Understand Your Visitors to Maximize Conversions

Your website visitors are the lifeblood of your online business. Without traffic, your site is like an empty store. But once you have gotten some steady traffic and have a regular stream of visitors to you site, you have to convert them to customers. To maximize these conversions, you have to really understand your visitors.

First of all, what is it that your visitors want? They came to your page because they were looking for something; what is it? If you are building a new site or adding on to an existing site, you should use market and trend research to help figure out what your target audience wants. If you already offer a catalog of products, you can use an analysis of visitor search keywords to uncover their wants.

Remember that they are usually looking for something very specific. For example, instead of just a golf club (general), they may want an oversize, hybrid, low-loft driver (very specific). They may even know which brands they prefer based on previous experience.

Second, you should try to uncover your visitors' needs. These are traits of the item they are looking for that they would consider non-negotiable. For example, a vegetarian wouldn't buy a meat-based food product no matter how well it was marketed. Using the golf club example, a left-handed golfer would only be interested in left-handed clubs. You can use some broader assumptions about your visitor as well. An affluent golfer usually isn't going to buy a Wilson or MacGreggor (low end) golf club because it doesn't provide the same status as a high-priced club.

This brings up the final question: what are your visitors' emotional motivators behind their wants and needs. The previously mentioned affluent golfer was looking for a club that provides some type of status boost. Why? Perhaps they want to "fit in" at their elite golf club and see high-end equipment as a way to do it. If you can figure out the underlying emotional context of your visitor, you can tap into some very strong triggers to increase conversions.

Once you have figured out your visitors wants, needs, and emotions, you need to make sure that your site or specific product page addresses all of them. Your content should contain keywords centered around their wants; this is what ultimately attracts visitors to your page form the search engines. Then, somewhere in the copy, list the benefits of your product or solution and be sure to cover how it addresses their needs. Finally, when you're ready to get them to make a decision to take action, be sure that you connect with their underlying emotions.

Understanding your visitors puts you in better position to ensure that your goods and services actually meet their needs. Your job as a marketer is to help them understand how it does and to guide them towards the solution you offer.

Using the knowledge you gain about your visitors can make a huge difference in the conversion rates on your site.