In e-commerce, the conversion rate is the lifeblood of the game. In any case, it is the main KPI (key performance indicator). Everyone is talking about these words, and rightly so: it is what greatly contributes to the success of an online store when it is optimized, but unfortunately it is also what can lead to its failure when it is not.
What is conversion rate?
Concretely, out of 100 visitors who arrive on your platform, we calculate those who actually make a purchase. If 3 visitors out of 100 make a purchase, your conversion rate is 3%. Logical.
More generally, it is possible to calculate it by dividing, over a given period, the number of visitors by the number of orders placed.
Bonus tip: how to calculate the turnover of an e-commerce store based on the conversion rate?
Simply multiply the conversion rate by the average basket and by the number of visitors, for a given period. CA = Conversion rate x Average basket x total number of visits.
We come to the central question of this article: how to improve the conversion rate of your e-commerce store?
We have tried to build our guide in the most logical and comprehensive way possible, that is, starting from the traffic that arrives on your platform to the follow-ups of abandoned carts.
Traffic quality: a central element for optimizing your conversion rate
This is one of the most important elements, and yet we tend to completely forget it: the quality of traffic greatly determines your conversion rate .
The traffic that arrives on your site must be qualified, that is to say, visitors must be initially interested in what they will find there (content, products, services, etc.).
Some examples of problems that may explain why your traffic is not or poorly qualified
- You have not correctly defined your buyer personas (the buyer profiles that constitute your target) and therefore your acquisition strategy is counterproductive;
- You don't understand your target's expectations;
- Your advertising campaigns are not relevant;
- The audience of your influence campaign does not match your target;
- Your SEO strategy targets off-topic keywords;
- Your blog posts have nothing to do with what you are selling;
- Etc…
This will increase your bounce rate (visitors come and go) and lower your conversion rate.
The advice we give you here is to clearly define your acquisition strategy in order to optimize your conversion rate.
- First define your buyer personae;
- Carry out a study of your target to understand their purchasing behavior (needs, desires, average basket generally spent on this type of product, frequency of purchase, etc.);
- Benchmark your competition and observe what established players do to generate qualified traffic to their site;
- Select your acquisition channels by prioritizing them and possibly defining a budget for each. There is no point in trying to develop a strategy on lots of different channels if you do not have sufficient resources.
- Define the concrete actions to be implemented for each channel (e.g. “write a blog article per week” or “Launch a new Instagram campaign for my new collection”).
- Do “test and learn”: try different things in order to keep what works best each time.
- If necessary and if you have the budget, get help from experts.
Your Site Speed: How It Directly Impacts Your E-Commerce Conversion Rate
When we talk about the performance of a site, we are referring to the loading time to display the elements of each page.
There are a whole bunch of statistics highlighting the fact that a loading rate that is too long drastically increases the bounce rate and lowers the conversion rate. We will only quote those from Google on the impact of loading time on the bounce rate :
- A page should load in less than three seconds, and ideally in less than one second;
- From 1 to 3 seconds of loading, the bounce rate increases by 32%;
- From 1 to 5 seconds, it increases by 90%;
- From 1 to 10 seconds, it increases by 123%.
Optimizing mobile performance is one of the keys to optimizing your conversion rate
While your computer may be able to load items quickly, smartphones may not be able to when they're not connected to Wi-Fi. With mobile e-commerce traffic now predominating, you need to design your platform for these devices.
To improve the performance of your platform, here are some interesting ideas:
- Avoid long pages (some sections are sometimes completely useless);
- Reduce the size of images and videos by compressing them;
- Limit the use of plugins and properly remove unused ones;
- Preferably use common “web safe” fonts (otherwise the visitor’s browser will have to download your font, which will inevitably have an impact on loading time);
- Optimize code (“minify” and compress resources);
- Use cache memory;
- If you have control over your hosting, go for a powerful solution.
Knowing the needs and expectations of your target also affects your conversion rate
Yet another element that is too often underestimated! You have structured your offer, created your site, imagined the benefits and advantages of your products, but you have not really asked yourself the question of what your customers expect.
This doesn’t mean you need to change your products, just the way you promote them. What are the most important benefits for your customers? What are the aspects they like the least? What makes them hesitate? What are the problems they encounter in their daily lives that your products can solve?
To do this, carefully study all direct and indirect feedback from your customers:
- The comments that accompany their reviews on your site, those from Google Reviews, Trustpilot, those present on marketplaces if your products are sold there, etc.;
- The contents of the emails you receive from them;
- Objections and questions in live chat;
- Reviews and mentions on social networks (Facebook, Instagram, etc.);
- If your competitors offer similar products, also analyze everything that can be said about them.
