Scarcity is a proven marketing tactic that also can drastically boost your conversion rate.

You see it everywhere:

• In eCommerce with countdown timers telling you there’s only one stock left on the page.
• Marketing agencies telling you they only have time for 1 more client.
• Auction sites alerting you to bid now before someone else does so.

It’s a proven CRO strategy that can be best explained as “a product becomes more attractive when their perceived availability is limited.”

Using scarcity is like a quick nudge to potential customers who are on the fence about buying from you.

They have a limited attention span (as do most people browsing the internet) and they need a reason to care.

Show them a tempting offer with a time limit next to it and you’ll get their attention real quick.

There are a few different ways you can implement scarcity as part of your conversion rate optimization strategy.

A lot of it comes down to the right mix of words (copywriting) and/or web elements (widgets, plug-ins, custom code, etc.).

Let’s take a look at some examples of scarcity in CRO.

Words for time scarcity:

• Deal ends today.
• Only 12 hours left.
• Price goes up in 1 day.
• Offer expires today.

Words for stock scarcity:

• First 50 people get a free coaching call.
• Nearly sold out. 
• Limited edition. 
• Only available to members. 
• Get them while they last.

Words that imply exclusivity:

• Members only.
• Login required.
• Class full.
• Membership now closed.
• Exclusive offers inside.
• Get it before everybody else.
• Rush my order (for Prime members only)
• And more.

Some eCommerce stores go as far as using fake timers and countdowns to inspire urgency and get people to buy faster. 

Now, the ethics of fake scarcity is a topic for a different time.

But that just goes to show how effective scarcity is when it comes to conversion rate optimization.

Need more live examples and different ways you can use scarcity to boost your conversion rate?

Check out our full list of biggest brands using scarcity marketing and how you can implement this strategy in your own site. 

2. Multi-step Forms to Decrease Bounce Rate and Boost Engagement

Source: Convertica 

Want to increase the conversion rate on your website and start converting more qualified leads?

Consider using multi-step forms to make your visitors stay longer on your website and keep them engaged. 

With high-quality and well-designed web forms, you customers learn more about you, develop trust, and be more likely to continue to your final CTA.

There’s a lot that goes behind boosting your conversion rate. But to very generally break it down, you need to:

1. Keep first-time website visitors stay on your page and convince them it’s relevant to them (design and copywriting).
2. Educate them on your offer and target their pain points (copywriting, your offer, your positioning, etc.).
3. Qualify your leads. Not everyone who lands on your landing page will be a relevant lead. Being able to qualify qualified leads will save you a lot of time in the long run (copywriting, your offer/pitch, and ideally, a multi-step form).

Multi-step forms are ideal for boosting your conversion rate and qualifying your leads.

How do these forms work?

The best way to learn is through an example.

Check out the form on the Convertica homepage to learn the steps it goes through. It’s interactive and designed to keep leads on the site longer.

The questions it asks include:

1. How is your website monetized?
2. How many monthly unique visitors do you have?
3. What’s the link to your website?
4. Where should we send your FREE audit? (contact information).

Here’s why this works so well for CRO:

• Engaging design elements that lets the prospect know how many steps are left.
• Branded design that fits with the rest of the site well.
• Specific questions and asks for the right information (ends with opt-in info).

Thankfully, there are many form builder tools out there you can use to create a lead-generation specific web form.

And if you’re looking for general conversion rate optimization best practices, be sure to check out our full guide to multi-step forms for more info and the step-by-steps.

3. Developing Trust And Educating Your Leads Through Social Proof

Source: Intercom

Trust is one of the most powerful tools in your conversion rate optimization arsenal.

Building trust is hard nowadays because your leads probably have a thousand other tabs open and don’t have a huge attention span to begin with.

You need to educate them quickly as to why you’re trustworthy to do business with and why your offer is relevant. 

Some other ways you can leverage trust includes:

• Being present on review sites (Capterra, Trustpilot, G2, etc.).
• Strong web presence and social media.
• Strong branding and marketing on your website (e.g. strong “about us” page that shows you’re an actual person).
• Social proof – quotes and testimonials from past clients or customers.

