37 Conversion Optimization Tools That Maximize Your Website's Potential
We all know that it’s cheaper to retain existing customers than to acquire new ones. The same holds true for website visitors.
By optimizing your conversion rates, you get more value from the visitors you already have and grow your business.
The conversion rate measures the ratio of web visitors to conversions , i.e. the percentage of visitors who complete a desired action on your website or landing page – like a purchase or an ebook download.
Small improvements in your conversion rates can make a big difference to your bottom line. Which is why it often makes sense to invest in tools that help with conversion optimization.
Here is our collection of the most powerful conversion optimization tools that the web has to offer – covered per category:
- Landing page builders
- Website analytics
- A/B testing
- Heatmaps
- Website chat
- Chatbots
- Visitor identification
- Lead capture
- Exit intent
- Feedback
- Social proof
- Retargeting
1
Landing page builders
Your landing pages are where your conversions happen. Since they serve to convert your website’s visitors into sales or leads, a lot of your efforts will likely be focused here.
Finding the right mix of elements (copy, visual cues, design) for your landing page can be time-consuming and costly, especially if you want to set up multiple landing pages for different campaigns/goals.
Landing page builders make it easy for your team to set up different language pages without the involvement of developers, test what works, and improve.
Unbounce. The ultimate landing page tool. Its drag-and-drop functionality means that anyone can create landing pages with just a few clicks. As it’s WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), you can view a page as visitors view it – meaning you don’t have to go back and forth to see if it has your desired look and feel.
Once your landing page is up, Unbounce leverages the power of AI with Smart Traffic. By analyzing each of your visitors’ attributes (device, location, traffic source, Smart Traffic sends them to the version of the page that’s most relevant to them.
Mailchimp. While it’s made its name in email marketing, Mailchimp also allows you to create landing pages.
Staying true to its origins, Mailchimp’s landing page builder comes with templates that are geared towards collecting email addresses. The software is easy to use and if you get stuck, there’s a wealth of support available in the form of troubleshooting resources.
Leadpages. With hundreds of templates to choose from, Leadpages makes it easy to design the perfect landing page. And because all pages built with Leadpages are responsive, they’ll look great no matter which device your visitors view them on.
To make it easy for visitors to convert on your landing page, you can either create a standalone checkout page or create a landing page that integrates payment features.
Leadpages also comes with a pop-up feature called a “Leadbox” which you can either display automatically or based on a visitor’s actions.
2
Website analytics
You’ll likely have hundreds or thousands of visitors coming to your website every month. But without understanding how these visitors behave on your website, you’re left in the dark about how to optimize for conversions. This is where web analytics comes in.
By tracking user behavior, web analytics gives insights into the demographic of your visitors, how they get to your site, what they do once they get there, and more.
While Google Analytics tends to be the go-to tool for many people because it’s free and provides in-depth detail about the visitors to your website, some alternatives are more intuitive, data-secure, and better suited for certain use cases.
Tools:
Kissmetrics. This solution tracks every interaction that visitors have with your business and then ties that anonymous activity to them once they do actually turn into a customer. This allows you to understand the decisions that lead them to ultimately becoming a customer better than Google Analytics can.
Amplitude. With Amplitude, you can conduct deeper analyses to understand why visitors convert or churn after a specific interaction with “conversion drivers”. Once you’ve set up a funnel inside the platform, you can see and sort through all of the actions your visitors are taking before they progress or drop off in the funnel.
Mixpanel. Mixpanel tracks visitor engagement with your website and product, giving you a holistic view of each visitor’s journey. This means you can see how visitors who found you on social media behave differently to visitors who found you via paid ads. You can also set up funnels based on the actions a visitor takes, the pages they visit, or any other relevant steps in the journey.
Heap. With its “measure everything” approach, Heap tracks every touch, click, tap, or swipe on your website. To help you manage all that data, Heap offers data governance features such as role- and project-based access and permissions, event categorization, and annotation.
3
A/B Testing
Virtually every element on your website could have an impact on conversions - wording, design, images, videos, everything. To know for certain which elements are working best, it makes sense to run A/B tests. By comparing a variation against the current experience, A/B testing takes the guesswork out of website optimization.
Depending on your goals and/or the amount of traffic you have, there are three different kinds of A/B tests that you can run:
Simple A/B testing. In its simplest form, A/B testing allows you to test two versions of a website to see which variant drives more conversions. Because you’re only focusing on one element at a time, simple A/B testing is ideal for small businesses or websites with lower traffic.
Multivariate testing. This is where multiple elements on your website are tested simultaneously, eliminating the need for sequential A/B tests. As you’ll need a significant amount of website traffic to draw any meaningful conclusions, multivariate testing is best suited to larger websites or businesses.
