Over 50% of Americans say they would rather shop online than in stores. In fact, about 80% of Americans say they’ve bought something online within the past month. In recent years, the ecommerce industry has soared to over $1.2 trillion dollars.
The takeaway?
If you’re thinking about starting an ecommerce website for your business, it will certainly help you to rake in the profits. Still, there are lots of unique challenges to increase sales conversion of your ecommerce website.
In this post, we’re reviewing the basic ways to increase sales conversion of your ecommerce website.
1. Make Sure Your Site Is Secure
This is one of the most fundamental way to increase sales conversion of your ecommerce website. Keeping your website secure means better trust between you and your customers, the protection of private data, and is even a preventative measure against potential lawsuits.
Always select a tough SSL authentication system, which will help to verify credit card payments and decrease fraud.
Also, although it may be tempting, we advise that you don’t store the personal credit card data of customers in your site. Sure, it may make purchasing easier – but it also makes things much easier for hackers.
Finally, you should also consider creating an alert system when suspicious activity happens on your site. If an IP address is making several transactions within a short time frame, or shipping to multiple addresses, you want to know about it.
2. Design Clear, Intuitive Action Buttons
Although your entire ecommerce site should be intuitive and easy-to-use, it’s especially important that your “Action Buttons” are clearly visible. If they’re not, you’ll likely lose a purchase.
“Action Buttons” include things like “Add to Cart,” “Checkout,” or even “Subscribe To Mailing List.”
Especially if they’re making an impulse buy, no customer wants to hunt around for these buttons. Making your “Action Buttons” larger, in a brighter color, and placed as close to product images as possible is part of an effective way to increase sales conversion of your ecommerce website.
3. Know How To Show Off Your Products
Of course, the real stars of your ecommerce website are the products themselves! Knowing how to best display them to customers is one of the most important way to increase the sales conversion of your ecommerce website.
Think about it: your product images and descriptions need to replicate the in-store experience. Your customers can’t touch or try on your products. So, how can you make up for that and ensure a purchase?
First, always make sure your product photos show your goods from several different angles. Make sure your photos are clear (we suggest hiring a professional) and large. It’s also a great idea to allow customers to “zoom in” on a product, to see the features for themselves and to get a better idea about the materials/fabrics.
Also, include photos of the product on its own with a neutral background color as well as photos of people actually using the product. This will help give customers an idea of how it will work “in real life.” If possible, video tutorials are a wonderful idea – and also easily shareable on social mediaas an added bonus! You can explain features, show it being used, and even give “tips” about a product that customers might not find on their own!
Finally, when it comes to the text product description, keep it short and sweet. Use bullet points to describe features. Make sure to include sizing/dimensions, shipping information, as well as information about any warranties you offer.
4. Increase Your Site’s Speed
A slow loading speed can be the kiss of death for even the most well-designed ecommerce website. How can you make sure your site is still loading quickly, so you can ensure that customers spend more time on your pages, browsing through products?
First, use sites like Pingdom to frequently check your site’s current loading speed. If your site speed is less than satisfactory, first take a look at your ads. If you’re using too many, they’ll start to slow down your site.
Then, take a look at what you can remove from your site. Do you have too many images slowing down your homepage? Auto-play music or videos? Ask yourself which ones you can move to internal pages instead. You may also want to consider lowering the number of plugins – are there any you don’t use that are still active on your site?
Finally, always, always test to make sure your mobile website has a fast loading speed! Remember that more and more customers are shopping from their smartphones or other mobile devices. You don’t want to miss out on a huge portion of your customer base. If your mobile loading time is slow, check to make sure your image sizes are mobile-friendly, and cut out any mobile pop-up ads.
5. Feature Product Reviews And Customer Feedback
This is one of the most important way to increase sales conversion of your ecommerce website. Think about how you decide to check out a product. What your friends, family, and coworkers are saying about it will likely influence whether or not you buy it.
These days, online customer reviews are just as influential as recommendations from people shoppers know. Not only will “real reviews” from “real people” help you to increase your sales, it also lets shoppers know that you’re a brand that’s all about transparency.
To get the most out of these reviews, always try and feature at least a choice quote from a past customer on your home page. Ensure that customer reviews are easy to find. Consider making “Read What Our Customers Are Saying!” one of your “Action Buttons,” so customers can read your rave reviews all they want.
Also, always respond to your reviews – whether they’re good or bad. You want to ensure your brand looks engaged and responsive to current and past customers.
Use These Basic Ways To Increase Sales Conversion Of Your eCommerce Website!
In no time, you’ll be on track to increase sales conversion of your ecommerce website. For more invaluable advice and how-to guides about how to optimize your brand’s website, to learn about how to increase conversions, and to get the best design tips out there, check out our website.
Let’s make this the year your profits soar higher than ever!