E-commerce conversion rate: 10 Useful Ideas to Improve it

Your e-commerce site’s customer experience is at least as crucial as the value of your goods or the effectiveness of your customer care. The creation of your e-commerce site is only the first step of the adventure and many optimizations are then to be put in place.

Indeed, the interactions of the visitor with your site will greatly motivate his choice to make purchases or not.

Luckily, there are a number of simple design ideas you can implement to improve your customer experience, boost your sales, and improve your conversion rate.

What is the e-commerce conversion rate?

An e-commerce site’s conversion rate is a crucial metric. This KPI (Key Performance Indicator) corresponds to the ratio between the number of transactions and the total number of visitors to the site, over a given period.

Calculation of the conversion rate of an e-commerce site = (number of purchases from the e-commerce site / total number of visitors to the e-commerce site) x 100.

The conversion rate is an essential tool to position yourself face to face the competition. This ratio also has the advantage of helping you set challenges and adapt your sales and marketing strategy. Being aware that you may track this statistic directly in your Google Analytics account will make it simple for you to determine your e-commerce site’s conversion rate.

Also read: 4 Quick Tips To Boost The Success Of Your Business

Here are some strategies you may use to boost your e-commerce conversion rate and persuade visitors to make purchases from you.

1) Limit visible products

As a study by a University researcher showed,  a more limited product selection can increase sales by 9 times.

But what if you have hundreds or even thousands of things for sale on your website?

First, if you cannot limit the number of products actually for sale on your site, you can limit the number of articles that your customers can see: spread your articles over several pages and do not display hundreds of a blow. Of course, sort them by categories.

You should select and highlight your articles:

• Most bought: by highlighting the most popular articles, you indicate to the visitors that they can buy these products without hesitation, and you do not lose them in the middle of thousands of articles;
• Having received many opinions: online buyers refer a lot to the opinions of other Internet users. Combine that with a limited selection, and you get boosted sales.

Be careful, and make consistent selections with similar products: otherwise, it will look like a random list of products.

2) Balance text and images

If the images are very important in the choice of a product, they should not be abused: too many photos kill the photo.

On your product sheets, it is therefore useless to display dozens of photos.

In addition, the text remains a preferred way for online customers to make their decision: do not neglect it.

To find the best balance between text and images, the best is still to carry out A/B testing to optimize your site.

3) Don’t choose just any color

Far from being merely decorative and aesthetic, colors have a real psychological impact on your visitors, and in particular on their decision-making.

While not everyone has the same sensitivity to colors, the one that is generally the most appreciated is blue, as this study showed.

Purple is more successful for women, but far less effective for men: a color to explore if you primarily stock feminine products.

Green is a wonderful color for things geared toward men.

4) Put safety first

55% of people are reluctant to buy from sites that don’t have trust seals – these are visuals that show the site is secure and trustworthy.

It is therefore essential to have security certificates and to highlight them, especially at crucial times: shopping cart, payment page, etc. Otherwise, you will have trouble gaining the trust of Internet users.

5) Make the search bar close at hand.

When someone visits your e-commerce site, they want to find what they’re looking for quickly.

Without a search bar or if it is not very visible, your customers may not linger long on your site.

Not all content management systems let you easily customize your online store’s look and functionality. Sometimes, you’ll need professional assistance, such as Shopify development services. Then, you can be sure that your online store provides the best user experience, and your customers can find necessary items fast.

6) Offer filters

Once your customer has found your search bar, they still need to be able to do a precise search: most products come in different sizes, colors, and materials… And your customer must be able to find exactly what they want. wants.

As a result, it is critical to provide a simple and practical filter system.

7) Take advantage of suggested retail prices

The recommended price is a reference on which the customer will base himself to evaluate the interest in buying a product on your site.

By always showing the suggested price crossed out next to your own price, as Amazon does, you give the feeling that you are offering a good deal to your customer.

8) Show payment steps

Payment is the most crucial moment in e-commerce, and it is also the phase where many cart abandonments take place.

One of the reasons for this occurrence is the length or difficulty of the payment.

