In the competitive world of online insurance and finance, companies are always looking for ways to increase their conversion rates and maximise sales. There are several digital and marketing techniques to get the most out of the user visits on your website and maximise the number of application and form completions possible. We talk you through some of these techniques below.
Trust signals
The use of trust signals and authority on your website is able to add real credibility to your business and instil confidence in the consumer. The Milgram experiments conducted in 1961 highlighted the role that authority can make in getting subordinates do desired actions.
This can be implemented onto a finance or loan website by including logos of trusted brands such as regulators, news publications and governing bodies.
Similarly, the role of positive reviews from the likes of Trustpilot and Feefo can add real trust when a customer is deciding to proceed or not. Seeing the positive experience of others can give people the peace of mind they need when making a decision. Plus, the use of reviews can add more colour to your website and also show up under the rich snippets of your Google search result.
Add security
Adding an SSL certificate to your website, making it from http to https, can make users feel safe when entering their details. The cost of this is typically around $150 per year from your hosting provider and adds encryption to the website so that it is harder to access from external hacks.
Other security measures include the use of McAfee secure, captcha forms or requesting customers to login and confirming their details with email verification. However, you need to find the balance as having more fields to enter can be a turn off.
The length of the application
Those looking for a short term loan or car insurance quote are going to be put off by a lengthy form that requires a lot of information. Sometimes the most effective way to just get the customers details quickly is by asking for basic fields such as name, email address, phone number and their requirement – and then giving the customer a call back with more information.
Similarly, have all the requested fields on one page can be more successful in increasing conversion rates, rather than the unknown of how many pages that need to be completed – sometimes leading to a higher drop-off rate.
Through the use of big data, there is an increasing popularity in users getting an instant quote (although it is an estimate) based on simply filling in their postcode (for home insurance) or vehicle registration number (for car insurance and vehicle finance). The customer receives information quickly and then has the option to proceed further with the application.
User experience
Whilst obvious, online finance companies should emphasize the user experience on their websites, otherwise known as UX. For instance, it is a given that websites should work effectively on desktop, mobile and desktop and this includes having all the relevant information that the customer needs and can access it quickly.
Site speed is of paramount importance when maximising conversion rate. Amazon found that every extra 100ms in latency it had, would cost up to $1 million in lost sales. Site speed across all devices can be improved and maintained through good hosting, large bandwidths, image compression, browser caching and more.
The use of calculators and simple questions like ‘how much do you want to borrow’ and a big button that says ‘Go’ or ‘Compare’, is effective to draw the customer in and start the application process, as demonstrated by All The Lenders.
Calls to action
Having numerous calls-to-action is not always an obvious thing done by finance websites. There is usually an application form or button at the top of the page, but this should be replicated throughout the body and even footer of the page, so that the customer always has an application in sight. A well-optimised landing page should in fact have several ways to apply, whether it is through a form, apply now button, email address and phone number.
As a standard, customers should have access to information in the header or footer so that they can make a phone call or send an email very easily.
Data
The use of data analysis can take conversion rates to the next level. Using simply metric tools like Google Analytics can allow you to measure site visits and conversion rates and it is free to user.
Maximising conversion rates is something that should be constantly tested and optimised. A/B testing is a good way to achieve this and compare data from other trial periods. Things that can be tested include the colour of application buttons, the size of forms, the layout of content, the use of promotions and offers and the influence of trust signals.
It is not enough to simply use the different conversion techniques mentioned above, but to implement them in a controlled environment so you can constantly test and see what works best for your product and industry. If you can use all these techniques and test effectively, you will become a conversion king!
