The goal of e-commerce is fairly simple: try to get as many conversions as you can. However, most business owners and marketers use less than savory options to attract visitors and convert them into paying customers. Not only that, but the majority of e-commerce owners believe that they have to spend significant amounts of money on a professional agency and suffer large expenditures on redesigning the entire website.
Fortunately, there are various on-site optimization tricks you can use to boost your conversions and avoid spending a ton of money while doing it.
Table of Contents
1. Write a decent product copy
Product descriptions are important. Their role is to provide the buyers with information in such a way that they convince themselves that this product is just the right one to satisfy their individual needs. The information needs to be clear and factual, without any additional hype or words of persuasion.
Make sure to include basic information such as who this product is meant for, what it can do, and why exactly it is that good. When it comes to the length of the description, the best option is to offer both a short, concise version and a long, detailed one.
2. Avoid charging for shipping costs
Almost half of all e-commerce sellers offer free shipping for their products. For some, shipping is always free, regardless of what product you offer, while others have specific conditions that need to be met in order to be eligible for free shipping, such as exceeding a preset value in your shopping cart.
Considering that most customers not only prefer free shipping but also base most of their shopping decisions on whether there’s free shipping or not, it may be best to simply avoid charging for any shipping costs. If you absolutely have to charge for shipping, make sure you always charge a flat shipping rate.
3. Trustmarks are there for a reason
Credibility and trustworthiness are among the most important factors influencing a visitor’s decision to purchase a product or a service. Raising your business’ credibility is as easy as associating your online store with brands and groups shoppers trust the most in the hope that that trust will “rub off” on your website.
Try to get your online store validated by companies that pride themselves in fair business practices and customer security, such as Better Business Bureau, TRUSTe, and VeriSign, and prominently display their banners and logos on your website. The best location for these logos is your website’s header and footer and while you’re at it, make sure to add the logos of all the major brands you work with, as well as credit card companies and other methods of payment you accept.
4. Showcase reviews and testimonials
More than half of all online shoppers regularly consult reviews and testimonials prior to making their decision to purchase, and around 40% of shoppers claim they wouldn’t even make a purchase without going through reviews regarding that particular product first.
When it comes to e-commerce websites, one of the easiest ways of showcasing reviews is to take a couple of the most beneficial and interesting reviews you’ve received and add them to your website’s homepage as testimonials quotes. If you wish to further certify your credibility, try to incorporate customer names and pictures alongside their quotes.
5. Use product videos
The demand for video content is growing at an increasingly rapid tempo. More than 40% of customers prefer video as the marketing medium of choice, and more than 50% of marketers state that video content provides by far the best return on investment. This is because videos keep the customers engaged for longer than any other medium and represent a fantastic opportunity for marketers to show off and promote products and services, reviews and testimonials, and behind-the-scenes insights regarding how the company actually works.
6. Be creative with the images
Besides the store, it’s advisable to also have a blog detailing any new products and services you might offer. This is important for a couple of reasons: search engines prefer blogs and feature them prominently in the search results. You can add customers to a newsletter to keep them up-to-date with new features, products, and service promotions.
Having a blog is one thing, but having a steady stream of visitors requires making the blog informative, useful, and visually appealing. This is where images come into play, as they allow marketers to quickly add both color and content to their blog posts. There are numerous services online that offer stock photography, including Shopify’s Burst service, which boasts a rather impressive collection of stock photos you can use on both your blog and e-commerce store.
As you can see, boosting e-commerce conversions doesn’t require spending an awful lot of money on various marketing agencies. In fact, it is as simple as making a couple of well-thought-out, on-page tweaks, most of which can be accomplished without any actual coding or marketing knowledge.
Regardless of what approach you to decide on taking from the tips mentioned above, make sure to test them individually in order to get a clear picture of what works best for your store and incorporate that knowledge to further increase your conversion rates.
