It can be a common oversight to look beyond the user journey as a driver of growth, especially the final stages to conversion. From a paid media perspective, you may have ticked the boxes in terms of targeting the correct audience, with the correct creative, therefore driving high intent users to site. However, if the final stages to conversion are not aligned with user requirements, then expect some drop offs. Here, we’re looking at key factors to help facilitate a smooth conversion funnel, and minimise drop offs:
Don’t assume. The data dictates what you do
A common pitfall is to second guess the user requirements and to make assumptions as to why there are drop offs. What you perceive to be the reason may be far from the truth. In order to gauge concrete rationale for drop-offs in the conversion process, it is imperative that every single stage of the user journey is tagged up. We myth busted recently a recent hypothesis from a client, identifying based on data that the ‘ask’ of an email address was too early in the journey, thus causing a 60% drop off!
Why should I complete the journey? Identify the value
As an ‘occupational hazard’, the user journey will inevitably require personal user information, whether that be a name, address and most notably bank account details. People are not willing to give this information away without understanding the clear value or an incentive for doing so. Although keen to capture user information, to avoid early dropouts, display the incentive and ‘motivation’ to complete the user journey first.
Time and journey length
Consumers are increasingly time sensitive and impatient. There should be a consideration in the necessity of information required from a business perspective for the conversion process to be complete. Similarly, clarity to the user as to where they are, and how long they have left will help stop drop offs at the crucial stage. A simple percentage complete bar we have seen work well in decreasing the number of dropouts.
What are the competitors doing?
This isn’t a case of a copy and paste job. Users nowadays will be aware of the competition, especially in the search engine results page (SERP). If the offering is the same elsewhere and the journey to sign-up or conversion is quicker, you’re going to lose out.
All Response Media viewpoint
Simplicity is key. The very fact that the user has initiated the journey to convert is a key indicator of their intent. Reduce the hurdles, and don’t give them unnecessary reasons to drop out. Ensure every single point is tagged to identify and assess (not assume) what are causing the blockages to conversion.
