketing blog?”

We’re not really talking about taking your horse to the old town road for a drink of water. We’re talking about the role your company’s website plays in the conversion process. 

A conversion occurs when a customer completes any set goal that’s essential to the sales funnel and ultimately the success of your business (i.e. purchases, lead form submissions, phone calls or sign-ups). 

One of the main goals of any digital marketing effort is lead generation – driving people in your target market to your website. Lead gen is how we prove a success for SEM or SEO campaigns. 

At the end of the day, however, you can bring hundreds or thousands of horses (or in this case, potential customers) to the water (your website), but can you get them to drink?  

Alright – enough with the horse analogies. Let’s get into it.

Here are four ways you can improve the conversion process on your website: 

1. Create a Clear Call to Action. 

The #1 mistake we see on websites is an unclear call to action (CTA). This is the main action you want a potential customer to take when they visit your site.

2. Trim Down Your Lengthy Conversion Process. 

People will make a split-second decision on whether completing your CTA is worth it. Most online users simply won’t take the time to fill out lengthy contact forms or complete 7 step checkout process.

Tips: For forms such as contact or registration forms, limit the number of required fields to 3 or less. For online stores, consider adding a PayPal option to speed up the checkout process.

3. Beautify Your Site

Users will decide within milliseconds whether they believe your website represents a legitimate and trustworthy business. A large portion of this decision is based on the attractiveness and design of your website. 

4. Send Traffic to Specific Landing Pages

In order to prevent potential customers from bouncing (leaving your site immediately), send them to the most relevant page possible, and remember point number one! Include an obvious CTA on the landing page so the user can easily take the next step.

When it comes to driving traffic to your website, don’t try to put the cart before the horse. (Ok we lied, we had one more horse reference in us). Lots of targeted traffic is great for your business, but converting that traffic to long term customers is even more crucial.

Are you interested in turning your website into a lean, mean converting machine?  We can help!