How can you convert more website visitors with messaging marketing?

How could I convert more website visitors? This is not a light question. This is THE question that businesses ask themselves when considering the role their website plays in their overall marketing strategy.

Or at least it should be. But there are still far too many companies that think of their websites as billboards, and their prospects as drivers, passively taking in the website’s content as they motor their way down the internet superhighway.

The thing these businesses need to understand is that the only roads that lead to your website are the ones you build yourself. You can’t expect any traffic if you haven’t done the work to generate it.

And thinking of your website as a billboard is a mistake as well. Billboards are passive. They have no way of recording who looked at them. They can’t capture contact information from the cars streaming past. There’s no way for prospects to interact with them or get questions answered that aren’t printed directly on the surface.

If you want your website to be useful, and not a perch for buzzards stranded out in the internet desert, you need to need to drive traffic to it, and then convert as many visitors as possible into actionable leads, and your website needs to be designed specifically to do that. Below are a few good strategies for accomplishing both.

Dynamic Pages Capture Attention and Leads

Yes, your website should look nice and be designed well. But if your content isn’t dynamic, and if you aren’t supplying value and telling your prospects what you want them to do, then how your website looks doesn’t matter. It’s lipstick on a pig.

Content still wins it all

If you want customers to spend time on your website, and return at some point in the future, you need to give them a reason. Dynamic content which refreshes frequently is a good way to start.

You’ll want this content to be relevant, and help educate your customers. Buzzworthy articles that might be shared on social media are an excellent addition. You need to think of your website as a customer resource, not a billboard for your company. If you supply your customers with unique, relevant content that they can’t find elsewhere they’re far more likely to visit your site repeatedly.

The 80/20 Rule

When considering how to stack your content, it’s helpful to remember this rule of thumb. Your site should contain about 80% useful, insightful content geared toward the things your prospects and customers care about, and only 20% should be sales and marketing copy. This creates value for your customers, and they’ll appreciate it. Your bounce rates will plummet. And the prospects that stick around will read your content, which assures that they’ll read your sales copy as well. Sales billboard websites turn off all but those customers already very interested in your services.

Place a Call to Action Everywhere

Keeping your promotional copy minimal is important, but when it’s included, make certain it’s accompanied by a call to action (CTA) every time. There’s no reason to be shy. Tell your visitors what you want them to do. And give them a reason to do it.

As an example, a CTA that promises free, weekly insights in the visitor’s email box that will help them be a better X if they leave their email address is an excellent way to convert visitors while offering them value in exchange. Make sure you include a CTA on every page.

And make certain your site is collecting robust analytic data on every visit, and every interaction so that you can know what works and what doesn’t.

To sum up, your website should offer value first and promotional messaging second, and you should make it clear what it is you want in exchange for the value you’re offering.

Chatbots Are the Future

Having a person waiting on your website, 24 hours a day, ready to speak with your customers directly is the best way to convert traffic. However, that isn’t feasible for most companies. And, in fact, it isn’t necessary. Advanced chatbots can be just as effective as a human contact, and they can be available 24/7, 365.

Chatbots allow prospects to ask unique questions and get immediate answers. They deliver information conversationally, which personalizes the user’s visit and improves the user experience. Simply having a chatbot increases the chances that your prospect will return or convert, and when prospects engage with the chatbot, the chances go up dramatically.

Integrating a CTA

As with the rest of your website, you should include a CTA in every chatbot interaction. This is, in fact, one of the best places for a CTA because the user is already actively interacting with your website. Slipping in a well-placed, conversational CTA with a request for contact information can greatly enhance your conversion rates.

Add Unique Botflows on Each Page

When a visitor to your websites clicks a link to visit a specific page, the one thing you know is that they’re interested in that content. So engage them with a page specific chatbot conversation. This lets you capitalize on the interest they’ve shown, at the moment that they’re interested.

Offer to answer any questions they might have, and make certain that your chatbot is ready to handle all of the most common questions it might be asked. The more robust your chatbot is, the better it will simulate a real person, which increases the chances your CTA will be effective.

A/B Test Your Pitches

With a chatbot, you can vary the script it uses when it’s talking to, and pitching your visitors. Use this feature to try out different flows to find the scripts that work best. You can use this information to refine your pitch and then test again. Over time, this testing will result in extremely powerful chatbot conversational flows that convert prospects at very high rates.

In summary, your website should have a chatbot. You’re leaving money on the table otherwise.

Focus on High-Quality Traffic

Converting visitors starts with the sources of your traffic. Not all sources will convert equally well, and your marketing resources are limited. You don’t want to waste money trying to target every possible source of traffic. Instead, test available traffic sources for bounce and conversion rates and then focus your efforts on the sources that perform the best for you.

Starting with visitors already primed with interest in what your website offers allows all of the strategies we talked about earlier to be more effective. Find the traffic sources these people frequent and then commit to them.

If you’re interested in adding a chatbot to your website and/or your Messenger and Viber marketing campaigns, explore our site for more information on Fanbot, a powerful, easy-to-use chatbot platform. And keep following our blog for more marketing tips and strategies for small businesses, coming in the future.