Making better use of images for CRO

Images are an extremely important part of your website, not only from an SEO standpoint, but also in terms of conversion rate optimisation (CRO). As you prepare your site to convert more often it is vital to take a look and what you are currently doing with images, and what you could be missing out on.

Here we take a look at some of the ways that your website can use images (and make better use of them) to improve your conversion rates.

Size matters

Image size can have a huge effect on CRO for a number of reasons. And one of the major challenges here is finding the right balance between small file size and high quality, both of which can influence your conversion rates.

From a size perspective, it is ideal to have images that are 100kb or less. Images that are much larger than this can significantly slow down your website loading speeds. When pages load slowly it has a very negative effect on conversions; one study found that pages that load in 2.4 seconds have a 1.9 per cent conversion rate, while at 4.2 seconds that number had nearly halved to less than 1 per cent.

However, of course it is also necessary to have images to the correct quality. In some instances, if you need high resolution images it can be acceptable to use larger file sizes – however, it is best to keep these images off of your key landing pages.

Visual CTAs

One smart way to use images to improve your CRO is to place calls-to-action (CTAs) in them. Making images clickable and including text in the picture can be a powerful way to foreground the next step in the process for the customer. It also gives you the chance to make your CTAs more descriptive, so that customers know where the next click will take them.

Having descriptive CTAs is recommended by Google as a valuable part of improving the user experience (UX) on your site.

Showing off your credentials

If your business has any kind of professional accreditations or industry standards then it is a very good idea to show images of these on your website. Displaying your credentials shows off to potential customers that you are trusted at the service that you provide.

It also gives your website a more official and professional look – so ensure that these images are visible on your homepage.

Be unique

It is important to use unique images wherever possible. Remember that some customers will engage more with imagery than they will with text, so you should try to use as many different images as possible when they are appropriate with the page.

Don’t overload

However, it is also crucial that you shouldn’t overload your site with images. Aside from adding to the page loading time, it can also be overwhelming visually and have the opposite effect on your conversion rates.

 

Are you interested in learning more about conversion rate optimisation? At Artemis we have years of experience using images to improve websites. If you would like to learn more about what we could do for you, get in contact with us today.