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How to Engage and Retain Users on Your Website
Do you ever get the feeling it's just not working out with your B2B website?
Maybe your page sessions aren't as high as you'd like, or visitors simply aren't sticking around to consume your content.
Forrester analyzed 60 B2B websites to see where they stacked up on key engagement features and capabilities.
They all performed poorly.
Forrester eventually had to lower their point threshold just to get four websites to pass.
Many B2Bs can improve their engagement by putting visitor's needs/problems first. That includes designing a user-first website and creating non-salesy content.
This post will cover how to engage users on your website and keep them coming back.
What Metrics Can You Use to Track Website Engagement?
First, you'll want to figure out where your engagement stacks up and what to track in the future.
You have two options: external and internal engagement.
External engagement includes things like:
- Backlinks
- Social shares
- Mentions
- Messenger apps
You can track external engagement like shares and mentions with social listening tools like BuzzSumo or Sprout Social.
Internal engagement includes metrics and KPIs from across your website:
- Lead conversions
- Sales
- Pages per session
- Time spent on your site
- Time spent on each page
- Bounce rates
Each metric works better when you look at the broader picture. For example, your page sessions might be low, but visitors spend ten minutes on your page. That means they find your content valuable enough to read thoroughly.
Try to narrow down a few key figures, so you stay focused on your goals.
Do you want visitors to consume more pieces of content? Share more articles with others? Spend more time on each page?
How to Engage Users on Your Website and Retain Attention
Engagement can take time to figure out. It might sound tempting to overhaul your entire site, but it's smarter to work incrementally.
Small changes let you A/B test so you can identify where the biggest problems are and move forward.
Speed Up Your Website
Before making any significant changes to your content, make sure your website passes the speed test. Under three seconds is mandatory, but under two is ideal.
With access to high-speed internet access and soon 5G, people expect websites to load in the blink of an eye – literally. Free tools like Pingdom tell you how long it takes your website to load and show what you need to fix.
How to Engage Users on Your Website with Niche Content
Did you know 68% of B2Bs don't even like their own content? If they feel that way, imagine what their leads think.
A 2018 Forrester study found that 57% of buyers say the content they receive is useless – a figure that increases every year. Meanwhile, 66% say businesses give them too much material.
In other words, B2B websites are flooding the internet with useless content.
Dig into those pain points and scour internet forums to figure out how you can create authoritative and useful content for specific personas and stages.
Optimize Your Navigation and Design
Buyers are already pressed for time. 73% say they have less research time than ever. If they have to dig through your website to find what they need, they'll go somewhere else.
You can help make their job easier by organizing your content differently in an interactive content hub.
58% say it would help to see content organized by vertical or industry so they can find something relevant. Meanwhile, 68% want to see categories based on pain points or issues.
How to Engage Users on Your Website by Removing Forms
Forms don't do anyone any favors.
When a lead visits your website and sees a form, they're not going to hand over their email address so they can keep browsing. They'll just hit the back button.
Forms cost you massive engagement.
Instead, find a happy balance between gated and ungated content.
Give everyone a hefty content preview and ask for an email to send them the full download.
For marketing teams that still require a traditional form for internal reasons, use smart microforms instead.
With smart microforms, you'll only ask for a business email – the form auto-populates the country field. Auto Enrichment will take care of the firmographic gaps!
A smart microform can even prevent fake emails, competitor registration, and free email domains from getting through.
Create Different Types of Content
Not every type of buyer wants to consume blogs.
Some might prefer listening to a podcast or the audio portion of a video while they multitask, for example. Others might want to dig into your use cases with eBooks.
If you don't create content people want to consume, they won't engage with your site.
Engage Users on Your Website with Content Bingeing Features
Over half of buyers say they're willing to binge content for up to 20 minutes if it's in an interactive format.
Using an AI engine, you can offer the same content bingeing feed and personalized recommendation as Netflix or Amazon.
Leads get a continuous feed of relevant content in several formats so they can research and self-nurture at their own pace.
Provide Social Proof to Engage Users on Your Website
Testimonials, case studies, and even user-generated content can all be extremely useful for nurturing leads. But there's a catch: They must be genuine and provide value.
Take an account-based marketing approach. Nail down specific industries, verticals, and pain points. Case studies are often way too general.
How to Engage Users on Your Website with Personalized Popups
The average B2B website engagement rate is a shocking 90%. Personalized content in exit intent popups, however, can bring your lead conversion rate to over 51%.
You've probably seen 30 exit intent popups today alone. Everyone uses them to collect email addresses. Instead, however, use them to recommend personalized content:
Use AI to Boost Content Engagement by 305%
Interactive content is essential for encouraging engagement. That's why adding Hushly's AI engine to your site can skyrocket engagement by 305% and lead quality by 59%.
AI brings the same hyper-personalized experience as Netflix to your B2B website. Visitors can binge your content with relevant recommendations.
Get the facts on AI. Check out Hushly by the numbers to see how it works.
The post How to Engage and Retain Users on Your Website appeared first on Hushly.
