What comes to mind when someone mentions conversion optimization? Maybe your mind instantly focuses on sales. Converting visitors on your website means getting them to buy something. At least that’s your understanding. Truth be told, conversion optimization is not always about sales. Sometimes it has nothing to do with sales at all.
Salt Lake digital marketing agency Webtek published an excellent piece on this very topic not too long ago. They explained the many different types of conversions website owners may be after. If you have never considered conversion rate optimization as anything other than a tool to increase sales, the post would be a good read for you.
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Other Types of Conversions
If conversion is not always about sales, what other types of conversions are there? One that immediately comes to mind is getting people to add their email addresses to your newsletter list. The larger your audience grows, the greater the newsletter’s potential to boost brand loyalty.
Maybe you have a small form that appears on the right side of your homepage. Visitors can enter their names and email addresses to immediately sign up for your newsletter. For this particular thing, conversion equals getting them to do just that.
Here are some other types of conversions:
- Downloads – A non-profit is obviously not selling goods or services. But perhaps they offer essential information that people need to know. A conversion might involve getting them to download something.
- Content Views – Another possibility is encouraging visitors to view a piece of content on your site. Maybe you want them to see pictures of your new location so they can find it more easily. You successfully convert whenever someone clicks on the pictures.
- User Reviews – Still another form of conversion is encouraging customers to leave reviews. Whether the reviews are left on your site or an external one doesn’t matter for the purposes of conversion. What matters is that they do it.
Again, conversion optimization is not limited exclusively to sales. Websites in the modern era are designed to achieve numerous goals. Direct selling is one of them. So is indirect selling. But there are also goals that have nothing to do with selling. They still involve conversion.
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Know the Goals
So how do you know if your website is producing adequate conversion rates? The first step is to know the goals you are trying to achieve. Start by asking yourself what you expect visitors to do on your site. Then ask what you are doing to encourage whatever that activity might be.
Knowing the goals and how it is you hope to achieve them should point you to your conversion strategies. Now you can start tracking those strategies to see if they are actually producing anything. If so, you know to continue. If not, you know it is time to reassess your conversion strategy.
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Don’t Be Afraid to Change
Knowing your conversion goals will get you pointed in the right direction. But do not be afraid to change those goals as needed. The tasks you are trying to convert do not have to remain in place forever. Nor should they. Your business is constantly changing and evolving. Conversion is going to look different over time. So will the tools you use to convert casual visitors into visitors who have made a conscious connection to engage with your organization.
Just remember that conversion optimization is not always about sales. When it is, you can measure conversion success just by looking at revenue. But when it is about something else, you might find it more difficult to track how you are doing. It is all part of the conversion optimization game.