5 ways to create conversion on your eCommerce website

Conversions are important and needed to keep your business alive and stable, without them your revenue could end up non-existent online. You don’t want to rely on a small number of ‘hot leads’ who purchase straight away from you, you need to be able to turn the visitors into a customer.

What is Conversion?

Conversion is when the traffic on your website completes an action which you wanted, for example buying a product or signing up for a newsletter. Some people may do this regardless of you encouraging them, however, others need more guidance and reassurance for them to spend money.

There can be so many negatives on websites that put the visitors off, but there are also things you can do to engage them. Something you always have to keep in mind is how different everyone is, and what they expect and look for. This means you must be aware of your typical target audience and customer profiles to reach them better. As well as this, put yourself in a consumer’s shoes. You use other websites for buying things and you know what you expect from them; use this as a guideline for your eCommerce website.

47% of users expect websites to load within 2 seconds. Have you tested how long you’re page takes and thought about how it can affect your traffic? If you haven’t it might b worth taking some time to do so. People have busy schedules and may want to quickly come to your website to look into your business, if it takes too long to load, they will venture elsewhere and most likely one of your competitors. This not only has an effect on your conversion rate but your traffic too.

This won’t just be the case for one impatient visitor, it will be for the majority and they potentially won’t think about returning. To keep it simple, the faster your page, the better the chance of them performing the desired action. Pages that loaded at 2.4 seconds had a 1.9% conversion rate

You’re probably wondering how you can go about increasing your speed. Try these tips:

• Enable compression
• Leverage browser caching
• Optimize Images
• Improve response time
• Reduce redirects

When it comes to this, it is suggested that you reduce the opportunity for the visitors to ask questions. What I mean by this is you should attempt to have a lot of potential questions answered on your website already. This is because it shows you have a lot of CRM understanding and knowledge of your niche. With this being said, some people may not be able to locate all of your information if it’s hard to find or simply do not have time to check if the answer is already on your website.

Have a strong FAQ page. This will mean all of your extra information can be sectioned in this area, without expecting a customer to try and hunt for their answer. Have some area where they can contact you just a question on this page, something that doesn’t require too much effort that they end up not bothering. Have you realised how popular live chats have become? I know most businesses will initially think of how it can be managed 24/7, but there are ways around this.

A study stated that 60% of users return to websites that offer a live chat. It is known to be one of the best customer service options available, this can either be with a bot at first or with one of your employees. You can always set a schedule of when the live chat is available (but make sure this is stated), you don’t want to create a live chat if you are going to leave a customer waiting on the chat for a long time.

If questions aren’t answered, these warm leads will go elsewhere as you don’t seem like you consider your customers, or know what you’re talking about. Answering questions can be done through photos and videos depending on what you offer – people like to visualise and engage without needing a worded reply.

Review and feedback Page - There is no better deal breaker, or maker, for a customer than word of mouth and reviews. People convert from hearing about others’ experiences so that they have fewer concerns about investing their money into your business. It is the most reliable source for a customer and most beneficial for a business, assuming the reviews are good!

One review can improve the conversion rate by 10%, If you know you have good feedback, but it isn’t stated on your website then it needs to be. It is said that if your website has a reviews page, the conversion rates can increase altogether by 190%, especially on lower prices products. Seeing someone’s review can determine whether a lead becomes a customer or not and it builds up immediate trust, rather than uncertainty.

There is a method for those who already have a reviews page and want to take it further. This is where you leave a comment section in which customers can discuss or answer each other about your business (this also links with the tip of the answering questions). It allows previous customers to back up what you already state about your business, like evidence. Also, it means they don’t rely on biased information!

Making offers This topic was briefly covered in our other blog post when talking about email marketing to generate traffic. However, this covers how things like discounts, bundles, first purchase deals etc can increase your conversions.

As always brought up, it truly will depend on your target audience and what you offer. If you sell products, bundle deals are more substantial for you than for someone who offers a service. A service can offer to return deals to generate loyal customers who are more relied upon. Both however can use a starter discount as it’s a great way for someone to convert and try out your business; it’s very appealing to most visitors.

Don’t think about losing out on some revenue for discounts. This is a minor concern because if you think about how many more conversions you will get from selling deals, you’re most likely to get more revenue than without it, especially if you’re a smaller business. This is simply because you’re generating more sales than selling a couple at a bit of a higher price. You have to be willing to do things like offers at the start and throughout to keep loyal customers and a stable amount of income.

Tell a story - Don’t make your website sound like some information pack that isn’t engaging and states the most obvious things. You need to create an engaging story and background to what you offer as these customers are investing.

Create a balance, and don’t get too carried away with selling an extreme fantasy that simply won’t happen, this can be seen as misleading and too self-interested. Some people will think that the business doesn’t sound realistic and can even suspect you don’t care much about them which is what’s most important overall.

The biggest thing is to not make out that “it’s all about us” as it is really about how you are going to benefit them. There’s a big difference. You can tell a story through photo and video content, not just words. You mainly need to establish what will make a lead warm to your business and choose you over others who seem too brief and standard.

Bonus Tips - Combining the use of Backlinks, landing pages, CTA and A/B testing will generate conversions as they work well in a sales funnel. They all act as prompts that are simplified to make conversion easy and encouraging.

Although the tips above are great starting ideas that keep any business getting more conversions. “Backlinks affect Google rankings the most”- Neil Patel, therefore if you’re using SEO and backlinks that gain u traffic, you can then use the other methods to turn the traffic into making conversions.

Conclusion - So, from all this, what do you need to focus on? The main tips are revolving around your customers, making their life easier basically. Make sure you answer their questions and ask for reviews, displaying them on your website.

Grab their attention with deals and an interesting story surrounding the business and finally make sure the website works fast. Speaking of which, have you read our blog about Shopify? There are five reasons why Shopify is great for eCommerce.

We also specialise in web design and development so if you want to know more about how you can improve your website speed let us know! After all, we know it improves conversion.