Pro Tips to Boost Your E-Commerce Conversion Rates

You have set up an online store for your business. You are getting hoards of customers visiting your website, availing its services and buying your products. You have taken the correct path. 

Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it?

That’s because it is. Not every customer who visits your website ends up making a purchase. Statistics state that the average conversion rates of e-commerce stores across industries in the second quarter of 2019 were just 2.8%. Trust me, you have the potential to make your brand and its website stand out if you strategically implement a few advanced tips to boost your site’s conversion rate.

If you need help with building a highly converting E-commerce website for your business or getting more ROI out of your existing website, our team of experts can surely help you out!

Tip 1: Split test different elements

Once you have created your website, you have to ensure that a maximum number of customers who visit your site converts. By adopting the split-testing strategy, you will be able to conduct an evaluation of what’s attracting customers and what’s not. 

Split testing compares several versions of different elements on your landing page or web pages. It helps you to identify which version of that particular element has the better conversion rate.

Evaluation of these elements are absolutely necessary:

• The overall layout of the landing page.
• Elements of CTAs such as the text, button shape, size, colour and placement have a huge impact on the conversion rates.
• The kind of images being used, especially on the landing page.
• The quality of body content as well as its placement.
• The structure of the checkout process, since it’s the last stage before the conversion takes place.
• The incentives being provided, like discount coupons, offers and free shipping.

By split testing the elements, you will be able to improvise accordingly. You will be able to see a significant rise in the number of viewers who convert, boosting your sales.

Tip 2: Keep your navigation simple and efficient

You don’t want your customers to get lost in a maze on your website. They will mostly lose interest and exit your site, bringing down your conversion rate.

Turn your attention towards this example of a giant e-commerce store like Sephora.

  Image source: sephora.in

By keeping the navigation bar at the top of the screen, customers will easily be able to find the sub-category of the product they are searching for. They will be able to easily explore the content of those categories.

It’s important to note that if your customer is looking for a specific product, your page should have a systematic layout of the products and be optimized accordingly, just like the one below.

Image source: sephora.in

It’s essential to have your products’ pages kept neat and systematic, along with the information and description presented in a way that satisfies your customer’s search queries.

It’s vital to keep your customer’s engagement with your website consistent and flowing if you want them to convert at the end.

Tip 3: Adopt the correct pricing strategy

Marketers make a common mistake whilst setting up their online websites. They often follow an incorrect pricing technique which makes customers turn away from purchasing your products. By using the below psychological pricing strategy, you will be able to see a considerable improvement in your conversion rates.

• The Anchoring Effect – It displays a regular retail price and then offers a reduced price for the same item.
• The Decoy Effect – It enhances our perception of the value of an item by keeping it alongside a disproportionately priced item.
• The Serial Position Effect – It describes the way in which information is presented in a series. People are most likely to retain information present at the start and the end.
• The Centre Stage Effect – It describes the direction of attention towards the centre when they are presented with a limited number of choices.

Tip 4: Let your customers shop via social platforms

Social media platforms are extremely popular amongst today’s tech-savvy population. Keeping this in mind, if you are looking to increase your brand’s engagement with potential customers, social platforms like Instagram and Facebook prove to be amongst the best. 

Many companies are adopting the strategy of directly selling their products to customers on social platforms, and you should too. 

• With proper advertising and a strategic outreach on these platforms, your brand’s conversion rate is likely to increase, since there are higher chances that the viewer will get to know about your brand’s products via a social media platform than any other source.
• You have to ensure that from the point the customer views your product, the process to buy it is as easy and seamless as possible. 
• Include a link in your bio which will directly take the customer to the checkout page, making it fast and efficient.

Image source: Zara Official (Instagram)

Take this example of product marketing by Zara on Instagram. They have advertised the product, stated the price and provided a tab which will direct them to the company’s website. Moreover, they have also displayed more products falling in the same category, so that the viewer has multiple options and may end up buying more.

By doing so, you are almost guaranteeing a conversion of a viewer into a purchaser.

Tip 5: Utilize Influencer marketing

The traditional advertising methods have taken a backseat and the influencer method has called shotgun. Influencers have a loyal fan base who usually trust their opinions more than any ad’s and that is why influencer marketing gives results. They can aid you to market your brand, its products and expand your brand’s reach. 

When you take the help of influencer marketing, you have to keep a few things in mind since it’s a person who is promoting your brand, not computer software. The positive effects of such can be tremendous on your business. 

• Select the right influencer to promote your brand. Analyze their field of focus and determine whether it matches with yours or not. Also, keep a mix of popular influencers and micro-influencers. Although popular influencers might advertise your product to a larger crowd, micro-influencers have more of personal bonding with their followers.
• Check out which social media platforms they use and the content they create and promote. The platform and content should promote your brand’s products in the best way possible, so as to influence the audience to engage with you.
• The type of influencers should be a mix consisting of small-scale and large-scale ones. This will ensure the cost-effectiveness of your sales whilst engaging with a larger audience.
• Provide customized discount codes for coupons and offers to your influencers can aid them to persuade their followers to buy your products. Displaying such offers make for an extremely compelling value proposition.
• Keep actively monitoring your influencers’ performances, as you can then suggest making changes to their campaigns accordingly.

