7 Ways to Boost Your Conversions

[ X ]ways to [desired result]  - "7 ways to boost your conversions (oh the irony)"

[desired outcome] + [undesired result] + [mysterious/secretive solution] - "Cure acne with this secret herbal remedy"

[social proof] + [hard-hitting question] - "Hundreds of happy affiliates: Is it your turn to make money with Clickbank?"

Experiment with different headlines to find what works well for you. Article pages probably won’t work too well with “promotional” headlines, but the [X] ways to [desired result] formula is a good option.

2. Appeal to Emotion

We humans are emotional creatures. It is in our nature to act off emotion, rather than pure logic. Emotion is warped and controlled by people who want to sell to us. Take the fragrance industry, which sold $30.5 billion worth of product in 2006. Logically speaking, fragrances are all manner of odd chemicals placed into shaped bottles, designed to make us smell “better” (even though it is an unnatural smell). 

However, smelling pleasant makes you feel better about yourself.

Humans like to purchase based on emotion. Therefore, emphasize the emotional benefits of any product you are promoting or selling.

Cold, hard facts are useful of course, but you want to wrap them up in such a way that there is emphasis on emotion.

3. Study copywriting

You probably spend lots of time studying traffic generation methods, SEO strategies, and maybe even PPC marketing tactics. However, you should dedicate some time every week to learning the skill of copywriting.

Being able to persuade others through your words is a valuable skill, not just for Internet marketing but also for all aspects of life. As your copywriting knowledge grows, you will be able to adjust and improve your pages, and see increased conversions.

Affilorama's copywriting blog category is a great place to start.

4. Use bullet points/lists on page

The majority of visitors to your website will not thoroughly read every single line of content. When reading online, people tend to skip and skim-read. Therefore, make sure all of your important content (whether it is informative or promotional) is included in bullet points or lists.

A good structure to use is “sub heading” à “introduction” à “bullet points/list” for each main part of your content.

5. Use graphics and images

“A picture paints a thousand words”. Sure, that’s a bit of a clichéd saying, but it really is true for boosting your conversion rates. Using eye-catching graphics and images will help break up boring text and draw your readers down the page. A few simple images can save you dozens of lines of text, which in turn reduces buyer resistance.

Another benefit of using images when selling information products is that it makes the product seem more tangible and real to the customer. There is a good reason why the highest converting Clickbank sales pages have quality graphics of their products – it helps reassure the customer that they are getting something real, which in turn boosts conversions.

Try placing an image linking to your offer above the page fold. This means that whenever a visitor loads your page they will see the image without having to scroll down the page.

Go to the Clickbank Marketplace and look up the sales pages of high gravity products in any niche. They will all use lots of images, pictures, and graphics.

6. Provide Proof & Credibility

Your visitors will not believe your claims until you provide solid evidence to back up what you are saying. The vast majority of people are sceptical of big claims, especially online where the personal element of selling is not present.

Testimonials, especially video testimonials, are hugely important for selling information products online. The best testimonials are ones that demonstrate how your product solved a problem. When promoting products as an affiliate, contact the product owner and ask if you can use their testimonials on your own pre-sell pages. Social proof is hugely important for good conversions, so you need testimonials.

Another way to add credibility is to make sure you emphasize “safe” website features like encryption technology. Actively tell your readers to look out for the little padlock symbol in their browser window, so that they know everything is safe. If you are promoting as an affiliate, then make sure the products you promote offer some form of safety net for customers; Clickbank addresses this automatically, but other affiliate programs may not. 

Finally, consider adding social proof statistics to your pre-sell or sales pages. If the product you are promoting has been around for a number of years, tell visitors about its proven history. Another useful statistic is the number of sales of the product – people tend to buy what other people buy.

Important – The U.S Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently updated their rules for testimonials and consumer endorsements. Many policies were changed, and it is crucial that any testimonials or social proofs you provide follow the FTC’s requirements, which you can find here.

7. Offer Exceptional Value

The problem with value is that it is subjective. Value can change from person to person. What I think is good value is probably going to be very different to what you think is good value.  

You can provide value by:

• Teaching people what you promised to teach
• Meeting customers’ expectations
• Offering good support and contact
• Understanding the problems of your target market and offering great solutions
• Explaining difficult concepts and ideas thoroughly
• Take your information to the next level – offer information that other sites and products aren’t offering
• Go the extra mile for your visitors and customers

Remember that value and price are two different concepts as well. Just because a $30 eBook is cheaper than a $3000 training course, it doesn’t necessarily mean the eBook is better value.

How can affiliates offer exceptional value? This is a bit trickier, because as an affiliate you cannot really control the value of a product. Here is how to give value as an affiliate:

• Make sure your website teaches visitors something useful or solves a problem. Don’t just use it to funnel people to your affiliate sales page. You want people to click through, view the offer because they liked what you told them, and want more information. If you are just funneling visitors to your affiliate page, your conversion rates will be very poor.
• Offer your own bonuses. If you can offer bonuses to your customers then you will make more sales than affiliates who just sell the product and offer nothing extra. How do you implement bonuses? Create an awesome report that solves common problems your visitors might be having, then use a program like Easy Clickbank Bonus Manager to automate bonus distribution. Get a fully featured trial version free here.
• Let your customers and visitors contact you. Providing contact details on your website where you can personally address problems (or answer questions about the products you are promoting) is a great way of adding more value as an affiliate. People want to know they are dealing with a real person who cares about their problems.

We’ve covered a lot of material in this post, but it is all important stuff. Increasing your conversions is important for making more money, whether you are an affiliate or a vendor. Let’s quickly recap the seven ways to boost your conversion rates:

• Write catchy headlines
• Appeal to emotion
• Study copywriting and improve your skills
• Use bullet points and lists
• Use graphics and images
• Provide social proof with testimonials
• Offer great value

Implement these concepts on your website and watch the extra cash roll in!

Do you know any other ways to increase your conversion rates? If so, I'd love to hear from you. Just leave a comment below, and let others know your conversion boosting tricks.