Tips To Increase Conversion Rate For Ecommerce

Here’s a fun fact: according to a Statista report, ecommerce brought about $2.3 trillion in sales, and by 2021 experts expect it to hit $4.5 trillion. No, that’s not a typo. The sales figures are in TRILLIONS of dollars.

That’s insane, right?

Ecommerce is big right now, and is expected to get even bigger than it already is for one simple reason: it’s incredibly easy to shop online. Shoppers have almost instant access to everything their hearts desire. And when it’s hard for them to decide what product to buy, they look up some reviews and see what other people think.

So, it seems like it would be crazy not to set up an ecommerce store. With over 4.6 billion internet users to date, that’s a colossal target to tap. So, it’s only natural that any ecommerce store can drive sales and experience at least moderate success, right?

Wrong!

For those 4.6 billion internet users, there are thousands of ecommerce stores. Sure, each with their products and advertising different products, but it’s only natural to assume that in such a large pool of online stores, many of them will overlap regarding the target they have.

And that’s exactly the problem. Many ecommerce stores are butting heads and trying to get the attention of the same people. The market is, quite frankly, slightly over-saturated, and users can sometimes have difficulty navigating through all the noise. So they most likely turn to the big giants in the industry like Amazon or eBay. So what does that mean for the others?

Here are some ecommerce conversion tips you need to consider.

 Some Things to Be Aware of

As an ecommerce store owner, while you may be enticed by the possibility of reaching a wide audience, what you really need to pay attention to is your store’s transaction rate and one way to increase that is with conversion rate optimization.

First, you should be aware of your typical ecommerce KPIs and how you compare to your competitor. The average ecommerce store has a conversion rate of about 1% to 2%. So, even if you’re doing everything by the book, you can expect to make a sale only up to 2% of the time. Now, that may seem like bad news, but if you understand how this percentage is calculated, you can see that 2% can sometimes be a thing to aspire to in the ecommerce world.

For instance, let’s say you have 10,000 visitors in one week, and of all those visitors 100 actually bought something from you. That’s a 1% conversion rate. The more visitors you get to visit your website, that 1% or 2% can translate into a massive increase in revenue.

While it’s unlikely ever to experience astronomical conversion rates, there are a few ways you can successfully increase that 1 or 2%  a bit and get more buying customers.

Here is a list of some things you can do to increase your e-commerce conversion rate:

1. Put Your Customers at Ease

A big reason why many users prefer buying from titans like Amazon instead of small ecommerce stores is because they view these market-leading platforms as more reliable.

It’s not to say Amazon has never had issues with a few shipments here and there, but because people are so familiar with it, they feel more at ease shopping from a website they know, and not a small one they’ve never seen before in their lives.

So it’s your job to reassure them they won’t be making a huge mistake shopping from you. Try to anticipate whatever fear a potential buyer may have that’s keeping them from going through the purchase. Then, take the necessary measures to make sure those fears go away.

For instance, offer social proof that you are a reliable solution to their problem. Include reviews from customers on your website and let prospects know how many happy customers you’ve got so far.

2. Let the People Speak

Sometimes, customers can take away the fears of other potential customers, but you’ll have to give them a chance to do it.

Enter social media, a great place where you can not only promote your products but also give customers a chance to leave reviews. And those reviews or post comments are not for nothing. It shows that other people are using your product, which makes prospects feel more at ease.

But to get those comments and reviews, you have to put in a few hours of work and grow your social media presence. Build a community that encourages people to interact with your online persona. Remind shoppers to leave a review recommending your store, and offer them posts that can really spark up a dialogue to show new users you have a real community around you.

Check out Facebook groups and forums where your audience may spend their time and try to find out what problems they are dealing with at the moment. Then, offer them useful advice about how they can find the right solution for them. Don’t push your products or services, though, but be genuine – like a friend that wants help a friend in need.

