Attracting new customers is vital to keeping a business afloat. There are numerous ways to do so for a price, a price that most small and medium businesses can’t afford with their already tight budgets. Fortunately, there are ways to hack the growth of your client base for free. Here are the best 5 of those growth hacks.
1.) Improve Site Speed
Your website is still your best marketing and sales tool. Make sure it is fast enough. Each page of your website should have a load time of under 2 seconds. Online shoppers are impatient individuals and they don’t like it when their shopping experience gets ruined by slow loading speeds. In a recent study I’ve conducted, I’ve learned that a 1-second delay in page response can cause 7% to 10% reduction in conversions while a 2-second delay can cause a 15% to 21% drop. You can avoid these losses by simply improving your site speed.
2.) Leverage Social Proof
Your site should showcase how much people love your brand and your products. Have your website wear social proof like a badge of honor on every page. Consumers assume that the action of many is the right action. If you show new visitors how satisfied your customers are, those new visitors will be eager to transact with you. Here are some of the best ways of leveraging informational social influence:
- Testimonials –statements from satisfied customers on your site.
- Logos – logos of your biggest clients or your most popular products
- Customer Statistics – the number of people following you on social media.
- Case Studies – a retelling of the story of a customer who got everything he/she needed or wanted after using your product.
3.) Implement Onboarding Programs
You should treat first-time customers differently from regular customers. You need to ease new customers into your business. First-time buyers are very critical and if they are not impressed, they will likely never return to your site again. You only have one shot to turn them into loyal patrons. Use these two techniques to maximize your chances:
- The New User Experience (NUX) – give new customers the option to take a tour that will guide them step-by-step on how to navigate your website.
- Email Drip Campaigns – send a series of automated emails sent on a predefined schedule to anyone who gives your site his/her email. Make sure the emails contain useful information and not just sales pitches. This is your chance to show you care and that you can be a reliable resource.
4.) Simplify Your Homepage
The homepage is rarely the first page first-time visitors see but once they become interested, they usually immediately go to the homepage to know more. All they want is to have a general idea of what your business is about. Don’t confuse them by having so many elements in your front page. If they don’t get what they are looking for on first glance, they will likely leave. Take all the clutter out of your homepage and leave only the necessary elements. Just look at the homepage of Facebook, one of the most used sites on the planet, and see how bare it is.
5.) Build Legitimate Viral Loops
A viral loop is the hardest yet most rewarding of the 5 free growth hacks for getting more customers. It is achieved when your marketing campaign is so infectious your customers can’t help but share it with their friends and acquaintances. So in effect, your current customers will bring in new customers and those new customers will, in turn, bring in another set of new customers and so on. The simplest ways to build a viral loop are:
- Having a referral program.
- Making your product shareable
Conclusion
You can either pay your way to growth or hack your way to it. Sure, you might need to pay to get the hacks done but they have little to no maintenance cost which still beats regularly paying for more customers. For more growth hacks, make sure to follow AwesomeMarky.
