23 Best eCommerce Conversion Rate Tricks to Beat the 2.27% Industry Average - PDF Included
Online our customers' expectations have grown exceedingly through the covid testing at home pandemic. Digital savviness advanced for every generation, as Gen Z, Gen X, Millennials, and Boomers were all forced to turn to shopping online at outlets like Amazon, Walmart and even adopting online grocery delivery throughout the quarantine. These eCommerce websites and apps are also significantly more refined in their customer experience than they were a year or two ago. It’s important as a business owner selling eCommerce products that you understand the need to now satisfy this elevated customer demand regarding their digital marketing experience to effectively increase sales and distribution
It’s often difficult to fully understand the customer experience that you're providing through eCommerce when you’re looking at your own brand. This is a guide for product and brand owners that are wanting to look at the new trends and various ways that are most prone to providing the best online customer experience. The principles that are needed are an engaging design, having powerful messaging and positioning, creating social proof for validation, and incorporating conversion-oriented functionality at a high-level.
Engaging Design
Minimal Clicks Through the Payment Process: To create an online customer experience that converts, your design should be oriented around how to create an experience that simply reduces the amount of clicks it takes someone to buy your product, add it into the cart, and then through the cart, purchase the product. If right now you're at eight clicks through the experience for someone to buy a product, how can you reduce that to five or six for the payment to be processed? It’s important to look at where the experience may be too bulky and where you are losing customers. If you can make the process as seamless and as beneficial for them as possible, you're going to reap the rewards of selling more products because you were intentional about facilitating a customer experience that was of value to them. You’re going to win.
High-Quality Photos and Videos: Part of this engaging design includes ensuring that you've got great photos and videos, whether it be how-to demonstrations or lifestyle videos showing the product in use. This is critical for clearly showing the features and benefits in the design, further enabling people to see how they can use your product.
Show Variations - Colors, Add Ons, Package: The design should also include all the different variations and options there are for the product. Show if the product comes in multiple colors or patterns, or if there are any add ons like warranties or special packages. If you sell packages with multiple products, show what that will look like.
Proper Category / Inventory Display: If your business sells multiple products, how are you organizing them and displaying your inventory? Include a category with any featured products. It’s important to consider the most intuitive and best user experience to showcase your products for your customers.
Frequently Bought Together / Related Items: In your customer’s journey, how will they find related or similar items? How do they see related items or products that are frequently bought together? Look at how you can upsell and create a user experience that is beneficial to not only them but you as well.
Powerful Messaging & Positioning
Clear Benefits: Clearly articulating the benefits of your product or your brand to overcome a consumer's pain is going to be the fastest way for them to buy. It doesn’t need to be fear-based messaging, you just need to understand what it is our product solves - whether that's saving them time, providing them convenience, or even peace of mind. Humans won't buy anything or take any action without first knowing that the issue is large enough that it needs to be solved. Without that pain no one will buy, so clearly articulate what that product helps solve for them.
Features Add Value & Solve a Problem: There’s a difference between a product’s features and the benefits that help alleviate pain. Features and benefits are often coupled together, but features are more the product's functionality and/or components that enhance the product and differentiate it from other products in its industry. These features will encourage consumers to choose your product over competitors.
Lifestyle & Product Photos & Video: These benefits and features should be combined into your lifestyle product and photography. Having motion graphics or visuals on top of your photography and videography can help in conveying your product and its benefits for people to quickly understand.
Cause Marketing & Aligned Values with Donations: If your business donates to philanthropic causes or gives back in some way, how is that articulated? Clearly indicate if a certain percentage of funds go towards an organization and show customers how their purchase will be making a difference. This is a great way to convey to your customer base that we’re all able to come together and make a bigger impact.
Social Proof for Validation
Reviews & Testimonials: There are lots of ways through your website to create more influence and social validation for your product and brand at large, two of them being reviews and testimonials. Although coupled together, a review would be about a product while a testimonial is more about the brand and the experience. These help potential customers get a better feel for the product or experience, and more trust is formed because the previous customer-created social proof for the brand.
“As Seen On” Carousel: Various media outlets picking up your product or article creates immediate validation. Whether they’re trade, industry outlets, or large notable ones that we all recognize like the New York Times or the Washington Post, it will build some of that trust and validity right off the bat.
