Let’s face it: A lot goes into launching and building an ecommerce business. First, you have to decide what you’re going to sell.

After you determine how you’re going to source your products, set up your store, and start sending visitors to your site with paid advertising, you may think that’s it – I’m off to the races.

Not so fast.

In an increasingly competitive digital buying world, there are some do’s and don’ts when it comes to encouraging customers to buy items from your business.

And conversion doesn’t just happen suddenly: you have to optimize for it.

This applies whether you are just starting up and running the whole show yourself, or if you are an ecommerce manager or marketing director who has signed up to hit massive goals and KPIs for the year.

First, let’s begin by understanding a conversion.

Understanding Online Store Conversion Rates

You have to know your end goal to precisely define conversions that align with business goals.

An ecommerce conversion rate is the percentage of website visitors who purchased something from your online store (in a set period).

However, this metric is not the only way to measure the success of your online store.

Below are typical conversions for an ecommerce website:

1. An online sale.
2. A user adding a product to their cart.
3. A user adding an item to their wishlist.
4. Email signups.
5. Social media shares.
6. Any KPI your company finds valuable.

This ecommerce CRO guide covers how to increase ecommerce conversion rates on your site. Conversion rate optimization can be conducted on category pages, home pages, or any other customer touchpoint.

Ways to Boost Your Ecommerce Conversion Rates:

1. Use high-quality images and videos on your product pages

Think about what you want to see when you are shopping. When you are shopping online you can’t touch the product or put it on.

The best thing you can do is show a detailed image or video so that the customer knows exactly what they are getting.

2. Be competitively priced

If you are selling brand name items that a lot of other stores offer, unfortunately, you need to price your products at or below the average price to compete.

Make sure to adjust your prices regularly to see what resonates.

3. Let customers know your ecommerce store is safe.

This is subtle, but a really big deal. You need to build a certain level of trust in a short amount of time for customers to be willing to enter their credit card information on your website.

Exploring ways to build your on-site trust and credibility ought to be the basis for many of your conversion rate optimization strategies.

Customers want to know that they are dealing with a legitimate store that has industry-standard security measures in place.

This ensures that their credit card information will be protected. Here are a few things that help:

1. Install SSL at checkout and site-wide if possible.
2. Show small images of credit cards, PayPal and other payment options as a visual signal that you use customer-trust payment options.

Display some sort of McAfee, GeoTrust or other security badges, and make sure that you have an active account with them. Don’t just add an image if you aren’t truly secure.

4. Allow customers to review products

Remember the last time you went to buy a product online. Did you search for reviews before buying? I bet you did.

You could even offer customers a coupon code or other type of incentive next time they purchase as a reward for providing a review.

Also, ask the customer to voice any complaints to you so you have the opportunity to address any issues as this will help you receive more positive reviews.

5. Provide product testimonials if applicable.

Have you heard the statement ‘Facts Tell, but Stories Sell’?

Well, it’s true.

Prove your product works by using real testimonials. Start by offering your product for review to prominent review websites (that give honest reviews) and use this as a starting point for your testimonials.

Hint – press reviews count!

6. Use “Calls to Action” sparingly.

Don’t overwhelm a visitor with too many options and CTAs on one screen.

Drive the user to the call-to-action that you want them to perform on that page. If your customers are on a product page, then you can utilize ‘Add to Cart’ and if they are on your Cart page, you can use: ‘Proceed to Checkout’.

Executive Summary

The value ladder isn’t perfect for everyone, but it does do a great job of explaining why it is important for you to think through what you will do with your customers once you get them in.

Driving repeat business is extremely important, both in terms of revenue and brand engagement and interaction as well.

It is how you build a brand – not just a flash sale site.

The 6 steps mention in here will help you to accomplish that and not waste precious advertising dollars.

Have questions? Leave them in the comments below!