After spending endless hours browsing online, it is essential that the customer adds the merchandise to the cart and successfully places the order before checking out. As an e-commerce business owner, you will look forward to a casual browser to turn into a prospective buyer. This is where eCommerce conversion rate optimization can help you.
The eCommerce Conversion Rate can be derived by calculating the visitors’ percentage on your website who complete the transaction or the desired action in a set period. Organizations must ensure that this rate is improved to survive and grow in the business. There are things you can take into consideration to improve and optimize the same.
Understanding eCommerce Conversion Rates
Apart from sales, there are many parameters that you can consider to calculate the conversion rate for your website. Each of these can ultimately lead to a positive impact on business in the long run.
What is conversion in the eCommerce business?
- An online Sale: E-commerce is buying and selling of goods and services on the internet. The transaction is complete when the payment is made, and the product is delivered, or the service is rendered to the buyer. A higher number of visitors can lead to higher sales and increased conversions.
- A user adds a product to their cart: A customer may spend a lot of time browsing through the website. This can be compared to window shopping. If they leave the site without completing the transaction, it is a loss of opportunity. For the business to survive, it is essential that the customer adds the product to the shopping cart and proceeds with billing. A reminder for billing the products in the cart can lead to an increase in some transactions.
- A user adds items to their wishlist: There may be instances where the product has generated interest to the buyer; however, the browser intends to explore some more options before closing the transaction. In such cases, the product can be added to the wish list, which can later be shifted to the shopping cart. Based on the browsing history, alternate options can be populated for the buyer.
- Email signups: There may be occasions when the customer keeps visiting the site multiple times and may not make any transactions immediately. These clients can be prompted to share their email id through a pop-up window and added to the mailing list database for sending updates and offers regularly. At some point in time, the prospect will turn into a buyer and generate business in the future and improve the conversion rate.
- Social Media Shares: Social media plays a powerful role in determining the success of a business. Keep your media interaction interesting to be shared and re-tweeted. Link your URL with Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and other popular social media platforms to direct the traffic to websites and improve conversion rates.
- Any KPI your company finds valuable: There may be other parameters that might be important for your business, like average time spent on site, add-on sale, availing extended warranty, the addition of complementing products, accessories, and more that can be linked to improved conversion rate.
How do you calculate the conversion rate for an eCommerce website?
The quickest way to calculate the conversion rate would be to divide the visitors by the number of sale transactions or any other parameter you are considering. You have your website’s conversion.
Let us understand with an example. There have been 50,000 visits to your homepage in a month, and 500 of them have made purchases. So, your online sales conversion rate is 1%. Similarly, from these 50,000 visitors, 2000 have subscribed to your email database; here, your conversion rate is 4%. You have to design strategies to improve and optimize these numbers for higher revenue generation.
The solution can be increasing the visitors, offering a wide range of assortment, complimentary product samples, add-on products to improve the basket size, discounts and offers, sign up more email subscription, working on enhancing browsing experience, better check out process, easy return policies, quicker deliveries, customer satisfaction and more.
Strategies to Boost Your eCommerce Conversion Rates
There are several ways to enhance the conversion rate on your eCommerce site. Here are some tried and tested ways to ensure the improvement in ratio.
1. Ideas to Optimize Homepage
A well-designed homepage can go a long way in keeping the patron engaged. Your website’s website can be compared with a beautiful show window of a retail store. It should attract the visitor, stay for a longer time, browse through the offerings, make the purchase, and keep coming back for more.
1.1. Simplify the Experience: A cluttered homepage with too much information is an eyesore. Please keep it simple and browsing-friendly.
1.2. Real-Time Purchases, Coupon Codes, and More: A real-time purchase tracker can give the buyer confidence about the product’s popularity. Offer coupon codes and lucrative discounts for closure in the stipulated time frame.
1.3. Build Trust by adding Testimonials: Online shoppers tend to read the reviews and testimonials by actual users. Verified buyers’ experience sharing can build a higher amount of Trust.
2. Ideas to Optimize Product Discovery Pages
Once the customer has landed on your homepage, it should be easy for them to find the product they are looking for and related products that might interest them.
2.1. Use Intelligent Search: A tab for quick search helps find the product faster. Autocomplete search bar makes the instant search more effective.
