Marketers spend a lot of time and resource in driving their target audience to their website. However this is when the real challenges of keeping the customer engaged, and on your site, long enough to help support a conversion journey to start.
Here are 9 methods I have found effective which mainly involve engaging more closely with the visitor through feedback or tailoring the design to their device.
Software such as Qualaroo can be easily integrated on to your website and allows you to ask visitors simple questions in order to help you understand their behaviour better and improve the website experience.
With smartphone usage increasing rapidly across the globe, businesses need to make sure their website is optimised for multiple devices such as smartphones and tablets. If not potential customers will leave promptly.
One way to test this is to measure your bounce rate on your homepage. If it is not optimised for mobile, it is likely you will have a high bounce rate on this page.
Live chat can be an effective engagement tool however Live chat can also be intrusive on a website if it is used inappropriately.
Instead of having it pop up on the home page, include this functionality on secondary navigation.
Software such as Provide Support also lets you prepare some canned responses so, for example, if you are getting live chat that is sales related the user can simply click one of the sales related responses. This means you do not waste time and the live chat is targeting the appropriate subject effectively.
All businesses will issue an automated response after a website visitor has populated a form thanking them for completing a task.
By including a link to a Guide with some ‘read me, I’m interesting’ text on the thank you response, you increase the chance of that customer clicking on that link and reading the Guide.
Customer reviews have gained a lot of prominence in the last few years. Many web owners have seen the value of integrating review plugins such as Trustpilot and the Review website into their website as an extra reassurance to the customer.
Are you making the most out of visual content on your website? Turn your “about us” section into an infographic. Not only is this an interesting depiction of how your organisation came to be, if you include social sharing buttons it could also generate additional traffic to your website.
Other compelling ways to keep visitors engaged is by the use of videos testimonials. A strong video case study of how your product or service has helped a customer overcome a particular challenge can reassure customers and prompt them into the purchasing funnel.
Integrating your social feeds such as Twitter into your website is beneficial because even if the visitor chooses to leave the site to visit a social platform they are still building up an affiliation with that business. Sometimes this is even more effective as they will not feel like they are getting the ‘hard sell’.
If you have a blog or an articles section on your website be sure to allow visitors to comment on your posts. Blog comments are one of the best ways to engage with prospective customers. However in order for this to occur the content will need to resonate well with them.
If you find it technically challenging to include comments on your site then an easy way around this is installing a Facebook comments plugin.
Keep it simple with your terminology and remove any unnecessary works that adds no value. If a product is difficult to describe refer to the above point and replace it with a short snappy 30 second video showing how the product works.
Thanks to Saija Mahon for sharing her views in this blog post. After more than 10 years working for some of the biggest digital agencies in London, Saija decided that it was time to launch her own business focussing on what she loves most, digital and more specifically paid search marketing. Since then the business has grown significantly in the UK with dozens of clients now relying on its digital services, from small businesses to large multinational companies. And thanks to Saija's Finnish roots, Mahon Digital has now also expanded geographically with Mahon Digital Finland launching in November. You can follow her on Twitter (@mahondigital) or connect on LinkedIn.
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