4 proven ways to increase conversions [with case studies]

Spoiler!: when you shift your mindset from revenue-centric to user-centric, that is when conversions happen—which is why the conversion strategies that follow come from user behavior insights that help improve the user experience (UX).

By the end of this article, you'll have a clear vision of how you can create happier users and increase conversions.

We cover:

• What's stopping users from converting?

• 4 methods to increase conversion rates using Hotjar

• How to combine data to strengthen your conversion efforts

• How to repurpose behavior analytics data

• Start converting more users

Before you start: identify your conversion rate optimization goals, and approach this article through that lens.

To determine your conversion goals, ask yourself:

What’s stopping users from converting?

Before you can increase conversions, you have to know why potential customers aren't converting in the first place.

Once you diagnose and identify blockers or friction points—like confusing navigation, a website bug, or a broken link—you'll know where to start improving the user experience.

To find out why users aren't converting, analyze your user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) with a combination of quantitative and qualitative data, and observe and interact with users to understand their perspective.

Here are a few ways you can combine quantitative and qualitative data to conduct UX and UI research to find out what's stopping users from converting:

4 methods to increase conversion rates using Hotjar (with examples)

1. Understand how users move, click, and scroll on key conversion pages

AN EXAMPLE OF A HOTJAR SCROLL HEATMAP (L) AND MOVE HEATMAP (R)

Heatmaps are color-coded, visual representations of how users spend time on your web pages. They reveal where people click, how far they scroll, and what information they see (or overlook).

There are three different types of website heatmaps:

1. Scroll maps: reveal how far down a page people are scrolling

2. Click maps: reveal where people tend to click or tap on a page

3. Move maps: reveal where users may be looking on your page by tracking where their cursor moves

Try this: use website heatmaps and event tracking in Google Analytics (GA) to find out how users are interacting with key pages and elements—like conversion forms, calls to action (CTA), media, and landing pages—and how to improve UX, which can lead to increased conversions.

For example, when you see where users click and how far they scroll, you can determine whether to move a CTA or to A/B test other changes to copy, page design, or UI.

How Taskworld increased conversions by optimizing their signup form

A CLICK HEATMAP ON THE TASKWORLD SIGNUP FORM

Task management app, Taskworld, wanted to create a seamless user experience on their website and increase conversions via their signup form.

Using a Hotjar Heatmap to learn where users clicked on their signup form, the Taskworld team discovered issues and optimization opportunities. These changes took only five minutes to implement and boosted conversions by 40%.

2. Understand how users experience and interact with your product

AN EXAMPLE OF A HOTJAR SESSION RECORDING

Session recordings are renderings of individual users' experiences and interactions with your website or product. They give you a peek over your users' shoulders, showing you mouse movements, clicks, and how users navigate from page to page.

Analyzing session recordings helps you identify where people are hesitating or getting stuck—which can often be indicated by rage clicks or u-turns.

Try this: identify low-converting pages with a traditional web analytics tool like Google Analytics, then watch session recordings to see how users experience and interact on the page, and look for blockers or UX issues that are causing users to exit before converting.

When you place yourself in your users' shoes (or in front of their screen, in this case), you can understand their experience—and how to improve it to increase conversions.

How Bannersnack combined traditional analytics and session recordings to optimize product adoption rates

A USER INTERFACE QUICK-FIX WITH THE BANNERSNACK ONLINE TOOL

Bannersnack, an online banner maker and design tool for marketers, wanted to understand how people use their product. For all of the web analytics they had in place, they "didn’t really know what people were doing on [their] website or how they were using [the] product."

When the Bannersnack UX team watched session recordings, they noticed users were missing one of their tool's key features. They made a few changes to their UI, then saw a 12% increase in user adoption metrics.

3. Ask users how they feel about their experience

AN EXAMPLE OF A HOTJAR ON-SITE SURVEY

On-site surveys give you the opportunity to ask users how they feel about their experience and collect voice of the customer (VoC) feedback about your website or product.

Surveys help you understand the user experience while the customer is still on your site, giving you timely feedback fueled by fresh emotion. When you ask the right questions, surveys can help you to uncover painpoints your users are experiencing and can give you direct insight into what the customer wants and needs from your product.

A HOTJAR ON-SITE SURVEY ON HUBSPOT ACADEMY

Try this: identify high-exit pages with a traditional web analytics tool, then use an exit-intent survey to understand why users leave your site or product (in their own words). Use the survey to find out:

• How users experienced your site or product

• How they felt about their experience (i.e. why are they leaving?)

