Voiceover: Do you want to sell something on your website? 2 2
Maybe a digital product like a course, or an e-book, 3 3
or maybe a subscription plan? 4 4
Then this is the right lecture for you. 5 5
I promise you webdesign guidelines in this course, 6 6
but now you even get some guidelines 7 7
to actually improve your website conversion rates, 8 8
on top of that. 9 9
So let's go. 10 10
First, you can offer your visitors a free gift 11 11
in order to build trust, 12 12
instead of trying to sell anything right away. 13 13
A very popular choice is to give away an e-book for free, 14 14
such as this website does. 15 15
If the user likes your book, 16 16
he is more likely to buy anything from you after that. 17 17
Of course, you should have a strong call to action button 18 18
on your website, where you want your users to click. 19 19
But instead of showing it just once, 20 20
you should repeat it in more places on your website. 21 21
The more often the better, 22 22
but obviously without spamming and frustrating the user. 23 23
This website, for example, 24 24
has the same call to action button 25 25
here in the middle of this big image 26 26
and also in the navigation bar. 27 27
And they probably also have it 28 28
on the very bottom of the site. 29 29
Now, assume you have a sign-up form on your website, 30 30
but how good is a sign-up form if nobody sees it? 31 31
That's why so many popular websites 32 32
and blogs use a pop-up box, 33 33
like the one you see on this website. 34 34
All this does is to ask for an email address 35 35
to sign-up for a newsletter. 36 36
And I know these pop-up boxes 37 37
can be quite annoying for the user, 38 38
but they are still so popular 39 39
because they actually convert so well, 40 40
which means that they do work. 41 41
There are many solutions 42 42
that offer you pop-up boxes, like this, for free. 43 43
In your call to action button, 44 44
you need to tell your user 45 45
the benefit of clicking that button. 46 46
This is extremely important. 47 47
This website does a good job doing this. 48 48
Instead of saying something boring like, 49 49
'Click Here' or 'Sign-Up', 50 50
they tell the user he should try the service for free. 51 51
That works much better. 52 52
So always use a word which describes 53 53
the benefit the user will get by clicking a button. 54 54
If you want your user to sign-up for anything, 55 55
don't ask him for more information than you need. 56 56
If you don't need phone numbers, address, or whatever, 57 57
don't ask them for the information. 58 58
The user doesn't want to go through 59 59
too many fields in a form to achieve something. 60 60
So forms with fewer fields definitely convert better. 61 61
Social proof is a great persuasion tactic 62 62
that can really help you increase conversion rates. 63 63
This can be done in form of customer testimonials, 64 64
if you have any, 65 65
or showing that other companies use your product or service. 66 66
And this tactic is so incredibly effective 67 67
because customers are actually more likely to trust others 68 68
than to trust you. 69 69
So use this whenever you can. 70 70
Two very effective techniques that you can use 71 71
is to create urgency and scarcity. 72 72
Urgency is when a buyer feels like they need to act quickly 73 73
and it's used in order to make people 74 74
act now rather than later. 75 75
The Groupon website does this by saying, 76 76
'Hey! This deal has limited time remaining. So buy it now.' 77 77
So you can use words like, 'now', 'hurry', 78 78
'instant', and 'immediately' in your call to action buttons, 79 79
in order to make users act. 80 80
This technique, together with that very big 81 81
and clear call to action button, is extremely effective. 82 82
Now, scarcity is the feeling that a product or service 83 83
is in short supply and about to run out. 84 84
And when there is less of anything, 85 85
we actually tend to value it more. 86 86
So this technique is also used to make the user act 87 87
and buy something now before it runs out. 88 88
Amazon does this quite well by saying, as in this example, 89 89
that there is only one iPhone left in stock. 90 90
So, urgency and scarcity; use them when you can 91 91
and your website will probably convert better.