E-Commerce Conversion Rate Optimization
Electronic commerce has a significant impact on the future of retailers. As it becomes easier than ever for customers to shop online, many of them choose to buy things from the comfort of their homes, reducing the need to visit physical stores.
E-commerce conversion rates have dramatically fluctuated over the years, though, because the tricks of the trade that drive conversion rates are constantly changing. To give you an idea, unique product descriptions can make all the difference in the world when it comes to improving search engine visibility, and thus boosting conversion rates. This article will highlight a few field-tested tips that allow e-commerce store owners to maximize their profits.
Everything begins with choosing the proper tools, so here are two of the best Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) platforms.
ClickFunnels is a visual e-commerce platform that's used by over 100,000 people who have sold products totaling over ten billion dollars, according to its makers. The platform allows e-store owners to guide potential customers through the entire sales funnel, one step at the time. This helps improve CRO by ensuring that people don't get confused and leave the website. In fact, ClickFunnels can track visitors even after they have left the site!
If you decide to try out the product, you will notice that it's got an easy-to-use landing page builder, a smart shopping cart that allows you to add matching upsells, an email marketing automation system, and more. ClickFunnels can also create funnels that capture relevant visitor information; the collected data can be retrieved and used anytime it is needed.
Kissmetrics is another product which incorporates a great variety of CRO tools. It was launched more than a decade ago, so it's not a surprise that it is one of the most powerful platforms in the industry. Kissmetrics helps e-commerce store owners optimize their funnels and increase the number of repeat customers.
The tool has a simple dashboard, which can display - among other things - two very important metrics: the visitor-to-purchase and cart-to-purchase conversion rates. You can also view the top spenders and their common traits, determine how you have acquired them, and more. It is possible to generate reports, which include the most viewed products, the top website searches, the lifetime value of your customers, the conversion rate of your email marketing campaigns, etc.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been making its way into e-commerce CRO lately. Automated tools can help store owners discover the areas that are getting the least conversions, offering suggestions that will help optimize sales.
CRO is ultimately all about making conversions happen. So, the very first step is to make use of a system that can measure and improve conversions. Do you want to increase your average order value, reduce cart abandonment, or encourage repeat purchases? I presume you are interested in achieving all these goals, right? Then, begin by considering the channels through which your customers arrive at the e-store and find out when/why they are leaving. Make minor changes and reevaluate the results; it will take some trial and error before you see solid improvements.
Your primary goal is to determine the areas where you can make changes that will have the biggest impact on your bottom line. Consider a few scenarios: what would happen if your average order value increased by 10%, or if your cart abandonment rate diminished by 10%, for example?
You should always look for ways to improve customer experience, such as
- Scoring the shopping cart
- Using prompts for signups and purchases
- Offering discounts and free shipping
- Unlocking content for buying exclusive products
- Etc.
All these sales tactics can help you improve the average order value.
You can also look at other areas of your website to make changes. Look for slow load times, make sure all content is properly optimized, and improve customer flow.