How to increase your ecommerce conversion rate

Conversion is the holy grail of ecommerce. It’s one thing to be able to attract plenty of traffic to your website but if none of that traffic converts then your marketing efforts are effectively being wasted. If you want to reduce your bounce rate and increase the ROI you see from your acquisition marketing spend then these are some very simple ways to do it.

Make every banner count

Perhaps the most important of all is the hero banner, which is what your site visitors will see first before they explore any other part of your website. If this space is uninspiring and uninformative then it is being wasted. You should view this banner as the headline or elevator pitch for your business – it should tell the visitor in several seconds why it’s worth their time to stay and browse your website for more. Use an image here that will spark interest in visitors and employ personalisation techniques such as product recommendations tailored to the local weather to make it feel even more relevant.

Use social proof wherever you can

More than half of consumers will check out star ratings before they buy something and we are increasingly becoming shoppers who research everything first. You can help purchase conversions along on your website by using social proof to provide this information for your products. Make sure that reviews and star ratings are prominent and consider adding user generated content so that a potential customer can see how others have used and enjoyed the products.

Enhance your customer journey

Being able to personalise the customer journey is an essential part of increasing the conversion rate of your website. This requires information about who your customers are and that means having an effective form of data capture. Popovers can be used carefully to help obtain essential information. Give your visitors time to browse your website first and then use a popover to either bring specific offers to their attention or to offer a discount in exchange for information such as an email address, for example.

Well designed product recommendations

The right product recommendations can boost sales by around 11%. There are many different approaches that you can take here. For example, prominently displaying your trending and best selling products can be a big lure for customers. You might also make recommendations based on a visitor’s real time browsing activity, such as whether they are looking at homewares, male or female clothing.

An element of urgency

One of the most effective ways to drive up conversions is to use an element of urgency. This could be a countdown clock that shows how much time is left until an offer expires or notices that let a customer know about deadlines for next day shipping or how much more they need to spend to get free delivery.

Increasing your ecommerce conversion rate can have a big positive impact right across the business – these are some of the simplest ways to do it.