About 70% of users are passive audiences, only 20% engage and 10% create content. This means a significant number of users are reading content but not taking any action.
Converting passive browsers into active users is critical to growing your business. It’s a tricky task, but it can be done – and your conversion rate optimization (CRO) strategy is an excellent place to start.
In this blog, we learn:
• What Is a Good Conversion Rate To Target?
• What’s Keeping People From Converting?
• How To Turn Passive Audiences Into Active Users
But First, What Is a Good Conversion Rate To Target?
Your conversion rate indicates how well your public-facing content is performing.
According to Mailchimp, a good conversion rate falls between 2% and 5% across all industries. So, if 6% of your visitors click on a call-to-action (CTA), you’re in a good place.
Take note that every industry’s sweet spot is different. For instance, food and beverage businesses have a higher conversion rate than electronics retailers (Statista, 2023).
To boost website conversions, start by getting to know your users. Understand what motivates them to visit your site, the obstacles they encounter and what persuades them to take action. Then, apply CRO best practices to encourage visitors to complete your desired end goal.
What’s Keeping People From Converting?
Before diving deep into this topic, we must establish that window shoppers and passive browsers are interested prospects. They may be on the verge of converting, but something’s holding them back.
As a business owner, it’s your job to identify the blip in the customer journey and adjust your CRO strategy development accordingly. Here are some areas to look into:
• Mandatory account creation
• Confusing checkout process
• Unclear return and exchange policy
• Weak product, store or brand information
• Limited payment options
• Poor website navigation
• No discounts or promo code
Up Next: Learn how to address these roadblocks with battle-tested CRO best practices.
How To Turn Passive Audiences Into Active Users
Every eCommerce business will hit a growth plateau at some point in its lifetime – unless you truly understand how to keep customers engaged. Steer your company in the right direction with these conversion rate optimization best practices:
1. Identify Pain Points and Highlight Solutions
Of all the conversion rate optimization tips you’ll get – prioritize this one. Pain points are critical moments in the buyer’s journey where customers encounter a process, feature or malfunction that keeps them from completing their purchase. Addressing these pain points can help you improve customer engagement and satisfaction.
Once you’ve identified common blockers, give customers a sense of relief by showing that your product or service solves their problem. Highlight the features that best meet these pain points and explain how they work.
2. Use Enticing Calls-to-Action
Use dynamic language to compel visitors to take action. Replace overused “Sign Up” buttons with more engaging phrases like “Yes, sign me up!”. Active verbs like these create a sense of urgency and excitement which is more likely to result in conversions.
You can also offer incentives such as discounts or special offers. Make sure to use prominent placement and emphasize that the offer is time-sensitive. Something like “Get 25% off today only!” will encourage people to immediately take advantage of the offer.
3. Showcase Customer Testimonials and Reviews
Customer testimonials and reviews serve as social proof, a major factor in purchasing decisions. Research shows that 49% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations (BrightLocal).
Here are CRO best practices for featuring customer reviews:
• Display review widgets on high-traffic pages of your website, like the home page
• Feature customers sharing positive product experiences in video reviews
• Include customer review snippets on product pages and other key landing pages
• Highlight customer stories in your blog posts
• Share customer reviews on your social media channels
• Include customer reviews as part of email campaigns
4. Share Case Studies
Sometimes, even customer reviews can’t justify the efficacy of a product or service. Case studies may be the final push website lurkers need to become active users.
An effective case study offers a detailed solution, implementation strategy and results. Include customer quotes, images of the product or service in action, infographics and other key figures that showcase the value of your offerings.
Neil Patel uses this tactic in his email conversion rate optimization strategy, resulting in a 70% increase in his deal closing ratio. He also tested three case studies on his website, boosting their sales by 185%.
Consider investing in conversion rate optimization services and work with a CRO agency to create case studies that improve customer engagement.
5. Conduct Landing Page A/B Testing
Conversion rate optimization for eCommerce should always involve A/B testing. The process involves comparing two landing page versions to determine which performs better. You can experiment with different page elements, such as copy, images, colors and CTA placement, to see which ones have the most impact.
A/B testing can also be used in other areas of your eCommerce conversion rate optimization strategy, such as email marketing, sign-up forms and banner ads. This will help you create a more effective website and improve conversions.
6. Simplify Checkout Processes
A lengthy checkout process is one of the top reasons for shopping cart abandonment. Improve conversion rate optimization for eCommerce with a simple checkout process. Minimize the number of pages and offer options like guest checkouts, saved payment methods and remember me features.
Place an order summary at the top and offer real-time updates so customers can see their orders in progress. Add trust indicators like customer reviews and security badges to reassure customers that their data is safe.
Finally, make sure the process is mobile-friendly as more shoppers are using their phones to purchase. Include auto-fill options, a clear call to action and large clickable buttons for easy navigation on mobile devices.
7. Distribute FREE High-Value Offers
The goal of any business is to make money, and it may seem counterintuitive to give away free content. However, high-value offers act as powerful lead magnets.
For instance, e-books entice people to sign-up for subscription-based services, product samples increase your brand’s exposure and free demos show a product’s potential before people buy it.
Think of them as a sneak peek at your business’s exceptional products and services. These small investments often lead to bigger returns as leads become customers.
Subtly promote these free offers as a call-to-action in blogs, sending them via email or distributing them as a free bonus with purchase. This way, you can build relationships even when not selling actively.
8. Diversify Your Content
If your post likes, shares and comments have become stagnant, it may be time to venture into uncharted territory. Include different content types in your conversion rate optimization strategy and see what feedback you get!
These CRO tips will help spice up your content:
• User-Generated Content (UGC): Encourage fans to post their own content featuring your product or service, then share the best with your social media followers.
• Interactive Polls and Surveys: Instagram, for instance, offers a Questions feature where you can ask followers questions, and they can reply with text or photos. This kind of content encourages conversation and provides meaningful user data.
• Live Streams: Engage in real-time conversations with followers and create a sense of community while showing off your products or services.
• Behind-the-Scenes: Give followers an exclusive look into your business’s day-to-day, share upcoming product launches and offer exclusive scoops.
9. Ensure Accessibility
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), over 2.5 billion people with disabilities are affected by the lack of assistive technologies and non-adapted means of communication. You can offer equal access to online content for all page visitors with an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant website.
Ensure your website adheres to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) set by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The WCAG follows four criteria for rating websites: perceivable, operable, understandable and robust.
Consider hiring an expert on conversion rate optimization for eCommerce to keep your website ADA-compliant.
Leave Your Conversion Rate Optimization Strategy to the PROs
Some passive audiences can be tough nuts to crack. If you’ve already tried various conversion rate optimization best practices and CRO tips on the internet, yet nothing seems to be working, it’s probably time to call eCommerce conversion rate optimization professionals.
Thrive, a full-service CRO agency, can help you identify hiccups in the conversion funnel and improve customer engagement. Our conversion rate optimization services use advanced tools to identify website issues, craft CRO strategy development plans and track performance to measure success.
Get conversion rate optimization tips from experts who’ve been in the business for over 10 years. Beyond eCommerce conversion rate optimization, our CRO agency offers other digital marketing solutions, such as search engine optimization (SEO), content writing and web development.
Contact Thrive today to see how industry-leading conversion rate optimization services can turn passive into devoted customers.