The structure of the site and the different pages allows you to increase your conversion rate
There are certainly a number of things you can optimize on your site to get a better conversion rate. So let's get right into it!
Make navigation on the platform as simple as possible.
- The header should allow you to quickly distinguish transactional links from content pages. You can use different colors, separate the two types of links (transactional links on the left, content links on the right), play on typographic rules (bold, italic and underlined), etc.
- Reduce the number of content page links in the header. Use the footer to present them.
- Set up a search bar with auto-completion and possibly suggestions (best-selling products, product selection, new products, etc.).
- Reduce the number of products offered to visitors in the menu and on the homepage: it is proven that too much choice harms conversion. It is better to make a relevant selection or to focus on bestsellers.
- Integrate effective filters into category/collection pages, especially if you have a lot of products.
- Opt for a “side cart” (basket that opens from the right of the screen), which allows you to see at a glance the items present in the basket, recall certain essential information, offer complementary products and above all not interrupt navigation by completely changing pages.
- Display a breadcrumb trail to navigate more easily between pages and subpages, especially if your catalog is large and there are many subcategories.
Reduce unnecessary steps in the purchase funnel to boost your conversion rate.
- Don't force your visitors to create an account every time they want to make a purchase;
- Enable payment with one-click solutions;
- Have forms pre-filled at check-out.
Improve your conversion rate with an optimized product sheet.
Here is a comprehensive article that explains how to boost the conversion rate of your product sheet on Shopify .
Highlight relevant reassurance throughout the navigation.
- Highlight your contact information (email and telephone number) to reassure your customers: if they have a problem, they know they can contact you quickly;
- Add a live chat to answer all your visitors' doubts and questions immediately;
- Include an FAQ in your product sheets. We also suggest creating a dedicated FAQ page.
- Integrate reassurance pictograms (fast delivery, exchange and refund, secure payment, etc.): in the top bar, in the footer, in the product sheets under the add to cart CTA and in the side cart.
- Communicate the delivery costs well in advance and specify if you offer free delivery from a certain amount. Any unpleasant surprises in the checkout risk scaring off the visitor and convincing them not to come back later.
Make the most of social proof.
- Over 80% of online shoppers say they check reviews and testimonials before purchasing a product. So you have every reason to take advantage of them. Make sure you have enough of them, or create campaigns to collect them.
- If you have expert advice, give it a special place on your platform.
- Add a “Press” page in case you have interesting publications, which you can also relay in a section on the home page.
- Set up a referral program.
Design, UX and UI
Although some topics have already been partially covered in this article, we would like to emphasize the following points:
- Align your site design with your brand: this generates trust, boosts purchases and promotes loyalty.
- Choose quality photos that will allow you to visualize the product and make you want to buy it.
- Avoid cognitive overload, due to poor page structure and an excess of elements of all kinds (texts, images, photos, illustrations, CTAs, etc.)
- Take care of your CTAs! They must be clear, understandable and invite you to take action.
A well-designed mobile version will have a very direct impact on your conversion rate.
Your platform must be optimized for mobile, just as it is for desktop. I personally have doubts about the “mobile-first” strategy, because I have sometimes observed a disastrous user experience and design on desktop (since the platform was not designed for this medium). Do not neglect any device: optimize your platform for all devices!
Here are some tips to optimize navigation on smartphones
- As already mentioned above, reduce the loading times of your pages as much as possible;
- All elements must be designed to be used with thumbs (menus, CTAs, carousels, etc.).
- Limit the size of texts on all pages: in any case, long texts are statistically never read, or almost never. Use accordions if you cannot do otherwise: the visitor will have the choice of unrolling them to read their content.
- Prioritize information: there is no need to have a lot of sections and elements that are repeated. You need to work on the relevance of these, so as to only display what is essential. Remove sliders: they tend to make navigation cumbersome, and it is also likely that none of the messages you want to convey will be transmitted correctly.
- Limit the number of fields in forms: you have probably already had the experience of abandoning the filling of a form on mobile because of its length. Keep it short! And set up auto-completion of fields.
Copywriting allows you to refine your conversion rate even further.
Your texts will make all the difference if they are well written, if they convey the tone of your brand and emotion. They will have a direct impact on your conversion rate.
Here are the instructions (in a very brief form!):
- Use your customers' jargon because you need to be sure that what you say is understood by them. To do this, scrutinize the opinions left everywhere (on your site and outside), what can be said on social networks or forums, etc.
