The Top 3 Ways to Use Audio to Boost Your Website Conversion Rates

With information overload and a few million websites competing directly for the attention of your potential customer, your website only has a handful of seconds to grab attention, establish credibility, and convince a visitor to stick around long enough to take some sort of action.

Establishing quick rapport can mean the difference between conversion to a repeat customer and a visitor who clicks away for good. So what’s the most important factor?

In a study conducted at UCLA, Dr. Albert Mehrabian found that when live, verbal, vocal and visual signals are inconsistent, content counts for a mere 7% of the overall message. In such situations, 55% of the message is transmitted by facial expression and body language; and 38% comes from voice quality—pitch, tone, volume, and inflection.

How does this apply to your website?

Consider these three ways to use audio to boost your website conversion rates:

1. Add a simple audio message to your home page that welcomes visitors and asks them to take a specific action, sign up for your ezine, for example.
2. Add a talking avatar to blend in a visual with your welcome message; more senses engaged means more total engagement! In November 2007, an online company, Small Business Trends, reported that using a talking avatar of its CEO increased newsletter signups by 144%.
3. Offer a subscription to a podcast with valuable content for your potential clients. With the market for mp3 players predicted to grow to over 280 million by the year 2010, offering a downloadable monthly audio, or podcast, can now reach and impact a wider audience.

The bottom line: Most business owners can attract more leads, build the “know, like, and trust” factor with prospects, and increase bottom line results dramatically by adding a higher level of “voice persuasion” to the marketing mix. With a little planning and the aid of some user-friendly technology, you can be up and running in minutes