2.2. Organize Your Categories Effectively: Keep the category tabs limited on the home page and divide them into subcategories for easier filtering process and search.
2.3. Take Advantage of Your 404 Pages: When the search meets a dead end, it will land up as a 404 error. This may prompt the user to leave the site. Ensure that you use these pages creatively to redirect the client to a related search page.
2.4. Add a Shoppable Instagram Feed: Millennials find their inspiration in Instagram feeds. Add shoppable links on Instagram to encash the opportunity.
3. Ideas to Optimize Product Pages
Ensure that the product pages give detailed information about every aspect of what you want to sell. Include dimensions, color options, size, weight, and other parameters.
3.1. Use High-Quality Product Images: Since the touch and feel of the product is absent in online transactions, it is advisable to upload high-resolution pictures of the product from different angles. A short video is an added advantage.
3.2. Be Upfront About Price, Delivery Time, and Out of Stock Products: No one is happy when they see delivery charges or out-of-stock notification at the time of check out. Chances are, you might end up with the entire transaction being canceled. Be upfront about the prices, delivery time, and other details. Create a restock alert for out-of-stock products.
3.3. Showcase Your Google customer Reviews: Encourage users to rate and review their experience with your business and products. This can help in image building and increased Trust.
3.4. Add a Curated Instagram Feed: Instagram and other social media feeds can be a potent tool for beauty products, fashion apparel, lingerie, personal care, health and hygiene, and luxury products like high-end handbags, luggage, watches, sunglasses, and more. Real-life pictures of products and celebrity endorsement can improve the conversion rate.
4. Ideas to Optimize Checkout Experience
The final step in customer experience needs to be smooth and flawless. People love to browse for hours but will lose interest if checkout takes a long time.
4.1. Prefill Your Customer’s Information: For repeat customers, prefilled information like billing and shipping addresses can make check out more convenient. Offer multiple payment options like wallet, UPI, Cash on Delivery, gift vouchers, debit, credit, and gift cards, points earned for repeat purchase, credit note for returned products, and more.
4.2. Abandoned Cart Emails should be sent: Send a reminder mail about products in carts after a day or so and try to pull the customer to re-visit the website.
4.3. Thank You Emails have to be optimized: A mail confirming the order, a tracker to show the status of order fulfillment, coupons, and offers as a token of appreciation can bring the customer back for more business.
5. Ideas to Optimize Shipping and Returns Policy
The transaction can be termed as completed only after receiving the product and is satisfied with it.
5.1. Offer Free Shipping: Free shipping plays a vital role in deciding where the customer places the order, thereby increasing the conversion rate.
5.2. Have a Clear Refund Policy: Easy and buyer-friendly return policies encourage the customer to keep coming back for more purchases. Please ensure that you mention your refund policies in clear words without too many TnC.
6. Ideas to Optimize your Additional Information
Your website should be interesting to hold customers’ attention and keep coming back for more.
6.1. Tell a Story with your ‘About Page’: Build a good image by having information about your organization and the people involved. Your mission, contribution to society, and what makes your product unique, for instance, a 100% eco-friendly process, a part of proceeds goes to a particular charity, and more will ensure that the customer looks at you in a different light.
6.2. Create a Comprehensive Contact Page: A registered address of the organization, a chatbot for quick FAQ resolution, a phone number to speak to customer care, and an email address to resolve queries can build Trust and make a huge difference overall conversion.
7. Ideas to Optimize Speed and Performance of your website
A browser is likely to quit a non-responsive and slow site quickly.
7.1. Ensure that Your Site is Mobile Responsive: A mobile responsive site is more likely to get higher clicks and conversions since it gives customers the liberty to browse – add to cart – check out on the move.
7.2. Your Website’s Loading Times has to be optimized: A faster loading website is a shopper’s delight. If your page takes a longer time to load, customers are likely to quit the site.
Conclusion
The business must embrace innovative ways to attract customers to your site and ensure that the experience while browsing and checkout process are flawless. Each parameter will add to the increased conversion rate and repeat purchases.
Additional resources
- What is eCommerce Marketing? And the right way of doing it!
- Top eCommerce Marketing Automation Ideas (to use in 2020)
- eCommerce Marketing Strategies that work (even) in 2020
- How to do Conversion Rate Optimization to your Shopify store?
- 19 eCommerce Marketing Trends that are Dominating 2020
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