Join the top website owners — learn about generating high-quality leads and conversions for your business with web strategy, design and development insights, principles and tips.
Ever spent ages tweaking your website’s copy, layout or CTAs… only to see zero improvement in conversions? Here’s the thing: Some conversion issues aren’t caused by weak design or dodgy buttons. (No, making your button green because it means "go" will not make more people click it) They’re caused by a fundamental mismatch between who’s visiting your website… and what your website is offering. It’s a problem that actually has a name, coined by the Conversion Rate Experts: Let me explain. The story of the Keitai Denwa ProblemBack in 2003, a phone rental company launched a site for Japanese travellers. They optimised for the keyword kaigai keitai (meaning “phone rental”). But once analytics were installed, they realised something wild... 90% of visitors were coming from a different keyword: keitai denwa (which just means “cell phone”). In other words, they weren’t attracting travellers looking to rent phones. They were attracting everyone in Japan looking to buy a regular mobile phone. Which would’ve been fine… if they were selling mobile phones. But they weren't. So everyone bounced. The lesson? You can’t optimise your site until you understand who’s showing up and what they want. Otherwise, you’re tweaking the wrong things for the wrong people. 3 steps to avoid the Keitai Denwa trapStep 1 - Figure out who’s actually landing on your site Most people skip this part because they think they already know. But the data may tell a different story. Start here:
This helps you spot mismatches early and understand which visitors are even worth optimising for. Step 2: Understand what they expected to find Once you know where they came from, dig into what they hoped to see (and what’s letting them down). Ask these questions (either via surveys, customers or get someone to pretend):
The answers tell you if you’ve got a messaging mismatch, an offer problem, or if you’re just not meeting people where they’re at. If you have no one to ask, you'll have to revert to the research route. Get online and tap into social media and forums to see what people are saying. Step 3: Realign (or redirect) your traffic and messaging Once you know the truth about your audience, you’ve got two options:
(There’s also option 3: create something new for the people who are showing up unexpectedly, but only if it makes business sense.) Final thoughtCRO doesn’t work in a vacuum. If your traffic and messaging are out of sync, all the optimising in the world won’t save you. But if you fix the mismatch? That’s when things start to click. Your visitors feel seen. Your site makes sense. And conversions go up, not because you hacked the design, but because you finally understood the audience. I’ll be diving into analytics more during my free event on Wednesday 25th of June, where we’ll go through diagnosing problems like this in more detail. You’ll get:
Come along if you want to finally make your website convert the way it should. |
Join the top website owners — learn about generating high-quality leads and conversions for your business with web strategy, design and development insights, principles and tips.