Introduction
As an online business owner, you will want to increase your sales and maximize profits. So, how do you actually increase your conversion rate?
The answer isn’t an easy one-liner, unfortunately.
But, working on improving your conversion rate using a number of different techniques will allow you to figure out what works best for your company.
It’s easier said than done, though!
There are a lot of factors that come into play when trying to increase conversions. However, there are certainly some things that you can do as an eCommerce owner that will help improve your conversion rates.
This article is going to detail 7 ways you can increase your eCommerce conversions.
What is a Conversion Rate?
A conversion rate is the percentage of visitors who complete a desired action on your website. For example, if a user has visited your site and made it through the checkout process, this would be considered a conversion.
The conversion rate is calculated by dividing the number of conversions by the total number of visitors. The higher your conversion rate, the better!
This metric can help retailers measure how effective their websites are at driving conversions—and also where they need to improve.
So, now that we know what a conversion actually is, let’s look at different ways to get the rate as high as possible;
Improve Your Site Experience
Your site experience is the first impression a visitor will notice, and it can make or break your conversions.
Your website should be the hub of your eCommerce business, but many retailers neglect the importance of a well-designed website. In fact, many websites are poorly designed and have major issues that can hurt conversions.
People don’t always know what they want to buy on your website. They may be looking for a specific item or service you offer, but they might also be browsing around in hopes of finding something that catches their eye.
In either case, searching should be easy and intuitive so that customers are encouraged to find what they need without having to spend too much time trying different keywords or scrolling through long lists of results.
You want every visitor who comes to your website from Google to have a good experience with searching from the start. Here are just a couple of aspects to consider when thinking about the user experience on your website;
- Search Box:
Use a search box on every page of the site so visitors can quickly enter a single query and get relevant results back in seconds.
- Clear Labels:
Make sure there are clear labels such as “search” next to this box so users know where they need to go when looking for answers online. This is important so users don’t get easily distracted by other elements like menus or links within the text itself (“click here” type calls).
- Show Accurate Results:
When you search for a product, you want to find exactly what you’re looking for, right? But sometimes, the results that pop up aren’t relevant to your query. Why? Because the design of your site is directing customers to unwanted results.
The design of your search results page should not direct customers to unwanted results. Do not show irrelevant results when there are other options available on the page or within the same category.
For example, if someone searches “running shoes” and clicks on “sports apparel,” don’t show them running jackets. This will be especially problematic if those items show up first because users may assume that these are what they were looking for all along—and end up leaving without finding what they wanted.
- Navigation:
When it comes to eCommerce websites, a navigation bar is one of the most important conversion factors. The navigation bar should be easy to find and use and remain consistent across the site.
Make sure that the navigation menu appears above all other content on your page. This will help users easily find it when they’re looking for it because they won’t have to scroll through large amounts of text or images before they find it.
- Organized and Logical:
Keep your product categories organized and logical so that customers can easily find what they’re looking for without having to search around too much or ask you questions about how things work on your site (which could lead them away from making purchases).
Overall, your eCommerce site should be easy to navigate, and ultimately, it should be easy to buy from. Ensure to run tests and get feedback from customers so you can improve your user experience until it is perfect.
Offer Free Shipping
Free shipping is a great way to attract customers. It can help reduce the cost of your products, which makes them more appealing to potential buyers. It can also be offered as a reward for buying more than one item from your store.
Free shipping can be offered on a per-order basis, or as part of an annual subscription (sometimes called “membership”).
- Shoppers Love Receiving Free Offerings:
Free shipping is a powerful incentive. Shoppers love getting something for nothing, so offering free shipping can be one of the most effective ways to make them want to buy from you instead of another retailer or brand.
- It’s Easy on your Bottom Line:
You don’t have to pay anything out of pocket if you’re already offering free returns or exchanges, meaning that there’s no extra cost associated with sending packages out at no charge!
This can help save money when compared with other options like expedited delivery services that may cost more than postage alone would incur if choosing not to offer any form of expedited services at all (i..e., overnight delivery).
Make Sure your Website is Mobile-Friendly
Your website should be very mobile-friendly. It should be extremely responsive, meaning that it can adjust to the size of a screen and display information in a way that fits on any device.
This is especially important if you have an eCommerce site because many people use their smartphones to browse online.
In fact, 45% of customers use their phones to buy online. If their experience is hindered by slow load times or poorly designed websites, they will leave and go somewhere else—and so will your potential customers.
Other factors you need to consider when ensuring your eCommerce website is mobile-friendly include;
- Quick Loading Time:
It’s also important to make sure your website loads quickly because users don’t want to wait around at all when they’re browsing sites on their phones.
