5 Common Conversion Barriers

Many online shops have experienced sudden outpour of visitors, and yet sales still remain low. This is an indication that there are possible barriers that prevent potential buyers from making the purchase. It is important to identify these obstructions if they truly exist so that you will become more effective in converting traffic into sales, and start enjoying not just incremental sales but increase in profits as well.

While there are a lot factors that greatly influence the buying decision of the customers, you must concentrate first on the controllable factors. These are the things that you can manage and correct. There can be plenty of possible barriers, but you can start with the 5 most common obstacles.

Common Stumbling Blocks of Conversion

1. Bad Landing Page

The most common suspect if conversion is low is the landing poor. After all, it is responsible in transforming viewers into clients. There is higher probability that the sales copy sucks, and it is not effective in convincing people to buy the products. There are many components of the landing page that you must thoroughly evaluate that sometimes it is hard to pinpoint the specific areas that must be corrected and modified.

In this case, you can perform a couple of split-tests on the essential and basic features such as the following:

• The header
• The content
• The overall design
• The ‘Buy’ buttons
• Call-to-action statement
• Photos and videos

It is advisable that each of the above aspects of the sales copy must be tested in order to find out if they work or not. By doing so, you can easily pinpoint the flaws and make necessary changes to improve the conversion.

The header, for instance, is very crucial in grabbing attention. It must be compelling enough to capture readers and to further convince them to read through the contents and the entire page. To keep the momentum of interest burning, the content must provide value to the readers, and they should be aligned with the title or the header.

Another essential component is the ‘buy’ buttons. Make sure that they are properly working. Sometimes they look normal, but when you click on the button it leads to a broken link. If this happens, you will lose a lot of customers. So check these buttons from time-to-time to ensure that they will lead customers to the checkout process.

The call-to-action statement must also be present and strategically situated in different areas. Ideally place the statement at the top of the page so that those who are ready to buy can immediately proceed to the checkout procedure. Another statement must also be inserted at around the middle of the content, and finally another one at the end portion or after the last paragraph.

2. Loading Time

A probable barrier is the loading time. According to research, it takes only 3 seconds for visitors to decide on whether to continue viewing the web page or to immediately leave and check other sites. So if the loading time is significantly delayed then you should determine the factors that delay the load time and do something to speed up the loading time of your website.

There are a couple of things that can delay the time to load the page. One of them is having huge files like a high resolution image or a long video. These are usually big files, and they can affect the loading time. If you attach a photo, resize them to make the image lighter. There are tools that allow you to resize photos without affecting the quality of the image.

3. Length

The length of the page can also influence the decision of the prospects; don’t make it too short or too long. Short pages are obviously lacking in contents and some online buyers would like to get more information first before making the purchase.

Likewise, long pages will tend to bore the prospects and diminish their interest. Some are put off by the long content that they will have to read through before getting the information that they want. So properly set the appropriate length that keeps the interests of the readers continuously fired up.

Avoid long paragraphs, but break the content into segments with separate sub-headings so that viewers can easily go straight right to the content that appeals to their interest, and skip the ones that are redundant to them.

4. The Sales Copy is Inappropriate to Your Targeted Visitors

Take note that there are different types of online shoppers. There are determined buyers while there are also reluctant shoppers. Some are just window shopping around without any intention to buy. If you are getting a lot of window shoppers and reluctant buyers, then you need to modify your sales copy to make it suitable to these buyer types. Some of them may be reluctant at first, but if you provide sufficient information you will be able to convince them to finally buy the products without hesitation.

Another alternative is to change your leads generation strategies by positioning your campaign to the appropriate audience that is best suited to your sales presentation. The content of the traffic sources must be aligned with the content in the sales copy. The information should be consistent; otherwise, your credibility will be at risk.

Long copies are perfect for people that are not yet ready to make a purchase. But if your audience is composed of buyers, then make your landing page short to quickly close the deal while the buyers’ interests are still burning.

5. Lack of Assurance and Support

Some shoppers simply need further assurance and quick support. Just a little push and they will instantly buy the products. So give them assurance in the form of guarantee. You can offer a money-back guarantee within a certain period of time where they can return the product, and appropriate refund will be made without further questions. By offering this guarantee, the risk barrier is minimized on the part of the buyers.

Aside from that, some shoppers would like to be treated nicely, and they want quick replies to their queries. So provide an excellent customer support that is quick to answer questions and fast in providing technical and customer assistance. Excellent customer service is one of the things that many shoppers will look into during the buying process, especially for products that require people to complete procedures or to do certain tasks like installing software.

Break the Barrier and Increase the Conversion

By accurately identifying the common obstacles of buying, you can gradually improve the conversion. But to achieve this, you must not only identify the barriers but you should also tear them down by initiating necessary changes. Keep in mind that landing pages, even if they were made by well-respected professional copywriters, need to be tweaked from time-to-time. The page should be regularly updated as well.

The sales copy may be quite successful in the past in converting traffic into sales, but there are some changes in the market and in the buyers’ behavior that could render the page no longer as effective as before. Over time, barriers will emerge, and if you don’t constantly check your copy, you will lose a lot of potential sales as a result of the obstacles that hinder people from completing their purchase.