Multi-armed bandit testing. A multi-armed bandit approach allows you to dynamically allocate traffic to the version which is performing well while allocating less traffic to the underperforming version. By maximizing your conversion rate before the test is over, multi-armed bandit testing minimizes the opportunity costs of sub-optimal pages in your test.
Tools:
AB Tasty. Using their experimentation tool, AB Tasty allows you to run A/B tests, multivariate tests, and funnel tests which involves comparing multiple pages belonging to your sales funnel.
You can trigger tests on factors such as URL, geolocation, demographics, etc. To save you throwing money down the drain, AB Tasty assigns each test a statistical reliability rate so you know in advance whether you have enough data for the test to be reliable.
Optimizely. Ideal for large websites, Optimizely’s Web Experimentation tool lets you test web pages on specific market segments (age, location, and platform) for more targeted optimization.
Unlike other tools, you can set up as many conversion goals (page views, clicks, etc.) as you want. And because Optimizely tracks unique visitors, you won’t make the mistake of calculating the same visitor or conversion twice.
Convertize. Based on the multi-armed bandit approach, Convertize allows you to test your website while simultaneously optimizing for conversions, with an algorithm that responds instantaneously to your visitors’ behavior.
Kissmetrics. In conjunction with Hubspot, Kissmetrics gives you everything you need to start running A/B tests, including an A/B tracking template, a how-to guide, and a statistical significance calculator that helps you determine when to end your test(s).
4
Heatmaps
What if you want to see at a glance what your visitors are doing without sifting through all that data? Heatmaps allow you to do just that.
Heatmaps work by collecting the data from your website and turning it into a map or an image, using a dark-to-light color scale. Through the visual representation, you can quickly see which areas of your website are getting the most attention and whether that coincides with your intentions.
Tools we recommend:
Hotjar. Hotjar offers different kinds of heatmaps, which help you understand how visitors clicked, moved, and scrolled. The software tracks both desktop and mobile sessions, so you can see the differences in behavior on different platforms.
Other useful features include:
- Session recordings: let you view your pages as your visitors are viewing them. Put yourself in your visitors’ shoes to make your website user-friendly.
- Feedback polls: let you ask visitors why they’ve taken specific actions (or not)
Crazyegg. Similar to Hotjar, Crazyegg gives you a visual representation of where visitors click on your site. This works by taking a screenshot of your website’s URL, collecting all the links from that page, and then projecting the data in the form of a heatmap at the top of your webpage.
Other useful features include:
- Scroll map report: shows you how far down a page your visitors click
- Confetti: lets you see, “with pinpoint accuracy”, where visitors are clicking on your webpage
5
Website chat
One of the most natural ways to raise your conversion rates is by offering live help to the visitors of your website.
A lean and clean website is crucial for conversions. Informational minimalism is key. But the trade-off is that many visitors might have unanswered questions. A subtle chat button that reminds them that help is just one click away can have a powerful effect on your conversion rates.
Tools:
Userlike. We (of course ;) ) recommend our own solution, which has all the benefits of live chat including live translations, canned messages, and more for your customer support and sales teams.
We also offer multi-channel messaging support for when your visitors are no longer on your website. Through messaging apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and SMS, you can stay in touch with customers on their favorite channels – staying top of mind and possibly inducing them to come back for another transaction.
Tawk.to. Tawk.to offers an in-built ticketing system, customizable knowledge base, a chat team for hire, and more. One of the unique features is that there are no limits to the number of agents or chat widgets you can add.
As it’s free, it’s a good solution for small or one-person businesses that want to give live chat a try.
6
Chatbots
Chatbots are about automation. Automating lead generation and rudimentary support requests, and fighting cart abandonment.
The process of getting a lead and moving them through the sales funnel is a time-consuming task. Chatbots speed up this process, increasing conversions.
Userlike. With our solution, you have two options for setting up your chatbot: You can either build one from scratch through the Logic Chatbot or connect your own chatbot via the HTTP API framework. You can then deploy these chatbots on your website and on the messaging channels that you’ve connected (e.g. WhatsApp).
moin.ai. The moin.ai chatbot is an AI-powered solution that promises to increase your website conversion rates by up to 38%. Through artificial intelligence, the chatbot can detect intent and independently suggest topics.
OMQ. The OMQ chatbot is a self-learning AI-powered solution, designed to automate your customer service. Through linking to OMQ’s central knowledge base, the chatbot understands and analyses customers’ intentions and selects the appropriate answer.
