With plenty of ecommerce sites scattered across the web today, it can be difficult to make yours stand out and perform the way you want it to. Fortunately, you can easily optimize ecommerce websites with the help of this quick guide.
Optimize Ecommerce Websites to Increase Conversions
The Internet is where the action is nowadays, and that applies to businesses, too. The world of ecommerce is growing fast. In fact, it is estimated that 95 percent of all purchases will be made online by 2040. With time, trends, and technology on the side of ecommerce, it would be foolish not to take advantage of it now.
Having an ecommerce site is one thing, but maximizing your conversion rate online is another. If you want more customers, you will need to learn how to optimize ecommerce websites.
What Is Ecommerce Optimization?
To put it simply, ecommerce optimization is the process of improving your website in an effort to boost your conversion rate. What is conversion rate? Your conversion rate is the rate at which you convert website visitors into paying customers.
To compute your conversion rate, divide your total number of conversions by your total number of website visitors. Then, multiply the quotient by 100. For example, if your website had 100 visitors last month and 10 sales, then your conversion rate would be 10 percent.
With all this talk about conversion rates, you might wonder, “What is a good conversion rate for an ecommerce website?” Globally, the average conversion rate across devices sits at 2.58 percent. But, that does not necessarily mean that any rate above or below this average rate is better or worse. A good conversion rate can vary depending on the industry you are doing business in.
Some industries naturally have a lower average conversion rate than others. This could be due to a number of factors such as market saturation, level of commitment, and the customer decision process.
How to Optimize Ecommerce Websites
Even just a few small changes can positively impact your ecommerce conversion rate. If you want to increase your conversion rate, considering the following:
1. Focus on SEO
To get more people to buy your product, you need to start from the beginning. How are people finding your website? Can they even find you at all? Since your ecommerce site is still a website, it is important to pay attention to SEO.
To improve your SEO for ecommerce, you need to include the right keywords so that your products appear on search results. Make sure your product and meta descriptions are eye-catching and unique. Images also play a significant role in marketing, so don’t forget to optimize them, as well.
Additionally, you should be careful about creating duplicate content, particularly if you have a lot of similar products or products available in different sizes or colors. One way to do this is to use canonical URLs. A canonical URL simply signals to search engines that this specific URL is the primary or preferred one. If your website runs using WordPress, you can easily designate canonical URLs with the help of an ecommerce SEO plugin.
2. Improve Design and User Experience
There is no faster way to turn off visitors from your ecommerce site than to have poor design and a bad user experience. Loading speed, for instance, can contribute to your bounce rate. In fact, visitors are 32 percent more likely to click away when your page takes between one to three seconds to load.
Another factor that can affect user experience is navigation. Customers have certain expectations when it comes to the flow of navigation and placement of certain items. They want to be able to find your products easily and quickly. Putting effort into website design and user experience can make a world of difference.
3. Optimize Pricing
Product prices are equally important when it comes to ecommerce conversion rate optimization. There are a few ways you can optimize pricing:
- Comparison. Simply putting two similar products next to each other with their prices displayed can already induce favor for the lower-priced item.
- Short Copy. Long-winded explanations can paralyze your readers. If you offer services at different price levels (subscription plans), keep your copy short, and just highlight the most important parts.
- Strong CTA. Sometimes, customers need to be told what to do. Using strong action words in your call to action (CTA) can help give customers the push they need.
4. Hold Flash Sales
Everybody loves a good sale. As a marketer, though, you want to take things up a notch by creating a sense of urgency. How? With a flash sale.
Flash sales can increase your conversion rate in an instant. After all, customers want to take advantage of a good deal before it goes away. When holding a flash sale, though, you need to do it right.
Make sure you use compelling language in your copy — words that convey urgency and scarcity. Tap into their fear of missing out, otherwise known as FOMO. You can also make use of a timer on your ecommerce website to create pressure.
5. Cross-Sell
Cross-selling is another good strategy when it comes to ecommerce website optimization. Showing your customers similar or related products on the product page or at checkout can improve your conversion rate.
When making use of this technique, though, make sure to position the items wisely. Customers need to be able to see related products to encourage them to buy more. Also, see to it that the products you show them are actually relevant to the ones already in their cart.
6. Upsell
Upselling is encouraging customers to purchase a similar but more expensive product that they already would like to buy. You can position your upselling either on the product page itself, at checkout, or after checkout.
It is not always easy to upsell, though. If you want to use this tactic effectively, make sure to highlight why and how the product offers value. You can also use social proof such as customer reviews to lend credence to your upsell.
7. Decrease Cart Abandonment
Cart abandonment happens when a visitor puts items in their cart but does not push through with the purchase. It is a common problem among ecommerce businesses. To curb or reduce cart abandonment, consider implementing the following strategies:
- No Surprise Fees. Refrain from adding extra costs or charging exorbitant shipping fees as this can scare away customers. Be upfront about what customers can expect to pay to reduce cart abandonment.
- Multiple Payment Methods. Even offering several payment options can lower cart abandonment and improve your conversion rate.
- Exit Intent Pop-Ups. Display an attention-grabbing pop-up when visitors are about to leave the page without making a purchase. The content of the pop-up can be anything from confirming they want to leave to offering a discount to convince them to stay.
- Guest Checkouts. Another way to reduce cart abandonment is to offer guest checkouts. Some customers consider it a hassle to have to create an account just to buy a product.
- Cart Abandonment Emails. Sending a reminder email to potential customers who have abandoned their cart can nudge them in the right direction. You can even offer discount codes to sweeten the deal. Just make sure to be polite and not at all assertive.
8. Use Split-Testing
Split testing, also known as A/B testing, can help you make ecommerce website decisions that will positively affect your bottom line. Not sure if a red CTA button works better than a blue one? Are you worried that a simple font change will lower your conversion rate? Use split testing.
It may take some time, but split-testing will allow you to determine which changes to your ecommerce site work best. Remember that even small, incremental changes can impact your conversion rate.
9. Ask for Feedback
Never underestimate the power of feedback.
If you want to know firsthand what your customers think about your ecommerce site, ask them. You can do this by sending them a short survey after every purchase or when they leave your site without buying anything. You can even offer them an incentive if they complete the survey.
How Do I Optimize My Website for Mobile?
People are becoming more and more reliant on mobile devices. They use it to communicate with others, look up product reviews, and even for online shopping. In fact, it is expected that 54 percent of ecommerce sales will be done on mobile by 2021. Here are some things to focus on when you optimize ecommerce websites for mobile:
- Mobile SEO. Search engine optimization also applies to mobile. To improve your mobile SEO, make sure to optimize page titles and descriptions by including relevant keywords. You should also focus on mobile user experience. In fact, 62 percent of users are less likely to make a repeat purchase due to a bad experience on a mobile website.
- Loading Speed. About 40 percent of mobile users will abandon your site if it fails to load within three seconds.
- Videos. Adding videos to your ecommerce site can grab visitor attention. Moreover, product and explainer videos are great alternatives to boring blocks of text.
An Ongoing Pursuit
It is critical to optimize ecommerce websites in order to maximize gains. After all, conversion rates are not just going to go up on their own. Optimization is also not a one-and-done game. If you want a truly great ecommerce site that converts, you must continuously optimize and look for ways to improve.
In addition to conversion rate optimization services, Tanner Grey also provides web design and digital marketing solutions. Give us a call at 844.500.1339 or contact us online to learn how we can help you.
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