5 Ways to Take Your Ecommerce Conversion Rate From x to 2x
Taking your ecommerce conversion rate from x to 2x shouldn’t be super-hard. Here are some tips that can help.
From the Amazon, Zappos, and eBays of the world to the mom-and-pop stores with their first ecommerce stores, almost everybody with their online stores finds trouble with conversion.
In ecommerce, it is not bringing traffic to the website that is really challenging. It is always converting the traffic into paying customers that is the real challenge. However, to quote Charles R. Swindoll:
"We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations."
All the challenges of converting website traffic can be handled with creative and logical workarounds. And that is exactly what this blog is trying to unravel.
Let’s take a closer look at some ways to improve the ecommerce conversion rate.
1. Make it Easy to Make a Choice
We all agonize over making a choice. No surprise there that it is extremely difficult to make a choice when you are bombarded with options where each one looks or feels like a better choice. The fear of FOMO, the cost-benefit analysis, and a limited period offer, can all give any customer sweaty palms before making a buying decision.
Unfortunately, the same reason could also turn out to be why a majority of users end up abandoning your website making a purchase. How can you avert that scenario?
Make it is easy for them to make a choice.
Your ecommerce store is a virtual storefront. In a physical store, it is easy for customers to take a quick stroll and add to their carts what they wish to buy. In a virtual storefront, this can be replicated with the help of a simplified site structure. Design the store navigation and layout in a way that makes it easy for product discovery.
Source: https://www.visiture.com/blog/the-benefits-of-comparison-shopping-for-ecommerce-merchants/
In fact, 72 percent of Millennials research and shop their options online before going to a store or the mall. The same applies to an online store as well. Presenting the right choices, brands, or options can make a world of a difference to your conversion rate.
2. Bundle Related Products Together
Product bundling is a popular technique that can inflate the Average Order Value (AOV) of any ecommerce store. It was introduced to the world by McDonald’s with its Happy Meals. Instead of selling a single burger, McDonald’s bundles in french fries, and a beverage as a bundle. This makes it easy for customers to make a choice of a good meal.
Source: https://www.voucherify.io/blog/the-dark-side-of-the-product-bundling
From the business perspective, it gives more bang for the buck as more SKUs can be sold with the same order and to the same customers. Packing and delivery charges on the author can also be saved for all these orders. Furthermore, it also brings down inventory wastage which is one of the biggest challenges of all ecommerce players.
How can it help with your ecommerce conversion? Product bundles solve the problem that we discussed in the previous point. Product bundling makes it easy for customers to make a quick choice and it also offers them several products that are attuned to their wants. Product bundling creates a win-win situation for all.
3. Showcase Social Proof
In his 1984 book ‘Influence’, Robert Cialdini writes about social proof - a human psychological and social phenomenon where people imitate the actions of others in specific scenarios. Social proof works by leveraging the basic human instinct to seek validation and approval by following the choices of others. Also, there is an element of trust and credibility involved in the choices of others.
It is not surprising that we take the recommendations and suggestions of our near and dear ones at face value without thinking twice. This is also one sort of social proof in action.
In an online store, social proof can help in removing the barrier to making an online purchase. It can take the form of star ratings and text reviews that showcase how customers who already bought the product feel about it. Their opinions conveyed in the form of text and images can go a long way in convincing the prospect to make a new purchase.
4. Simplify the Checkout Process
One of the biggest enemies of ecommerce conversions is cart abandonment. The average cart abandonment rate hovers around 67%. Phrased differently, almost one-third of your website traffic reaches the payment page but does not result in a completed checkout.
There are several reasons why cart abandons could happen. Customers could be wary of the website’s security measures. They were confronted with unexpected shipping or process fees that cancel the price benefit. There could be endless other reasons as well.
This makes it necessary to simplify the checkout process. Connecting Stripe and Shopify or any other ecommerce tool helps to clear the payment process. An interesting story worth noticing would be the Amazon one-click ordering system. In a way, Amazon’s wildfire-like success can be rightly attributed to this checkout process that made it possible for users to place an order with one just click.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1-Click
Today, the system has become commonplace and is critical to a streamlined checkout process. The benefits are there to see as well. A streamlined checkout process will reduce cart abandonment and persuade users to shop more with your ecommerce store.
5. Ace the Customer Support Game
Let’s face it. There is no replacement for top-notch customer support. It is one element that will make customers stick to a brand and remain loyal to it even in the face of lucrative prices and offers from the competition.
Delivering personalized customer support can make any ecommerce store become a preferred choice for customers. without restricting it to ecommerce, in the digital space, personalized customer support takes the form of live chat on a website, a chatbot on the mobile app, or instant responses from social media handles.
These automated systems ensure that your customers get an instant response to their queries. In specific instances where a First Contact Resolution (FCR) cannot be offered, the live chat or chatbot conversation can be taken over by a human agent who can attend to the customer personally. This can go a long way in preventing customers from abandoning their shopping plans, and instead become paying customers.
Taking your Ecommerce Conversion Rate From x to 2x
The success of an ecommerce store is not in the brand awareness of website traffic that it gets. It is dependent on the conversion rate. A higher conversion rate indicates efficient store navigation, a customer-centric shopping journey, and a streamlined checkout process. Without these elements, no ecommerce store can hope to maximize its conversion rate.
So, which of these ways do you plan to use to improve your ecommerce conversion rate?