Why 97 Out of 100 Visitors Leave Your Website (And How Conversion Rate Optimization Brings Them Back)
Imagine this. You spend weeks on a beautiful website and invest heavily in ads, only to have your phone sit silently for weeks.
It’s devastating, and it’s more common for business owners than you might expect. The issue is almost never a lack of visitors – it’s about what happens after they get there. This is what conversion rate optimization is really about: coaxing those 97 people who left back to your website, persuading them to buy, ask for a call, book a trial, fill out a query form, or any other conversion goal you might have.
In this post I’m going to explain how conversion rate optimization works, where most websites fail, and what you can do this week to begin fixing these issues. Towards the end I’m also going to share how our team at Reach Skyline helps businesses do this properly.
What is Conversion Rate Optimization, Really?
A conversion is the percentage of website visitors who take the action you want them to. If I get 1,000 visitors to my website and 20 of them send me an inquiry, my conversion rate is 2%.
Conversion rate optimization is the process of understanding why the other 980 didn’t and fixing these issues systematically. It blends psychology, data analysis, and good old common sense.
The best thing about conversion rate optimization is that it’s cheaper to boost your conversion rate than it is to get more visitors. In fact, it’s often much cheaper.
The Hidden Leaks in Every Website
Before we discuss how to fix it, let’s understand conversion rate optimization by identifying the issues first. You’ll notice that these problems tend to repeat themselves across various websites:
- Slow websites. People on mobile data connections are especially impatient.
- Poor headlines. If your headline isn’t clear enough to understand what you’re selling within 5 seconds, you’re losing visitors.
- Too many choices. Confusion leads to an inability to make a decision on your site.
- No proof. How can you convince a stranger to buy from you without reviews, testimonials, or client logos?
- Long forms. Every extra field on a form turns away more leads.
How many of these issues does your website have? Take note of the problems because we’ll be discussing their solutions shortly.
How to Do Conversion Rate Optimization (Step By Step)
Assuming you’re interested in how to do conversion rate optimization step by step, here’s our quick guide on the process.
- Define your goal. Pick a conversion you want to optimize. One conversion per page is a good rule of thumb. Service/landing pages should have a call or enquiry form as their conversion goal while product pages should have a ‘buy now’ button as their conversion goal.
- Gather your data. You’ll need to identify which pages are your weak links and determine your conversion rates using Google Analytics or other website analytics tools.
- Observe and analyze your visitor behavior. Counting how many people visit a page and where they leave is helpful, but you’ll get much further by understanding why they’re doing what they’re doing. This is where heatmap tools for conversion rate optimization come in handy and tell you what they’re seeing.
- Form a hypothesis. Using your data, come up with theories on what you can change to improve your conversion rate.
- Test. Test your hypothesis and try to decide whether it’s performing better than the original version of the page.
- Learn and iterate. As you begin to test and measure, you’ll notice that some things work while others don’t. You’ll learn along the way until you eventually find a winning combination.
Landing Page Optimization: Where Most Gains Are Hiding
If you only optimize one element of your website, optimize your landing pages. Landing pages typically have the quickest impact on overall conversion rates because they receive the highest proportion of targeted traffic.
A good landing page always:
- has a headline that attracts the kind of visitor that you want
- has one prominent call-to-action button (and more, if necessary) that’s placed strategically
- has short, easily digestible information with your value proposition front and center
- has trust elements such as testimonials or certifications
- is mobile responsive and mobile-friendly
A question we are often asked in connection to landing pages is what is a good conversion rate. I think it’s dangerous to give a particular number as a target because it varies wildly depending on your industry, product/service, and traffic source. However, many marketers consider anywhere between 2-5% to be a decent conversion rate, and a much higher rate would be fantastic. In truth, the most important comparison should always be to your own landing page from the previous month. Once you’ve improved upon it, go even further.
A/B Testing: Stop Guessing, Start Knowing
A/B testing involves showing two versions of the same web page to two different sets of website visitors and analysing which version performs better. You could, for instance, use a green button on one version and an orange button on the other.
Some general rules of thumb to keep in mind when doing A/B testing:
- Always test one change at a time.
- Never declare a winner too soon. It takes time for a test to yield statistically significant results.
- Always start with bigger changes before smaller ones. There’s no point in testing shade of button text before testing significant changes to the headline, offer, and layout.
There are various A/B testing tools for landing pages available. Some are basic and come with website builders while more serious marketers would use enterprise-level conversion rate optimization software. There’s no point in using expensive A/B testing tools if your website only gets a couple hundred visitors per month. Always start with something simple and only scale up if you have sufficient traffic.
Conversion Rate Optimization Tools Worth Knowing
You don’t need millions to get started with conversion rate optimization. In fact, many effective conversion rate optimization tools are completely free. Broadly speaking, these tools can be divided into analytics tools, heatmap/session recording tools, testing tools, and survey tools. You should prioritise tools that help you understand why visits aren’t converting before using survey tools to ask your visitors directly.
Analytics tools will tell you how your website performs, but they don’t identify opportunities for improvement. If you’re new to conversion rate optimization, start with free tools before investing in more serious tools. Google Analytics and Google Search Console are powerful analytics tools while many heatmap tools offer a free plan that you can upgrade from as needed. Conversion rate optimization is a skill, and these tools merely highlight weaknesses. Someone still needs to interpret the data and make the necessary changes, which is something we’ll discuss shortly.
How to Increase Ecommerce Conversion Rate
Ecommerce websites have their own set of challenges. If you’re asking how to increase ecommerce conversion rate, you’ll find that much of the emphasis is on two specific areas: the product page and checkout page.
