Towards increasing customer conversions

Customer conversion rate, also referred to as sales conversion rate, is important for marketers in order to better devise future marketing strategies. Basically, the customer conversion rate is the number of sales divided by the number of visits.

Companies, today, understand that it is no longer profitable to focus only on customer acquisition. Customers should be retained by making them loyal customers. It is easier to retain current customers than to get new ones, and improving websites' ergonomy and conversions rate is mandatory to make customers loyal. Marketers are always seeking new ways to improve their conversion rates.

It is therefore very important for marketers to understand their visitors and their needs. They should understand the whole consumer behavior process:

1. Problem recognition

2. Information search

3. Alternative evaluation

4. Purchase decision

5. Post-purchase behavior

Problem Recognition

In the first stage of the Consumer Decision Making Process (CDP), the customer perceives a need. The customer finds a difference between his actual situation and the ideal one. He realizes that he needs something.

Information Search

In the second stage of the CDP, the consumer seeks information through internal search (memory & past experiences) and external search (friends, reports, websites, advertising among others).

Alternative evaluation

In this stage, the consumer assesses the value of the product and its benefits.

Purchase Decision

Here, the consumer decides from whom to buy. A lot of factors are associated with the purchase decision such as quality of products, visuals of the product, the store atmosphere among others.

Post-purchase behavior

After buying the product, the consumer evaluates the product in terms of satisfaction or dissatisfaction (cognitive dissonance).

It is primordial for marketers to understand the whole process of behaviors of their customers. They should understand their needs so as to give them exactly what they want. Testimonials are comments or reviews from other customers who have used or tried a product and such comments are very important and generally very trustworthy. Potential customers generally trust what other customers have said about the products. Success stories are also very important.

Improve the landing pages

One of the best ways to convert traffic into sales is to improve the landing pages. This can be done by optimizing their contents, use of appropriate headlines, use of bullet points concerning the benefits, use of high quality photos among many others.

Web users generally make judgments about the credibility of a company based on the neatness, design and contents of a website. Companies should make their websites very beautiful and innovative.

Customers prefer quality high definition photos of their products which are wonderfully showcased on websites. There exists intuitive digital photo studios that can easily help anyone in creating high quality product photos and interactive animations.

Marketers should capture the attention of their customers by giving them exactly what they want. By offering 360-degree product animations and digital 3D animations on their websites, the rate of customer conversion definitely gets boosted.

Competitor analysis

Marketers should not only know their customers but they should also know their competitors. By knowing every move of their competitors, marketers can devise new strategies to market their products more effectively. Thus, they will have higher chances of converting potential customers into actual buyers.