Image source: Natasha Shrotri (Instagram)

When a popular influencer like Natasha Shrotri who has a huge group of followers advertises herself using a brand new product by a beauty line ‘GlamGlow’, people will be tempted to try it out themselves.

You can see why influencer marketing aids in the increase in your conversion rates. Strategically employing the same can help boost your sales tremendously.

Tip 6: Being informative is key

Establishing the bond of trust with your customer is of utmost importance. They have to be convinced that you, your brand and its products are genuine and trustworthy. 

You should keep these points in mind while doing so :

• When you are selling a certain product of yours online, the customer is not able to physically touch or evaluate it personally. Hence, it’s your duty to ensure that the description of your products is detail-oriented and elaborate. 
• No one knows your products and its features better than you do. By tactically selling those features to your customers aids in their purchase, thus increasing the conversion rate. Make sure you explain how your product differs from those of other companies. Customers are looking for aspects which are unique, sustainable and efficient. If you are able to provide these, it’s a closed deal.
• Providing a FAQ with detailed answers pertaining to specific product queries also helps in imparting information on the same. Your customers want to know as much about your products as possible, before making the purchase or availing the service. 

Image source: amazon.in

Here, Amazon, as an online e-commerce store, is advertising a product of Apple and displaying the essential features of the product in a systematic manner. The viewer is able to grasp it in one go.

Images sources: amazon.in

Just below that page, Amazon provides an elaborate description of the features for the benefit of the customer. And, oh, wait. Amazon goes a step ahead by comparing three different models of the same product, enabling the customer to purchase the best one.

Additionally, you should also provide accurate details regarding payment options, shipping fees, service taxes and extra costs. There’s no need to hide these “extra costs”  because it might make your customers lose trust in you and your company’s services. Building their trust and acting upon it should be your top-most priority.

Tip 7: Display social proof

Nowadays, shoppers take heed of online reviews as much as recommendations from friends and family, sometimes more. They are interested in reading what the fellow users have to say about the product that they are going to buy. 

• Encourage your customers to read product reviews, see the star ratings and also to add their own comments once they have purchased a specific product. 
• Reviews enhance the credibility of your products and services, increasing the value proposition of your company.
•  You might get a few negative reviews if the user is not satisfied with your product, but reviews are subjective. All reviews cannot be rosy red. It just makes your comments seem false. This proves that your reviews are real and legitimate. 

But it’s important to keep in mind that the positive reviews heavily outweigh your negative ones.

Image source: amazon.in

A review like the one above proves to be quite useful for a customer who is looking to buy the same product as it’s quite a descriptive one, allowing the customer to understand what its real-life uses are.

Image source: amazon.in

Plus, the store has provided the star ratings, images and keywords to make it easier for the customer to make the purchase, based on feedback and reviews.

Expert testimonials add another feather to the hat. It adds more authenticity and credibility to your products and services.

Tip 8: Use discounts, offers and sales to your advantage

Our brains are somehow wired to be attracted to exciting offers. You can use this to your advantage by giving out special discount coupons, codes and offers to your potential customers. This will make them speed up their purchasing process. 

Trust me, no one wants to miss out on any sales items that are available for a much lesser price than on any other site.

Using certain tactics like the ones below aids in the conversion of the customers 

• Displaying a time limit or deadline after which the offer or discount on a certain product expires can instil a sense of urgent buying in the customer.
• Showing that there’s a definite number of a certain product left in stock mostly compels the viewer to make the purchase immediately.
• Providing exclusive offers or discounts to your customers on special occasions will certainly appeal to them.
• Offering to ship products free of cost proves to be an exciting incentive. You may think that this might incur losses but it will not. You can raise the prices of your items so that the shipping charges get built into the base prices. If customers see an additional cost at the time of checkout, other than what they saw initially, it will end up negatively impacting your conversions. 

You can charge them for shipping in cases like one-day delivery.

• Using pop-up forms is also another way of showcasing any offers, discounts on specific products and acts as a reminder of the products in their carts.

Image source: myntra.in

 Forever New, on Myntra, is giving a discount, creating a sense of urgency with limited stock and also providing an EMI option. Offers like these are extremely hard to resist. A customer would instantly add it to the cart and purchase the product.

The phrase “don’t let a golden opportunity pass by” seems quite applicable in such scenarios, to the customers.

Tip 9: Set up different payment options

E-commerce is all about digital transactions. It wouldn’t work without it. 

