In 2022, global eCommerce sales skyrocketed to a whopping $5.2 trillion. How much of the $5.2 trillion eCommerce pie is landing on your plate?
In the ever-evolving and highly competitive eCommerce landscape, it isn’t about attracting traffic to your website, it’s about converting that traffic into paying customers.
Each time visitors arrive on your site, app, or social channels and depart without engaging, it's a missed opportunity. Potential clients are seeking a compelling reason to stay. That's where conversion rate optimization (CRO) comes in.
In this blog post, we will explore CRO, its effective strategies, and actionable tips to empower your online business.
Understanding eCommerce Conversion Rate
The conversion rate of a website is the percentage of visitors who accomplish what you want them to do on your site or mobile app.
These goals can vary widely depending on your purpose. For instance, it might be someone buying a product from your online store, signing up for your newsletter, or simply creating an account.
Successful conversion rate optimization brings in highly interested leads, boosts your income, and lowers acquisition costs.
How Is Conversion Rate Calculated?
Calculating the conversion rate in eCommerce is quite straightforward. It's done by dividing the number of purchases (conversions) by the total number of visitors and then multiplying that result by 100 to get a percentage.
Here's the formula:
Conversion Rate = Number of Conversions/Total Visitors × 100
This formula gives you a clear picture of how effectively you can turn website visitors or app users into actual customers.
For instance, if 1,000 visitors come to your site and 32 of them make a purchase, your conversion rate would be 3.2%.
What is a Good eCommerce Conversion Rate?
Understanding what qualifies as a good conversion rate is crucial for setting benchmarks and goals. The average eCommerce conversion rate typically hovers around 2-3%. However, this can vary significantly across industries and platforms.
Factors like industry type, product pricing, and audience behavior play key roles in determining what constitutes a ‘good’ conversion rate.
For instance, in the second quarter of 2022, US eCommerce conversion rates stood at 2.3%, while rates in Great Britain soared to over 4%.
If your conversion rate isn't as good as you want it to be, it's time to make some improvements.
20+ Proven eCommerce Conversion Rate Optimization Tips
Improving your eCommerce sales through conversion rate optimization (CRO) can be tricky.
What works for one business might not work for another. You'll need to try different ideas, see what works best, and keep testing to find what really helps your online store.
Here are some of the top proven ways to boost your eCommerce CRO:
- Streamline Checkout Process
- Enhance Trust Signals
- Add High-Quality Images and Videos
- Incorporate Social Proof
- Optimize for Mobile Devices
- Offer Free Shipping
- Gamify the Shopping Experience
- Publish Full-Screen Shoppable Stories in Your App and Website
- Describe Products in Detail
- Implement Live Chat Support
- Attract Qualified Site Visitors
- Personalize the User Experience
- Optimize Site Speed
- Leverage A/B Testing
- Implement Remarketing
- Include Exit-Intent Pop-ups
- Allow Returns and Exchanges
- Recover Abandoned Carts
- Accept Multiple Payment Options
- Implement Social Commerce
- Use Urgency and Scarcity Tactics
Streamline Checkout Process
The checkout process needs to be super easy. Assess your checkout: can it be simpler?
According to Shopify, 18% of carts are abandoned because the checkout is too complicated.
Make the process simple by offering a guest checkout for customers who prefer not to create an account. Use clear calls-to-action and progress indicators to guide customers. Consider features like saved shopping carts for a seamless return.
Enhance Trust Signals
Even with the prevalence of online shopping, trust remains a big concern for customers sharing personal and financial details.
Building trust should be at the core of your efforts to improve conversion rates. Customers seek assurance in the legitimacy of your store and its security measures. They want to feel safe sharing their credit card info.
Here’s what you can do:
- Secure your checkout and website with SSL encryption.
- Show recognizable payment icons like credit cards or PayPal to signal safe payment options.
- Display security badges like McAfee or GeoTrust and ensure your account with them is active and genuine. Simply displaying an image won’t cut it if you’re not genuinely secure.
Add High-Quality Images and Videos
Online shoppers aren’t able to touch or try things. So, great pictures or videos are very important. They show exactly what they're buying.
