How Asking Visitors One Simple Question Boosted My Conversion Rate by 27%

One year ago, I was in-between jobs and living in my parents’ house. I was 28. Back then, my days consisted of two tasks:

1. Finding a new job
2. Doing whatever I could to earn money to help pay my bills while embarking on task number 1.

I am a former teacher and have an extensive background in test prep, so I decided to tutor at the local library for a little cash.

When I was not tutoring, I began writing test prep materials for a widely used pre-employment exam called the Wonderlic. Within a month, I launched a small website selling practice tests and a study guide for the Wonderlic test.

For anyone who is wondering what the Wonderlic is, I have a free practice test on my site that you can try.

Soon after the launch, I received an offer for a full-time gig and accepted.

I loved my new 9-5, but I also continued working on Beat the Wonderlic at night and on weekends, slowly growing it to the point where that business alone was completely covering all of my monthly expenses.

After a year, I decided to make the terrifying leap into full-time entrepreneurship and place all of my efforts into scaling my company.

Over these past few months of working on Beat the Wonderlic full-time, I have learned a great deal, but my greatest nugget of knowledge was acquired by accident.

My Conversion Rate Sucked — and Wasn’t Improving

I broke out my plan to scale three main pillars:

1. Lift conversion rate
2. Increase traffic
3. Boost AOV (average order value)

I started with focusing on conversion rate as investing in more traffic would be a waste of time and money if none of that traffic converted.

My conversion rate was hovering around a stagnant 1%.

Like many entrepreneurs, I (ridiculously) found this offensive.

This business was my baby. I was immensely prideful and protective of it. I also knew that it was the best Wonderlic prep product on the market – I had purchased all of my competitors' products, researched real Wonderlic tests, and knew that nobody in the market had a more complete and accurate study guide than the one I had created.

Naively, I thought this must be the problem — people don't know how great my product is… Maybe I should shout it from the rooftops so they understand the value of my study guide and then they’ll buy it!

Why My Initial Plan to Improve Conversions Didn’t Work

I planned to clarify and amplify what I thought was my value proposition.

I added bullets to the cover of my study guide, laying out all the reasons why I thought my customers wanted to know.

I added a PayPal badge to try to build trust with international customers, and I added an MSRP price to highlight how my product was less expensive than the competition.

I even decided to add a chat widget to my site in case visitors had any questions for me when they were browsing my site — and, better yet, maybe I could turn some of these questions into conversations and then, conversations into sales!

Now, the sum of these changes was important and did lift conversions, but it was certainly not the success I was expecting. My sales were still relatively stagnant, and I was getting desperate. If I could not lift conversions, my business would likely never grow, and I would have to go crawling back to my 9-5 begging for them to take me back.

Do You Know Why People Don’t Buy from You?

I was desperate to improve my sales. I needed to grow, and it needed to happen quickly.

I was in the admin view of my chat widget, watching as people entered my site, only to leave without purchasing moments later. I began to stare at the anonymous visitors as they landed, browsed, and left.

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by Alex Hollis via SitePoint