6 Ideas for Ecommerce Businesses to Increase Their Conversion Rates
Conversion rate is perhaps the most sought after metrics for any ecommerce business. Before we tell you how you can optimize your ecommerce site for higher conversion rates, let us first see what conversion rate is.
Conversion rate is the percentage of people, out of the total visitors to your website, who complete the desired action on your website.
These desired actions may include several things including making an online purchase, subscribing to your newsletter, getting a promo, adding items to cart or filling a form on the website. Let’s see how you can improve the conversions on your ecommerce site.
1. Optimize page loading speeds
Here is the golden rule of online ecommerce: People do not stay on pages that load slowly. Online buyers are impatient. If your pages take too long to load, they might end up going to one of your competitors whose faster loading website offers a superior user experience.
By making sure your pages load quickly, you can retain potential customers’ interest and keep them engaged in your conversion funnel until they complete the desired action. Zitmaxx Women increased their mobile revenue by 98% and their conversion rates by over 50% just by bringing their page loading times down to 3 seconds.
2. Use clear, high-quality images for products
All ecommerce stores have the same limitation – users cannot see and hold the product in person. This means the store must bring the product as close to real life as they can. Whenever you add a product to your ecommerce store, make sure you combine high-quality pictures that show the product clearly.
Many ecommerce stores add magnifying glass tool on product pages to let users zoom in and see the product’s finer details. The online buyer is also more likely to purchase if you add product images from different angles. Step into the customer’s shoes; understand the limitations of having to buy something online and try to present as much detail as possible to the customer.
3. Write product details and specifications
Only using high-quality images is not sufficient. Buyers need descriptive information about what functions the product can perform. They also need to know things like product size, dimensions, and why your product is better than your competitors’ similar products.
Imagine a customer not completing the checkout process just because they are unsure if your beautiful looking rug is the right size for their living room. Similarly, each business must provide relevant details their potential buyers might find helpful.
For example, an online electronics retailer should also include details on power consumption and required power input. Not providing such valuable information can result in the customer leaving your website and buying the same product from a competitor who provides all essential info about their website.
4. Use clear calls to action
On ecommerce websites, you cannot leave the decision making entirely to the visitor. You need to smartly create a conversion funnel where you are continuously guiding your visitor to the next step you want them to perform. Think like a physical store where sales staff is always around to guide visitors around the store and even recommend products.
Once you have brought an online visitor to the desired page, use a short, clearly visible call to action to nudge the visitor one step closer to conversion. If you want the visitor to download an eBook from your website, show precise details about the book with an easy to spot ‘Download Now’ button.
You will be surprised how many online visitors fail to perform desired actions on ecommerce websites just because relevant calls to action were not placed to guide the visitors.
5. Optimize for mobile devices
If your ecommerce business website is not optimized for mobile devices in 2019, you have not been paying attention. Mobile devices now have roughly 50% of the online sales volume. For ecommerce businesses, this means they don’t stand a chance anymore if they don’t optimize for mobile.
Having a good SEO company on board can help you with optimizing everything on the site. It doesn’t matter if you are based in New York and like the work of Boston SEO companies, because SEO work itself does not limit you to one place. Meanwhile, you can understand if your site is optimized well through this checklist.
Your website must be easy and intuitive to navigate on mobile devices. It must respond to the different screen gestures like swipe, tap and hold, etc. Since your mobile website is housed within the user’s overall mobile environment, they expect the site to react to these gestures in essential ways.
6. Customer service
Most online buyers are skeptical when they are on a website, they have not shopped from before. The smallest of things can raise red flags for first-time visitors, and it is crucial to earning their trust quickly.
An effective way to ease them into your online store is by showing them clear directions to start an online chat or contact customer if they have any questions. If visitors know they can speak with you to have their questions and concerns answered, they automatically trust your business more and are more likely to complete a purchase.
Make sure your online chat does not keep visitors waiting for too long, or you risk losing that customer. Visitors that choose not to buy from an online store due to customer service issues not only go to competitors but are also very difficult to bring back again.
Last word
The tips mentioned above have been tried and tested by many companies around the world. Conversion is a priority for all businesses, but the nature of each business is different. You can’t adopt things based on a consensus; you need to make decisions based on your business message.
Ecommerce is an industry that will stay thriving in the tech age, and customization is the best way forward in this industry. Make sure you have your eye on the latest trends and ear to customer feedback to guide your way.
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