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B2B Conversion Rate Optimisation tips

We've compiled a list of our top Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) tips from some of the projects and lessons.

Written by

Robert Hufton

Director & UX Consultant

Top B2B Conversion Rate Optimisation Tips to Reduce Bounce Rates and Boost Conversions

"Why are we not converting users, and why is our bounce rate so high?" It’s a common question we hear from businesses. As a leading B2B Conversion Rate Optimisation agency based in Manchester, we’re here to share proven strategies that will help you convert more users, lower your bounce rate, and drive meaningful results from your online presence.

What is B2B Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO)?

Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) is essential for improving your website’s performance by increasing the percentage of visitors who take the desired action, whether that’s filling out a form, making a purchase, or booking a consultation. In the B2B space, optimising your conversion rate is critical to maximising your marketing efforts and generating valuable leads.

Key B2B Conversion Rate Optimisation Tips

Here are some actionable B2B Conversion Rate Optimisation tips to help you enhance your website's user experience and turn more visitors into leads or customers:

  1. Optimise Your Call to Action (CTA)Ensure your CTA buttons are clear, concise, and strategically placed throughout your website. Use action-oriented language that speaks to your target audience’s needs.
  2. Simplify Your FormsLong, complicated forms can discourage users from converting. Streamline your forms by asking only for essential information to make it easier for potential customers to complete.
  3. Improve Page Load SpeedA slow-loading website can lead to higher bounce rates. Make sure your site is fast and mobile-friendly to create a seamless user experience for B2B visitors.
  4. Use Social ProofIncorporate testimonials, case studies, and reviews from satisfied clients to build trust and demonstrate the value of your product or service. This can be particularly powerful in B2B industries.
  5. Test and Optimise Regular A/B testing is crucial for understanding what works best for your audience. Experiment with different elements such as headlines, imagery, and layouts to continuously improve conversion rates.

Reduce Bounce Rates and Drive More Business with Effective CRO

By implementing these B2B Conversion Rate Optimisation tips, you can lower your bounce rate, improve user engagement, and increase conversions. The key is to continuously optimize your website to meet the evolving needs of your audience.

CRO tip #1 - Know your audience

Understanding who the users landing on your site are should always be your guide to catching their attention. Once you know who they are, usually you should know what they want to do. Creating user personas helps you understand your customers. 

User personas are designed to help you understand more about the type of people your customers are. What are their:

  • Personal objectives
  • Practical Actions
  • Buying reasons
  • Barriers to buy
  • Where they are likely to be (Consumer spaces)
  • Additional useful info like ‘what keywords they might type’

Understand who you are targeting by making user personas and researching what they want

Here is an example of how understanding your user can make for a successful marketing strategy:

Steve is 45, He has a fleet of construction machinery vehicles for his road maintenance company. Some are getting old and need servicing, but he can’t stop working. He might see on twitter ‘Need a winter excavator service? We can replace your old machine while it gets serviced’. This post should link to a well optimised for conversion landing page featuring a promotion designed around this offer. 

CRO tip #2 - Be clear about your proposition

Headings

The first people will see is the headline and there’s nothing worse than a headline that doesn’t make any sense. People won’t read your content if your headline doesn’t grab their attention.

So, we’ve found some rules that will help you in your pursuit of a good headline:

  • Always keep it simple - less is more
  • Your headline should reflect your content
  • Why not try open and close-ended questions to see which one attracts users more
  • Don’t bother with all the jargon, speak like your audience to spark conversation
  • Be relevant and on topic

When it comes to styling the headline, choose an eligible, strong typeface; size of headlines so they stand out and if you want, use colour to grab attention. Also, note that centred headlines are visually strong but left centred are more formal.

Remember, you only have one chance to make a good first impression.

Content is king

Your website copy should be one of the first things you should consider when approaching a new website or blog post. 

Write a catchy title that resonates with the user and people take an interest, once you have their interest, then lead them on a journey. Make sure you don’t write lengthy paragraph after a lengthy paragraph, chances are no-one will read them. Instead, break up the content, use bold text.

Keep it simple

It's tempting to write pages and pages about your services and history. But unless you are writing a lengthy informative piece, overloading users with long paragraphs on many pages makes their journey harder.

One of my favourite websites is the Dieter Rams Vitsoe website. https://www.vitsoe.com/

It’s basic, simple, but boy is it nice looking and easy to read?!  A slick grid. Some photos of incredible products (yes, of course, that helps) but also compelling and easy to read and digest copy. 

By the way, if you've never head of Dieter Rams, he pretty much wrote the book on modern design. His 10 Principles of good design are an essential list for any budding and experienced designer.

https://www.vitsoe.com/gb/about/good-design

“Isn’t it lovely…?’ To the sound of Stevie Wonder isn’t she lovely.

CRO tip #3 - Fast loading pages

Optimising a website or app so that it loads content quickly is what users expect. Waiting 3...4...5 seconds for a page or service does one thing. Makes people leave.

Moreover - slow loading websites will be penalised by Google more and more in the coming months and years. Not only are they bad for users (waiting and waiting for content), they are bad for the environment. Imagine billions of websites twice as slow as they need to be, chugging all those servers and sapping up power. 

