In the realm of sales and marketing, numbers are everything. But there’s one number that arguably carries more weight than the rest – your sales conversion rate.
Unlike lead conversions, sales conversions happen at the bottom of your funnel. Hence, the strategies you apply for improving your sales conversions may look different from others.
Understanding your sales conversion rate, optimizing it, and measuring it consistently can transform your business from just surviving to truly thriving.
Let’s dive in and have a look at some actionable strategies to boost your sales conversion rate.
What is the sales conversion rate?
Sales conversion rate is the percentage of prospects that turn into paying customers. It is a key performance indicator (KPI) that quantifies the success of your sales efforts.
But how do you measure your sales conversion rate?
Divide the number of successful sales by the number of prospects. Multiply by 100, and there you have it – your sales conversion rate. A sales conversion rate of 5%, for example, means that 5 out of every 100 prospects make a purchase.
However, no two businesses are the same, and every industry has its unique challenges. Factors such as your sales strategy, your industry, and even your target demographic can influence this critical rate.
But the beauty lies in turning these challenges into opportunities. And that’s exactly what we’re going to explore next.
1. Find Better Prospects
The first step to increase your sales conversion rate? Finding better prospects. You need to work with the right leads, not just a lot of leads. Remember—Quality trumps quantity when it comes to leads.
But, how do you ensure that you’re targeting the right audience? You can do this by developing an ideal customer profile. This profile should outline the characteristics of your perfect customer. It includes demographics, preferences, and behaviors that align with your product or service.
Anyone who doesn’t fit your ideal customer profile, is ideally not your lead. With this approach, you can make sure you are finding prospects who are highly likely to convert.
But don’t just stop at creating the profile. Leverage tools that help in efficient lead generation. You can automate your lead generation process to save time and resources.
You’ll also need tools to find accurate contact details of your prospects. ContactOut is one such tool that does a great job of finding quality prospects & accessing their correct contact information.
2. Personalize the Customer Journey
Gone are the days when one-size-fits-all marketing strategies worked. Today, personalizing the customer journey is crucial. From the first email they open to the proposal they receive, customization can make a world of difference. Personalization makes your prospects feel seen, heard, and valued.
The most common way to personalize the user journey is by using email personalization strategies to improve sales. You can personalize various aspects of sales emails, such as the subject line, body, or even add personalized images/videos.
Sales proposals are another crucial part of the sales process that can be personalized. Ensure that you personalize your proposal cover letters so that it exactly resonates with the prospect’s needs.
The goal? To make your prospects feel that your service or product is specifically designed for their needs.
No matter what your prospecting technique looks like, you should personalize every touch point you have with your prospect. For example, if you are using LinkedIn for your outreach, ensure that you personalize the inMail subject line to make the prospect feel more valued.
Mobile apps and push notification is another way to personalize the user journey. Within the realm of Ecommerce, platforms such as Shopify benefit greatly from specialized mobile app builders like BravoShop. These tools actively optimise Shopify conversion rates by harnessing the power of push notifications, thereby offering a more engaging and personalized shopping journey for users.
3. Add Live Chat
One of the most effective ways to improve your sales conversion rate is to tackle customer objections. Your prospect may come to your landing page or sales page & still be unsure about hitting the buy button.
You can use this opportunity to answer the prospects’ questions & handle objections. But how do you do that? By adding live chat to your website.
By providing an instantaneous point of contact, you’re much more likely to engage customers and drive conversions.
Live chat creates a win-win situation. It saves your customer’s time and gives you an opportunity to resolve their queries promptly. In addition, it can provide invaluable insights into customer behavior and preferences.
4. Build Trust and Remove Objections
The foundation of every sale is trust. If your prospects trust you, they’re more likely to buy from you. It’s as simple as that.
If your visitors trust you, their resistance to purchasing from you diminishes significantly. That’s why it’s essential to prioritize trust-building and address potential objections head-on.
There are several ways in which you can build trust with your prospects:
- Add social proof to your website, landing pages, and social media profiles. This can be in the form of reviews, testimonials, proof of client results, or brand logos.
- Adding a money-back guarantee is another way to remove friction and build trust.
- Ensure your content is up-to-date and authoritative. Site credible sources and make sure the authors are experts or experienced professionals in the niche.
- Building a strong referral program is another foolproof way to build trust. People are more likely to convert when friends and family recommend your brand. A happy customer can bring in many more customers.
- Avoid adding spammy links or ads on your website.
5. Have Multiple Customer Touch Points
Remember the old adage, “Out of sight, out of mind”? This applies to your sales strategy too.
Your potential customers need to see you again and again. They need to feel your presence. Just making contact on one platform would fall short. The more channels you use to engage them, the better.
The first step to a multi-channel strategy is to identify where your prospects are hanging out. For instance, it’s highly likely that your prospects are on social media. But which social media platform are they on most of the time?
On social channels, it’s important to have a constant presence and post daily (or several times a day). This is the only way to ensure that your potential target group notices you.
