As an online store owner, there’s nothing more frustrating than seeing visitors leave without making a purchase.
After all the work you’ve done to get traffic to your website, it would be nice to see your efforts pay off. Unfortunately, the odds are stacked against you when it comes to e-commerce conversions
According to statistics, the overall conversion rate across multiple devices in the e-commerce sector sits at a measly 3.3 percent.
Even if you have top-notch products, there are other factors that can make or break a customer’s purchase decision. At times, they may leave due to internet connectivity issues, insufficient product information, concerns about security, problems with their payment processor, and so on.
The good news is, there are many ways to increase conversions on an online store. Some of them are so simple, even a solopreneur can single-handedly pull them off.
In this post, we have rounded up the top four strategies that will help boost conversions on your e-commerce site.
1. Optimize Your Website’s Speed
An online store’s performance is one of the things most brands tend to overlook.
Statistics show that 40 percent of online shoppers would abandon a website that takes over three seconds to load.
That’s nearly half of your potential customers lost before they get the chance to add products to their cart.
To figure out ways to improve your website’s loading speed, you can start with a performance optimization tool like GTmetrix. Simply enter your website’s URL and click “Analyze.”
As a non-developer, some of these suggestions may sound alien to you. But rather than hiring someone else to do the heavy lifting, you can take on the challenges yourself.
GTmetrix can help you with this by offering a library of learning resources for each recommendation. For example, if you want to learn how to leverage browser caching, click on the “down arrow” to reveal more information.
2. Understand Your Customers
The content on your online store plays a pivotal role in winning your customers’ trust.
Everything — from your product page copy to the occasional blog post — must be tailored to their specific needs. It should address their pain points, use a language they’re familiar with, and offer insights that establish your position as an authoritative brand in your niche.
To accomplish any of these goals, you should create buyer personas that can help your content development team stay on the same page. A tool like MakeMyPersona by HubSpot will help simplify this process by asking fundamental questions regarding your target customers.
Remember, you can never be too thorough when creating buyer personas for your e-commerce business. Spare no detail that can help you mold an effective content strategy that resonates with your ideal customer, including their job, hobbies, age, and location.
Google Forms can also help you design surveys that allow you to collect information about your customers. It features a drag-and-drop interface that makes it easy to create questions in different formats, like multiple choice, checkboxes, and even file uploads.
When promoting your survey, below are a few distribution tactics you can implement:
- Use an email marketing platform to automate an after-purchase email that includes the link to your survey.
- Run a Facebook Ad campaign that promotes your survey to users who match your buyer persona.
- Incentivize the survey with freebies, coupon codes, and other exclusive benefits.
3. Target Quality Traffic with Long-Tail Keywords
There are three types of online queries that consumers perform: informational, navigational, and transactional.
An informational query is when a user looks for information mainly for research purposes. Although some marketers consider them as marketing-qualified leads, they often have a long way to go before they become qualified customers.
A navigational query, however, is done by users who already know the specific brand or product they’re looking for. This means they will include the name of a product, company, or person in their search — making them difficult to acquire as leads unless they are already looking for you in the first place.
Lastly, transactional queries are normally made by leads who could already be in a shopping mode. Their searches include commercial or action-based keywords like “sale,” “price,” “affordable,” and “shop.”
That’s why you should target transactional keywords when planning a marketing or advertising campaign. Rather than going for head terms like “3D printer,” target long-tail variations like “cheap 3D printer for sale” or anything similar.
You can look for viable long-tail keyword ideas with a tool like Ubersuggest. To use it, simply enter a seed keyword or any term that’s relevant in your niche and click “Look Up.”
On the results page, use the “Filter Results” tool to scrape off keyword suggestions that contain terms that pertain to transactional queries.
Of course, keyword research isn’t an exact science.
A general rule of thumb is to balance a keyword’s competitiveness with its traffic potential. But if you really want keywords you can leverage for more conversions, you need to focus on the intent behind their use to pull in quality leads.
4. Optimize Your Product Pages
In conversion rate optimization, you can’t ignore the importance of page design and its impact on user experience.
For this, many marketers follow one simple mindset when making design decisions: reduce distractions and highlight key conversion elements.
Ads, pop-up offers, outbound links — anything that can take your customers’ attention away from your page must be reduced if not removed completely. Important elements, on the other hand, should be emphasized in your design.
Here are some of the most important conversion elements you need to prioritize:
- Accurate and Complete Pricing Information
Customers dislike unpleasant surprises, especially if it comes in the form of unexpected shipping fees and additional charges. - Eye-Catching Headline
To make the most out of the first few seconds of a customer’s visit, grab their attention with a punchy and impactful headline. Try to keep it short and focused on the benefits of owning your product. - High-Quality Product Images
Product images help keep your audience’s eyes on the page. Don’t forget to use a lossless compression tool like TinyPNG or io to prevent your visuals from slowing your site down. - Visible Call-To-Action Buttons
In an online store, a CTA’s job is to encourage customers to take action after the product copy gets their attention. Be sure it contrasts against the background and has readable text. - Include Elements that Build Trust
If available, feature positive product reviews, customer testimonials, and trust badges to build your customers’ confidence.
Conclusion
Building a successful online store doesn’t happen overnight. But with the right strategies, any brand — regardless of brand or budget — is capable of sustainable and profitable results.
The strategies above should help you generate more sales for your online store. If you have any questions please feel free to reach out to us today.
