13 ways to increase your store's conversion rate

Enhancing your online sales can be achieved by focusing on two crucial factors, increasing website traffic and elevating the conversion rate. While many marketers prioritize attracting website visitors, such as through social media or email marketing campaigns, the most effective approach to driving sales is by improving your average conversion rate, which measures the percentage of visitors who actually make a purchase.

Here are some strategies to gather insights about the user experience on your ecommerce site and the ideas that can stem from this data:

Engage with Your Customers

Some of the most valuable insights into increasing conversions come from direct conversations with your customers. Rather than solely relying on quantitative data, consider conducting formal customer interviews where you can ask questions like, Why did you decide to purchase this product? What feature of the product mattered most to you? Were there any concerns or issues during the purchase process? You can also gather insights from customers and other site visitors by implementing on-site surveys or chat tools. These can provide, Questions about your product that your site may not adequately address. Insights about your value proposition, which might differ from what you initially assumed.

Define Your Website’s Objectives

Tracking and measuring your success is essential to understand if your conversion rate is improving. Begin by establishing clear goals for your website and what actions you consider as conversions, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter. Analyze past performance over various time frames to set realistic but ambitious goals. Continuously monitor your progress against these goals through site analytics. Example conversion rate goals; Increase website conversions by 10% within six months. Raise the conversion rate from 1.5% to 2% by the end of Q4. Generate 500 additional conversions per month.

Analyze Your Website’s Data

Utilize concrete data to gain insights into user behavior and make informed decisions free from selection or memory bias. While a customer's feedback can be valuable, the most crucial data point is your conversion rate. To gain insights, segment and compare data by page and by traffic channel. Tools like Google Analytics are commonly used for this purpose. Segmenting by pages helps identify top-performing pages and potential reasons for their success. Analyzing user behavior can help establish an ecommerce conversion funnel. Segmenting by traffic channels helps understand which types of web traffic are most likely to convert. This information can shape your traffic strategy to attract more high-quality visitors.

Address Website Friction Points

Every website has friction points that can hinder user experience. Quantify these friction points by: Measuring the most viewed FAQs on your website and optimizing their content. Reviewing scroll depth and heat map reports to identify where users drop off. Analyzing purchase funnel drop-offs compared to benchmarks.

Enhance Your Value Proposition

A compelling value proposition plays a vital role in driving conversions. Conduct A/B tests to refine your value proposition by experimenting with different taglines in ad copy or on-site copy changes. Tools like Google Optimize can aid in testing copy variations directly on your site.

Audit Your Technical Setup

Technical issues, such as slow page loading times, poor mobile optimization, and broken links, can impede conversion rates. Use tools like GTMetrix for page speed analysis, Google's mobile compatibility test, and Screaming Frog to check for broken links. Test your ideas through A/B testing to validate their impact on conversions.

Incorporate Social Proof with Reviews and Testimonials

Reviews and testimonials add credibility and trustworthiness to your brand. Implement them by adding relevant reviews to product pages, encouraging video reviews, or dedicating a separate page to reviews.

Simplify Navigation

Facilitate product discovery for shoppers by offering an easy-to-use search feature. Consider adding rich features like image-based search, recommended products, and search result suggestions to enhance the shopping experience. Integrate Live Chat Implementing a live chat feature, whether staffed by real individuals or automated, can address shopper inquiries in real-time and keep them engaged on your site.

A/B Test the Purchase Journey

Optimize conversion rates by A/B testing various elements of the buying journey, such as product photos, calls-to-action, guest checkout options, review placements, and product descriptions.

Send Abandoned Cart Emails

Recover potential sales by sending abandoned cart emails, reminding visitors of their interest in your products and possibly offering incentives or social proof.

Streamline Checkout Forms

Keep checkout forms concise to reduce friction. Collect only necessary information and consider options like progress bars or one-click checkouts.

Offer Incentives

Attract bargain-seeking shoppers with incentives like free shipping or discounts for first-time buyers or high cart values.

Establish a Clear Returns Policy

Provide peace of mind to shoppers by outlining a transparent returns policy, reassuring them that they can return products if they don't meet their expectations.