What’s more, OMQ integrates with Userlike so that you can continue conversations on your customers’ favorite messaging channels (WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, SMS).
7
Visitor identification
Visitor identification software is used by companies to profile visitors on their websites with the goal of converting them into leads or customers.
For B2B companies, in particular, understanding who’s on your website can help you turn anonymous visitors into qualified leads. These tools aren’t able to identify individuals, but they can provide account-level information such as company name or website URL so that you can target your prospects better.
Tools:
Leadfeeder. By combining the data from your Google Analytics account with IP address data, Leadfeeder gives you a deeper look at who’s visiting your website with account-level visitor identification. So that you only get high-quality leads, each list is scrubbed of bots, ISPs, and other low-quality traffic.
What’s more, you can connect Leadfeeder with popular CRMs such as Salesforce and Pipedrive , so that you can add identified leads to your customer database.
ZoomInfo. ZoomInfo’s WebSights reveals website visitor data in real-time so that you can take immediate action. You can score your leads with Google Analytics or ZoomInfo’s Advanced Search feature, based on your customer profile settings.
And with ZoomInfo’s Workflows feature, you can automate processes for categorizing leads, such as “if visitor views pricing page, create a contact in Salesforce”.
8
Lead capture
Research suggests that 92% of visitors don’t make a purchase when they first visit your website. This indicates that they need more information before making up their minds.
One way to “nudge” customers through the sales funnel is to collect email addresses, and then entice them with relevant information or updates about your product, service, or company.
By collecting leads, you have the opportunity to educate your visitors, build trust, and eventually convert them.
Though there are various ways to capture leads on your website, we’ll look at tools for creating web forms and pop-ups as these are some of the most common methods.
Tools:
Growform. Growform lets you easily create multi-step forms. Due to the sunk cost fallacy, these tend to convert better than long forms - so you can capture more leads for the same ad spend. It comes with Zapier, so you can connect your forms to just about anything.
WuFoo. Like its sister company SurveyMonkey , WuFoo is heavily oriented towards surveys. You can customize one of the ready-to-go templates or create your own. Add your logo and any other design elements and you’re good to go.
Links to forms can be shared on your website via copy-paste or shared via email and social media with a click.
MailChimp . One of the most popular email marketing providers out there, MailChimp, lets you grow your email list with custom pop-up forms that you can add to any website.
With the “Preferences Center” feature, contacts can update their profile information and add their interests so that you can send them targeted content. Forms are available in various formats, according to your needs, and they work on both desktop and mobile.
Sumo List Builder . A WordPress plugin, Sumo List Builder sits at the top of your website, reminding your visitors to take action. As with live chat, you can time your popup to appear to your most engaged visitors, or at the exact moment your visitor is about to leave.
In contrast to other email collection tools, you’ll need to set a campaign goal (collect emails, collect push notification subscribers, etc.) first before you set up the list builder. Depending on the goal you select, the rest of the steps change accordingly.
8
Exit intent
For eCommerce sites, one of the biggest obstacles to conversion is cart abandonment , which occurs when visitors browse around for a bit or even add items to their shopping carts, without making a purchase.
Exit technology detects when a visitor is about to leave your website without making a purchase. The idea is to entice your visitors to stay by offering something of value such as a special offer, a discount, or a “lead bait” (white paper, e-book, etc.).
OptInMonster. On OptInMonster, you can use popups to collect email addresses or persuade visitors to stay with an offer or discount. Pop-ups come in a variety of forms including slide-ins, overlays, and full-screen mats. What’s more, pop-ups work on both desktop and mobile platforms.
Optin Monster has even written a comprehensive blog post to inspire uses of exit-intent pop-ups.
Yieldify. This tool can be easily implemented on your website with one line of JavaScript integrated through Google Tag Manager. Once live, this will allow real-time tracking visitors website behaviors across sessions. With this data you're then able to create personalized experiences that are hyper-targeted, connected and adaptable across a customer’s journey. Yieldify includes exit-intent pop-ups, A/B tests, email capture and more.
Omniconvert. Omniconvert helps you create exit pop-ups with ease with nine templates to choose from, and a template editor if you fancy whipping up with one of your own. To be sure that you’ve chosen the perfect pop-up, you can test two versions at the same time.
Besides pop-ups, Omniconvert gives you the option to add dynamic text to your website, allowing you to personalize the content you display to visitors. For instance, you could remind the visitor about a certain product they liked in a previous visit or create urgency by letting them know how many visitors have purchased a previously viewed item.
9
Feedback
Your website is your online storefront and largely defines the success of your business. If your website isn’t converting as much you hoped, you could attempt to fix everything you think that’s wrong with it (and where would you start?) or you could go to the source of truth: your visitors.
