3 Conversion Rate Optimization Tips For an Ecommerce Store

The majority of your time spent as an ecommerce store owner will be occupied on developing ways to boost sales. Converting potential customers into paying customers is usually a top priority, and for good reason. Sales are the driving force, the blood that give an ecommerce store life. For this reason, conversion rate optimization should never be ignored.

Never mind what the ‘average’ conversion rate for an online store is, strive for a conversion rate that is better than your current rate. This is because there are far too many variables affecting conversion rates to get a true, unaffected apple to apple comparison. Just keep in mind that conversion rates anywhere between 1% and 2% are common.

Here are three conversion rate optimization tips to improve your ecommerce store, help increase sales and improve your bottom line.

Pristine Image Quality

If you were forced to choose just one thing to help sell your online products, you should definitely go with images. In theory, you could get away with simply using an image to represent a product and no description, but this would never work the other way around.

The point is people love to visually examine what they are buying. The great-grandfather of improving ecommerce conversion rates has always been and will continue to be having clear high quality photos of each product.

The more pictures of each product the better. Show off products from different angles, in a different light or context, and zoom in and out, showing off all conceivable elements of the product. A good example of an established ecommerce website that understands the importance of having pristine images is Ties.com.

Carry Customization Options

Everyone loves products that can be customized. Not only does it make a product feel like a customers own unique tangible thing that they themselves created, but customizing products is downright fun and creates a deeper sense of ownership.

Dell computers is a good example of a popular company with customization options. Giving consumers the ability to customize a product also increases the cost of the product, putting more money into the company’s pocket.

High Shipping Cost’s Kill

Online shoppers are bombarded with free shipping options. Amazon offers free shipping if you spend a certain amount, while Nordstrom and 6pm give free shipping on every purchase. People have become more than comfortable with the idea of free shipping.

E-Tailing conducted a study showing that 73% of survey participants considered free shipping to be their number one priority when scanning sites for a particular product. A separate study revealed that 93% of survey participants claimed that free shipping would encourage them to purchase more items.

High shipping prices were rated as the number one reason why customers were not completely satisfied with their ecommerce shopping experience. Not surprisingly, high shipping costs are also what cause consumers to opt more towards local brick and mortar companies.

This doesn’t mean your ecommerce store has to abandon charging for shipping altogether. But it is a good idea to make shipping costs apparent to the consumer up-front. Don’t make them go through the entire checking process to find out the shipping cost is more than they’re willing to spend. Be hones and transparent with shipping prices!

Improving an ecommerce stores conversion rate is doesn’t have to be a hassle. Be honest, open, and most importantly: test, test, test! Get strangers to go through the purchasing process and then give their unbiased opinion on why they would or would not purchase an item from your website.

Still not sure how to drastically improve your ecommerce stores conversion rate? No problem, feel free to contact us and we’ll answer any questions you have!