• How you can improve the experience for them

How HubSpot Academy used on-site surveys to understand exit intent and increase sign-up conversions

HOW THE HUBSPOT ACADEMY TEAM ORGANIZED AND ADDRESSED ISSUES THEY UNCOVERED FROM USER FEEDBACK

HubSpot Academy wanted to know why website visitors were abandoning the course registration page instead of subscribing. They placed a pop-up exit-intent survey on their sign-up page to get user feedback.

The feedback the HubSpot team got from the survey led them to make changes to their product messaging and signup page copy, and informed UX changes that they previously overlooked. As a result, they saw a 10% uplift in signup conversions.

4. Measure user satisfaction with instant visual feedback

HOTJAR'S INCOMING FEEDBACK WIDGET IN ACTION

Hotjar's Incoming Feedback widget gives you instant visual feedback from real users as they select, rate, and comment on specific page elements. Learn what users love about your site or product—and what they want you to improve.

Use Incoming Feedback to find out:

• How your visitors feel about important web pages and elements (think: product images and descriptions, buttons, headlines, or your checkout page)

• User happiness over time (based on a graph of feedback ratings)

• User satisfaction before and after you make a change to your site or app

AN EXAMPLE OF HOTJAR’S FEEDBACK WIDGET

Try this: learn how to improve your website or product for your users by placing a user feedback tool on low-converting pages. Collect and analyze the feedback from those pages to identify common painpoints and blockers users experience, and then prioritize the changes that will improve UX (and increase conversions).

How eShopWorld used customer feedback to understand conversion fluctuations

A SNAPSHOT OF HOTJAR'S INCOMING FEEDBACK WIDGET

Global ecommerce platform eShopWorld turns to Hotjar to diagnose what’s happening and where when they notice a change in conversion rates for their clients.

The eShopWorld team uses the Incoming Feedback widget at key moments in clients' sales flows and on checkout pages so they can collect user feedback and uncover reasons for changes in conversions.

After they collect user feedback, eShopWorld uses a combination of Google Analytics, Session Recordings, and Heatmaps to collect and analyze more data, make changes, and assess if their work is a success.

How to combine data to strengthen your conversion efforts

Tools like Google Analytics (GA) give you powerful insights that complement the behavior analytics data you get from Hotjar.

For example, The Good, a top CRO agency, combined Hotjar and Google Analytics to increase a client’s conversions by over 130%.

The Good compiled a full-funnel evaluation of their client’s site and then used GA to collect traditional web metrics. Next, they used Hotjar Heatmaps and Session Recordings to better understand the ‘why’ behind their users' behavior.

The team then identified three new persona types for their client, which helped evolve their user-centric experiences.

BUYER PERSONAS ARE A COMBINATION OF PSYCHOGRAPHICS, DEMOGRAPHICS, AND USER BEHAVIORS

Take the same approach to your conversion strategy: identify your goals, and conduct your research across platforms. Integrate your traditional analytics, uers behavior analysis, and CRO tools, and combine data to get actionable insights to increase conversions.

How to repurpose behavior analytics data

Up to this point, you have:

• Collected quantitative and qualitative behavior data to understand what your customers need

• Identified and fixed UX issues with your product, and removed blockers from low-converting pages

• Improved the user experience and (hopefully!) increased conversions

Now what?

Understanding user behavior is valuable beyond your efforts to increase conversions. Here’s how you can repurpose behavior analytics data for other areas of your business:

Prioritize product development

Use customer feedback surveys to uncover what users want—and expect—from your product. This data can help you prioritize product development or new features. Analyze your customer feedback to make data-driven decisions on what to test or change first.

Build better sales and onboarding flows

Share insights with your sales and onboarding teams to help them understand customers' needs. User recordings give you insight into what potential leads and new users are looking for.

Quantify your hypotheses with heatmaps and use the data to build personas for your teams so they can create workflows tailored to users’ needs and convert a sale or activation faster (and easier!) than ever before.

Adapt product messaging in advertising

User feedback can help you understand how users are talking about your product. Let customer feedback inform your paid marketing and SEO strategies, and start increasing your click-through-rates (CTR) on potentially lower-cost keywords and phrases.

Start converting more users

We’ve covered a lot of information in this article, and it can be tricky to know where to start.

Your best bet: start with the basics and define your conversion goals step-by-step. Ask yourself:

• What is a 'successful' conversion for your business?

• How could improving user experience (UX) affect conversion rates at different stages of the funnel or customer journey?

• How many conversions do you need to support your team's goals?

Once you've identified your goals, collect data to support them. Then you can start making user-centric improvements to your site and product—and more happy users means more conversions.