3. Let Them Buy without Signing up

New customers might be put off to shop from you for one simple reason: they just don’t feel like creating an account and filling up forms at that moment. And if they don’t do it now, it’s unlikely they’ll come back later.

Instead, offer them a simple out by setting up the possibility of purchasing as a guest. They’ll still need to fill out some info like an email address, so you’ll get the opportunity to get in touch with them later on and convince them to sign up officially.

4. Simplify the Process

There’s a trend happening among online shoppers, and it’s called shopping cart abandonment. Oh, and it’s annoying as heck.

The thing is, there are many reasons why people sometimes put stuff into their carts and never go through with a purchase. But, the fewer steps it takes for them until the order is placed, the lower the chances of anyone changing their minds.

One of the best ecommerce conversion tips is to offer customers a one-click buy model, where your signed-up users don’t need to fill out their information every single time they want to buy something. The systems remember all those important details, so the purchase process is fast and simple.

Another great way to reduce shopping cart abandonment is be offering prospect a sweet deal that they can’t say no to. For instance, if they abandoned the cart before purchasing, you can send them a reminder within 24 hours. If they still don’t complete the purchase, you can offer them a discount to incentivize them,

5. Offer Low (or No) Shipping Costs

About 43% of shoppers change their minds about a purchase if the shipping costs are too high. Additionally, 20% of email subscribers think of free shipping as the offer they want the most from ecommerce stores.

Customers sometimes have to convince themselves that what they are trying to buy is worth their money, and one of the best incentives you can give them is very low or free shipping. Sure, not everyone can offer to cover all shipping costs, especially if you’re just now growing the business, but there’s a neat trick you can use.

Let’s say your average shipping rate is $5. It’s a small number, but some customers might be second-guessing their purchase now. But wait! If they shop for a minim of $30 shipping is free? That really changes everything.

You see, even if their initial buy was only worth $20, a lot of customers prefer to spend the extra $10 to qualify for free shipping, instead of just paying $5 more for what they originally wanted.

6. Improve Your Website

There are some deadly sins of websites, and you need to make sure yours isn’t guilty of any one of them:

• Slow loading time;
• Unappealing and complicated design;
• Unresponsive (meaning not made to fit any device used to access it);
• Terrible copy; (Learn how to write great content for your site)
• Scarce or no visuals;
• Crashes or doesn’t perform the way it’s supposed.

If your ecommerce store website checks off anything from that list, you have some work to do.

If you want to get traffic to your website that you can nurture into leads, then you need to make sure each page is visually appealing, easy to navigate, and fast. Not to mention work properly on mobile devices (which is now the most popular medium to go online, by the way).

For online stores, anything less than that can lead to customer frustration, and, therefore, no conversions. And these are just the basic requirements of what people think a decent website is. If you want to take it a step further and really set your store apart, then you should pay close attention to the next item on this list.

7. Allow Voice Searching

Digital assistants are becoming more and more popular, and while people currently use them more to answer the essential questions of life like “Why are puppies so darn cute?”, Millennials and Gen Z-ers are also using them to navigate the web. And soon, they’ll use the assistants for shopping.

Experts say that by 2021 it’s very likely to be moving forward a more voice-controlled internet, and brands that will be early adopters of voice search will most likely see a substantial increase in revenue, even by 30%.

And you really want to be on that early adopter list, since it’ll be an extra promotional tool. Digital assistants will look through those websites optimized for voice search, so you have an increased chance of popping up as a result, without having to pay for PPC campaigns to increase SERP ranks.

Final Thoughts

If there’s one lesson in increasing conversions, it’s this: you need to understand your target audience truly. All these ecommerce conversion tips are basically just trying to help you give their customers what they want, or what they expect from an online store. And since competition is so brutal, you should start putting these tips into practice right now.

Are you looking for more ways to increase your e-commerce conversion rates?

Contact SurgeStream now, and we’ll take a look at your website and offer some conversion solutions tailored to your needs.