Your company has set up e-commerce to advertise your product and make it convenient for customers to make purchases. You have to keep on selling your products via your E-Commerce website to keep the money coming and going. However, in the quest to build a positive, long-term relationship with your customer, you may have sabotaged your e-commerce website. If you aren’t seeing the purchases or number of returning customers as you expected, then you need to change your current Ecommerce setup. Most marketers forget to ask themselves “Why Ecommerce Business Fail”? You need to learn why is my Ecommerce site not selling and Ecommerce conversion rate optimization.
Small businesses, especially those who are new to the E-commerce industry can have trouble while building their website. You need to showcase your new product and services with a sophisticated e-commerce setup that has all the latest features. Following all the basic principles can easily increase your Ecommerce checkout conversion rate optimization. The purpose of this article is to teach you how to increase conversion rate Ecommerce.
On the first look, a complicated and fancy E-commerce setup can make your brand look bigger than it actually is. While that may be true for the most part, it can be a nightmare for the user’s experience. Here are some complicated things that are making you ask “why is my Ecommerce site not selling?”.
- Complex Navigation method.
- Tough checkout process.
- Incomplete product details.
- Unclear product images.
In this article, we will discuss in-depth how to increase conversion rate Ecommerce? Here are some of the most common mistakes that lead to customers leaving your website empty-handed.
1. Non-Customer Friendly Design
According to all the top marketing advisors, designing the look and functionality of your website based on your preference and not according to the customer experience is one of the first mistakes made by businesses. It is also the reason why Ecommerce businesses fail.
Business owners need to understand the fact that what looks good to them isn’t always practical. Several examples have made it clear that a website designed by a business owner leads towards a more confusing message and checkout process. Which we don’t have to tell you is not a good thing for your brand. The purpose of your Ecommerce platform is to increase the conversion rate. To successfully do so, you need to do a thorough Ecommerce checkout conversion rate optimization.
If you need to avoid this very common mistake then you need to conduct user experience before launching your website. You can use website analytics and an unbiased 3rd party that will test your website thoroughly and provides you with a genuine response.
2. Focusing on Creativity Over Conversions
Another common mistake made by most businesses is thinking that an artsy looking website will attract more customers and compel them to buy your product and services. While the thought is definitely good, but if your execution isn’t great your website will be nothing more than just a bad experiment. This could be the reason you’re thinking “why is my Ecommerce site not selling?”.
Even if your target audience is the younger generation that loves artistic things, your primary objective should be to get conversions. Impressing visitors with your creativity can wait a little longer.
The best way to solve this issue is by conducting user tests. You should make sure that your sales funnel is well defined and optimized at places where it counts.
3. Forcing Unnecessary Actions and Steps
Most of us shop online because of the lack of time in our lives. If online shopping will start to become complicated then it will ruin the overall customer experience. Customers need simple and easy check-out. Here are some unnecessary actions you can remove from your site to improve the user experience.
- Pop-ups forcing customers to subscribe to newsletter/future deals.
- Forcing to login instead of a simple information form for purchase.
- Telling consumers to share their email, mobile number, and address.
Asking for personal details on the very first interaction makes customers lose interest in your website. Doing this to build a long-term relationship with your customers is a fair point but doing this on your very first interaction isn’t a great idea. Knowing how to improve Ecommerce conversion rate can help you increase your profits tenfold.
4. Website Not Being Mobile Friendly
Almost all the online industry has shifted to smartphones as the number of users is growing day by day. Nowadays more stuff is done on phones than on a desktop. Smartphones help users access the internet on the go. Which is perfect for the busy, and fast-paced lives we live.
Chances are that your customers are on the go while scrolling through your website. They would want to make purchases whenever they feel like it. If your E-Commerce site hasn’t been optimized to fit the small screens of the smartphones then you are lacking behind in the race. To successfully do the Ecommerce conversion rate optimization, you need a mobile-friendly website. A well-optimized mobile-based website acts differently from those on desktop computers.
5. Poor Site Performance
Your e-commerce site can be full of hi-res images and product videos, but sometimes these elements end up reducing your website’s performance. Poor site performance is another reason why Ecommerce businesses fail, as no user will wait for more than 40 seconds for your website to open.
Images that load slowly are bad for your business as they can easily frustrate and annoy your customers. A delay in the page will not go well with your customers. Visitors on your website would want their stuff ASAP. If your page takes a bit too long to load, your potential customers will go somewhere else.
A slow-loading page also has a negative result on your page’s search engine rankings. If you need more people to see you and even more people stay on your website then you need to improve your site’s performance. If you are wondering why is my Ecommerce site not selling? Then you shouldn’t just think about making your website run faster on the desktop, you should make it faster on smartphones as well. Your mobile-based customers won’t like it if they have to wait for too long.
6. Bad Shopping Cart Experience
It’s very common for all the customers to visit a site, save a product to the shopping cart and then forget about their saved products. This is the result of a shopping cart that isn’t noticeable. You need to add a pop-up over the shopping cart to show customers several saved items.
That’s not all, a slow-loading shopping cart can also ruin your user experience and it can be frustrating to the customer. Customers won’t wait for your website to load as there are so many competitors in the market. The rules of Ecommerce checkout conversion rate optimization dictates that each part of your site should be optimized.
7. Surprise Shipping Costs
Surprises are welcomed only when they are good. Not many people like surprises, especially when they are shopping and expecting to pay more than they would. If someone is paying a certain amount for a certain product, he or she will leave your site if they see the additional fee and shopping costs on the checkout page. If you are wondering how to improve Ecommerce conversion rate, then you need to be transparent with your customers.
There are a few ways you can handle the shipping costs dilemma. Such as:
- Offering everyone free shipping (International & Domestic).
- Offer free shipping on orders of certain amounts.
- Having a fixed shipping cost across all products.
- Being clear about the addition of shipping costs.
Chances are that your customers will like it if they are informed about the price from the beginning. And if you are offering free shipping then you should state the terms and conditions on the product pages so customers have an idea about how much they have to pay.
Conclusion: Ecommerce Checkout Conversion Rate Optimization
Setting up an effective, successful e-commerce site takes a lot of time, effort, and planning. If you need to grow your business with an effective E-commerce website then you need to do so keeping all the above state elements in mind.
You need to understand two things in mind, first one is that it’s never too late to start optimizing for conversions and the second one is that it’s something you shouldn’t ignore. Just follow the rules listed above on how to improve Ecommerce conversion rate.