5 Conversion Mistakes You're Probably Making (And How to Fix Them)

CONVERSION MISTAKES
YOU’RE PROBABLY MAKING
5
and how to fix them to increase sales.
By Louis Grenier
@LouisSlices

5 Conversion Mistakes to Avoid -‐ by Louis Grenier -‐ @LouisSlices
I’m Louis Grenier,
A no-‐nonsense digital marketer,
ﬁghBng for a more honest and
transparent markeBng. I
specialise in conversion
opBmisaBon.

12
12 years ago, I was spending my Bme on MSN Messenger and Sim City
4 onlin… I always have been fascinated by the power of Internet and
how you can connect with people all over the World.

Credit
9
… But for some reasons, aOer high-‐school, I got obsessed with wind
turbines. I went on to study Mechanical Engineering, and spent one
year in Kansas, USA….

7
… I had lots of fun…

7
… And started a blog about digital markeBng (in French). I wrote about
books I was reading about digital markeBng, entrepreneurship and
social media.

5
Five years ago, I moved to Ireland to work for Renault Ireland…

3
… And shortly aOer, studied Digital MarkeBng at the Digital MarkeBng
InsBtute…

3
I then moved to ZinMobi, a mobile markeBng startup, where I was in
charge of markeBng. I got the opportunity to speak at large retail
conferences in Ireland and United Kingdom.

1
But then, a year ago, I made the biggest mistake of my life: I leO my full-‐
Bme job to start my own company, with no other source of revenue
(this was my new oﬃce).

1
I first launched a “tech startup”, called Slices.io, aiming at helping
eCommerce companies to retain their customers in a beèr fashion.
But it didn’t take off. So I pivoted. 3 Bmes.

And ﬁnally found a business worth pursuing: helping businesses
convert their visitors into happy, repeat customers. Slices ConsulBng
was born.

Online Sales
Visits
Traffic
Why does conversion
opBmisaBon ma`er?
Well, when people visit
your website (traﬃc),
some of them convert
into a lead or a sale…

Visits
Traffic
More Online Sales
… but, imagine if more
visitors convert into
customers, with the
exact same traﬃc?
That means more
revenue with the same
iniBal investment!
How cool is that?

Visits
Traffic
More Online Sales
Repeat Customers &
Recos
If more visitors
convert into leads or
customers, it also
means that they were
happy with their
experience. Which
also means that they
are more likely to
come back, and more
likely to recommend
your business to a
friend! More traﬃc!

MISTAKE
#1
Photo credit
I’m gegng married in a few months. Funnily enough, markeBng is like a
marriage. Don’t expect to always sell the very ﬁrst Bme somebody
visits your website. You wouldn’t ask a stranger to marry you, would
you?

In this video, you can see a couple at a wedding. The boyfriend seems
to have a strange reacBon when he sees those ﬂowers…

… That’s because he doesn’t seem to keen to be married next…

Source
Well, that’s what happens when businesses expect to sell their
products or services straight away. Their visitors just ignore them and
leave.

Desire Research Comparison Inquiry Purchase
This is how a real customer funnel looks like. “Purchase” is the very last
step. There 4 steps that businesses need to address before hoping to
sell.

Broad Search Terms
“marketing
conference”
“how to learn
about digital
marketing”
How to address those needs online? Keyword research!

Broad Search Terms More Specific Terms
“marketing
conference”
“digital marketing
conference Dublin”
“how to
learn about
digital
marketing”
The closer a prospect is to take a decision, the more speciﬁc the search
terms.

Broad Search Terms More Specific Terms Very Specific Terms
“marketing
conference”
“digital marketing
conference Dublin”
“3XE conference October
2015”
“how to learn
about digital
marketing”
This is an example from somebody who would like to learn about
digital markeBng.

Google Keyword
Planner
Free
Google Search
Console Free
Paid Paid
Here are a few tools you could use to analyse what visitors are looking
for when visiBng your website.

#1MISTAKE
#2
The second biggest mistake digital marketers make is what I call the
False Start.

