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How to Optimize Your eCommerce Store for Conversions

29 Apr 2022

Albert Wood

How to Optimize Your eCommerce Store for Conversions

For the most part, no matter what you sell, whether it’s a product or a service, you likely have the same goal as everyone else in eCommerce. What is that goal? It’s a rather simple one in the grand scheme of things. Everyone with an eCommerce store wants to grow conversions—obviously.

After all, higher conversion rates are usually the sign of a strong business model that will continue to succeed and do well. They also mean that you can focus on other aspects of your business.

And on the other hand, for every bit of traffic that leaves your website without making a purchase, it’s essentially money down the drain, especially given the price of ads and the time it takes to coordinate content marketing efforts.

So, it goes without saying that you ideally want to optimize your eCommerce store, get higher conversion rates and minimize the amount of flushed money. Through this article not only will we help you do that with several great tips, but we will also ensure that you have a sound understanding of what a good conversion rate is—that way, you don’t shoot for something unobtainable.

Firstly, What is Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)?

Conversion rate optimization is the fairly straightforward process of increasing the percentage of website traffic to take the desired action, such as checking out with a product or leaving a review.

How to Calculate Conversion Rates

Conversion rates are calculated by taking the number of conversions and dividing by the number of total ad interactions tracked during a certain time frame.

Here’s a good example that should help if that is a little unclear. If you had, let’s say, 35 conversions from 1,145 ad interactions, your conversion rate would be about 3 percent since we’re taking 35 and dividing it by 1,145.

What Is a Good Conversion Rate?

According to multiple credited sources, such as databox and WordSteam, a “good” conversion rate falls within the range of three to five percent— that being an average percentage taken from several industries. Individually, the average conversion rate may climb to as much as 11 percent.

Several factors greatly influence your conversion rates, such as your industry, target market and even price point. That may be something you want to account for as you assess whether or not you’ve reached a good conversion rate.

For the time being, we would suggest using the first percentage range as a solid benchmark and doing your best to exceed it.

CRO Strategies for eCommerce Products

Now that you have a solid benchmark, you can adjust your eCommerce store, starting with your products to give your conversions an overdue boost! We’ll give you a breakdown of the tips that we mentioned in the introduction. So, get a notepad and strap in. We’ll provide you with everything that you need to know to optimize your eCommerce store.

1. High-Quality Images

We aren’t in 2007 anymore, and grainy photos in a poorly lit place won’t cut it. If you want to convince someone to go through all of the steps and checkout, you need to give them a clear idea of what they’re buying—there can’t be any doubts.

With that in mind, you should use high-quality photos and videos to display your product or service. If you have low-quality images on your website, look into changing those out as soon as possible.

2. Display Products from Multiple Angles

There’s nothing more frustrating than not being able to see the reverse side of a product or that corner that’s just out of view…

To save your customers from that oh so frustrating feeling, you’d be best giving them a full 360-degree view of the product. If there’s a side of a product that hasn’t been photographed, take a picture of it as soon as possible and upload it. You may think that people don’t care about seeing the blinking side of a figure, but you’d be wrong. Above all things, people want to know what they’re spending their money on.

3. Videos to Explain Complex Products

If you have a complex or confusing product, make sure you give the necessary information.

Try as we might, even the highest quality photos still leave some information out, and a lot of people simply learn quickest by watching or lessening to an explanation of a product. So, while you have your camera equipment out, sit down, and explain how your product works. If there’s anything that someone should know, tell them in the video. It doesn’t have to be 10 or 20 minutes. Just be sure to include the information.

4. Clear & Transparent Product Details

The product description is usually the first or second thing someone will look at as they browse the page. So, you want to be clear and concise in your product description—leaving zero room for abstract interpretation or misunderstandings.

That will also help guarantee that whoever buys the product receives exactly what they have envisioned.

5. Product Ratings, Customer Reviews, & Testimonials

All websites have a ton of claims. In fact, they have so many that most people don’t believe them for a second, or at least not enough to fully sway them into checking out. However, a lot of people will trust a fellow customer.

After all, no customer has any motivation to lie or pitch a specific product. So, if you can manage to include a select amount of testimonials, customer-taken product photos, product ratings or reviews, that can go a long way to building trust—at the same time making checkout more likely.

That’s one of the many reasons that companies like Amazon do so well. There’s an abundance of customer reviews that lend a substantial amount of credibility to many products.

Ways to Boost Your eCommerce Conversion Rates

Now, it’s time to talk about your actual website.

1. Optimize Your eCommerce Checkout Process

All too often, a new visitor will pop up, poke around, and then POOF! They’re gone. Why? It’s likely due to the number of steps that they had to go through—in other words, the number of hoops that you asked them to leap through.

Your website should leave as little between the visitor and the final check out as possible, obviously, without leaving any necessary information out. But whether it’s different pages that the visitor must click through or a large group of buttons on a single checkout page, clutter is the enemy to good conversion rates.

You may want to sort through or experiment with different checkout options to find the right balance between a quick checkout and a complete experience.

2. Use Live Chat Software

Customers nowadays won’t wait around for help. If you’re not ready to provide support when they need it, they’ll continue their web surfing to find a company that will. So, to ensure you can help whenever needed, it’s a good idea to use live chat software on your website!

Even using something as simple as a chatbot on your website can boost conversions by supplying customers with answers just in the nick of time—every time. That can also give people the feeling of being valued and respected as customers.

3. Safe & Secure Websites

We’ve all been there… you click on a website, and something just doesn’t feel safe about the site—it’s certainly not the type of website where you’re comfortable sharing your information.

For a lot of people, that means an instant closed tab. And mentally scratching that website off the list of possible visits. Then you continue on your searching. No big deal, right? Yes and no. It’s not a big deal for the visitor, but if it’s your website, that means a lost conversion.

So, it’s in your best interest to invest in maintaining the best security possible on your website. Make sure that first-time visitors and returning customers know that their information is safe and you can be trusted.

4. Optimize Product Categories and Filters

There is rarely a customer interested in looking through every single product on your website. Mostly, there are only customers who have a certain product in mind. With that in mind, it’s up to you to make their path through your products as quick as possible! That means using the right product categories and filters.

You want to be specific with the filter and use everyday language that your customers are likely to be looking for! Industry-specific terms may cut out a substantial amount of visitors.

Learn from the best.

There are undoubtedly a select few websites that always have your attention, or you find yourself stopping by from time to time. Well, that’s no mistake. They’ve simply optimized their websites to the limits. And you can do the same!

ioVista believes that there’s a real psychology and science behind the customer journey and earning a sale. With our conversion optimization services, you’ll get actionable advice on what improvements to make to boost your revenue.

Good luck on your eCommerce journey!

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.