What demanding industries can teach us about turning visitors into buyers

What demanding industries can teach us about turning visitors into buyers

Updated: 09/25/25

Turning visitors into buyers is an immense challenge for any business. Across all industries, the average conversion rate for direct web traffic is just 3.5%.

In some industries, this equation becomes even more complicated. Whether they need to meet regulatory compliance standards (like pharmaceutical brands), sell high-value items with a much longer purchasing cycle (like B2B products and services), or cater to a very niche or extremely competitive market (like luxury products), these demanding industries face a distinct level of challenge.

With these added challenges come the need for sophisticated ways to turn ordinary website visitors into buyers - strategies that can ultimately help any industry.

Trust and social proof matter more than ever.

Trust and social proof are the name of the game in today's buying market. Research indicates that customers are 270% more likely to buy a product on Amazon when it has five reviews compared to a product with no reviews.

Social proof is equally important for industries with a longer and more complex buying cycle - but in this case, short reviews and star ratings often aren't enough.

This is where we see a lot of B2B companies turning to client testimonials and case studies. Both of these have their place in converting buyers. Testimonials offer short, powerful snippets from real people who ideally had the same challenges as your website visitors. Case studies give you the opportunity to showcase the exact results you were able to achieve for your clients.

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Effective use of case studies has been found to increase conversion rates by up to 73%. Work with existing clients to showcase what you've done for them. For visitors who are farther along in the buyer's journey, this will be much more persuasive than another sales call.

Becoming the go-to knowledge base makes a difference.

For many B2B industries, particularly those that are involved in more complex products or services like industrial machinery, displaying your industry knowledge can be a powerful tool for building trust and converting visitors.

This approach is rapidly changing in the age of AI. I've seen several businesses begin to adjust their content strategy to try to get their content cited on the AI Overview in Google Search.

Understanding what your prospective customers are looking for and tailoring your knowledge base to provide authoritative answers won't just help you gain trust with site visitors. It can also be critical to getting them to discover your site in the first place.

Even with AI changing search habits, providing in-depth information about your products and services, as well as your industry in general, can shape buying habits. Everything from videos to white papers can help create a comprehensive knowledge base that visitors and customers return to time and time again. Apple's support base is an excellent example of this, with detailed FAQs, troubleshooting guides and even videos to help with product issues, as well as links to human support. They even offer an app!

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For companies that fall under Google's YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) standards, the bar for this information is extremely high. Content in areas like health or finances can directly affect a user's well-being, and as a result, Google puts an even greater emphasis on content accuracy.

The high level of quality demanded for YMYL topics holds important lessons for other industries, too. When your content is reviewed by niche authorities and kept up to date to ensure its accuracy, you can build greater trust and become a go-to knowledge base for visitors.

Precision and clarity are essential.

Areas like finance require absolute precision in their design and messaging, in large part because of the many compliance requirements that apply to all of their activities. In these high-stakes industries, conversion strategies are perfected out of necessity. Some of the most effective examples come from fintech marketing campaigns that blend best user experience practices with clear, compliance-friendly copy.

For example, finance marketers are subjected to strict scrutiny by regulatory bodies like FINRA and the SEC, which monitor all marketing for accuracy, claims, and disclosures. Meta and Google also typically restrict the language used in finance-related ads. Running afoul of these regulations doesn't just cause an ad campaign to be taken down - it could even result in regulatory fines.

The precision and clarity that are essential for compliant fintech marketing offer valuable lessons for other industries that don't experience such scrutiny.

All too often, I've seen SaaS websites with a definite lack of clarity about their services and the benefits they provide. Features are obstructed by jargon and unclear language, or the messaging focuses too much on hype rather than substance. It's the kind of experience where a visitor can leave just as confused and uncertain as when they first arrived. Clarity and precision, not hype and vague promises, are what drive purchases.

I really like Welcome as a company that does this well, using simple and direct language to tell you exactly what they offer when you first visit their page.

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Reduce purchasing friction.

E-commerce may not seem like a demanding industry at first glance, but online retail is incredibly competitive. While e-commerce generates $1.3 trillion in revenue in the United States alone, Amazon holds nearly 40% of the market, with few competitors exceeding 2% market share.

For smaller, niche e-commerce brands, discoverability isn't the only barrier. The checkout process is especially impactful at turning visitors into buyers - or driving them away.

A report by the Baymard Institute highlights a wide range of issues that make website visitors less likely to complete their purchase. From making it hard to find a guest checkout option to having too many form fields (and not clearly marking which are only optional), many retailers simply make it too hard to complete a purchase.

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Online buying is all about convenience. The most successful retailers typically offer the most streamlined experience. Even simple changes, like using progress indicators or implementing adaptive messages to explain form errors, can simplify the buying process and reduce the risk of an abandoned cart.

Always be optimizing.

Your website is the first impression your business gives. In the competitive areas of e-commerce and SaaS tools, the website is often the only place where visitors can turn into prospective buyers. There's no brick-and-mortar office or storefront to fall back on for additional interactions.

Because of this, the most successful businesses in these areas constantly optimize their websites, with a big focus on user intent. Considering what users are looking for on each web page and A/B testing different elements can dramatically improve performance and conversions.

This is especially true of calls to action. Optimizing the action words used for a CTA button, the placement of that button, and even the design elements that surround it will help deliver a more streamlined experience for website visitors. Just like with the checkout process, delivering an intuitive user experience can make all the difference between clicking through and clicking away. For example, 310 Creative's highly specific calls to action, like "help scale my revenue" give its audience a far more compelling reason to click than a simple "learn more" or "try a demo."

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Be proactive and personal.

Some industries are able to take a more reactive approach to customer service. Most of their products work well and are easy to use, so they only need to be available on those rare occasions when a customer gets a defective product.

For many service industries, this isn't the case. After all, nobody wants a reactive cybersecurity provider. They want someone who is proactive in addressing the ever-changing threats they face. Similarly, in finance, most people seeking financial services want to work with an advisor who is proactive in aligning their investment strategy with their money goals.

These industries can't just be proactive in how they work with existing customers. For visitors still on the buying journey, businesses also need to be readily available to answer questions and address concerns. Being easy to contact while also using a quality CRM tool to know when to follow up keeps prospects engaged throughout their journey. (No secret here that I love using HubSpot for this!) This also makes it easier to personalize your interactions to better meet the needs of each visitor.

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The longer the buying cycle for your business, the more proactive you'll need to be in maintaining contact and ensuring all concerns are addressed appropriately. Proactivity is what keeps visitors from slipping through the cracks before they decide to buy.

Demanding or not, many best practices remain the same.

In reality, every industry is demanding in its own way. Whether you face regulatory scrutiny or operate in a crowded niche where every bit of differentiation matters, turning visitors into buyers isn't always easy.

However, when you take steps to deliver a more streamlined user experience, paired with information and communications that truly benefit and inform your visitors, you're already a long way ahead of so many others. Be proactive and regularly audit your messaging, user experience, and customer service, and you'll provide the type of experience that convinces and converts.

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