Are you ready to convert more visitors into customers? If you are running an online store, you want to sell more. After all, that’s the purpose of your online business, right? Your ultimate goal is to sell more than what you are doing now, so you’ll need to optimize your eCommerce website.
Optimizing your eCommerce site is crucial to significantly increase your conversion rate which is something that the right eCommerce conversion rate optimisation agency can make a huge impact. Right now, thousands of businesses are selling products just like yours. In fact, there are an estimated 12-24 million eCommerce websites in the world. And 1.3 million eCommerce websites are in the United States alone.
As the numbers show, the competition in the eCommerce industry is very high. But not all of them are selling in millions. You can stand out and beat your competitors by applying a few tricks to your website. Staying on top takes a lot of work and experimentation.
Today I am going to take you step-by-step through the eCommerce hacks that will help you double your conversion rates, get more customers and make more sales.
-
Load faster
The first and most important part of conversion optimization is to make your website load faster. A one-second delay could cost eCommerce giant Amazon $1.6 billion in sales.
The point is, you don’t have millions of visitors like Amazon. However, speed is still important for you to scale your eCommerce business. Waiting for a website to load is one of the most frustrating things In the online world. So you simply have to get it fast and avoid low-speed pages on your site.
Here are a few things you can do right now to complete the need for speed.
Test Your Speed
The first step is to figure out the load time of your website. Know where you are and then you can decide where you want to go. Go to Google page speed, this free tool shows you the loading speed of your website on desktop and mobile phone. If your website speed is not in the green category, try the following techniques to improve it.
Optimize images
Images are everything for an eCommerce site. And for online businesses, I recommend using high-quality images for better conversions and customer experience. But they also come at a cost and slow down your website speed. It takes longer to load if you have not optimized your product images for the web.
To do this, you can use any online tool to optimize your images for the web and mobile without compromising on the image quality. My favorite tool is TinyPNG which is a free tool and it works well if you don’t want to spend money on other tools.
-
Improve product pages
The product page is where your visitors make the important decisions of leaving your page or buying the product. Improving the product page is the most important part to drive sales to your website.
But before completing this task, you need to think more about making a great product that is worth buying. Ask yourself “what value does my product provide to the buyer”?
Now you should create good-looking, compelling product pages to provide the best experience to your customers. Even the best product won’t sell if the product page is not designed with the interest of your visitor.
Here are some tips to optimize your product pages to increase your conversion rates.
Clear Design – Do Not Confuse
In the early days of the internet, websites would look so boring and noisy. The problem with those websites was that there was no clear call to action and the quality of the design was poor. In 2021, making a clean, beautiful, and user-friendly website is a piece of cake.
To make your website design clean and user-friendly, there are hundreds of themes available. Choose a theme that makes your website attractive. I suggest writing a clear call to action so visitors can easily understand what you are asking them to do. Not everyone is in the auto industry, but Tesla is doing a great job on their website to help visitors find their favorite car.
They are using high-quality images, keeping it simple but having a clear design.
Make it easy to navigate, filter, and search for products that people want to check out. These are all great things to attract customers to purchase a product.
Add a 360-Degree View of Your Product
A 360-degree view of a product shows all sides and angles of the product to the visitor. To introduce a product effectively, there is nothing better than a 360-degree view. Whatever product you are selling, the goal is to provide a clear view to the visitor.
Write a Perfect Product Description
Every time you start writing the description of the product, keep two things in mind.
- Search Engine Optimization
- Your Customer
Writing for one of them will hurt the other. So write an SEO-friendly description that is unique, informative, and compelling.
One of the things that I have noticed is that most websites stay focused on SEO only. While their customers are humans. So you need to write content that talks to the visitor in a conversational tone.
-
The power of power words
A power word is a word that creates a desire for action in the reader’s mind. Copywriters use these words to make the reader respond to what they are presenting in front of them.
Power words are the secret between the writer and the reader’s mind without letting him know. The list of power words is not limited to a few words. There are 700 power words that help to increase conversions.
Here are 4 evergreen power words that you must add to your copy.
Free
The most attractive word for everyone. A reader (customer) \ thinks several times before skipping this word.
You
You should talk to your readers as if it is a one on one meeting and you are talking only to them.
Limited Time
This word is going to make a customer feel hurried to make a decision. It’s an effective word to tell them what they will miss out on if they do not take action.
