Maybe you’re just starting out in eCommerce. Or, maybe you’ve been running a successful online store for years but have noticed that your sales have stagnated. In either case, improving your eCommerce website’s sales can be a difficult feat. In fact, nearly 90% of eCommerce businesses don’t make it past their first 120 days of operation. To avoid becoming a part of this alarming statistic, you should consider implementing CRO, or conversion rate optimization into your eCommerce website.
Even if your website’s traffic is at an all-time high, converting visitors into customers is one area where all online companies can improve. Paid search ads, well-implemented SEO, and a detailed social strategy can only take your venture so far. Read on to learn more about conversion rate optimization and how to implement it into your eCommerce store.
What Is CRO?
Your site’s conversion rate is a measure of the percentage of visitors that achieve the goal you want them to. Conversions are far more difficult to achieve than many other metrics like clicks or views.
Conversions don’t always have to be sales. Your conversion rate can measure how many visitors download your app, sign up to your mailing list, or create an account. However, in the eCommerce world, a conversion is most often a successful purchase.
Conversion rate optimization is the process of perfecting your site to increase the likelihood of visitors taking the action that you want them to.
Why is CRO Important?
Acquiring new customers can exhaust a lot of your company’s time and resources. By implementing the right conversion rate optimization strategies, you will lower your overall customer acquisition costs. When you optimize your website to improve your visitors’ user experience, you’ll increase your company’s revenue per visitor. This is an essential way to drive up your bottom line and grow your business.
What’s Considered a Good Conversion Rate?
When it comes to the eCommerce realm, the definition of a “good” conversion rate will vary widely from industry to industry. However, the average tends to linger between 2% and 5%. You should aim to keep your company’s rate as high as possible and always look for ways to increase it. This way, you’ll always be one step ahead of your competition.
How to Calculate a Conversion Rate
To calculate your conversion rate, you just have to follow a math formula. Simply divide your number of conversions by the total number of people who have visited your website. For the most accurate results, make sure that these numbers come from the same time frame.
For example, let’s say your landing page had 13,239 visitors for the month of April. Of these 13,239 visitors, 677 purchased your product. If you divide 677 by 13,239, you’ll get roughly .0511. Multiply .0511 by 100, and you’ll get your conversion rate for April, which is 5.11%.
When it comes to calculating your conversion rate, the possibilities are endless. You can get as broad or specific as you like and calculate this metric for specific pages, keywords, campaigns, and marketing channels.
Keep in mind that any analytics platform worth its time will show your conversion rate directly in its interface. However, it’s still important to understand where the number comes from.
10 Tips for Improving Sales with eCommerce Conversion Rate Optimization
Improving your conversion rate optimization can seem a daunting task. It will take a lot of trial and error to get it right, but these 10 tips will help you see drastic improvements in your eCommerce conversion optimization rate:
- Keep the design of your website user-centered to offer the best UX possible
- Offer free shipping where possible to limit your number of abandoned carts
- Utilize “Limited Quantity Available” announcements and other FOMO (fear of missing out) tactics to sway your visitors
- Simplify your checkout process by only showing two to three form fields at a time
- Take advantage of retargeting ads to recapture Internet users who left your website to check out other options
- Allow visitors to go through a guest checkout process (in other words, don’t force them to create an account if they want to make a purchase)
- Build credibility by enlisting product reviews, and offering free refunds and a seamless return policy
- Make your contact information (including an email, phone number, and live chat feature) accessible across your website to address shoppers’ inquiries
- Fill out all of your product descriptions completely and accurately so shoppers know what they are about to purchase
- Make sure all of your CTAs convey the benefits that taking action will offer the customer
Conversion Rate Optimization Best Practices: What You Should Know
In eCommerce, shoppers make purchase decisions quickly. According to Agility PR, more than half of online shoppers make a purchase after only one day of consideration.
As an eCommerce business owner, you have a limited amount of time to convince your shoppers that your company is the one that can meet their needs. Here are some general conversion rate optimization best practices to keep in mind so you don’t fall behind:
- Become familiar with the exact journey that visitors take through your website
- Identify your target audience and determine what kind of an individual matches your ideal customer (and who doesn’t)
- Survey users to determine their wants and needs and how your business can fulfill them
- Actively collect data to make informed decisions regarding your CRO - never leave it up to guesswork
- Fine-tune your website pages for both desktop and mobile users, like Convertica did for the website JustThrive in its recent case study
- Remove elements like excess copy that cause users to stumble or hesitate in making their purchase decisions
- Be thoughtful about your placement of arrows, CTAs, and navigational panels so your customers know how to take action
5 Useful Conversion Rate Optimization Tools
Finding the right tools to track your conversion rate optimization can be time-consuming and not worth your effort. To save you the trouble, we’ve gathered these five useful conversion rate optimization tools you can start using today:
- Data Analytics Tools: If you’re unsure of the exact reason your CRO isn’t where you want it to be, check out some data analytics tools. With these, you can identify helpful information like which pages perform the best and where the majority of your traffic comes from.
- Landing Pages Tools: Unlike your blog, about section, or homepage, landing pages serve the sole purpose of closing sales. Pre-designed templates, drag-and-drop widgets, and lead management support features can help you improve these essential pages.
- A/B Testing Tools: Do you have a lot of ideas on how to improve certain pages but aren’t sure which is the best approach? A/B testing tools like Google Optimize and Unbounce let you compare the performance of different web pages.
- User-Behavior Tracking Tools: Where do visitors hover on your pages? Are they trying to scroll down to see more information or click on broken links? Analyze your users’ experiences with your website by using heatmap tools.
- Page Load Speed Test Tools: If your page load speed is too slow, visitors will lose interest and click off before they can even learn what your company offers. To make sure your page load speed is up to par, check out relevant tools like GTMetrix.
Grow Your Business With Conversion Rate Optimization
Optimizing your conversion rate is essential. When you focus your resources on this task, you won’t be acquiring a bunch of meaningless clicks that won’t lead to sales. Rather, you’ll be able to better capture your visitors’ attention and compel them to take action.
Kurt Philip is the founder and CEO of Convertica, a done-for-you conversion rate optimization agency. You can get the Convertica team to audit your site for free. Visit convertica.org for details.