Is your Store Optimized? How do you Measure eCommerce Conversion Rates?

11 May 2022

Albert Wood

Is your Store Optimized? How do you Measure eCommerce Conversion Rates?

Imagine you’re running a store. You’re paying for advertising, and you’re getting people to come into your store. But once they’re in your store, they don’t buy anything. They just browse around and then leave.

What’s the point of getting people into your store if they’re not going to buy anything?

That is what conversion rate optimization (CRO) is all about. CRO is the process of increasing the percentage of visitors who take the desired action on your website.

The desired action could be anything, but it typically includes signing up for a newsletter, downloading a white paper or making a purchase.

CRO is important because it allows you to get more value from your traffic. If you can increase your conversion rate, you’ll be able to earn more revenue from the same amount of traffic. And this is possible through a combination of optimizing your site’s design and content to make it more user-friendly and effective.

Four things you need to keep in mind to increase your conversion rate

Know your audience. The first step in any successful CRO campaign is knowing your target audience and what motivates them to take action. Before creating an ad or designing a new landing page for your website, it’s crucial to know exactly who you’re trying to reach and what they want.
Test, test and test again. Once you’ve determined your audience and the best ways to reach them, it’s time to start testing different elements of your CRO campaign. That could mean trying out different banner ads or split testing different landing page designs to see which ones are most effective at converting visitors into customers. Use data from A/B tests and other analytics tools to make informed decisions about how to improve your conversion rate over time.
Stay up-to-date on best practices and trends. Stay ahead of the competition. Be aware of any new developments in CRO strategies and techniques relevant to your business. Whether it’s new software or changes to Google’s algorithm, keeping on top of the latest trends will ensure your CRO campaigns are as effective as possible.
Monitor your results and make changes as needed. Once you’ve implemented a CRO campaign, it’s vital to track the results to see what’s working and what isn’t. If you notice that certain elements are not performing as well as you had hoped, don’t be afraid to make changes to improve your results. Constantly testing and tweaking your campaigns can maximize your conversion rate and achieve your desired goals.

Conversion rate optimization is a key component of any marketing strategy that focuses on increasing website traffic and improving conversion rates. It involves using various techniques, such as A/B testing and user research, to identify areas of improvement on your site and increase the effectiveness of your campaigns.

By constantly monitoring and optimizing your CRO efforts, you can ensure that you’re getting the best results possible from your online marketing initiatives.

Analytics & Tools Available to Improve eCommerce Conversion Rates

There are various analytics and tools available to improve eCommerce conversion rates. These include:

A/B testing software allows you to test two or more versions of the same page to find out which version drives the most conversions. Once you’ve identified the areas where you can optimize for conversions, try conducting A/B testing on different versions of those pages to see if one variation performs better than another. Using tools like Crazy Egg or Visual Web Optimizer, you can easily create and run experiments to help identify any changes needed to help increase conversion rates.
Heatmap tools allow you to see where users are clicking and scrolling on your pages, helping you identify areas that may need improvement. You can use this information to try and improve user experience in vital areas of your site to encourage more conversions.
Usability testing is another useful tool for CRO, as it can help you identify user pain points quickly. You can conduct usability tests on new or existing users to see what changes are needed. It will also help them achieve their goals on your site more easily and without any friction.
Analytics can help you track things like how long users are spending on your site, what pages they’re visiting, and where they’re coming from. You can use this data to identify areas that may need improvement to increase conversion rates.
User research tools, such as user interviews and surveys, help you collect feedback from your site visitors and use it to inform changes on your site. It’s a great way to get insights into what users are looking for and why they visit your site.

Additional Metrics to Measure eCommerce Conversion Rates

There are other metrics you can use to measure eCommerce conversation rates. These include the bounce rate, exit rate, click-through rate, average session duration, average page depth or pages per session and site speed.

Bounce Rate

The bounce rate is the percentage of people who leave your site after viewing only one page. A high bounce rate generally indicates something is wrong with your site, such as inconvenient navigation or slow loading pages. You need to aim for a low bounce rate – around 30 percent or lower – to ensure that people view multiple pages before leaving your site.

Exit Rate

The exit rate is the percentage of people who leave your site after viewing a single page. However, this time, it’s from a specific page rather than the whole website. A high exit rate on one particular page might mean something about that page (such as a confusing navigation structure or irrelevant content) is turning visitors off and causing them to leave prematurely.

Reducing your exit rate requires an in-depth analysis of the pages with the highest exit rates. You should also identify potential areas for improvement based on site analytics data and user feedback.

Click-Through Rate

The click-through rate (CTR) measures the number of people who click on a link to your site divided by the total number of people who see the link. A high CTR indicates that your link is effective and relevant to your audience.

Several factors can affect your click-through rate, including the quality and relevance of your content, the placement and design of your link and the target audience you are marketing to. To improve your CTR, it is crucial to carefully optimize all of these elements based on data from site analytics tools and user testing. Doing so can create effective links that drive more traffic to your site and increase conversions.

Average Session Duration

The average session duration is the average amount of time users spend on your site during a single visit. This metric can be a good indicator of the quality of your content and the user experience on your site. Users who spend a long time on your site find your content engaging, relevant and valuable.

On the other hand, if users are quickly leaving your site, it could be an indication that your content is not relevant to their needs or that they are having difficulty navigating your site. To improve your site’s average session duration, it is crucial to create high-quality content that is easy to find and navigate. You can also use exit surveys and heat maps to understand why users leave your site and make changes accordingly.

Average Page Depth or Pages per Session

The average number of pages viewed per session, or page depth, is another important metric that can give you valuable insight into how users are engaging with your site. If users only view a few pages on your site before leaving, it could indicate that your content is not engaging or relevant enough to keep them interested.

To increase the average page depth for your site, you may need to improve the quality of your content and make it easier for users to navigate from one page to the next. You can also try using tools like surveys or heat maps to gain further insight into user behavior and determine what changes you might need to make to improve engagement.

Site Speed

Site speed is another important metric when it comes to optimizing for conversions. If your site takes too long to load, users are likely to leave before they have a chance to convert. Consider using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or YSlow to gauge the speed of your site and get recommendations on how you can improve performance.

Conclusion

Many different strategies and techniques can be used to increase your website’s conversion rate, including usability testing, analytics, user research tools and A/B testing.

Remember to carefully analyze user behavior on your site, and identify problem areas that may be affecting conversions. You should also collect feedback from visitors through interviews and surveys and test different solutions. These things can significantly improve your website’s conversion rate and increase sales and leads.

Ultimately, by using these tools to constantly optimize your eCommerce conversion rates, you can ensure your marketing campaigns are always delivering the best possible results. If you face any challenges in conversion rate optimization, get actionable advice on what improvements need to be made to boost your revenue.

Albert Wood

Albert Wood is a technology futurist, sales stimuli, motivator, and E-commerce specialist at ioVista. As a data-driven and digital marketing evangelist, Albert’s passion is transforming struggling e-commerce businesses into sales-generating powerhouses through the right combination of UX and digital marketing strategies.