Zendesk is great at building trust and using social proof that’s digestible at a glance.

There’s a lot you can learn from their marketing too. Including how to leverage your lead generation strategy, content strategy, PR marketing, pricing, SEO, and more.

4. Trust Badges And Other Authoritative Signals to Reduce Friction and Boost Conversion Rate

Source: Baymard

This ties in directly with the above.

Another great way to increase your trust is through trust badges, online certifications, social proof, and more.

For example, in an eCommerce conversion rate A/B test, Goinflow found that including the McAfee seal on an electronic website boosted the conversion rate. In a test of over 3 days, their revenue was measured as following:

• No badge: $112,286
• Norton Secured: $112,538
• McAfee Secure: $126,769

The McAfee badge returned the highest life rate of 15.7% with a 97% confidence score.

The best part is that adding the McAfee badge to your website is a very quick and easy process, free for your first 500 visitors/month. 

That’s an easy way to suddenly jump your conversion rate.

Looking for other easy conversion rate increasing strategies? 

Look into your target audience and what they consider a business to be trust-worthy.

Or check out our full guide to trust badges for more info on this strategy.

5. All-Inclusive CRO Audits That Cover Your Whole Site

Source: NeilPatel

Okay, this might sound obvious but…

If you’re looking for an all-inclusive website analysis of your conversion rate and other website elements – a CRO audit is the best way to go about this.

Essentially, a CRO audit is research and data-based assessment of the state of your website. 

It’s like looking at your website with a magnifying glass to identify each link and element of your website to find bottlenecks that stop people from converting.

What’s included in a CRO audit?

Depends on a lot of things. But our process usually includes:

• Setting goals and hypotheses.
• Identifying which pages to optimize.
• Doing a thorough customer analysis (who, what, where, and when of your site visitors. Heatmaps, Google Analytics, etc.).
• Website analysis: Evaluating your landing page layout, design, and copywriting.
• Collecting data from analysis and A/B tests.
• Applying changes, checklist, and implementing the conversion rate optimization plan accordingly.

Obviously, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to CRO audits. Everything depends on the specific website, goals, and data.

Once all the audit checks are applied, you should come out of the CRO audit converting more traffic into leads.

Think of it as a one-time investment.

Once you make the changes, your website will be in better condition and start getting more leads per traffic.

Across industries, the average landing page conversion rate is around 2.35% (source). After a strong CRO audit, you could be getting 5.31% or higher (which is the top 25% of landing pages – not too unrealistic).

Not bad, right?

Conclusion

So, to recap, let’s go over some of the top conversion rate optimization questions:

• What is CRO strategy?

A conversion rate optimization (CRO) strategy is the science and art of increasing the percentage of your website visitors who take desired action. Be it buying a product, signing up for your services, opting into your newsletter, or submitting a form. Conversion optimization aims to transform more of your website visitor traffic into real business results and get you more leads from the same traffic.

• What are the best practices for optimizing your conversion path?

There are a lot of best practices and strategies you can follow to optimize your conversion path and website. To start with, you can use the proven strategies we’ve covered above:

1. Using scarcity to improve conversion rates on cold traffic.
2. Multi-step forms to decrease the bounce rate and boost engagement.
3. Developing trust and educating your leads through social proof.
4. Trust badges and other authoritative signals to reduce friction and boost conversion rate.
5. All-inclusive CRO audits that cover your whole site.

• What is the conversion rate optimization formula?

To calculate your conversion rate, divide the number of conversions you’re getting in a specific time frame by the total number of people who visited your site or landing page. Then, multiply it by 100%. For example, if your site had 10,000 visitors and 1,000 conversions in the last 30 days, your conversion rate is 10%!

Now, are you ready to boost your conversion rate and start getting more leads per traffic?

Claim your free website audit today to see how we can help your business increase conversion rates. We’ve increased website conversions anywhere from 20-100%+ across different niches from affiliates, eCommerce, SaaS, local businesses, and more.