5 Proven Tips to Increase Your eCommerce Conversions

Last updated on June 23rd, 2022 at 04:25 am

There are over 24 million eCommerce websites on the internet. And with almost 30% of the global population making purchases on these websites, there’s one thing to say: online shopping is becoming the norm.

That said, competition is fierce. But what makes an eCommerce store outperform the others? That’s its conversion rate.

In other words, the amount of traffic you drive to your website doesn’t matter if you can’t get part of that traffic to convert. 

But what’s a good conversion rate?

Well, it varies depending on the industry and the location you’re active in. Also, factor in the types of devices your visitors are using when viewing your website. But, on average, the global conversion rate is 2.58%.

So if you’re finding yourself below this number, you might want to increase your conversions. That’s why today, we’ve come up with a few tips that might help you out.

1. Optimize Your Homepage 

The homepage is one of the most important parts of your website. That’s where a major part of visitors will first land. So you have to make a good first impression. Otherwise, they’ll leave just as fast as they’ve come.

To understand whether your homepage might need a revamp, ask yourself a few questions:

• Would brand new visitors be able to tell what my website’s all about? 
• Would they know that they’ve landed in the right place? 
• Would they trust me in giving away their personal information? 
• Would they be able to figure all of this out in under five seconds?

If the answer is no, then you might need to make a few changes.

For starters, make sure that your homepage loads fast enough. 55% of visitors will abandon a page if it takes longer than three seconds to load.

Although there are plenty of things that may cause slow loading speeds, experts at Digital Silk, a website design company in Chicago, say that large image files are the main culprit. That said, remember to compress images before uploading them.

Secondly, you need to display your unique value proposition straight away. 

The UVP differentiates your company from your competitors, telling customers why they should choose you over other stores, thus, giving them a reason to stick around a bit more.

Furthermore, make sure that you’ve got the SSL certificate. Nothing will drive users away faster than seeing the “Not Secure” label right beside your homepage’s URL. Also, display security badges throughout your homepage to let visitors know that they can trust you

And lastly, include a search bar and make it stand out. That way, you’ll allow users to find what they’re looking for quickly, directly from your homepage, increasing their chances of making a purchase.

2. Use High-Quality Product Photos

After you’ve managed to get visitors to stick around, they’ll likely check out your products. This is where your product photos come in.

75% of online shoppers will rely on them when deciding to make a purchase. That’s because, unlike a brick-and-mortar store, shoppers can’t physically interact with your products. So, they’ll have to make their judgment based solely on what they see.

If you were planning to skimp on the budget in the photos department, think again. It’s best to hire a professional photographer.

Make sure to display multiple high-quality photos for each one of the products you sell, where you’d showcase them from all angles.

Also, consider giving users the ability to zoom in and out or rotate the images, so you could make their shopping experience more immersive.

3. Optimize Your CTAs

Your CTA buttons turn visitors into customers. That’s why you’ll have to treat them seriously.

But here’s the thing: not every CTA button on your website has to lead users to make a purchase. After all, someone who just found out about you is unlikely to buy something straight away. He probably wants to find out more about your business.

Other users may want to share your website or one of your products with their friends. So, you should optimize your CTAs based on three categories: social media discovery, email subscriptions, and checkout.

Many users will likely find out about you while browsing on social media. So, make sure to create CTAs that get users on your website. You can place these on your social media posts and in your profile description.

It also goes the other way around. Create CTAs that drive users from your website or email list to your social media. 

And you’ll have to get website visitors on your email list. But nobody wants to have their emails flooded, so give them a good reason to subscribe. Consider offering your visitors a discount in exchange, for example. 

And finally, there are the checkout CTAs. This leads users through the process of adding products to the cart up until they make the final payment.

For the CTAs to be effective, they’ll have to be highly visible, bold, and clear.

In terms of visibility, avoid using the same color scheme as the rest of the page. That will make your buttons blend in and, thus, hard to notice. Use contrasting colors instead.

When it comes to their size, making them around 20% larger than your logo should get them to stand out enough. Depending on the length of your pages, remember to display your CTAs multiple times or make them sticky. 

In terms of their copy, it needs to be direct and attractive. For example, instead of a bland copy like “Sign Up,” “Get the Free Guide,” or “Get the Discount,” will do a better job at getting visitors to subscribe to your email list.

4. Optimize the Checkout Process

Your checkout process is responsible for a major part of your website’s conversions. If it’s clunky and it takes a long time to go through, you’re likely missing out on a lot of sales. 

An optimized checkout process can increase conversions by 35%. So, how can you do it properly?

For starters, there’s the issue of shipping costs. Many online stores mention them only at the final step of the checkout process, which makes 63% of users abandon their carts. 

After all, a user who added a $20 product in their cart, only to find out later that the shipping is $20 more, will surely leave the website and look elsewhere.

Covering the shipping yourself might not be a viable option, but you could still mention these costs from the start. By doing this, you’ll likely see an increase in sales.

Secondly, requiring users to create an account will likely drive them away from your website. That’s because, in their eyes, this is frustrating, time-consuming, and even pointless.

But, capturing their email address is still important. So, how do you get around this? Implement an email capture pop-up at the highest purchase intent, like after adding a product to their cart, for example.

5. Create a Cart Abandonment Recovery Strategy

No matter how optimized your checkout process may be, there will still be people who will abandon their carts. But that doesn’t mean that it’s game over for you. 

Some people may add products to their carts to compare the total costs with your competitors’. Others might be saving the cart for later and maybe end up forgetting about it entirely. 

And then there are the ones who aren’t sure about the quality of your products. 

Chances are that you can still earn back some of these people. That’s why you should create a cart abandonment recovery strategy. That’s where the email addresses we’ve talked about come in. 

For starters, you can send them an email reminding them that they’ve left products in their basket.

To make this method more effective, consider segmenting the audience based on data like gender, age, order value, etc. This will allow you to create a more personalized message, increasing the possibility of getting users to convert. 

Furthermore, make sure to display social proof in hopes of convincing prospects to make a purchase. Offering them a discount or a limited-time offer may also prompt them to get back on your website. 

But there’s the question of when you should send out these emails. Well, sending emails around an hour after a user has abandoned the cart will bring you the highest conversion rate, 6.33%.

Final Words

As an eCommerce store, increasing conversions is no walk in the park. There are plenty of things that may drive users away from your website or lead them to abandon their carts. 

But that doesn’t mean you should completely overhaul your website immediately. It’s more of a process of taking baby steps. 

Make small changes, one at a time, and see how they impact your conversion rates.

About Travis Dillard

Travis Dillard is a business consultant and an organizational psychologist based in Arlington, Texas. Passionate about marketing, social networks, and business in general. In his spare time, he writes a lot about new business strategies and digital marketing for DigitalStrategyOne.