When product pages have top-notch images and videos, it helps customers picture the stuff they like. Plus, it makes them more likely to buy it.
Incorporate Social Proof
Shoppers trust what others say about a product. Research shows that when five product reviews are displayed, the chance of a purchase goes up by 270%.
That’s the power of social proof. It shows what people similar to them are doing or buying.
Social proof comes in different forms:
- Customer reviews
- Ratings
- Testimonials
- Purchase notifications
- Industry awards and certifications
When a shopper sees lots of great reviews, they trust the product and brand more.
Optimize for Mobile Devices
More and more people shop on their phones now. In 2023, mobile eCommerce transactions amounted to $2.2 trillion, constituting a significant 60 percent share of global eCommerce sales.
That's why it's so important to make shopping easy for mobile users. If your mobile site is messy, slow, or hard to use, you will lose out on potential buyers.
Here are some ways to make your site mobile-friendly:
- Keep the layout simple and easy to move around.
- Use big buttons that are easy to tap.
- Make sure everything shows up well on small screens.
- Have a design that works on different screens and when people turn their phones.
- Add a search bar to help users find stuff fast.
- Use easy-to-use navigation like swipe menus or slides.
- Make sure your site loads fast for a smoother experience.
Offer Free Shipping
Offering free shipping can really boost eCommerce sales. It removes a big hurdle – the shipping cost – that often stops people from buying.
It's a great way to stand out and make customers come back for more. When they know they'll get free shipping, they tend to shop more often. Plus, free shipping increases average order value.
Gamify the Shopping Experience
Gamifying the shopping experience involves adding elements of fun, competition, or rewards to the process of browsing and purchasing products. It aims to engage customers by incorporating game-like features such as points, rewards, challenges, or interactive elements during their shopping journey.
Gamification encourages active participation, enhances user interaction, and fosters a more enjoyable and immersive shopping experience.
Publish Full-Screen Shoppable Stories in Your App and Website
Stories are these bite-sized, engaging content experiences that users are familiar with and love to watch.
With their immersive and interactive features, they help you better engage with your website’s visitors and app users. Improved product discovery experience usually leads to better conversation rates for your eCommerce store. On top, you can enable these window shoppers to purchase the items they like without leaving the Story thanks to shoppable features of Stories.
This approach not only enhances the user experience but also significantly boosts the likelihood of conversions.
A great example of this strategy in action is Decathlon's use of immersive Story techniques. As detailed in the case study here, Decathlon leveraged Storyly’s interactive stories to inspire and equip their customers for adventures.
This innovative method of engagement resulted in a more dynamic and interactive shopping experience. By incorporating in-app Stories, Decathlon effectively captured their audience's attention, leading to a notable increase in both engagement and sales.
By adopting similar approaches, businesses can create more meaningful connections with their audience, ultimately leading to higher conversion rates.
Describe Products in Detail
The content on your product pages plays a critical role in driving sales. To make your products stand out and boost conversions, consider incorporating these essential details into your product descriptions:
- Strategic keywords related to the product for better search visibility.
- Unique selling points and the key benefits of the product to attract potential buyers.
- Specific information like size, weight, and other relevant details aiding customers in making informed purchase decisions.
- High-quality product images and videos to offer a comprehensive view of the product.
Implement Live Chat Support
Adding live chat or chatbot features can enhance engagement with app users and website visitors. It's like having instant help right there when someone needs it.
Giving this kind of great support makes shoppers trust you more. With chat support, you're not just helping them buy things, you're also suggesting stuff they might like.
Live chat support is more efficient than old-style phone support. One person can help lots of customers at the same time. That means better service and more time for other important things.
Attract Qualified Site Visitors
When people want to buy something, they often start by searching on Google. Shoppers coming from those searches are usually ready to shop. They've got a problem and need a solution as soon as possible.
That's where search engine optimization (SEO) comes in handy. It helps bring in more of those 'ready-to-buy' visitors. Here are some ways to attract more of this traffic:
- Use keywords that show you've got what they need in your titles, descriptions, and content.
- Write stuff that's helpful and top-notch.
- Speed up your site so it loads fast.
