Conversion rates are the biggest obstacle between your site and profitability.
Assuming you’re getting a decent stream of traffic, a better conversion rate could take you from break-even to profitable, or increase your profitability many times over.
Unfortunately, most eCommerce entrepreneurs aren’t sure how to improve their conversion rates, or don’t know the best ways to execute those optimization strategies. The good news is, it’s easier than you think.
Easy Ways to Boost Conversion Rates
These are some of the fastest and most reliable ways to boost your eCommerce site’s conversion rates:
- Offer discount codes. First, consider offering voucher codes or other types of discount codes that allow your customers to purchase your products for a discounted price. At the end of the day, customers make purchasing decisions based on cost and value, so if you can offer a similar product for a lower price, they might be willing to jump on it. You might earn less of a profit on each item, but your conversion rate should greatly increase.
- Make limited-time offers. Online customers have the advantage of being able to delay their decision indefinitely. If they’re thinking about buying an item, they may navigate away from the site, thinking they’ll revisit the decision later—but they rarely do. If you want to increase conversions, you have to deprive them of that procrastination opportunity. You can do this by making limited-time offers, or adding a clock ticking down next to your selected item and its price, implying a limited time for customers to finalize their decisions.
- Tweak your copy. Your copy will form customers’ first impressions, and may be what’s persuading them to follow through with the purchase or abandon ship. Spend some time tweaking it to learn which word choices work. Your headline is the strongest feature on your landing page or product page, since it’s usually the first thing your customers will see, but make sure you also optimize your product descriptions and benefit lists.
- Change colors and positioning. Sometimes, all it takes is a change to the color of your call to action, or the position of your customer forms, to improve your conversion rates. Consider changing from red to green, or moving your form from the right side of the page to the center. There’s no guarantee you’ll see a significant change with any single tweak, but with enough experiments, you’ll learn what your customers value most, and can implement a strategy that nets you more conversions.
- Include more images of people. For some reason, people tend to respond better to landing pages and product pages that include photos of people —especially if those people are relatable, happy, and are using the product you’re selling. Try to include at least one image of a person or group of people on the page you’re trying to optimize; just make sure they look sincere in the photo, or you could turn people away.
- Include reviews and testimonials. Sellers are incentivized to hype their products up through exciting descriptions and photos and videos that show off the best perks of the product. Customers know this and want to ensure they’re going to get what they pay for if they complete the purchase—that’s why the majority of online shoppers now rely on reviews and testimonials to research their decisions before finalizing them. Make sure you include some real customer reviews and testimonials on each of your product pages, so customers can see what others have said about your products.
- Offer a guarantee. You can also reassure customers they’re making the right decision by offering some kind of guarantee. For example, you can give them a money-back guarantee if they’re not satisfied with your product, or give them a free trial of your product or service before they commit to buying it.
For all of these strategies, make sure you employ AB testing, comparing your changed approach to your original approach so you can objectively measure the differences.
Still Having Trouble?
If you’ve tried most or all of these strategies, but you’re still having trouble getting the conversion rates your site needs to be successful, it’s a good idea to take a step back and consider alternative factors that could be harming your success. For example, are you having a brand reputation problem? Are you failing to invest in marketing and advertising? Are you sure you’re focusing on the right target demographics? In some cases, a complete overhaul may be necessary.
In any case, if you have a solid foundation, even a handful of tweaks can vastly improve your conversion rates. Give these strategies a try and see how profitable your site can become!
