How to increase sales at an online store? 7 methods to improve the conversion rate
- 26 November 2020
The conversion rate is one of the most important indicators for an e-commerce seller. It is the percentage of users who have made a purchase out of all the people who have visited the website of the store. For instance, if the website is visited by 1000 Internet users, and 50 of them place an order, the conversion rate is 5%. This value may vary depending on the sector – it is approximately 3% in the beauty industry, but it frequently exceeds 7% in the grocery business.
There are many factors that affect the conversion rate. Read this article to find out how to increase it and improve the sales results of your store.
Design
It is said that you should not judge a book by its cover, but the appearance of your store is the first factor that significantly affects the sales results. It is estimated that customers determine if the website is attractive in just 0.05 seconds. That is all it takes for the users to decide if the website is trustworthy and if they want to stay there. If your design is transparent, modern and intuitive, you have a better chance of gaining the interest of the visitors and convincing them to find out what your website has to offer.
Mobile optimisation
In 2018, 63% of all online purchases were made on mobile devices. It is estimated that this rate will increase to 73% before 2021. Therefore, responsive design is a must if you want satisfactory sales results. Make sure that the website of your store is displayed correctly on all mobile devices and that navigation on a small screen is as user-friendly as possible.
UX optimisation
User Experience (UX) is one of the most important factors determining the success of an online store. The division into product categories should be logical and intuitive, the path from the product page to order finalisation should be as short as possible, and the most important buttons (such as “Cart” or “Buy now”) should be easy to find. The time required to load the site is also important. Studies indicate that increasing the loading time by 1 second can reduce the conversion rate by as much as 7%. You should remove all unnecessary items from your site and make sure that it loads as quickly as possible.
Prices
Obviously, price is the key factor in any purchase decision. A good deal will frequently convince the customer to make a spontaneous order. However, how can you know the right price to pick? To find out, use price monitoring tools capable of comparing the prices of your competition. This way, you will be able to quickly respond to any changes and adapt your offer accordingly to make sure that it is always the most attractive deal on the market. By implementing such a tool, you will be able to immediately introduce changes and improve your results almost instantly. You should also make sure that information about particularly attractive prices (e.g., special offers or discount codes) is appropriately emphasised, e.g., in the form of a banner or pop-up.
Product presentation
A customer buying something online has a limited number of opportunities to find information about the product. The primary source of information is the product page. It should include exhaustive details – not just about the product itself but also about the way it is used, the terms of refunds and options and the delivery cost. Pictures are important as well – they should be professionally made, with good quality, and their appearance should match the nature of the product.
Reviews
It is estimated that including customer reviews can increase the conversion rate of a store by as much as 34%. Reviews by other users provide very important information about the product to the customer, increasing their trust in the seller and providing additional information. Reviews are also relevant to SEO – they are additional content that improves the ranking of the store in search engines.
Customer service
It might seem that customer service is not as important in online sales as it is in direct selling. However, Customer Service is frequently one of the primary categories in the reviews of online stores in competitions and rankings, such as, for instance, the German Shop-Awards 2020. Quick response to customer enquiries, availability of a chat feature and various methods of contact as well as an exhaustive FAQ significantly accelerate the purchase process and, consequently, increase the conversion rate.
If you would like to find out more about how to increase profit simply by optimising your prices, without creating additional contents and modifying your website, contact Dealavo. Our experts will help you make the most of the price monitoring tools to improve your margins and gain an edge over the competition.