- Make your website super easy to navigate.
Personalize the User Experience
User tracking and communication software helps you track what users are doing in your app and on your website and communicate with them in a personal way. That means you can make each user's experience special. You can tailor content and messages to suit the specific interests, behaviors and preferences of individual customers. This helps boost engagement, build loyalty, and, in the end, increase revenue.
Personal touches also help keep them focused on what you want them to do, no matter where they are online.
Optimize Site Speed
When it comes to how fast your website loads, visitors have high expectations.
According to Google, a slight delay in loading time, from 1 to 3 seconds, can increase bounce rate by 32%.
When you're building your site, keep an eye on how new stuff affects its speed. It doesn't matter how great your site looks if people leave before it even loads.
Here are some ways to speed it up:
- Make images smaller and better.
- Pick a fast hosting provider.
- Use caching for your site.
- Try not to have too many redirects.
- Keep your site's code simple.
- Only use plugins you really need.
Leverage A/B Testing
A/B testing, also called split testing, is like comparing different versions of your app/website or marketing stuff to see which one does better. It’s a smart way to boost how many people actually buy stuff by giving you real facts about what works and what doesn't.
You can try testing things like:
- Call to action language, placement, and design
- Landing page design
- Product descriptions
- Checkout process
- Email campaigns
Implement Remarketing
Implementing remarketing involves targeting users who have previously visited your website or engaged with your app but haven't completed a desired action, such as making a purchase.
This strategy utilizes tailored advertisements across various platforms to re-engage these users, reminding them of your products or services and encouraging them to return and finalize their actions.
Include Exit-Intent Pop-ups
Exit-intent pop-ups are like the friendly "Wait, don't go yet!" message that appears when a user is about to leave a website. They show up when someone moves their cursor towards closing the page or switching tabs, giving you a last chance to grab their attention.
These pop-ups can be used cleverly to offer discounts, gather email subscriptions, or highlight special deals, enticing visitors to stay or return later. They're a smart way to give one final nudge before someone leaves, potentially turning a lost opportunity into a successful conversion.
Allow Returns and Exchanges
Making it easy to return or exchange items might seem unusual for increasing sales. But when customers know they can easily return something if it doesn't fit or meet their needs, they feel more comfortable buying it.
It's like giving them peace of mind, turning doubts into purchases.
Recover Abandoned Carts
Don't let abandoned carts bring you down. Around 81% of all carts get abandoned. However you can bring those lost carts back.
Something as simple as sending reminder emails to shoppers who have abandoned their carts can turn the whole situation around. Studies show that nearly 40% of these shoppers open these reminders.
The best thing about abandoned carts is that you know what the shopper is interested in. When you send those reminders, you can offer discounts and incentives to increase conversions.
Accept Multiple Payment Options
Digital payments have become the norm.
Offering different payment methods makes things more convenient for customers. You might think about accepting:
- Credit or debit cards
- Digital wallets
- ACH transfers
- Buy Now Pay Later options
- Payment plans
And more, depending on what suits your business best.
Implement Social Commerce
Implementing social commerce involves leveraging social media platforms as a direct sales channel. It means integrating shopping functionalities within social media platforms to allow users to browse, shop, and purchase products seamlessly without leaving the platform.
It capitalizes on the widespread use of social media by enabling direct buying opportunities and streamlining the shopping experience for users within their favorite social networks.
Use Urgency and Scarcity Tactics
Creating a sense of urgency and scarcity is a powerful technique to increase eCommerce sales.
When customers feel they might miss out, they tend to buy faster. It's that FOMO (fear of missing out) kicking in.
This tactic really works. Some businesses saw massive sales jumps. Take ConversionXL, for instance. They got a whopping 332% increase in sales using a limited-time offer.
Conclusion
We've covered key strategies to boost eCommerce conversion rates. Implementing these tactics, from optimizing checkout to embracing gamification, can enhance user experience and drive sales.
As a growing business in the eCommerce landscape, you should continuously adapt your strategies and refine your playbook.
By prioritizing customer engagement and seamless experiences, businesses can pave the way for sustained growth and success in the competitive online marketplace.
