7 Proven Tactics to Convert Web Traffic into Loyal Customers

We’ve officially entered the zero-click era with 60% of Google searches ending without a click. Acquisition costs have surged 222% over the last decade, placing increased pressure on growth-oriented teams to make every dollar spent driving customers to their website count. 

Marketers can get people to your digital doorstep by orchestrating seamless, unified cross-channel experiences that accelerate time-to-value and reduce friction. But the real challenge — and the biggest opportunity — lies in converting browsers into loyal customers. More often than not, web managers are tasked with continually innovating to ensure visitors stick around beyond first arrival. 

Success starts first and foremost with crafting a web experience that captivates audiences and guides them through the lifecycle toward repeatable conversions and long-term advocacy. Easier said than done, right? That’s why we put together a collection of proven tactics for web managers to enhance your engagement strategy and ensure every interaction captures customer value. 

Timely, Value-Driven Asks for Email, SMS and Push Opt-In 

Building your owned audience channels — email, SMS and push notifications — is crucial for sustaining long-term customer relationships and driving retention. The more opt-in permissions you gain, the more opportunities you have to reach customers wherever they are and re-engage them well after they leave your site.

How to Implement

• Incentivize Opt-Ins: Introduce a subtle, non-disruptive opt-in form — embedded or interstitial. Instead of “Sign up for our newsletter,” offer a clear incentive like a discount, exclusive content or early access to sales, in exchange for permissions.
• Value Prompts: Clearly explain the benefits of opting into these channels — special deals, instant updates and more — to demonstrate a clear value exchange.

App Download Prompts

Nearly 3 out of every 4 website visits happen on mobile. There’s a massive opportunity to turn mobile browsers into app users, which generate 3.5x more revenue than the average customer. Creating value propositions for owned destinations enables sustainable and profitable direct relationships that grow customer understanding and influence throughout their journeys.

How to Implement

• Timely App Banners: Implement non-disruptive, embedded banners that appear at the top of your mobile website, prompting users to open or download your app from the app store. Entice downloads by highlighting benefits or content that is only available within the app.
• Contextual Prompts: If a user is performing an action on your mobile site that might be easier or more feature-rich in the app, offer a clear call-to-action to download the app for a better experience.

User Identification Cues

Identifying new customers and returning guests on the web through logins or loyalty program enrollment unlocks a wealth of data for truly personalized experiences. It’s an essential step for understanding the full scope of a customer’s relationship with your brand so you can provide unique value that fosters loyalty.

How to Implement

• Account Benefits: Demonstrate what logging in enables for the customer — seeing order history, tracking rewards points or building wish lists.
• Value-Driven Prompts: Showcase the level of personalization customers unlock by signing into their accounts, such as content or product recommendations.

Special Offers or Time-Sensitive Features 

Urgency is a powerful motivator. Allocating appropriate web real estate to special offers, limited-time discounts or upcoming events can create FOMO and prompt immediate action from hesitant browsers — so long as they don’t become disruptive to the overall user experience.

How to Implement

• Embedded Content & Interstitials: Announce sales, flash deals or upcoming webinars with visually-appealing content. 
• Personalized Offer Displays: For returning customers, use zero- and first-party data to present offers that are most relevant to them.

Next Best Action Suggestions

A gentle nudge in the right direction can go a long way. By strategically guiding browsers to the best next action in their journey with your brand, you increase the likelihood of conversion. Airship’s Custom Views allows you to repurpose your top-performing app and web features directly into campaigns to guide customers to take action, leveraging design and functionality consistency for a seamless, unified experience.

How to Implement

• Abandoned Cart Reminders: If a customer adds items in their cart but leaves them behind, share a subtle reminder when they return to prompt completion, ideally without redirecting or driving to a different page.
• Interactive Prompts: Embed summaries, live maps, widgets, calculators, polls and more to drive deep, continuous engagement before a customer drops off.

Real-Time Customer Insights & Feedback

Understanding your web visitors in real-time is invaluable for continuous optimization. Direct feedback can uncover pain points, preferences and opportunities you might otherwise miss. Airship’s Branching helps you build and customize smarter surveys that skip what’s irrelevant and dive deeper into what matters most based on real-time behaviors.

How to Implement

• Content Feedback: Collect actionable data about your website content and understand exactly what is helpful to visitors (or not), so you can allocate real estate and time where they have the most impact.
• Custom NPS Surveys: Dive deeper into customer experience strengths and weaknesses based on scores in real time to improve service and address negative feedback earlier in the journey.

Incentivize Referrals & Advocacy

Converting returning customers into advocates through incentivized referral programs can bring in new, highly qualified leads and build brand loyalty. You have the opportunity to give more visibility to your referral program on your website while rewarding existing customers for their loyalty.

How to Implement

• Targeted Messaging: Segment experiences by loyalty tier, offering clear incentives for customers that advocate for your brand and bring in new customers.
• Post-Purchase Prompts: Present an easy way for customers to refer friends with a mutual benefit for both parties.

Don’t Let Your Hard-Earned Web Traffic Go to Waste

Neglecting the web experience is like forgetting to staff a store with associates who can help in real time. As referral traffic continues to plummet and every dollar spent on acquisition is under scrutiny, it’s more important than ever before to make every interaction count toward a long-term relationship.

With Airship, web managers can implement any or all of these tactics without developer resources and, more importantly, can customize them in real-time based on what’s working best — no delays or dependencies. Book time with our team to discuss how you’re currently engaging web customers and which of the above tactics will most effectively help you fulfill your goals.