Badges & Certifications: If your business has badges and certifications, include them on your website. This could be if your business is LEED-certified, doesn’t test on animals, is GMO-free, or anything similar that your company has spent their time and money on to be recognized for. This helps build social proof and shows that you've hit certain criteria that give you credibility. Your products/experiences uphold the values that society is demanding.
FAQs about the Product: Including a FAQ or a question/comment section can also further a product's social proof. If you look at Amazon, they have a section for people to ask questions and users can upvote the answers that the company responds to, letting others know how useful it was. If you're selling on Amazon, make sure that those FAQs are also translated over to your website for when you are converting people through email, social or otherwise.
Showcase IG Related Hashtags of Clients Using it: Make sure that you're updating across platforms and are showcasing on Instagram any related hashtags or posts of clients using it. This allows for your clients to tell your story on your behalf, which you can then share on Instagram or other socials. Look at how different groups on social media can help provide social validation for your product or brand.
Show When Other’s Buy the Product with Popups: Popups that indicate when another user is purchasing the same product creates a sense of urgency for customers. These can be on desktop or mobile, as well as notifications on the website for active shoppers. It’s human nature to feel pressure or jealousy when seeing others purchasing a product that you were considering for yourself. Humans have a fear of missing out and that can be used to boost sales.
Groups & Communities for Support, Engagement & Events: It’s also possible to create culture and community across Facebook groups and Linkedin. These groups can produce further engagement, even to the point of customers coming together for offline events. Creating a community and culture around your brand will build loyalty, engagement, and social proof for new customers.
Conversion-oriented Functionality
Create a Sense of Urgency - Countdown Timers & Limited-Time Offers: Countdown timers and limited inventory banners are also great ways to create a sense of urgency. Even though we know that we can go back tomorrow, that countdown timer still adds pressure. It works, we are human. If your product truly is providing more value than your competitors, then it isn’t a bad thing to encourage users to commit.
Add Value - Shipping or otherwise: There are a lot of various ways to add value to your product or brand like free shipping, discount programs, memberships, a feeling community, etc. Adding value to your product will give it meaning to your customer and will encourage purchases.
Purposeful Popups & Email Capture: Create value for people that are interested in your product with popups and email capture. Feeling a sense of urgency will encourage potential customers to make purchases that they were considering.
Show Discounts or Savings Clearly: Be sure to clearly indicate if a product is on sale and be specific about the exact amount your customer will be saving. Clearly showing that a certain product is 20% off or $40 helps people understand what kind of MSRP versus your cost is and knowing what they’re saving makes them more prone to buy.
Upsell Offers - Warranties, Add Ons, etc: Conversion-oriented functionality upsells such as warranties and add ons products that are bought together, add value to what the customer is ultimately going to need anyways. GoPro, is a great example for how the packaging creates more upsell and value with their drones.
Split Payments: Split payments give your customers the ability to pay for a portion of their product at checkout and the rest monthly. There are already a handful of companies who do this and the ability to pay in monthly installments will greatly increase conversions, especially for expensive or hot ticket items. The ability to add this split payment option will also keep people committed to then coming back in, developing that sense of loyalty with you. You might be giving a small margin up for that, but you're going to equally give lifetime value to the customer.
Powerful & Authentic Call to Actions: There needs to be an emphasis on authenticity and on not being too salesy. There are many fun and creative ways of employing engaging ways to invite people to buy your product while staying authentic. These Call-to-Actions need to be strategically placed throughout the site and will then increase your desired outcome of conversions.
All of these are great tactics that will assist you in boosting conversions. Focusing on an engaging design, powerful messaging & positioning, social proof, and conversion-oriented functionality will refine and highlight the user experience for your customers. You know that your product is the best available and we ask that you use these tactics in a positive way. As digital savviness continues to grow, it’s more important than ever for your business to consider the user experience and to implement it into your site. It’s critical that business owners understand the need to now satisfy this elevated customer demand as far as their digital experience. If you need help along the way, SoCap is here to help.
Ultimate eCommerce Website Conversions Checklist Throughout the Customer Journey PDF