3 Ecommerce Tips to Increase Conversions
What comes to mind when you hear the word commerce? Perhaps a salesperson? Or, a store? What about money? Or, maybe you picture a shopping cart icon? The last image isn’t surprising. These days, online shopping is booming around the world. According to a recent survey, consumers now make 51% of their purchases online, with 44% of these purchases coming from smartphones. If you sell products online and want your website to convert, then you’ll need to provide visitors with a great experience. So, what exactly are online shoppers looking for? These three things to start:
An Inviting Design
While the holiday shopping season is still fresh in your mind, can you recall an experience that was less than enjoyable? There’s a huge chance that you walked into a store and were bombarded by a team of staff members overly eager to share the latest deals, promotions, and products. To this, you might have said that you were “just looking”, only to be watched like a hawk. Shopping experiences like this usually result in a bag-less walk-out. Few things are as uncomfortable as a pushy, aggressive salesperson. Your ecommerce website shouldn’t be pushy or aggressive, either.
The design of your ecommerce website needs to be well-organized and to the point. When it comes to your home page, do not bombard visitors with superfluous information, images, or videos. Aim for simplicity here, but don’t be boring. Take this website for example. Nancy Chang, of Nancy Chang Healthy Asian & Specialty Cuisine, is one of LinkNow Media’s ecommerce clients. Her website is responsive, easy-to-navigate, and provides a smooth checkout, and most importantly, it’s helping her bring in tons of new business. Our ecommerce packages offer all this stuff and more for this very reason.
Easy Checkout
Think about a time you were at a store heading to checkout only to find long lines at every register, or an issue with the cash register or POS terminal. You might have decided to go elsewhere, or that you didn’t really need the item in the first place. A scenario like this isn’t far from what happens online. A checkout process that is clunky or requires the user to provide more information than necessary can result in shopping cart abandonment. Here are some online checkout tips to avoid that from happening:
- Use predictive entry tools for shipping and billing address
- Don’t require a member login, but suggest shoppers create an account at THE END of the checkout process
- Incorporate a process indictor to let the user know where they are at in the checkout process
Another way to push online shoppers to follow through on the purchase is by offering free or flat rate shipping. Be sure to include this information on the checkout page. A surprise fee at the final stage will not only send them packing, it will also leave them with a bad taste in their mouths about your company’s brand.
Fast Load Time
We’ve pointed at the importance of load time in a previous post, and we are going to stress that fact again. A slow loading page can result in a lost customer, so it is important that you keep an eye on it, especially on mobile. Some ways that can increase load time include:
- Optimized and compressed images
- A mobile-friendly design
- Minified code and HTTP requests
- Removal of unnecessary videos
Closing
We’re just scratching the surface about the ways you can increase sales. At LinkNow Media, we love helping ecommerce businesses become successful online. If you are looking for a fresh start, feel free to get in touch with us.
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