Keep reading to explore more reasons why your Instagram stories are failing to convert.
4. Your landing page isn’t consistent
Your CTA is essential, but it’s just the means to an end. Your landing page—or whatever’s on the other side of that swipe up—is where you’ll make or ruin your conversions.
And one of the biggest reasons why the audiences shut your landing page up without taking any action is because your messaging or content is inconsistent. Message matching is essential! Ensure whatever you’re providing on your Story is aligned with what audiences get on the landing page.
The look and feel of your landing page are equally essential. It ought to mirror the tone and visuals of your Stories for a seamless experience that attracts audiences.
5. The essential details are hard to find
You know how essential quality is in terms of Instagram Stories: if it looks bad, or it’s boring, audiences will skip it. However even nice content can fail you if it’s not providing enough info to your viewers!
Even followers who like your Story may not ensure what the point is. A product reveal? A blog post? A longer video with more information is waiting for them on your website?
For example, mattress startup Endy shared some stories about flowers on Valentine’s Day. Here’s the first one:
From this Story alone, it’s hard to know what audiences want to see if they swipe. A list of reasons to go to a florist? Ideas for choosing a bouquet? The next Stories within the sequence are much clearer:
Follow their lead, and ensure that your Story sequence has a clear point for audiences.
And if you’re sharing a suggestion, you need to be much more specific and urgent. “SALE!” is compelling, but “ONE-DAY SALE ON NOW” is going to get more people swiping.
If you publish a video on your Stories, don’t rely too heavily on audio to get your key points across. While Instagram says that 70% of users watch videos with the sound on, that also means 30% of them turn it off. Include text with your offer and a compelling CTA, or risk viewers missing this information altogether!
6. There’s too much information
You need your Stories to pique interest and drive audiences to your landing page. That means being selective and sharing necessary info, not every single detail!
If your audience looks at the dashes along the top of the display and sees that there are 20 Stories ahead of them, they may get overwhelmed and simply skip all of them.
You wouldn’t give a presentation in front of the viewers without practicing it, or publish a blog post without editing, so apply the same philosophy to your Instagram Stories. Plan your Stories in advance to ensure that all of them have a goal (whether that’s information or entertainment) and provide value for your audience.
How much is too much? Some have made a solid case for a three-Story limit, but there’s no fast rule.
If you’re sharing photo Stories that are easy to flick through, you’ll be able to include more. However, only your die-hard fans will watch a dozen 15-second videos in a row.
7. You don’t understand your viewers
You might be nailing all these recommendations, and yet your Stories are still be falling flat. It could be that you’re making great content for the wrong audience: yourself, rather than your followers.
In case your viewers aren’t swiping up on your Stories, chances are you’re sharing something they’re just not that interested in. So how do you discover out what your followers want to see?
You probably don’t want to DM everyone and ask. Fortunately, there are a ton of analytics that will inform you what kind of content resonates most with your followers. Instagram has some useful built-in statistics, but there are tons of different sources of data. To see more what analytics you should be tracking, and the tools, you can use to track it.
A/B testing may allow you to develop your Stories strategy, by allowing you to check variations on your promoted content. Over time, you’ll study which CTAs and Story formats yield the best results.
Qualitative research is effective too, so talk to your followers! Use Polls or Questions to gather feedback quickly on what they need to see from you, or what kinds of content they like best.
Always keep in mind, your audience already likes your brand. They follow you for a reason! You just need to create a solid understanding of who they are and what they like, and share stories that speak to those interests.
Once you hit your stride, your Instagram Stories are not failing to convert anymore!