Website feedback can point you towards elements of your website that users find confusing and provide insight into improvements you can make to your content or product.
Some of the most common website feedback tools include:
- Pop-up surveys: force visitors to either respond or close the window before they can proceed
- On-site surveys: pop up from the bottom of the screen (like live chat)
- Feedback widgets: allow visitors to rate their experience, usually using emoji Likert scales
Tools:
SurveyMonkey. SurveyMonkey’s Website Collector makes it easy for you to embed survey forms into your website. This works by pasting a small bit of code into your web page.
You can choose whether you want your survey to be integrated into the rest of your website content or to have it pop up in a window. Cookies ensure that a visitor is not asked to fill in a survey again.
Usersnap. A comprehensive customer feedback tool, Usersnap offers features for collecting ratings-style feedback using stars, thumbs up/down icons, or emoji. Visitors can also take screenshots directly within your site and annotate sections with comment boxes, arrows, or drawings.
First coined by Robert Cialdini, social proof is the phenomenon whereby people adopt a particular behavior or attitude because everyone else is doing it.
In the world of e-commerce, online reviews have emerged as one of the most powerful forms of social proof. Rarely do shoppers make a purchase without consulting sites such as Amazon, Yelp or Trustadvisor.
When shopping online, people can’t touch, see, smell or try on items as they can in a physical shop. Social proof serves as validation that they’re making the right choice.
Other forms of social proof include customer testimonials, expert stamps of approval, celebrity endorsements, social media follower counts, or backlinks.
All of these can take time to build up. With social proof tools, you can get the proof you quickly need to boost conversions.
Tools:
TrustPulse. With TrustPulse, you can lend credibility to your business by showing visitors what actions others are taking. This can be an action such as a purchase, a download, or a form completion.
TrustPulse also plays on the FOMO (“Fear of Missing Out”) syndrome with “On-Fire” notifications that show the number of people taking an action in a given period.
Proof. Proof’s Pulse a feature lets send push notifications to your visitors about recent conversions on your site. You can set up predefined times for collecting data, for example, after X number of conversions in the past day, week, or even in the last three months.
Proof offers multilingual support so you can cater to your international customers.
11
Retargeting
Retargeting delivers ads to visitors based on previous interactions with your website. In line with the marketing rule of 7, it takes an average of seven interactions before a purchase is made. Retargeting ensures that your business and product/service stays fresh in your visitors’ minds.
Tools:
Google Ads remarketing. Retargeting in Google Ads consists of placing ads in front of previous visitors to your website while they’re browsing the web or watching YouTube videos, for example.
This works through the Google Remarketing Tag which you add to your website. Once visitors are added to the remarketing lists in your Google AdWords account through browser cookies, Google will trigger ads to show to these visitors either across the Search Network (in search engine results) or across the Display Network (a network of more than two million sites).
Facebook retargeting. This works in a similar way to Google Remarketing with the difference that your ads are displayed across Facebook.
When someone visits your website and takes an action (for example, clicking a link), the Facebook Pixel , which you implement on your website, is triggered. You can then reach this visitor again through the Custom Audience option which lets you find people who have expressed an interest in your business on Facebook.
Instagram. As Instagram is owned by Facebook, you’ll need to follow the same steps as for Facebook retargeting. The difference is that you link your Instagram account to your Facebook ads account and select Instagram as your platform when creating a campaign.
Here’s a step-by-step process for retargeting for Facebook and Instagram.
Twitter Retargeting. You can remarket to users on Twitter who have visited your webpage, downloaded your app, or subscribed to your emails.
Twitter retargeting works by matching browser cookie IDs or scrambled email addresses from mailing lists to Twitter accounts. When the user visits Twitter, they’re added to the personalized audience you’ve created in your Twitter account.
LinkedIn Retargeting. On LinkedIn, the Insight Tag powers your conversions. For optimal results, LinkedIn recommends that you paste the snippet into the footer of every webpage. You can install the tag yourself or implement it with a tag manager like Google Tag Manager , Adobe Dynamic Tag Management , or Telium iQ .
As with the above social media platforms, you then create an audience to which visitors are added. Once your audience has reached 300 visitors, you can set up campaign targeting.
Often it’s the smallest question that keeps your visitors from converting. Perhaps your shipping fees aren’t clear or your product’s features need further clarification. With website chat, you can quickly clarify these doubts and nudge your visitors to purchase.
If you’re looking for a comprehensive chat solution for support on multiple channels and would like to give Userlike a try, you can sign up for a 14-day trial here.
