The following post was contributed by our friends at Virid
You’ve done the hard work of driving traffic to your eCommerce site, but are those visitors actually converting? For most retailers, the answer is: not as often as they should be. As you scale your business, boosting your conversion rate will be critical for long-term growth. The following tips will help you increase conversions and grow your bottom line.
Streamline checkout
Online retailers lose a large percentage of potential customers at checkout. The average global eCommerce cart abandonment rate is around 70%. Shoppers abandon their carts for numerous reasons. High shipping costs, long delivery times, site trustworthiness, lack of payment options, a complicated checkout, and website errors are among the main issues that cause shoppers to leave before making a purchase.
And while some amount of cart abandonment is unavoidable, there are many ways to reduce friction in the checkout process and improve conversion rates. Limit the checkout experience to only what is necessary and remove distractions by cutting down on pop-ups. Make buttons and links large enough to be clickable on mobile devices. Offer a guest checkout option to avoid slowing customers down by signing in. And ensure there are no surprises at checkout by making pricing options, shipping information, and your return policy transparent and easily accessible on your site.
Speed up your site
Site speed and uptime (the amount of time a website is accessible and operational for users) play a major role in conversions. According to a study by Portent, on average, eCommerce conversion rates drop by 0.3% for every additional second it takes a page to load.
Site speed is dependent on several factors, including your website host, content delivery network, image resolution and size, server performance, caching, code efficiency, and more. On Virid’s marketAgility platform, all sites maintain 99.99% uptime and 15x faster loading times than the industry average.
Incorporate cross-sells and upsells
Cross-sells and upsells can increase cart sizes by offering customers complementary items to what they’re already planning on purchasing. Consider leveraging personalizing data to recommend “frequently bought together” items, offering free shipping with the purchase of additional items, and adding discounts or rewards for bundling items together.
Personalize the customer experience
Leverage personalized customer data to offer a more unique customer experience. Incorporate features like wish lists for customers to add to as they shop and targeted offers based on their browsing history. Consider also implementing dynamic website content based on unique customer profiles. The more personalized the experience, the greater value you deliver to your customers.
Improve product discoverability and SEO
Technical SEO requirements determine how your site is viewed by search engines. Optimize your site architecture with a hierarchical structure that makes important pages (like product pages and checkout) accessible with just a few clicks. Include a sitemap to ensure search engines know which pages are important on your site and to make it easier for them to index your site’s content.
Additionally, optimize your pages by including practical long-tail keywords in the product description and page headings to make it easier for customers to find what they are looking for. Be sure to also add alt tags to all images to improve accessibility. In addition, make your site easily searchable with a site search bar and clear categorization across all products and pages.
Make things easy to find with page categorizations
While proper SEO can help customers land on your site, it’s critical to make your site easy to navigate once they get there. A key factor in improving site navigation and product discovery includes enabling category and search filters on your site. Categories help customers narrow down their searches by grouping items under broad labels like “Home” or “Men’s Clothing,” helping to streamline the path to checkout. Additional search filters like “size,” “color,” and “ratings” help refine the search further. Streamline the customer journey and improve your conversion rate by making it easy for customers to find what they’re looking for on your site.
Incorporate reviews and product Q&A
Most consumers read reviews before making a purchase. If your site does not currently support reviews and user-uploaded images, you are missing out on a major opportunity to increase conversions. Reviews, particularly those with photos from real customers, provide social proof that moves the needle for customers making purchase decisions. Consider a platform like Revere that allows you to easily manage UGC in one place.
Utilize clear CTAs
Make your calls to action clear and easy to click on both desktop and mobile to guide customers through the journey. Use high-contrast colors and large, clickable buttons in obvious places throughout your site to encourage customers to take action.
Optimize for mobile
Ensure your site is fully mobile-optimized to avoid customer frustrations and abandoned carts. Minimize the fields customers need to fill out, integrate one-tap payments like Apple and Google Pay, and reduce distractions with clear CTAs and a checkout button that stands out.
Offer multiple payment options
Once a customer makes it to checkout, reduce abandon carts by making it easy for customers to pay the way they want. Offer a variety of secure payment options like Apple Pay and PayPal and alternative payments like Afterpay or Klarna for buy now pay later options.
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Improving your eCommerce conversion rate is not an overnight fix but an ongoing strategic effort to grow your revenue. There are plenty of changes you can implement quickly to start seeing results. If you are struggling with an underperforming eCommerce site or a limited tech stack, reach out to the experts at Virid for a free consultation.