It is therefore very useful to clearly show the stages of payment and their progress to reduce the risk that the customer leaves without having purchased.

9) Simplify the buying process as much as possible

Improving your e-commerce conversion rate requires making the purchasing process as easy as possible. To do this, multiply the possibilities of making contact and display them clearly: live chat, telephone number, and email address. Thus, your user will have the answer to his question directly and will be less tempted to abandon his basket.

Simplifying the purchasing process also requires providing as much information as possible on the products and services sold. If your customer has a doubt or a question, he will be discouraged if he cannot find the information he wants. Conversely, if you clearly display as much information as possible: price, stock, shipping costs, and characteristics, you put the odds on your side. In addition, put several photos to show your product or service, or even better, put a video.

When finalizing the order, simplify the life of your Internet users as much as possible. Offer several registration methods: the social profile, email, Google account, or guest. For the account creation form, ask only the minimum number of questions, otherwise you risk annoying your user. It goes without saying that you need to offer several payments and delivery options.

10) Relaunch Internet users after a shopping cart abandonment

Shopping cart abandonment affects 75% of shopping carts filled online. The follow-up email is a very effective retargeting technique to improve your post-cart abandonment conversion rate.

If the Internet user leaves his basket, this does not necessarily mean the end of the shopping journey for him. Many visitors leave the website for lack of time, but keep their purchase plans in mind.

Various techniques work to increase the effectiveness of the abandon cart email and improve the e-commerce conversion rate. First of all, it is good to send a first email within an hour of abandoning the cart, because the purchase project is still fresh in the consumer’s head. 

It is recommended to send two other follow-up emails, with a minimum interval of 24 hours between each email, to refresh the memory and motivate the Internet user to return to your site. For an effective follow-up email, focus on a photo of the product that will immerse the customer in their online purchase.

A great way to nudge your customer into action is to offer them a discount code. And for good reason, the amount of the product or the delivery costs may be deemed too high by the Internet user. 

A little financial boost can be enough to make him buy what you sell. Important point: do not offer the promotion to all customers, only to new ones. Otherwise, former customers could get into the habit of always waiting for the follow-up email.

Also, add elements of reassurance in your email. Reinsurance can relate to return policies, payment, warranties, company strengths, etc. Do not forget to highlight your contact details so that the Internet user can contact you in case of questions.

Take advantage of your follow-up email to offer other products or services that may interest your prospects, thanks to cross-selling and up-selling techniques. Cross-selling plays on the prospect of additional sales in the same range, while up-selling aims to move upmarket. You may be able to bring your customer back to your site and even, why not, increase their average basket.

E-commerce conversion rate: 2022-2023 trends

Currently, a major trend is the intensification of efforts by e-commerce sites for more ecological online sales. Products that respect the environment, fair trade, second-hand, upcycling, “made in India”, vegan products, etc., have never been so successful. If you make efforts on this site, it is essential to highlight it on your website to obtain better conversion rates.

Adapting the e-commerce site to voice search is also a big trend. Internet users are increasingly doing their research with Siri, Cortana, and OK Google. To adapt your website to voice search, adopt conversational language on your site and favor article titles in interrogative form.

Questions are the most used voice searches. Optimizing your site for voice search also involves adopting good SEO (Search Engine Optimization) practices, writing quality content, and improving the download speed of site pages.

Providing a mobile-responsive site is also an ongoing trend, as mobile searches increase more and more each year. To have a responsive e-commerce site, make sure that the presentation of the site is clear with intuitive navigation. 

Avoid large visual elements for adaptation on a mobile screen, pop-ups are also to be avoided. The Call-to-Action buttons greatly improve the readability of the site.

Storytelling and authenticity also continue to be trendy. The values ​​of the company, the know-how, the history of the company and the employees are assets to highlight on your e-commerce site. 

By emphasizing authenticity and playing on emotions with storytelling, your Internet users will better understand your brand and more easily buy your products or services.

Our Tip

With these ten suggestions, you may improve the user experience of your e-commerce site and thereby increase sales.