10 Easy eCommerce Optimization Tips to Boost Conversions
In a world where everything is online, your shop, product, or showroom must be online too. But with thousands of sites, products, and services vying for the attention of every precious visitor, you need to stand out from the crowd. To turn browsers into buyers, your website must leverage eCommerce optimization.
A huge differentiator that will bring a marked improvement in your conversion rate is implementing CRO on your e-commerce platform. CRO, or Conversion Rate Optimization, is the technique of tweaking your e-commerce platform in such a way as to boost your conversion rate.
Let’s explore several eCommerce optimization tips to take your conversions (and revenue) to the next level.
1. One Page, One Conversion Goal
The Paradox of Choice and similar concepts argue that the more choice a user has, the harder (and more miserable) it becomes for them to make a decision. Instead of acting, your customer will agonize about making the ‘right’ choice, and will have difficulty making ANY choice at all!
The same applies to your e-commerce site. Presenting the user with several (similar) product choices is more likely to confuse them than help them.
It is recommended that for any page or product, focus all of the user’s attention on a single product: one page, one conversion goal.
Remove any distractions, such as irrelevant sidebars, links, displays of other “Stuff you may like” options, or share buttons. Just present them with all the right reasons to convert (including benefits, discounts, special offers, and social proof), and guide them to click your “Buy Now” button.
2. Optimize UX with eCommerce Optimization
Whichever e-commerce platform you use, you need to identify any stumbling blocks users face when browsing or purchasing on your site.
You’ll find that tools such as Hotjar can help you visualize the actions of your users. From this insight, you can pinpoint any issues with your e-commerce website’s usability. Maybe you have a problem with the checkout process, or you give users too much choice at a certain phase, or perhaps there is something else confusing your users.
You also need to ensure there is no friction in the checkout process. Whether it’s shipping costs (have you considered free shipping?), or something else causing users to abandon the cart, you need to find the issue and fix it.
Whatever you discover, you are then in a position to take corrective action.
3. Manufacture Scarcity Effectively to Boost Sales
One of the most effective conversion tactics that have been proven to work time and again is FOMO, or Fear of Missing Out – otherwise known as creating scarcity.
By making your product or current price limited or “scarce”, your client is much more likely to click the “Buy Now” button, just to make sure they don’t miss out.
You can create a sense of scarcity by putting a time-limited discount in place (TODAY only!), or creating a limited number of “products” available for sale (ONLY 3 of these items left!). By using words such as “only” and “5 people have looked at this item in the last hour,” you are triggering FOMO, and pushing the visitor towards conversion.
4. Use Social Proof to Allay Fears
Have you ever had the urge to buy, and then at the very moment of purchase, you start doubting whether this is the right product for you?
This happens to everybody, so as an eCommerce site owner, you need to preempt this fear. You can do this using social proof.
Social proof is testimonials, reviews, or other statements from past or existing customers who are happy with their purchase.
When (potential) customers see this “proof” of your clients who are satisfied with their purchase, it helps to resolve any nagging doubts they may have and makes them much more likely to click and convert.
Amazon uses this technique very effectively, by featuring ratings and reviews on the actual product page; as does Basecamp, which displays the huge number of companies who have used it successfully to manage their projects.
5. Focus on Abandoned Carts (and Boost Your Revenue)
Even after implementing the above tips, something may occur that leads your user to abandon their purchase during checkout.
An abandoned cart is when a user adds a product (or a number of products) to their shopping basket, but does not complete the checkout process.
Abandoned carts are a gold mine for increasing revenue. According to Klaviyo, emails sent to customers who abandoned their carts get the highest conversion rates (3.33%) of all email marketing flows.
If you’re not already doing anything about this, you can easily achieve a significant boost in your revenue, just by putting a process in place to manage abandoned carts.
If you’re choosing an eCommerce platform for optimization, make sure it offers an abandoned cart feature, and make sure you activate it ASAP.
6. Update Your Landing Pages
To keep your online store competitive and relevant, you must continuously refresh your product pages and optimize your landing pages. This means updating product descriptions, refining CTAs, and ensuring your pages reflect the latest customer feedback and market research.
Consistent updates not only keep your content fresh but also show search engines that your website is actively maintained, which can improve search rankings. Updated content can dramatically uplift engagement, leading to higher conversion rates.