-
Be responsive
In 2021, more people than ever are using smartphone devices. If you wonder why everyone talks about mobile-friendly websites, just read the stats below:
- 3 billion smartphones are used worldwide
- 63% of Google searches come from mobile devices and it will increase in the future
- 61% of consumers say they are more likely to make a purchase on mobile-friendly websites
According to Google, your website needs to be responsive on those 3 billion devices. You will get more visitors from the traffic that comes from mobile.
That’s not the only benefit, it also helps your website rank higher on Google. You can sell more products to customers, offer services and increase your profit with a responsive website.
Start by using a responsive theme to make your eCommerce site responsive on different devices.
-
Use personalization
According to a study, 45% of online shoppers are more likely to buy from an eCommerce store that offers personalized recommendations. It means you are helping a visitor make a purchase decision and buy a product that suits them.
But how do you recommend personalized products? The answer is “collect data”. When it comes to personalization, the data of the user becomes everything. Use visitor history, social media analytics, a visitor’s location, traffic sources, and product category to get this step done.
-
Optimize for visual search
From text to voice search, it is time for visual search. The reason is that it is more user-friendly, targeted, and has a high chance of a conversion.
Visual search will continue to grow and become more popular. Gartner predicts that eCommerce brands that optimize for voice and visual search have the potential to increase profits by 30%. That is why a visual search strategy is critical for your online business.
If you are ready to optimize your content for visual search, check out these tips to help you get started.
Submit an image sitemap to Google
Submit an image sitemap to Google to make sure your product images have been indexed by Google.
Use Structured Data
Add your USPs and free shipping service in the product description. Add rich Pinterest pins to your website.
Optimize Images For Visual Search
Visual search needs a different image optimization strategy. You have to use targeted file names of your images. Also, make sure you add alt tags to your images. Your images must be on brand and have a clear focal point to help visual search platforms recognize them.
-
Run a flash sale
Flash sales are still an effective promotional strategy for brands. It is more like a limited-time offer but the idea here is to give an extra discount to a customer. That way you will have a very good chance of converting visitors into customers.
Keep in mind that every flash sale campaign is not going to be successful. You need to choose the right time, the right product-offer and the right customer to run a successful flash sale campaign.
Make sure an offer displays clearly on the homepage of your website. The reason is you don’t want to miss any visitor without knowing about the offer. A flash sale campaign creates urgency and asks customers to act quickly and not waste the opportunity.
Here are a few examples of brands using a flash sale as a strategy for more conversions.
-
Use bump offers for more conversions
What is a bump offer? A bump offer comes on the sales page right before the user is about to make the payment. It is not like an upsell which happens when someone has completed their 1st payment. It is a product offered right before the payment that helps to increase the average order value.
Here is a perfect example of a bump offer.
-
Tell who has bought your product
If your goal is to target new customers, then social proof is the best way to encourage visitors to buy a product. Let everyone know about people who have bought your product already. That way, you will make it easy for others to make a purchase decision.
Are reviews important?
Yup! Product reviews and ratings perform well in the process of buying a product. It is as important as a product description.
A review is a description written by the customer instead of the owner. A customer is more likely to purchase a product that has been reviewed and rated by shoppers.
If customers have not reviewed products on your site, use social media comments you receive about your product. In case your product is a new launch and it is new to the market, try to get some reviews or comments as soon as possible.
-
Make it simple
If you ask your visitors to create an account before making a purchase, think about it again. People don’t like complicated things. And your website should not be one more to the list. You need to help your visitor in the buying process. How?
By making the process super easy and simple. The buying process is the difference between a sale and an abandoned cart.
Here are some practical tips that you can implement right now to build trust, become friendly and helpful to your visitor and customer.
- Offer a guest checkout option
- Make your navigation simple
- Utilize categories for customers to find the exact product they are looking for
- Show the number of products in the cart
- Fix all 404 pages
Conclusion
In online business, customer experience is all that pays off. The better the customer experience you provide, the more conversions you will have. Try to get a visitor to the right product and offer in a quick, simple, and responsive way. To do this, use personalized recommendations, flash sale campaigns, product reviews, and a simple-beautiful website design.
Guest author: Sibghatullah is a blogger who mostly writes about entrepreneurship and business ideas on vefrant.com. Check his blog to get inspiration for your entrepreneurial journey.
