12 tips to engage casual visitors and increase conversion

conversion, sales

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“Google! What are the top reasons visitors leave a webpage without converting?” Google presents the best results in 3 seconds. I open the top two and read through. Sometimes, I read the article twice to have a better grasp of the content. A lazy reader would take note of the subheadings or major points and bounce.

Do casual visitors only care about the information? Ideally, you want all your readers to dwell on your web pages and engage with your content. If they love what they see, it increases the chances of conversion. How do you turn casual visitors into dedicated subscribers?

What does your ideal customer want?

This is a crucial question you must answer before creating content for your audience. Think about it. If you create content that is not related to their needs, it fails.

Empathy is at the heart of increasing user engagement. Put yourself in the reader’s shoes and create valuable content that alleviates their pain.

Apart from a buyer persona, user-feedback is one of the best ways to understand your customers. I am a member of The Copywriting Club. Sometimes, a copywriter creates a poll to understand the buyer’s needs more intimately. Success Agency ran a poll for a client. It helped them determine which performance metric customers cared about.

Build trust to generate leads

This is the process of piquing a prospect’s interest so they ask questions that lead to a purchase. The trick is to bond with a potential customer to the extent that they trust you. Once you establish trust, they’ll willingly provide their contact information, which you’ll use to send emails.

Leads = paying customers = ROI for the business. People buy goods and services from businesses they trust.

Have a two-way dialogue

Your blog posts should read like conversations. Use simple words to put them at ease. Ensure that you’re creating content your audience wants to read. It must be absolutely relevant to the current problems they face.

It’s not about you or your product. Don’t shout your offering using “Me” and “I”. It’s “you” and “your”. Personalise the conversation. Use a live chat plugin to engage your readers in one-on-one conversations. Blog posts are not the only way to serve inbound content.

Aim to educate your audience and enlighten them about your products or services. Don’t focus on sales all the time. Teach them. Encourage questions in the comment section and social media. It’s the best way to establish a personal relationship.

Blog regularly

How many times a week should you blog? I’ve read many articles regarding this question, They all present different answers. The safe bet would be two-four times a week. Blogging regularly makes a strong case for a subscription. According to HubSpot, businesses that blog regularly double their subscribers at twice the rate of those who blog once a month.

If you’re blogging twice a month, increase your frequency to once a week. If you’re blogging once a week, increase your blog posts to 3-4 times a week. The most important factor is to create high-quality content. Don’t sacrifice quality for quantity. Avoid mediocrity.

Use your brand voice

What is your brand voice? When identifying your brand voice, here are some questions to answer

  • Does it resonate with your audience?
  • Will it reflect your brand?
  • Will it engage your followers?
  • Is it unique?
  • Can you leverage it to build trust among your audience?

The best brands are thoughtful, humorous, honest or down-to-earth.

Post your best content on your website

Third-party guest post, Medium articles and LinkedIn posts are good. They generate backlinks and leads. Why would a visitor visit your website when they can find your best content on those platforms?

Create long-form guides, in-depth whitepapers and infographics for your website. Top brands such as Apple and Sony use this technique to cater to every need a customer or prospect might have.

Entertain with video

It’s no secret, humans are visual learners. You’re more likely to remember scenes from the movie, Titanic than text from your chemistry book.

Humans have an insatiable need for video content. Snapchat accounts for over 10 billion views a day. YouTube has 5 billion. Users are hooked. What are they watching? What type of content gets the most engagement? Use the data you generate to create clickable videos for your product demo.

Video is also a great way to nurture leads, raise brand awareness and educate a segment of users through live video chats or live webinars.

Do not distract the visitor

When a reader is engaged with your content, avoid pop-up boxes, auto-play videos or any feature that diverts attention. Use scroll-triggered lightboxes to collect emails without obstruction.

Place it at the bottom-right hand of the page. They’ll see it as they scroll down. Customers can’t stand intrusive pop-ups asking for emails or showing an advert. Remove all distractions. A study revealed that 73% of web users dislike intrusive pop-ups. Optinmonster has more information here.

Improve your welcome email

First impressions matter. I remember the first email I got from Heather-Lloyd Martin at SEO Copywriting.

Yeah, I know. There are tools to write a name in the email. I don’t even care if she’s sending the same mail out to all new subscribers, but I loved it! It felt like she was sitting in front of me.

Henneke from Enchanting Marketing is another good example. She gives you “snacks” that makes you a better copywriter. Tidbits of genius I apply in my writing.

I already knew who they were before subscribing to their newsletters. Henneke wrote this brilliant piece on a seductive copy that I’ve read a gazillion times.

The key is to remain consistent in the experience you provide through email. Captivate their attention with the headline. Always offer something useful in the body and leave them feeling happier or smarter than before they read your email.

A sense of urgency

You know that feeling of excitement when you see the countdown timer on a ridiculously cheap offer. You didn’t plan to buy anything. You’re just looking to pass time but the 40% time-limited offer makes you want to max out your credit card because it’s worth it. At least in your opinion.

Marcus Taylor increased conversion by 332% with a countdown timer and other scarcity techniques. Your brain is forced to make a quick decision in an urgent situation. A few tips to add urgency to your email.

Include a deadline to every offer: From ebooks, coupons and webinar tickets, always set a deadline to get your subscribers to act now. It should be a rewarding offer to incentivize them.

Make it scarce: Scarcity is a powerful marketing tool. When combined with persuasion, it will increase conversion. The higher the demand, the higher the price. Use scarcity to increase sales for limited edition products. Konga uses this trick to sell items in their “deals of the day.” People are more likely to go for deals that are almost sold out at 99% than deals at 20%.

Add interactive tools to engage new visitors

A quiz is a good way to break the ice. In 2015, Pompadour used quizzes to increase lead conversion by 64%. Interactive tools engage new visitors and turn them into customers. BuzzFeed is another brand that use quizzes to engage their social media audience. It’s one of their best performing content. Vizia, SnapApp and Mapme are a few tools to try.

Measure and improve

Just like everything else, measure, improve and repeat. Keep finding new ways to increase traffic and engagement on your website. If you generate 30 leads a day from your blog posts, at least 2-3 should convert.

Conclusion

Ensure your value proposition is believable and clear. Casual visitors are only looking for key information before they leave. You need to engage them to spend more time on your site. This enhances trust in your brand and translates into increased sales.

 

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