8 Ways to Optimize Your eCommerce Conversion Rate
As the eCommerce space grows more competitive by the minute, it is important to take the time to optimize your store to make sure you can battle the competition and increase your eCommerce conversion rate. Here are 8 ways to get started.
Reduce the number of steps in your checkout process
We all like to follow simple steps on a website, particularly when we’re trying to finalize a purchase. For your own eCommerce store, you should ensure that your checkout process is as simple as possible.
The number of steps you need will depend on the products you’re selling or the products a customer wants to purchase. For example, if a customer is purchasing a physical product, you’ll need a stage in your checkout process where they can input their address; if a customer is purchasing a digital product, then entering a physical address won’t be necessary.
An easy way to give your customers an estimation of how many steps there will be in your checkout process is by displaying a progress bar.
A/B test everything
A/B testing is one of the best ways to improve your store’s conversion rate. And there are numerous ways to do this. Some of the common are:
- Changing your CTA copy or design
- Changing the copy you use to describe your products
- Trying out different pricing strategies
- Offer one-click purchasing
- Testing out different promotions and offers. The great thing about A/B testing is that you can gradually test and optimize different parts of your website and store.
For example, if you were looking to simplify the buyer journey, you could view the pages your customers are visiting when they make a purchase through a platform such as Google Analytics and remove any pages that are clogging up the customer journey or aren’t being visited. You could then monitor your analytics over the next few weeks/months to see if the pages you remove have an impact on your site’s conversion rates.
Use the right tools
The right tools can help you figure out what conversion rate issues your eCommerce store is dealing with. So, for example, Air360, is an excellent user analytics tool that records a lot of very important data about user behavior.
This includes information like how many pages they visited, cursor movement, click functionality, IP address, and more. Google may tell you what your customers want but tools like Air360 tells you why.
Offer free shipping
Offering free shipping is a fantastic way to encourage more of your potential customers to make a purchase, and you should market the fact that you offer free shipping at every opportunity.
Try to mention that you offer free shipping on every major page your customers visit. If you need to cover the costs of your free shipping offer, or you’re worried that it may not be sustainable for your business to offer free shipping, try and factor shipping into your operations and product pricing.
You can also offer a premium shipping option that customers can choose if they want to receive their order quicker.
Provide limited time sales
Boy do humans love bargains and all good ones come with expiry dates. We love being able to say we got a $200 tool at $100 during one of the rare limited discount periods.
This easy idea can help you optimize conversion rates during periods of large profits such as Black Friday, Christmas, and more.
Abandoned cart reminders
Abandoned cart reminders are a great way to get ‘almost customers’ to make purchases. Visitors tend to add items to their cart, get distracted, and then forget to finish the purchase.
A simple email reminding them they have items in their cart could be what makes you more money.
Personalize the purchase journey
We often forget that every customer has a different purchase journey. For example, Jane could be buying headphones to listen to music. Meanwhile John could be buying them to speak to his work colleagues during his commute.
Knowing why your customer is buying your product and then customizing the product and landing page based on that knowledge can improve conversion rates.
How do you do this?
You should be creating separate landing pages and product pages for each customer type.
So, let’s say you own a headphone manufacturing company and your customer subscribed to your email list through the opt-in form with a freebie for one month of Amazon music.
You now know that the customer is interested in music and is trying to find better listening technology. This information can be used to guide every subscriber on that list to a landing page that is designed specifically for them.
Personalized emails, recommendations, and landing pages show customers that you know what they want and can give them the solution. The right email marketing service will allow you to segment your subscribers, send targeted emails, and personalized email content.
Optimize your site navigation
Keeping things simple, adding categories, and making your website easy on the eyes can skyrocket your conversions. You should have every important category at your customers’ fingertips so that you make their purchase journey that much easier.
If you’re looking to optimize site navigation, testing platforms let you see how easily users who fit your target market or customer navigate your store.
Conclusion
Optimizing your eCommerce store’s conversion rate is an ongoing and constantly evolving process. It benefits your store not just in regards to sales but also helps you create a better reputation for your brand which can lead to better word of mouth marketing and returning customers.
If you’re unsure whether your store’s current conversion rates are optimal, check your industry’s average conversion rates. From there, you’ll be in a good position to implement the tips to boost your store’s conversion rates.
Air360 is a UX analytics tool built to help ecommerce companies increase revenue by increasing the conversion rate. Talk to an expert today to see how our solution can give your DTC business a boost.
Author: Freya Laskowski
Gravatar Email: freya@collectingcents.com
Freya is a personal finance expert and founder of the CollectingCents website that teaches readers how to grow their passive income, save money, improve their credit score, and manage debt. She has been featured in publications like Business Insider, Fox Business, the Huffington Post, and GoBankingRates.
