Your website is the simplest and fastest way you can showcase your business’ offerings to potential customers, but it can be difficult to determine if your site is set up properly to generate conversions.
In this blog, we highlight some of the top ways to optimise your website for conversions and drive business opportunities for your dive shop or resort.
Tune in to our Marketing Webinar: How to Optimise Your Website for Conversions on 20th May to dive into this subject further and answer any questions you might have.
Define What Conversions Mean to You
Usually, the first thing that comes to mind when they think of conversions is sales, but that isn’t always the case. In marketing a conversion is defined as a user performing a desired action on your website. This could be a sale; but what if the business doesn’t offer online shopping? For this business a conversion could be a user signing up to an email newsletter, calling to inquire about a diving course, or reserving a room at the businesses resort.
Every business can (and should!) define its own goals for their website, and thus what conversions mean to them. When you define what your conversions are, then you can make changes to the focus on your website to achieve them. For example, a business that is fully booked for dive courses but still wants people to subscribe to their newsletter and stay connected for future opportunities may have a pop-up that invites people to subscribe.
Consider the User Experience
From the moment a user first visits your website to when they leave they are on a journey. The goal of your website is to make sure they have a clear journey that leads to a conversion and potentially more visits. So consider the following:
Landing page: Where is the first point of entry to your website for users? Is it your homepage? A blog that you share on social media? Wherever it may be, it’s important that the page is designed to support the customer experience and make it easy as possible for them to achieve your desired action and clicking through to other pages where conversions can happen.
For example, you share your blog about how easy it is to do your PADI Open Water Course with PADI eLearning on your Facebook page. In this scenario the blog post is your landing page. If the blog had a “Start Your Course Now” CTA in the middle or at the end linking to your Open Water Course page then people would be more likely to click it and book their course rather than potentially taking no further action if there are no clear CTAs and the blog just ends.
Navigation: Wherever a user enters your website, it’s important they always know how they can get where they want to go. The simplest way to help them with navigation is clear and simple drop down menus at the top of your pages. Use general terms like “Courses” with more options underneath each term like “PADI Open Water” or “Courses for Advanced Divers”.
It’s important that the drop down terms are both relevant and easy to understand, as users will take their business elsewhere if they can’t find what they want right away. So, avoid things like putting your Open Water Course under a “Shop” tab, as that is not clear and not the first place people would look for a course.
Another helpful and easy to implement tool for navigation is a page footer with helpful links to different pages on your website. This will allow users to find whatever they need wherever they are on your site, so make sure to include useful links like your homepage, courses page, and the about us page. As the footer is available on every page of your site, you can also use it to generate conversions by adding an email subscription button, social media links, a book now button, etc. Consider what conversions are to you, and how you can use the footer for this purpose.
Ease customer concerns: Customers can have a million question running through their head before they purchase something from you, but there are things that you can do to help ease their minds.
For example, think about a customer who wants to book a dive trip next weekend, but isn’t 100% sure they can make it – what would be their concern here and how can you mitigate it? If you offer free refunds then make it obvious from the start! Even if you don’t and you have to charge a cancellation fee, it’s still useful information for the customer to know when they are booking the trip as it answers a question they had.
Another example could be a new diver who is worried that he has to buy his own equipment. Ease their mind by letting them know that equipment is included in their package, or they can rent equipment from your store on the day. Think about what questions you are frequently asked by customers, and answer them on the pages where they will convert to remove any barriers to purchase.
Additionally, it is best practice to include contact details like your phone number or the email to your customer service team, where the user can ask any questions they may have that haven’t been answered by you. Make these contact details easy to find because if the user can’t get in touch with you they may decide not to go through with their purchase.
For more key tips, including how to keep your website up to date and the importance of SEO for conversions, be sure to catch our Marketing Webinar: How to Optimise Your Website for Conversions on 20th May.
Check out our RHQ Marketing Hubs for EMEA, AP, and PAM, to see our Marketing Toolkits which offer you a range of marketing tools that you can use for your marketing strategies. If you have any questions, please contact your regional marketing team at:
EMEA: marketing.emea@padi.com
PAP: marketing@padi.com
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