Conversion101, Part 6: Identify and remove barriers to growth

In the previous articles in this Conversion101 series, we’ve seen how good foundations, good site design and good optimisation practices can help to grow your business over time. What we need to think about now is: what else is getting in the way?

Imagine that you’ve identified an issue with your site: your product category pages are losing lots of customers. You now need to decide on what to do and get it done. How will this happen in your organisation? Think about all of the stakeholders and decision makers in the process. Do you need to involve your web agency, your SEO company, get agreement from marketing, the board, your boss?

The reality is that the more hoops you need to jump through to get something done, the more it will damage your rate of growth. So what’s getting in the way? Does it really need to be there? How can you simplify things? Can you empower others with more responsibility so that decisions can happen faster?

Remember, we’re not deciding on changing anything major here, so the risks are small. Even a change that doesn’t work is not a failure, it’s one way that you’ve identified that doesn’t work — now you know more next time.

Removing the obstacles that are stopping you from quickly making positive changes is a bit like an old, fat boxer getting fit for a fight: without that training he doesn’t have the ability or the agility to dodge the punches. You want not just your website, but your whole online strategy to be as fit on its feet as possible: it’s the best way to deliver a knock-out blow to your competition!

Conversion 101

• Part 1: Getting the website foundations right
• Part 2: Know who you’re selling to
• Part 3: Drive prospective customers to your site
• Part 4: Optimise your site to increase conversions
• Part 5: Test your site with real prospects
• Part 6: Identify and remove barriers to growth