They’re going to click away as soon as things get slow or take too long for them to load up properly. By making sure your site loads quickly and without any issues, you can keep people engaged with what you have on offer rather than having them bounce off after just one visit (or worse yet—lose interest altogether).
- Multiple Platforms:
A responsive web design is not just about having a website that works on mobile devices; it’s also about making sure that all elements on your page can be viewed easily and quickly by users across different platforms such as desktop computers, laptops and tablets (iPads).
Simply put, if your site doesn’t work well on mobile devices or isn’t optimized for them in any way — then you will lose out big time when it comes to conversions.
Create a Quick and Easy Checkout Process
When it comes to your eCommerce website, everything needs to be simple to use, and fast! However, this is especially true for the checkout. If there is too much to do, or a button won’t work, the customer will simply go elsewhere. So, to prevent this from happening, the checkout process must be fast, easy and a great experience overall.
Check out these tips on how to create a favorable checkout process;
- Checkout Button:
One of the first things to remember is to make it easy to find the checkout button. You can’t have a good conversion rate if customers can’t click on your checkout button. So, make sure that it’s clearly visible, and that it stands out against the rest of your website (which should also be in a similar color scheme).
- Keep the Number of Fields to a Minimum:
This will not only increase conversion rates but also improve user experience, as users hate filling out forms.
Not all information is necessary for an eCommerce store such as yours – in fact, you don’t even need any personal information from your customers at all! You can always get their email address later if you want them to sign up for updates or newsletters but never ask for things like passwords or phone numbers (unless they’re required by law).
- Create a Sense of Urgency:
Urgency works best when there is limited availability of any kind – whether it’s quantity, time limit or value. This means that if you have limited inventory left, let people know about it!
If you only have 24 hours left until a sale ends, tell everyone about this opportunity while they still have time. Including a sense of urgency at the checkout can prove advantageous, as this increases the chance of the customer going through with the purchase, instead of having a change of heart at the last minute.
Set up Google Analytics to Track Conversion Goals
Google Analytics is the most widely used website analytics platform in the world. It has a ton of features, but one of its most powerful features for eCommerce is goal tracking; allowing you to track and optimize for specific actions on your site.
For example, if you want to increase online sales then you would want to set up a goal in Google Analytics where people who click on “add to cart” or “checkout” are counted as conversions.
This will allow you to track how many people are taking these actions and compare them over time so that you can see how well these goals are performing against each other.
There are tons of different ways that businesses use this data when it comes down to improving their bottom line conversion rate. Some create targeted ads based on what visitors did while visiting your site such as browsing certain products or clicking through pages until they finally decided whether they wanted something or not (which is why many companies use retargeting ads).
Add Customer Reviews and Testimonials
It can be tempting to leave reviews out of your eCommerce business. You may feel like they’re too much work, or that they don’t bring in any revenue. But customer reviews are actually a great way to show off your product, so we recommend adding them wherever possible.
Here are some ways that customer reviews can help you sell more products and improve your business:
- Show Value in your Products and Services:
Customers appreciate seeing other customers rave about the products they love. It shows them that there is real value in what you have to offer, which makes it easier for them to make a purchase decision themselves.
- Credibility:
Reviews give you credibility as an online store owner who cares about their customer’s satisfaction with their purchases. This can convince people who were on the fence about buying from your site that now is the time.
- First-hand Opinions:
They let potential buyers know how well-received your products are by letting them see what other customers think first-hand (that way there will be no surprises).
Optimize your Product Pages to Increase Conversion Rates
Product pages are a great way to convert visitors into customers. They can also help drive traffic from organic search results, but only if they’re optimized properly.
In this section, we’ll cover some simple ways to leverage your product pages in order to maximize conversions and increase sales.
- Use Images, Videos and Customer Reviews:
The more information you provide on the page, the better it will rank in Google Search results. If you have them available on your website or online store then it’s important that you use these tools to provide as much information about your products as possible. This helps potential customers know exactly what they are buying before purchasing any given item from your site.
- Make Sure your Product Descriptions are Good
One of the first steps towards improving your eCommerce conversions is to make sure that you have a good product description. The more information about your product, the better. People want to know exactly what they are getting before they buy it. Don’t forget to add keywords where applicable too.
Conclusion
The next time you’re starting to explore the idea of improving your conversions, remember that there are many different ways you can go about doing this.
You don’t have to do everything on this list—pick a few things and try them out! If one doesn’t work out for whatever reason (i.e., it didn’t improve your conversion rate), then try another one instead.
Go slowly and test each change before making any drastic decisions about what should stay or go from your website. The most important thing is that you keep learning and trying new things, because if there was ever a time when businesses could benefit from being more flexible with their approach towards marketing strategies, now would be it.
Leave a Reply