The following are some of the best ecommerce conversion rate optimization practices that help increase conversion rates:
- Show high-quality photos and product descriptions.
- Display reviews near the ‘buy’ button.
- Be transparent about shipping and returns.
- Allow guest checkout.
- Make sure payment options are familiar to your target market (UPI, cards, wallets, COD are popular in India).
- Send reminders to complete purchases that have been abandoned.
Don’t Forget Local SEO: Your Hidden Conversion Booster
Many conversion rate optimization guides forget about local SEO, where relevant location-based search terms are combined with conversion rate optimization practices to get better results.
Someone searching “dentist near me” or “digital marketing company in Chennai” is a far more qualified lead than someone searching “digital marketing services”. They have purchase intent , but only if you convince them to act immediately.
Some local SEO practices that help increase conversions are:
- Using city names in your content such as Madurai, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, etc.
- Keeping your Google Business Profile up-to-date with the correct contact information and photos.
- Using a clickable phone number and map on your contact page (most local searches are done on mobile).
- Using local testimonials to convince your target market that you’re a trustworthy local business.
Local SEO helps attract the right customers while conversion rate optimization ensures they take action. You need both.
Your Conversion Rate Optimization Checklist
Here’s a brief conversion rate optimization checklist that you can go over today:
- Does your headline make it clear what you’re offering and who you’re offering it to?
- Does your page load in under three seconds on mobile?
- Do you have a clear call-to-action button above the fold?
- Do you display reviews, results, and testimonials or names of companies you’ve worked with?
- Is your form as short as it can possibly be?
- Have you analysed your webpages using heatmap tools?
- Is something being tested at the moment?
- Are your address, phone number, and city names clear on your website?
If you answered no to more than three of these, you’ve identified some good areas for improvement.
Doing It Yourself vs. Getting Expert Help
Many issues can be fixed from within your company, but conversion rate optimization becomes very technical very quickly. Interpreting data correctly, identifying opportunities for improvement, designing valid tests, and integrating your website with your ads, CRM, and follow-up marketing are all skills that come with experience.
Many business owners looking for conversion rate optimization services for small business are already at this stage, having identified their website as a weakness. Many others are looking to hire a CRO expert for ecommerce website projects, since every improvement to the checkout process increases revenues. Conversion rate optimization agency pricing is also an extremely common question, since nobody wants to waste money on an unproven conversion rate optimization company. A competent conversion rate optimization agency will ask the right questions before giving you a quote since there’s no magic conversion rate optimization pricing formula that applies to everyone.
A Quick Word About Reach Skyline
Since we’ve been discussing expertise, let’s share a little about ourselves. Reach Skyline is a full-service digital marketing agency. We began as a two-person team in Madurai in 2016 and moved to Chennai in 2018. We’ve continued to grow and improve our services, including integrating AI workflows into our marketing operations in 2022. We’ve had the privilege of working in various industries and understand the value of a professional digital presence, which is why we take every project seriously.
Our CRO services are part of a suite that includes digital marketing, web design and development, branding, marketing automation, and customer experience consulting. This means we don’t just identify your problems, but solve them by adjusting your design, messaging, lead follow-up processes, and measuring them against your specific goals and not just a vague set of CRO metrics.
If your website conversion optimization needs a fresh set of eyes, we’d be glad to take a look. You can also find more marketing tips on our blog.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is conversion rate optimization?
Conversion rate optimization refers to optimizing your website in order to get a higher percentage of website visitors to complete a specific action you want them to take (such as buying, calling, or filling out a form).
2. How long does conversion rate optimization take?
Some quick wins can be implemented almost immediately, but you will see significant gains within a few months of intensive conversion rate optimization. You need enough traffic to implement test changes and measure their impact accurately and reliably.
3. How to improve website conversion rate?
Conversion rate optimization typically refers to making your website more effective at getting visitors to complete a desired action. Begin with simple fixes like a stronger headline, faster mobile website, shorter forms, and showcasing testimonials. Combine these with free analytic and heatmap tools to identify areas for improvement.
4. Is conversion rate optimization only for ecommerce stores?
Conversion rate optimization applies to every business. Even if you don’t sell a product or service online, you still want website visitors to complete a particular action such as contacting you or requesting a callback.
5. Do I need much traffic for A/B testing?
In order to accurately measure the impact of one change over another, you will need a significant amount of traffic for A/B testing. With limited traffic you should focus on improvements that are known to drive traffic and engage visitors rather than testing multiple variations.
6. How does local SEO affect conversions?
Someone searching “digital marketing company in Chennai” is a far more qualified lead than someone searching “digital marketing services”. They have purchase intent , but only if you convince them to act immediately.
Final Thoughts: Small Changes, Big Difference
Let’s return to our initial example of the 97 visitors who left. You need to remember that each of these individuals left for a reason. In most cases these reasons are easy to remedy by tweaking your website slightly. You could create a stronger headline, simplify your language or design, speed up your website, or implement some basic trust elements to convince your audience to stay on your website.
Conversion rate optimization is a continuous process that requires careful observation and testing. You should begin to see some improvement as you implement these small fixes. If you’re looking to go deeper, these are the steps we take as a professional conversion rate optimization agency.
If you’d rather have an expert handle it, here are some reasons why businesses choose to work with us. We understand what needs to be done and the value of a strategic approach. We measure our impact against your specific goals rather than vague CRO metrics. We’ve grown from a two-person team in Madurai by continuously delivering quality work. If you’re ready to turn your website traffic into real enquiries, visit Reach Skyline and book a free strategy call. Your next customer may already be on your website, waiting for a reason to say yes.