5 tips to help unblock enquiries to your website

How to strengthen your customer’s journey to get the desired results on your website

We are a brand studio based in Torquay, South Devon, offering branding, website design & brand video to creative businesses across the UK - this is part of our series of website tips (alongside branding and video), and you can find out more about our website services for businesses.

If your website gets traffic, but few sales; or performed well initially and then tailed off, you may have an issue with conversions.

By conversions we mean the process of ushering people who arrive on your website (your traffic or visitors) to complete actions (enquiries, appointments - see below) that are meaningful to your business.

Much of this comes down to customer journey - how your visitors move around your site and to what end.

Your website is a tool, so it needs to serve a purpose and facilitate your goals.

Here are five really quick, easy and actionable tips to help free website blockages.

1. What's your number one goal?

Too much choice kills decision-making. You should have one overriding action for your website that drives your business; that you would like your ideal customer to take. Submit an enquiry; call your number; buy a product; sign up.

Here are a few things you can do practically:

• Brainstorm this - the more time you spend filtering desirable actions, the easier it will be to guide visitors to your most important one

• If you have two goals that are equal in your opinion, think about which is the easier one to undertake for a visitor

• Alternatively, which would provide a prospective client with the most value in the least amount of time

2. Do you have a clear flow?

Not everyone wants to buy straightaway; too salesy and in-your-face is off-putting. A flow helps lead people from curiosity; to informed; eventually to engaging with you. Each step of the way should be signposted to the next page. What's the next step every time?

Here are a few things you can do practically:

• Read more about this in our blog Why customer journey matters and how to influence it

• Think about the entry points to your website (blog, homepage) and the likely exit points (contact, portfolio) or check Google Analytics for details

• Try to offer information and value at the entry points and Calls to Action at the exit points

3. How easy is it to find info & answers?

People generally want one of two things: information or answers. If you are not making this vital content accessible, visitors will disengage and disappear. A visitor should be able to find key info in the fewest number of steps or clicks. Aim to reduce this 'travel time'.

Here are a few things you can do practically:

• Avoid burying important content deep in your website

• Keep page depths as shallow as possible and not overly long

• Incorporate navigational aids where appropriate to help people move backwards as well as forwards

4. Is your content digestible?

Imagine a three-course meal in France - unhurried, pleasant and easy to digest. Poorly paced content (take-it-or-leave-it or text-heavy) causes high bounce rates and click-offs. Pace and spread your content to allow people to grasp the compelling value you offer.

Here are a few things you can do practically:

• Use branded photography to break up text content

• Include FAQs to allow you to address elements in more depth where appropriate

• Consider headings and sections to allow your visitors to take stock regularly

5. Have you mapped out the journey?

Get practical: get a piece of paper and create a physical map of each page to see how well or not you are guiding people across your site. By visualising this you can better refine the journey and the content you provide.

Here are a few things you can do practically:

• Think about the left to right flow on a website - the further a visitor gets to the top right corner, the closer to taking action they should be

• A footer is a good place to reiterate important or popular content in case it gets missed or as a quick reference area (the doormat concept)

• Be aware that the journey is not always linear and people arrive at different places - allow random arrivals to orientate themselves

If you've found that helpful, we've love to hear from you, otherwise tune in again next week for branding tips.

P.S. Don't forget to sign up to our newsletter to receive these short, actionable tips straight to your inbox with no slimy marketing - pop your e-mail in the form below.