Test your own website performance using Chrome Developer Tools Lighthouse or a free to use a website like Pingdom or GTO Metrix

https://gtmetrix.com

https://tools.pingdom.com

If you need to learn more about Search Engine Optimisation and how performance can help keep people on your website, talk to our SEO team today.

CRO tip #4 - Use a simple navigation

It can be tempting to cram every service, company history, news and blogs into your navigation, but this approach can overload users with choice.

Try not to give your users too many options as it can become overwhelming and, as a result, users will click away completely.

Make their life easier and limit it to the essentials.

CRO tip #5 - Show off your reward badges

As you may have guessed it’s a loose pun about 5 gold rings. Website reviews can be amazing. They can also be business destroyers. If people want to complain they will do it online now. So your star ratings should be a great method of communicating to new users that other people trust you. 

Trustpilot is widely used but can become pricey, but there are many other ways to gain reviews, ratings and recognition.

Best practise I would advise is to use reviews across social media, Google and if you can afford it TrustPilot or Feefo.

CRO tip #6 Stop using cheesy stock photography

Stock photos - We've all used them. I still do when the time is right.

As much they are affordable, there is a problem.

Stock photos can make your content look like every other website. This creates a detachment from your potentially happy new users and your brand. Your users arrived expecting to find something interesting a new to them, but instead get the same thing they've seen before.

Instead - always try and use something unique that represents your company. People want to see the REAL face of your staff and maybe your offices. So show them. 

CRO tip #7 - Call to Action buttons

Call-to-action (CTA) buttons can lead your users to your goal conversion. But to ensure users are interacting with your CTAs, here are some variables to think about:

  • The bigger the button, the easier it will be seen (of course, we don’t want a massive button but a reasonable, effective size will do)
  • Use contrasting colours
  • Add rounded edges, animated text, drop shadow or an icon - either of these will make your CTAs more interactive, just don’t overuse all of them all on one button
  • Choose the text carefully. Use about 3 words and give your users the heads up at what they could expect if they click the button
  • CTAs normally placed above the fold or underneath the content
  • Use A/B testing to see which versions of CTAs work well for your users
  • Keep benefits and features close together for the best chance to convert

For an in depth study of call to action methods it's well worth a read of Paul Boag's article about call to action here.

CRO tip #8 - Use videos for conversions

This year, the internet has seen over 80% video marketing and the difference it makes to user interaction and engagement on websites. You have to keep up with the online trends or your business will just fizzle out into thin air. 

Of course, most people will choose to watch a video over reading because it’s easier, right? A website with various videos will have more attention and more conversions but it is a lot more than just putting out random videos on your website.

Make sure that your videos are related to your business and most importantly, appeals to your users.

Don’t be so boring and use humour in your videos!

P.S. make sure you tag relevant keywords and add a description to your videos for search engine optimisation. Google won’t rank you if you don’t fill out the boxes.

CRO tip #9 - Do your keyword research

Make sure your website is getting traffic from keywords that closely represent your best business offerings. SEO doesn't need to be daunting. It just needs careful planning and focus on what your company does best.

If you have no idea what keywords your website appears for, try this tool:

https://app.neilpatel.com/en/traffic_analyzer/keywords

Example: You are a 'red shoe maker', your website needs to show in Google for 'red shoe maker', not 'boots and shoes'. This sounds really obvious, but we see if time and time, websites have traffic from digital marketing, but not from keywords that will drive new business. We also see many SEO and PPC budgets being burned by poor PPC management. It's staggering how much revenue Google generates by PPC management done badly.

Keywords and bounce rates

You can also investigate keyword performance in Analytics. Make sure the keywords you are advertising on have low bounce rates. Brand keywords should have the lowest bounce rate.

If you need help with your campaign, or would like a second opinion on your digital marketing budget use contact Higher Ground today.

Or read more about how to optimise your website for Google.

CRO tip #10 - Plan your customer's journey

Customer journey mapping is an essential element of any conversion rate optimisation plan.

By mapping the customer journey you are making sure they are kept engaged with the service or product you want to them to buy. But the journey doesn't stop at first interaction. Customer journey mapping also covers all ways you might communicate with your customers. From how you follow up to their enquiry or purchase. Any CRM you may use to keep in contact. Your sales team's approach to customer service, or any post sale or enquiry communication you have with your customers.

CR0 tip #11 - Use tools to discover what's happening

For any online strategy to succeed you need to understand what your users want, then analyse data (we call it metrics) to discover what’s actually going on.

By analysing and processing data from your website analytics you can report on effectiveness and use science to tell you what's really happening with people visiting your website or interacting with your campaign.

There are tonnes of analysis tools available. Our favourites are:

Google Analytics

Hotjar

Crazy Egg

Unbounce

Optimizely

Optimal workshop

Instapage

ClickTale

CRO tip #12 - Analyse, report and optimise

When all your 11 steps are set up and in place, how do you know it's working? How do you define success? You need to double check your analytics and marketing to see what worked and what didn't. Each marketing channel will tell you different story, so investigating what worked and didn't helps you refine your strategy, learn and get better every-time you analyse.

So there you have it. Our 12 tips for increasing your Conversion Rate Optimisation to make your digital marketing more effective.

About Higher Ground

We are Manchester based Conversion Rate Optimisation agency specialising in ROI based digital marketing. To find out more, contact our CRO team today.

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