Based on this, you can use social selling, where you combine social media and sales to create powerful customer connections.
Tools like LinkedIn and Twitter allow you to engage customers in real-time. You can respond to their queries, address their pain points, and build rapport. Plus, it’s a fantastic way to showcase your products or services in action.
But let’s not forget email. It’s a time-tested channel that offers direct contact with your prospects. Welcome emails, for instance, are an excellent way to start the relationship off on a positive note. They set the tone and establish expectations.
An example of a multiple touchpoint sales strategy could look like this—a prospect discovers your brand on social media, where you share your lead magnets. You build a rapport with the prospect on social media channels.
Simultaneously you create a strong relationship with them through your welcome email sequence that is triggered once the prospect signs up for the lead magnet.
You then use retargeting ads to target the prospects who visited your website or landing pages or filled out your online forms.
When customers are on your website you can use AI chatbots to engage with them and guide them through your process. AI chatbots can respond to the user’s needs and send them further information or connect them to a sales representative.
6. Leverage Social Proof
Customers today are savvy. They’re cautious. And they want to know that your product or service works before they part with their hard-earned cash.
How can you offer this assurance? Social proof. It’s a powerful tool that leverages the influence of others to boost your sales conversion rate.
Text-based or video testimonials can be highly effective. These personal accounts of your customers’ experiences can be compelling. They’re authentic, they’re relatable, and they build trust.
Other forms of social proof include reviews and ratings that assure the prospects that they can trust your brand. You can also use your social media following numbers as social proof.
Trust badges and money-back guarantees also work extremely well for improving the trustworthiness of your online presence.
Remember to leverage the positive experiences of your existing customers. Their words could be the nudge that potential customers need to make a purchase. And that’s a win for your sales conversion rate.
7. Create Automated Multichannel Drip Campaigns
Email automation and multichannel drip campaigns can drive your sales conversion rate to new heights. These automated sequences allow you to deliver personalized messages to your prospects across various platforms.
The primary platform for a drip campaign can be emails, and you can set this up using email autoresponders. Email offers you the opportunity to reach prospects directly with customized content based on their behavior or stage in the buying journey.
Yet, the magic of drip campaigns isn’t confined to emails. You can automate interactions across LinkedIn, Twitter, and more. This allows you to nurture relationships with your prospects on their preferred platforms.
Make sure that you pick a good email automation software that helps you create sophisticated, multichannel drip campaigns across multiple platforms. Your choice of email tool can also impact your email deliverability.
By automating your drip campaigns, you ensure consistent communication with your prospects. This helps build familiarity, trust, and, eventually, conversion. So let your technology do the talking and watch your sales conversion rate soar.
8. Use Video Content
The power of video is simply undeniable. Why? Because it’s engaging, versatile, and, more importantly, it works. A well-crafted video can breathe life into your message, keeping your prospects hooked and influencing their decision-making.
You can leverage video content at various stages of your sales funnel, urging more people to convert.
At the top of your funnel, you can leverage video content on social media platforms. These could be short-form videos (Instagram reels and YouTube shorts) or long-form YouTube videos.
You can also host webinars to attract high-quality leads, as they offer a platform for you to provide in-depth insights into your product or service.
For middle-of-funnel content, you can share video content on product comparisons and reviews. Distribution channels can include social media channels, email newsletters, and blog content.
For bottom-of-funnel, video testimonials can do wonders for your landing page conversion rates. Real people sharing their experiences creates a sense of trust and authenticity. Add video testimonials to your landing pages, sales pages, and emails, and see the magic for yourself.
9. Create Scarcity
Scarcity marketing is an age-old tactic, but its effectiveness remains unchanged. Limited availability or time creates a sense of urgency. And urgency can drive quick decisions, which can lead to increased sales conversions.
Creating scarcity can be as simple as offering a limited-time discount or promoting a flash sale on your sales page. It sends a message to your prospects that if they don’t act now, they might miss out on a great deal. And nobody likes to miss out on great deals, right?
Another effective way of creating scarcity is by offering exclusive products or services. Limited editions or early access to new products can make your prospects feel special. And that feeling can drive them to purchase.
For instance, in the above example, it is mentioned that there are only 4 spots left for the training. This is one type of scarcity that pushes the visitor to sign up.
But remember, your scarcity strategy needs to be genuine. False scarcity can backfire, damaging your brand’s reputation. So, be transparent and truthful.
Conclusion
Boosting your sales conversion rate is about deploying smart, strategic tactics that appeal to your prospects’ interests and motivations. I’ve walked through nine powerful strategies you can apply, all grounded in proven principles of marketing and sales. Now, it’s your turn to put these into practice. Use these and let us know how it goes!
Author bio
Eduard Klein is an International Digital Growth Marketer, Blogger, and Entrepreneur with a global mindset. He guides through the process of starting and growing a digital business, and riding the wave of digital technology and marketing without getting swept away.