- Simplify the language as much as possible: no need to add incomprehensible words, avoid acronyms and anything that would require an explanation...
- Make complex things understandable with examples and illustrations rather than just words.
- Talk to a human: play on emotions. The emotional aspect is an essential component in decision-making. You will much prefer a brand that has seduced you with its particular tone than a completely neutral brand.
- Don't just be in the description. The visitor must project himself and imagine the use he will make of your product.
- Don't overdo the amount of text and information in the different sections: again the majority will not be read, so be concise.
- Invite a clear action when it comes to CTAs: “Add to cart”, “Discover the new collection”…
Efficient and impeccable customer service reassures and impacts your conversion rate through repeat purchases
Let's be honest: if you have had a problem with your product or with its delivery, and the customer service was deplorable, you will not come back to buy on the same platform. This is one of the reasons why customer service has a direct impact on the conversion rate, but not only. If you quickly answer your visitors' questions and objections, you will multiply your chances of increasing your sales.
Here's what you should do:
- Be responsive in general: No matter the channel, respond quickly. If you don't have an answer right away, make the effort to let your customer know that you're doing everything you can to get back to them quickly.
- Set up a live chat. Please note: this requires you to actually be available at the times indicated.
- Find a concrete and acceptable solution to the problems encountered by your customers.
- Organize your logistics and refund products promptly when applicable. Product returns are part of e-commerce (a significant proportion of products are returned or exchanged), don't forget that.
Marketing levers to boost your conversion rate
Marketing operations will inevitably have a positive effect on your conversion rate, since they will stimulate sales in the more or less short term. However, you will need to be careful to define a strategy, because otherwise you risk creating a dynamic where only marketing operations arouse the interest of your customers: they risk systematically waiting for a special offer to make a purchase, and you risk cutting into your margin in this case.
Among the marketing operations to be implemented, here are some examples:
- Promo codes: you offer a code that can be used to make a first order, or another to be used within a set time frame, creating a sense of urgency to take advantage of it.
- Classic promotions: sales periods, Black Friday and others. You just need to define discounts to apply to certain items.
- Flash sales: a countdown timer accompanies products sold with a promotion, in order, once again, to play on the fear of missing out on a good deal.
- Loyalty: a program that encourages your customers to return to buy from your site.
Shopping cart reminders greatly boost conversion rates
Visitors add products to their cart and proceed to checkout, but do not complete their purchase. It is frustrating to see a high percentage of abandoned carts compared to the number of visits to your site. You can reduce this ratio and therefore further increase your conversion rate by implementing an abandoned cart recovery program.
To do this, simply imagine a series of emails that will be sent automatically, inviting visitors to finalize their purchase. Their form and content will need to be varied.
Here is an example:
Mail 1: Remind what was left in the basket
Mail 2: offer a promotion
Mail 3: offer other products that may interest the visitor
You can also do SMS reminders and send notifications by installing a module on your store (when the visitor returns to the store, they receive a notification). Finally, it may make sense to allow the automatic saving of products in the cart: this way, the visitor does not have to put them back if they come back.
A/B testing to continuously improve your conversion rate
We couldn't end this article without talking about A/B Testing. Indeed, integrating an A/B testing solution will give you the possibility of obtaining much more precise results as you go along.
A/B testing involves creating an alternative version of a particular page, section or element on your site and observing the results obtained compared to the existing version*. Traffic arrives on both versions of the store in equal proportions. Here is an example to understand:
- Version A: the page without modification
- Version B: the page with one or more modifications (example: the color of a CTA, its location, different text, etc.)
If version B performs better than version A, you should definitely apply this change to your site later. You can then continue testing in the same way and select the version that performs best each time.
*There are obviously many other ways to use an A/B testing solution, but we have chosen here to present the most common use.
YOU NOW HAVE ALL THE KEYS TO IMPROVE YOUR CONVERSION RATE
Obviously, we could go into more detail for each section of this article. We will probably do so by writing a specific article for each of them in the future. The goal was mainly to make you aware of all the elements that will have an impact on your conversion rate.
As I have been supporting clients on these e-commerce topics for many years, I have already had almost all the scenarios presented in this article: we therefore invite you to try to identify which of the 10 points presented are currently problematic. Then, implement the best practices that we have mentioned for each point: you should quickly see an increase in your conversion rate.
Obviously, if you would liketo be supported by an expert Shopify agency to guarantee you the best possible results, do not hesitate to contact us.