• Hence, you have to make sure that your site is customized to accept any form of online payment options, ranging from MasterCard to PayPal. If a user does not find a payment option suitable to his personal convenience, he will navigate away to another site which caters to his personal needs. It’s as simple as that.
• You have to research, find out the kind of options your target consumers tend to use and include it in the options. This is another stepping stone in ensuring an increase in your conversion rates.

Tip 10: Simplify the checkout process

One of the top reasons that customers leave the website before making the final purchase is that the checkout process turns out to be too complicated. Thus, you have to simplify the checkout process for the customer. 

Adopting certain methods like :

• Keeping a single page checkout whilst asking for only essential information from the user.
• Skip the mandatory sign up as all users do not have the patience to subscribe to your newsletters or create an account before buying the products.
• Leave a guest checkout option. Not every user wants to create an account before making the purchase. However, you can encourage your customers by providing incentives if they create an account
• Make your forms easy to fill using Google Autofill. Many customers use Chrome as their browser and this can work to your advantage as Google will automatically fill in the user’s information, saving them from unnecessary trouble.
•  You can utilize the checkout page for upselling other products. You could offer a “buy-one-get-a-discount” proposition, suggest a few related products based on the present cart as well as the cart’s value. This technique will make the customer want to buy more than he had originally intended to.
• Emphasize on free shipping, returns and security features since that will appeal more to the customer than all the other aspects.

By following these simple steps and integrating them in your site, you will see a significant rise in your conversion rate as it is a much more user-friendly and effective approach.

Tip 11: Customer Service to the rescue

If a customer has any queries or issues, there’s no physical being he can turn to, like at a store. Having an elaborate description of your products may not always satisfy the customer. And customers can explore your site any time, irrespective of it being day or night.

Thus, provide several customer service representative options like

• Helpline number
• Live chat with a representative or expert. This will not be effective unless you have representatives available to answer and respond to queries round the clock. Also, keep your live chat box only on the checkout page as it might be a distraction if it appears on all the pages. Moreover, the checkout page brings most of the queries and doubts.
• Direct e-mail to the users who have an account and have subscribed to your newsletters etc.

Resolving their queries and problems quickly will establish a direct line of communication and faith with your customer. Providing world-class services to your customers makes them trust you and your brand. This will make them engage with your brand in the future as well and work wonders for your conversion rates.

Image source: samsung.com

Samsung provides an option of a 24/7 live chat, enabling customers to contact customer care whenever they want. This displays the efficiency of the company and their desire to provide their customers with the best results possible.

Additionally, display your company’s address, phone number and fax, along with a short description of you and your company, on the website. This puts in a personal touch which your customers will connect with, alongside adding authenticity to your company.

Tip 12: Retarget your lost customers

Bringing customers who left your site mid-way, or right at the end of the checkout process without completing it is critical in order to convert them. When you target this particular spectrum of customers, your customer acquisition rates lower and your chances of converting them go up.

You can retarget your audience by running the below-mentioned campaigns:

• Using Google Ads to repeatedly expose your customers to your website. You have to optimize your ad by including eye-catching visuals, clean copy and clear CTA buttons. One needs to consistently use this strategy to make them keep visiting his website. 
• Social media platforms are the best tools for retargeting as the chances of exposure are more. Using platforms like Instagram and Facebook to display ads with alluring offers prove to be extremely effective in making the viewers visit your website once again.
• Sending reminder emails inclusive of exciting incentives such as discount coupons, free shipping etc.

Tip 13: Follow up on cart abandonments via email

At times, due to unforeseen circumstances, shoppers tend to leave the site even though the cart is filled with products. To increase conversion rates, you have to reduce the cart abandonment rates.

One of the most effective ways to do this is to send reminders via email. The shopper was obviously interested to buy your products, but the checkout didn’t go through.

Sending a reminder may act as a trigger for them to complete the process. 

The point is to recover lost sales, and you can do this by including the following points in your email :

• Offer an exciting discount on the purchases.
• Mention a free shipping offer.
• Make a personal connection via the use of informal and persuasive language.
• Provide a direct link to return to the checkout page, along with a clear display of cart items.

When a customer receives such an email filled with enticing offers from your company, he will surely complete the purchases in a jiffy. This technique will work wonders on your conversion rates.

Are you ready?

If you have an e-commerce business, you want to make it as successful and productive as possible. Optimizing your website and services to increase conversion rates is of foremost importance.

There’s always scope for improvement in all aspects of life. This applies to your business as well. Ensuring regular optimization increases your business’s revenue, especially when it starts catering to the specific needs of the customers. Implementing these above tips will surely aid in increasing your conversion rates. You have to keep testing elements of your website to find what works best for you and keep making the necessary changes. Although this is a gradual process, it brings in amazing results.

If it sounds too confusing, we would love to help you out. Hire us, and see the change.

So, what are you waiting for? Get on it right away.