eCommerce was officially introduced in 1995 with the launch of Amazon and eBay and marks when consumers began to make online purchases via their PCs. Over the past 15+ years, however, online shopping has evolved, with more and more consumers making purchases from mobile devices rather than PCs.
In fact, in 2016, mobile devices officially overtook desktops and laptops when it comes to online browsing. By 2021, it is expected that nearly 54 percent of all retail e-commerce sales will be made via a mobile device.
Additionally, mobile apps are beating out mobile- and desktop-optimized websites in terms of engagement and higher conversion rates by a staggering 100-300 percent!
Whether you’re building out a mobile-optimized site or developing an app, here are some tips to help you improve mobile conversions within your e-commerce store.
1. Faster Page Speeds
Page load speed has always been an important ranking factor among the major search engines. Studies have shown that many web users will abandon a page if it takes more than two or three seconds to load.
Consider:
- Compressing all of your images using free tools like TinyPNG
- Compressing nonessential CSS, JavaScript, and HTML
- Using lazy load and infinite scroll for longer pages
These strategies apply to whether the majority of your users rely on PCs or smart devices. Improving page load speeds is especially important for mobile users since smartphones often have slower overall connectivity.
2. Prominent Calls to Action
Mobile devices are far more tactile than their PC counterparts — with users swiping, scrolling, typing, and tapping almost exclusively with their fingers.
You should consider turning all of your calls to action into bold, clickable buttons.
This would certainly apply to whatever “buy” buttons you use to close each sale. You should also adopt this strategy for any other potential calls to action, including:
- Newsletter sign-ups
- Requests for more info
- Polls and surveys
- Leaving comments
3. Offer Guest Checkout
Requiring users to sign up during checkout allows you to capture their email addresses for future marketing campaigns. However, creating unique, long and alphanumeric passwords on mobile devices is a major pain. This unnecessary step could be killing your store’s conversion rates.
Instead, consider allowing your visitors to check out as unregistered guests.
If users must register, ask for the minimum. The fewer fields you require, the better. Alternatively, you can use social media login options — like those provided by Facebook and Google.
4. More Trust Signals
Every consumer wants a safer online shopping experience. This desire is sometimes even more pronounced among mobile users — for whom smart devices are often extensions of themselves.
As such, choosing a PCI-compliant payment processor is non-negotiable. Because your users can’t see the data security protections being implemented behind the scenes, it’s important that you add front-facing trust signals, such as:
- Security badges throughout your site (but especially on the checkout page)
- A Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate that adds an “s” to the “HTTP” of your URL
Including user reviews, social media buttons, and easy-to-find contact information can also help make your site seem more trustworthy. In addition, publishing a clear return policy allows customers to shop with greater confidence. This strategy can reduce the frequency of chargebacks within your store.
5. Multiple Payment Options
For most e-commerce stores, credit cards represent the default payment standard. In fact, many online shopping carts accept nothing else.
Yet, today’s consumers rely on a wide range of payment options including ACH, PayPal, virtual wallets, mobile apps, and even cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
Quite often, these payment options are already pre-loaded on your users’ phones before they even visit your site. By accepting these types of payments, you’re able to generate more overall sales with far less friction.
Conversion rate isn’t a concept — it’s a metric. More specifically, it represents the number of users who buy from your site divided by the number of users who simply visit your site.
If you don’t actively measure this metric, you won’t know how impactful any of the above strategies truly are. This is why using Google Analytics (or a similar platform) is arguably the most important tip of all.
Only by tracking the performance of your mobile conversion improvements can you improve the overall rate.
The external hyperlinks were provided for informational purposes only. Please contact each company directly to obtain additional information as First Data does not assume any responsibility or liability for any information and communications shown here and on any third party web links.
Author bio: Kristen Gramigna is a Senior VP on the Digital Marketing Team for First Data, a global leader in payment technology and eCommerce credit card processing. She brings 25 years of experience in the bankcard industry in direct sales, sales management, and marketing.