1) Understand your visitors and customers
When it comes to opBmising conversions, many digital marketers
would think of A/B tesBng. They would start to test diﬀerent headlines
or call-‐to-‐acBons without knowing if it will have an impact on the
business. There is a be`er way: understanding visitors and customers.

1) Understand your visitors and customers
Their objections Why do they buy from you?
Why don’t they buy from you?Their behaviour

Analytics
Online Surveys Heatmaps
Free Free
Free
Usability Testing
Free
Hotjar and Google AnalyBcs are two free tools that could help you
understand how your visitors behave on your website and what
improvements you could bring to the table.

2) Analyse and prioritise improvements
When it comes to opBmising conversions, many digital marketers
would think of A/B tesBng. They would start to test diﬀerent headlines
or call-‐to-‐acBons without knowing if it will have an impact on the
business. There is a be`er way: understanding visitors and customers.

Improvements Impact Ease Cost
Revamp Adwords landing pages 5 5 1
Improve contact page 4 5 1
Optimise images 4 4 2
Once improvements are idenBfied, digital marketers can then rank
them by impact, ease of execuBon and cost, to prioriBse the ones that
will have the biggest effect on their boòm line.

3) Run tests and implement the winners
Paid
Improvements can then be ﬁnalised A/B tested against previous
versions.

MISTAKE
#3
Don’t be this guy
If you’ve watched Harry Po`er, you know who Gilderoy Lockhart is.
He’s this annoying professor who thinks that he’s a worldwide
celebrity. Don’t be this guy.

Specific
benefits?
Why should I
buy from you
(and not from your
competitors)?
How can you
solve my
problems?
Any website hoping to convert visitors into customers should make
their value proposiBon crystal clear (and not only on the homepage).

Let’s take an example with Falcon Holidays.

Hm ok… But who are you?

So you’re selling holidays packages.
But how are you different?

What’s that?

What if I don’t have kids and am not
looking for Summer Holidays?

And now let’s examine sunshine.co.uk. The diﬀerence is striking.

Their value proposiBon is clear, and they’ve clearly done their
homework.

Source
So much in fact that, when they implemented this major change, their
revenue doubled!

MISTAKE
#4
The fourth biggest mistake digital marketers make when it comes to
conversions is what I call the anB-‐buèrfly effect.

Small Changes Small Effects
If you’re expecBng to double your conversion rate by simply changing
your homepage headline, think again. Small changes will almost always
lead to small eﬀects on your bo`om line.

Big, Bold
Changes
Big Effects
However, big, bold changes could lead to extraordinary results.

Source
Basecamp, a project management soOware company, used insights
they collected from visitors and customers to drasBcally change their
homepage. Overnight, they doubled their conversion rate!

Distribution point Conversion Rate Vs. Average Comments
Average 2.35% Unremarkable
Top 25% 5.31% 2x Awesome
Top 10% 11.45% 5x Unicorns
Source
Here is a study showing the potenBal impact conversion rate could
have on your business. For the same number of traﬃc, some companies
convert 5 Bmes more leads or customers than their compeBtors!

MISTAKE
#5
Finally, the ﬁOh mistake, which is also my personal favourite. You
guessed it, it’s about bad stock photos.

There are really, really bad stock photos out there.

We’ve all seen this woman. She seems to be working with every single
company under the sun.

Bad stock
photos are
evil.5 Conversion Mistakes to Avoid -‐ by Louis Grenier -‐ @LouisSlices

Bad stock photos are evil and here is a proof. A debt recovery company
ran an interesBng test.

Source
They tested the impact of a fake stock photo against the picture of a
real customer. The ﬁndings were very interesBng.

34% increase in conversion!
The “real customer” version got 34% more conversions!

Relevant to the
visitor’s
situation?
Does the image
feel real?
Related to value
proposition?
The imagery on your website should have a purpose, relate to your
value proposiBon and be relevant to your visitors’ situaBon.

Here is a free calculator we built. You can use it to calculate how much
extra proﬁt you could generate with a 10%, 20% or even a 100% liO in
conversion rate.

SlicesConsulting.com/Profit

Louis@SlicesConsulting.com
Follow me on Twitter Add me on LinkedIn

5 Conversion Mistakes You're Probably Making (And How to Fix Them)

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