Having an ecommerce is not enough. Inserting your products into an online store and waiting for customers to arrive is not enough: for a digital project to be successful, it is essential that it converts.
If you too have opened an e-commerce site, or if you are considering doing so, your primary objective will be for your users to turn into customers. But often, e-commerce has difficulty making figures.
The reasons? First of all, your e-commerce may have optimization problems, while Google does not reward it. Or you didn’t work on content marketing: you created e-commerce and left it to its fate. But don’t panic, these are mistakes that we all fall into sooner or later. Read on and find out how to get your e-commerce business off the ground.
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How to Increase Ecommerce Conversions
How much do you need to sell to have a successful e-commerce? We have all asked ourselves this question in front of our e-commerce, but there is no single answer to this question.
This is usually the conversion rate or the percentage of visitors who purchase compared to the total. In addition, other factors are taken into account: how many visitors return, how many put products in the shopping cart or save a product list, how many register. In fact, these are visitors who show interest, destined to become customers anyway: the purchase is not immediate, but only postponed to the future.
The success of an e-commerce also depends on the type of product and the investment that has been made in the online project. An example: with the same product, the same conversion rate can be very low for those who have invested a budget in advertising, but very high for those who have not.
In any case, there is an indicative value to evaluate the conversion rate: in the B2B sector it is 3-4%, in B2C it is 1-2%. Having established the starting points for an analysis of your e-commerce, let’s now look at how to improve it.
The importance of user experience (UX)
Are ecommerce visitors arriving at your site, but then abandoning the navigation? Or do they start the purchasing process and then stop? You may have delivered an unsatisfactory user experience (UX): the customer’s navigation was more difficult than it should be. That is to say, it was not intuitive, simple.
The critical points can be numerous: superficially written product sheets, unclear categories, search box not visible, purchasing process complicated by too many steps, related articles not highlighted. Remember that the visitor who “lands” on your e-commerce site may be looking for a specific product. For this reason, it is essential to offer them two things: filters and a list of best-selling items.
If the user entered the e-commerce site to find the product they were told about, they must have all the necessary tools to find it: the list of best sellers, the place where the item could be found. find and the possibility of searching for it by entering the right filters.
In general, in a website, the user must find all the information he needs. This is why we referred to product sheets written with approximation: a precise description will have a greater impact than a poorly detailed description. The more the user knows about the item, the more tempted they will be to click “buy”, i.e. convert.
Optimization
Until now, we have talked about user experience and user experience. Another factor that can penalize your e-commerce is optimization. The optimization of a website concerns both its content and its technical aspect : it is a series of elements that make a site comply with the requirements of the Google algorithm. An optimized site is a site which is rewarded by Google, that is to say which appears before its competitors in search results.
What does it mean that e-commerce needs to be optimized? This means that content must be organized by keywords that describe it and place it in specific product categories. Consider the case of a beauty supply store: a user looking for pearl eyeshadow may not be directed to a series of products that fall under the generic description of eyeshadow.
In addition, as for optimization from a technical point of view, check that the e-commerce is navigable from smartphones (the site must be mobile first) and that the loading of pages is not slow.
Content Marketing
Speaking of search engine optimization, blogging can be a great way to rank for the right keywords . Additionally, a blog allows you to place a call to action and push the user to take an action.
Offering content is also an effective strategy to bring the user closer: making yourself known through content allows the user to get closer to us. At that time, when he searches for an item like the one we sell, he will buy from us. A bit as if he had made friends with our company.
That’s what content marketing does : sell through content . Another valuable ally is the newsletter , a tool that allows you to reach the user directly by calling them by name.
Bonuses, discounts and coupons
Do you have an e-commerce site but no “hook” to attract the user? Then it’s time to get one. A discount for new subscribers, a coupon to spend in the coming days, purchase points , free delivery. It’s hard to resist everything, especially if the offer is limited in time.
Urgency is the definitive lever of the purchase: knowing that an item cannot remain saved or in the basket until a later date is the decisive boost. If you propose an offer, communicate it by electronic mail and highlight it on the home page of the site.
E-commerce for your business
You now have all the information you need to increase conversions and get your e-commerce project off the ground.
Do you need product sheets or content for your blog? At Onoix.com, we can help you develop your e-commerce. Discover our services, from data analysis to content creation and product sheets.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are some quick wins to boost conversions?
There are a few quick changes most stores can implement to potentially see an immediate uplift in conversions:
- Improve site speed and mobile optimization
- Add trust symbols/signs like guarantees, certifications
- Make the checkout process as simple as possible
- Offer free shipping or reduced shipping minimums
What’s more important – traffic or conversion rate?
Both website traffic and conversion rate are crucial. While more traffic gives you more opportunities for sales, a higher conversion rates means more of your existing traffic actually converts. Find the right balance through testing, and work on increasing both over time.
How can I tell which parts of my site need improvement?
Use analytics platforms to see where visitors are exiting your site or where potential issues lie. Look at metrics like bounce rates for key pages, exit points, and heatmaps showing user clicks/scrolling. Run A/B tests as well to directly compare the performance of different versions of key pages/processes.
How much do high-quality product visuals impact conversions?
Extremely positively in most cases! Consumers overwhelmingly rely on images and visuals to engage with products online, so compelling photography and supplemental visual elements like infographics or videos have an outsized influence on converting site visitors into buyers according to many studies.
What about product descriptions – how in-depth should they be?
Produce descriptions that educate and excite customers, while finding the right balance in length. Extremely short descriptions seem low-effort while excessively long ones risk overloading customers. Test different description lengths along with different formats like bulleted lists to determine what converts best.
