How to increase your webshops’ conversion rate.
Your conversion rate is the percentage of visitors who take a desired action. If 100 people visit your store and 5 of them purchase something, your conversion rate is 5%. The reason why you should care about increasing your conversion rate is so you can generate more sales from the same amount of traffic.
Conversion Rate = Number of Sales / Number of Visits
Here’s 10 tips:
Tip 1. Optimize your landing page
A landing page is a specific site with limited options for your visitors and a direct pathway to the conversion goal. Boost your e-commerce business and optimize your landing page either to click through to another page, generate leads or create relationships with your customers.
If you use banners to attract visitors, keep the same visual design from banner to landing page to keep the journey from the banner to your website consistent.
A common mistake is when your landing page offers a shopping cart or registration form immediately. Instead, link your visitors to a specific product to “warm up” a little bit and make them feel more comfortable before trying to convince them to make a purchase. Introduce your product with a beautiful picture and unique copy that will help you appear professional.
Tip 2. Try a single column layout.
One experiment showed a 681 percent increase in conversions when changing from a double column layout.
Tip 3. Keep categories simple
Though you may have a lot of products for different purposes, try to keep navigation quick and simple with precise labels. The longer visitors look for something, the less patient they are.
If you have many ideas how to vary your products, make a special edition and offer them occasionally. Not only this prevents your product from getting lost and going unacknowledged but it also adds extra exclusivity to it. Your shop is your business, not a gallery. According to the research, people don’t want to be overwhelmed by products. When it comes to complex consumer behavior, simplicity sells. Keep this rule also for your website and communication.
AngelFlorist selling flowers and accessories online solved the navigation easily and clearly. In the line offer, you can choose the category according to the main purpose why you want to buy flowers. The vertical panel offers a simple list of detailed items.
Tip 4. Be unique
Give your unique product a unique name. If you create lavender pillows (and you are probably not the only one) make it different for your brand. You can call it something like “Herbal Meadow — sleeping cushions” – this implies your product’s purpose. Promote its features in a detailed description. Mention the materials and hand-planted herbs used to increase interest. You may have the best product ever, but that doesn’t mean anything unless you can prove it to your customers.
Tip 5. Use high-quality pictures
If you dare, make your own original photos but remember to maintain high quality. Use images to demonstrate what the product really looks like. Zoom pictures in detail so customers have no doubts about the quality — this will increase your credibility. Take the photo with individual accessories also found in your store and recommend them. Inspire your audience and show situations, even absurd ones, where the product may be used. The power of images in terms of conversion rate optimization is a specific chapter worth studying.
Tip 6. Offer good customer support
If possible, use live chat and be online for your customers. They will value your presence in case they need advice or some additional explanation. To avoid these situations, write supplementary descriptions of the product, shipping and payment methods.
Tip 7. Offer more payment methods
Not all customers are comfortable using credit cards. Let them pay via alternative methods. These options may vary according to website provider or country. Do research on which payment methods your prospects prefer. Some may also need to print out an invoice or at least save the shopping cart items.
Tip 8. Set return policies clearly
Reassure your customers with a clear product return policy. Write it clearly so that there are no misunderstandings between you and your customer.
Go through your store and the whole buying process. Pay attention to whether you feel comfortable and also note elements which could be improved. Apply your own experience and make your store a trustworthy, friendly and unique place to which your customers like to revisit.
Tip 9. Shorten the number of days to conversion
Offer coupons or give discounts with expiry dates. If people know they have a chance to save money this week only, they are more likely to purchase than if they have a coupon which expires in six months. This comes from their natural fear of missing out on deal. You can easily check out if these special offers work and if their popularity differs among different customer groups.
Tip 10. Get user reviews
There’s no doubt that costumer reviews are extremely influential when it comes to helping people make purchase decisions. In fact, according to a study by Zendesk, 88 percent of respondents said their buying decisions were influenced by positive and negative reviews.