Are you finding it difficult to improve your eCommerce site’s conversion rate? We’re sharing our top tips on how to increase conversion rates for eCommerce website businesses. Keep reading as we share the most effective tactics to use.
There’s a lot of misinformation revolving on the internet about conversion rate optimization. And it’s time to get things right once and for all. Therefore, we have shortlisted seven important ways to improve the conversion rate for your eCommerce business.
Stay with us till the very end to know practical ways to boost conversion rates for any eCommerce business. But before we discuss that, let’s consider what an average eCommerce conversion rate is.
Seven ways to increase conversion rates for eCommerce website
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Understanding the average eCommerce conversion rate
What does the term ‘conversion rate’ mean? It is essentially the percentage of visitors that land on a site and take the desired action. Therefore, conversions don’t necessarily mean sales. A conversion happens when your business goal is achieved.
So, you will first have to figure out your eCommerce business goals. To make this article simple to understand and follow, we are assuming that you are looking for more purchases on your eCommerce site.
How do you calculate an eCommerce website’s conversion rate? It’s simple. Just divide the number of conversions into visitors! For example, a website getting 5,000 visitors and 50 conversions in a month will have a conversion rate of 1 percent.
An acceptable eCommerce conversion rate is 1-2 percent. However, you should always aim to achieve a conversion rate of more than 2 percent. These seven tactics will help you make significant changes to your eCommerce site and boost its conversion rate.
1. Lead by value (play fair)
Always give before you ask or take. This simple strategy can make customers more receptive and feel indebted to your eCommerce brand. We suggest you use the reciprocity principle to make customers consider your offer with an open mind. So, what can this value be?
You can give something of value in the form of offers, sales, discounts, eBooks, etc. Take discounts, for example – 29 percent of online shoppers tend to convert more when a product they are interested in has a huge discount.
Not just that, you can offer free shipping, coupon codes, a free product catalog, free consultation, and more to get customer attention. However, you will have to figure out the perfect offer for each stage of the buyer journey. To be frank, leading by value can even encourage visitors to purchase more than they intended. We will discuss this in detail later.
2. Drive traffic using FOMO
The Fear of Missing Out or FOMO is real. It works, and eCommerce websites take its advantage all the time. As a major driver of sales, FOMO can trigger urgency in the customers and make them convert quicker.
Most brands use this tactic by offering great deals and adding a time constraint. Did you know 60 percent of the millennials online consumers tend to give in to FOMO? The time constraint or time-sensitive offers tend to encourage reactive purchases. Offers like limited editions and clearance sales tend to create scarcity and push customers to spend.
Since consumers hate to miss out on great deals, your eCommerce website can get more conversions just by adding a count-down timer or running flash sales. However, we suggest you create anticipation by running ads for the offers in advance.
3. Positive reviews and testimonials
Reviews and testimonials are crucial to your eCommerce success. Why? Customers want to know what other people think about your products or brand. If you position your eCommerce brand as an authority figure, it will become easier to gain customer trust and more conversions.
You will have to invest heavily into building a brand. How can you make a brand that new customers easily trust? It’s really important to connect with your customers and ask them to leave reviews or testimonials about your product / service. Word-of-mouth marketing has been used effectively by businesses for years, and it still works.
Another major word-of-mouth marketing method is influencer marketing. Influencers on social media platforms are always looking for brand endorsements. You should approach them and ask them to create promotional content for your eCommerce brand.
Add reviews and ratings to the products you have listed on the site. When customers see that people are having a great time on your site, they automatically tend to trust it and make a purchase. If you can get your customers to create user-generated content, your eCommerce success is not far away.
4. Use intelligent pricing
Price your products smartly. Product price is a major factor that will impact the conversions for your eCommerce website. Customers are indeed looking to save money on any product they want to purchase. But, you should not lower the prices just to get more conversions. That is counterproductive.
Instead, intelligently price the products to lure the customers into purchasing more expensive products. Excellent examples of intelligent pricing are companies that offer subscription-based products.
These companies offer products with different pricing packages. However, the packages are priced in a way that customers usually select the package that brands want them to. This is a key tactic if you want to really increase conversion rates for ecommerce sites that your own.
Not just subscription-based packages, you can also use product bundles, point systems, and other tactics to boost conversion on your eCommerce site. Come up with rewards or loyalty programs as loyal customers spend more than new customers.
5. Leverage the need for instant gratification
We all have been there. We see a product we want and the lack of patience and craving makes us punch in our credit card number. Humans love instant gratification, and you should leverage it for your eCommerce business ASAP.
All successful eCommerce brands understand how instant gratification works and never let their customers wait. They come up with ways to offer them instant access to the products, free and quick shipping, and even real-time order tracking.
Other effective ways to offer instant gratification are creating a mobile app for your eCommerce brand, ensuring instant downloads, boosting the website loading speed, and promising prompt customer support. Double down on speed and convenience as these two factors alone influence a majority of buying decisions.
6. Create an effective eCommerce website
How can you create a website that launches your eCommerce website towards success? One word – Simplicity. Humans understand things better when they are simple. Simplicity allows them to consume information quickly and make better decisions.
So, ensure that your eCommerce website has simple messages and information with no bias. It will instill customer trust and boost conversions. After all, 81 percent of online customers prefer brands they trust. So, go for a website design that is easily understandable and one that has fewer distractions.
Stay transparent about your products and offers so that customers are confident while making a purchase. Most importantly, answer customer questions promptly to gain more trust.
Moreover, we suggest you ensure the mobile-friendliness of your eCommerce website since 60 percent of the eCommerce traffic is from mobile devices. Invest in designing a visually appealing website to boost customer engagement.
Create forms that are easier to fill. The two simple ways to do that are removing unnecessary fields and making the attributes simple to understand. Eliminate distractions and create a smooth checkout process.
7. Nail call to action buttons
When prospects land on your site, they are still looking for directions. You should try to design your website pages in a way that makes it easier for them to navigate or make a purchase. The best way to do that is by adding call-to-action buttons at strategic locations on your site.
Call to action buttons helps encourage the customers to take action quickly and speed up their checkout process. They also eliminate the guesswork as the directions are clearly visible on the screen.
However, you will have to use clever and intelligent calls to action to push customers into making a purchase. Therefore, you should A/B test all the potential call to action buttons and add only the ones that perform the best.
Keep reading!
So, what are you waiting for? We’ve shared some of the best ways to increase conversion rates for eCommerce website business. Leave no stone unturned. Test everything important element on your site and only add the ones that perform better. Moreover, get rid of things that cause the conversion rate to dip.
What do you do to increase the conversion rate of your eCommerce site? Let us know in the comments. Don’t forget to check out other informative posts on the blog!