9 Hacks to Increase Ecommerce Conversions
03/08/2021 | Share:
Struggling to increase conversions from your website? People who are new to the world of ecommerce often wonder how they can increase conversions in their online store.
In layman’s terms, a conversion happens when a customer takes an action you deem to be valuable. For ecommerce, this normally occurs on your website as a purchase.
However, conversions can sometimes be hard to come by and some online stores aren’t aware of everything that they can do to increase their ecommerce conversions.
Here are 9 hacks to increase ecommerce conversions for your website.
1) Using FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out)
Have you ever regretted not buying something? Well, most customers have and it’s not a good feeling. As a business person, you can use this common anxiety to your benefit. FOMO appeals to people’s desire to seize every opportunity before it passes them by.
FOMO marketing techniques you can use to increase online results:
Technique #1: Set a strict, limited-time offer
Running a promotion or discount on a product for a limited time puts pressure on the customer. If they make a purchase right now, they’ll be able to benefit from the offer and feel good knowing they’ve snatched a bargain. Good examples are Black Friday promotions where most online shops will offer a discount if you order within a determined time frame.
Technique #2: Limited quantity
Advertising limited quantities is a popular marketing strategy for ecommerce businesses. The fact that there are only a few products available makes it more desired and exclusive. Customers will be forced to take action before they miss out for good. And because customers can’t see the physical stock as you would in a brick and mortar store, there’s no real way of knowing whether it really is the last of the stock.
2) Write great product titles and descriptions
According to one ecommerce survey, missing or confusing product information is the cause of 20% of purchase failures. To attract the right visitors, you need to make sure your write killer product titles and descriptions.
Accurately name the product
People will purchase a product that has an accurate name and a description of why it should be purchased.
Include product price and any discounts
Stating the price of a product helps customers decide if they are willing to purchase the product or not. Discounts act as an incentive that encourages them to buy the marketed products right away.
Features, benefits
Visitors want to know what they gain by using your product. Does it satisfy the desires, needs, and wants of the consumer? Start with the benefits and then move on to the features. Describe how they’ll feel after using the product. Try doing this creatively and within your company tone of voice.
Product care and maintenance
Being able to provide product care and maintenance to your customers can increase customer loyalty and retention. Customers will feel like you’re always on their side and will hesitate less to buy from you in future.
3) Keyword Optimisation
As a business, you want to appear in search engine results when people search for keywords related to your product or service. If the product is optimised, more people are likely to discover it.
Describe your product using relevant keywords either in listings on your page or any other related content. Avoid using too many keywords at once as this can seem unnatural. Don’t forget to include related words and phrases to increase your relevance without seeming spammy.
4) Provide social proof/testimonials
Testimonials are proof that existing customers are vouching for your product and that’s it’s a legitimate business. They help break down the barrier between customers and purchases. Customers can very easily connect with your brand/products especially when they’re able to see real pictures and names.
5) Use your best product visuals
When you shop online, you can’t touch or try on the merchandise. Help a buyer by providing photos or videos so they know exactly what they’re getting.
It’s recommended to use a high-quality camera for high-resolution images. These help customers visualize the product and can increase conversion rates. Take shots and videos from multiple angles for better visuals.
6) Optimise your website for mobile
More and more purchases are taking place on mobile. It is crucial that your ecommerce website can function effectively on mobile and presents a good user experience. Sometimes, elements that aren’t as intrusive on desktop, such as a pop-up can ruin the experience on mobile. Be sure to do appropriate testing on mobile to increase the chances of your visitors engaging with your website’s products.
7) Check and improve your website speed
Checking your page speed will give you an indication of what visitors are experiencing. Improving your website speed ensures visitors can enjoy a better user experience and are less likely to leave the site. It can take mere seconds for a customer to decide they’ve been waiting too long. And customers can’t convert if they’re leaving your website!
8) Optimise the checkout process
The checkout stage is critical because it’s the last stage before the sale is made. At this point, it’s important that everything is optimised to make the customer convert. There are a number of things that drive away customers when checking out, such as a long checkout process, lack of trust symbols that give customers confidence, no guest checkout option and unexpected costs (such as tax or delivery). If a customer abandons their cart or fails to checkout, these are the most likely reasons.
What can you do to improve this? Provide users with features they want like a guest checkout and the option to pay with tools such as PayPal, Google Pay etc. Ensure that your website is securely encrypted and has a valid SSL certificate too.
9) Retarget abandoned carts
Sometimes, carts will be abandoned no matter what you do. You can follow up with customers who abandon their carts in the following ways:
- Sending follow-up emails acknowledging the customer’s abandoned cart. It helps remind your customers so that they don’t forget about your store.
- Enable pop-ups at the checkout stage so that when someone attempts to abandon their cart, they’ll receive a notice. It helps them think twice and maybe they’ll reconsider checking out. You could even sweeten the deal with an exclusive offer!
- Finally, remarketing ads that follow your customer across the web can help remind users that they visited your site.
Taking action
Some of these hacks will take longer than others to implement. Changing a product description, for example, is a lot easier than setting up an email campaign for abandoned carts. Work on each of these points one by one and eventually your website will start to rake in those conversions.