7. Improve Page Load Time
In e-commerce, speed wins. When a page lags, even for a few seconds, frustrated visitors are quick to exit, and potential sales disappear. According to Think with Google, a page that takes just 1 to 3 seconds to load can increase the probability of bounce by 32%. If it takes up to 6 seconds to load, the bounce rate may increase by 106%!
To combat slow load times, websites must prioritize e-commerce optimization tactics like compressing images, minifying CSS and JavaScript, leveraging browser caching, and selecting performance-optimized hosting solutions. Improved load times boost will also help search engine rankings, as speed is a key factor in search algorithms. A delay of mere seconds can cost you significant traffic and sales.
8. Power of Personalization in eCommerce Optimization
Personalization in e-commerce goes beyond just addressing customers by name – it’s about curating experiences that resonate with the individuality of each visitor. When content reflects customers’ unique interests and behaviors, they feel understood and valued, which is instrumental in deepening the relationship between customer and brand.
An eCommerce optimization tactic that works well is personalizing content, based on a user’s browsing history, previous purchases, or even their cart abandonment data, that can create more relevant and compelling touchpoints.
Tools that leverage data analytics for personalization (like Amazon’s recommendation engine) have set the standard in the industry. These tools analyze customer interactions to suggest products that align with their interests, increasing the chance of conversion. Moreover, the intelligent use of customer data for personalization not only streamlines the shopping experience but also bolsters targeted marketing efforts, making promotions and upselling tactics more effective.
Tailoring email marketing campaigns, adjusting homepage displays, and even customizing offers and discounts all contribute to a robust personalized shopping journey. This attention to detail signals to customers that a brand is attentive to their needs and preferences, building a foundation of trust and paving the way for long-term loyalty and advocacy.
9. eCommerce Optimization for Mobile Audiences
The importance of mobile eCommerce optimization cannot be overstated. Mobile shoppers tend to make quick decisions. To boost conversions on mobile, you need a site that capitalizes on impulse purchases, such as fast load times, attractive content displays content, and simple one-click transactions.
Conversely, if a mobile site is clunky or cumbersome, potential buyers are likely to abandon their carts and look elsewhere.
Moreover, search engines have adopted a mobile-first approach in ranking websites, recognizing the primacy of mobile browsing. A site that isn’t mobile-friendly risks not only losing direct consumer traffic but also diminishing its visibility in search results. This drop in search ranking can lead to decreased traffic, thereby indirectly affecting conversion rates.
The integration of mobile e-commerce with social media and native advertising makes it even more important to get right. Many consumers discover products through social media ads and influencer endorsements.
On the open internet, outside the ‘walls’ of social media, consumers encounter native ads while browsing their favorite websites, such as news and entertainment sites. Native ad formats like Carousel, combined with precise audience targeting, can go a long way to driving high quality traffic to your e-commerce store, which leads to higher conversion rates.
10. Use Tracking Tools
Using tracking tools as part of your eCommerce optimization strategy is a fundamental practice that equips you with the necessary insights to continually optimize and refine your online store’s performance. Tools like Google Analytics and SEMrush offer a wealth of data, from tracking user pathways and identifying which channels are bringing in the most traffic, to understanding which products are converting and at what rate. They go beyond mere pageviews to drill down into specifics, such as how long customers are spending on each page, at what point they are dropping off, and what actions they are taking while on your site.
Furthermore, integrating heatmaps and session recordings, provided by tools such as Hotjar, delivers a layer of qualitative analysis. These features show you exactly where customers are clicking, moving, and spending time on your site. This perspective can reveal user experience issues like confusing navigation or clickable elements that may not be apparent through traditional analytics alone.
Collecting and analyzing this data is crucial for diagnosing any pain points in the customer journey. By understanding the ‘why’ behind user behavior, e-commerce businesses can make informed decisions to streamline pathways to purchase, simplify the checkout process, and ultimately, boost conversion rates.
Combine these eCommerce Optimization tips for a Quick Conversion Boost
Performing rigorous CRO on all your product pages can make a dramatic improvement to your bottom line. Even if the above techniques may demand a bit of process reorganization, we strongly suggest you implement all of these eCommerce optimization tips.
Squeeze every last drop of potential from your existing website traffic, and you’ll see a nice uptick in your revenue without over-investing in new marketing campaigns.
