You might have your own eCommerce website where you sell quality products and even run paid campaigns thinking you’re doing everything you can to make it a success. But is that enough? The hardest part of the job is to get visitors to the website and then convert them to customers.
Even with a great product line and your credibility on the market, there are ways in which you can make sure that the person who clicks on your website stays and makes a purchase. Certain tactics can ensure that this happens.
What are the 7 Actionable Tactics to Grow Your Ecommerce Sales?
- Conversion Rate
- Generating Website Traffic
- Email Opt-in
- Reduce Cart Abandonment
- Geo-Target Customers
- Use Product Recommendation
- Use clear CTAs that stand out
Conversion Rate
In the case of an eCommerce website, the conversation rate is the percentage of users who visit the site and end up buying from it. This percentage is for the total number of visitors and those who actually make the purchase.
While for most websites, the figure may vary from 1% to 3%, this number can certainly improve.
How to Improve Your Conversion Rate?
There are several ways to improve consumer rates, some more effective than others. Here, we have shared some of the best actionable solutions.
The Bigger Images
Visual Website Optimizer has conducted a study that shows that large product images increase sales by 9%.
“Most of the purchases are based on emotions and feelings; we always want to see how the product looks like before we get it in our house. That’s the main barrier of e-commerce, we can’t touch the physical product until we get it. “—Raul Galera, Partner Manager, ReferralCandy.
A high-quality image; where a potential customer can see the product in detail, he can gauge a decent idea of what the product will be like, and is the second-best option for physically inspecting the product.
Trust Badge
A study conducted by Blue Fountain Media revealed that the conversation rate on its website improved by 42 percent, simply because the VeriSign trust seal was added to their page. Trust seals like this give e-commerce websites much-needed credibility since they deal with financial transactions.
By adding trust badges such as McAfee Secure, Hacker Safe and VeriSign, etc., websites can gain the trust of their visitors and turn them into customers.
User-Generated contents
While professional photos may look much better aesthetically on the website, user-generated content such as reviews and photos taken by customers who have no affiliation to the store results in more sales since they give the store much more credibility.
“Customer feedback is the best of both worlds, user-generated content and customer review. “—Raul Galera.
It is well documented that, in particular, customer reviews with organic photos improve conversion rates by 26%. It is therefore essential that your website includes a prominent feedback section dedicated to user-generated content, giving your customers the incentive to leave reviews with photos to add to the credibility of your website.
System of Live Chat
A live chat system eliminates the need for customers to fill out time-consuming forms if they want their queries to be answered, and then have to wait to hear back from the store. With multiple alternatives and options available on the market, customers have a short range of attention, especially on the Internet. If specific information is required, it must be provided on-site.
A live chat system is a messaging option on an e-commerce website where customers can talk to a customer service representative in real-time. This service provides a window for the customer to instantly resolve their queries. While hiring a customer service team to respond to messages may cost you a little bit initially, it’s a sound investment as the live chat option significantly improves customer retention.
Generating Website Traffic
The e-commerce business relies mainly on its website. It is therefore more important, first, to generate traffic on the site than to do anything else. Conversion rates and other techniques will only work if there is a visitor base for the site. There are a few ways you can generate traffic on your e-commerce website.
Optimization of Search Engine (SEO)
SEO is a process that affects the visibility of a website or web page on a search engine without paying for ads.
“30.5 percent of all e-commerce traffic originates from SEO.”—Raul Galera.
Search engines mainly set the rules for SEO, and you must follow those rules to get a better rank on internet searches. There are a few ways you can do that. Google and Facebook, for example, give priority to video content over text and images. More video content on your eCommerce websites, such as product tutorials and other engaging videos, can therefore have more benefits for you online.
Likewise, Google also appreciates Long-Form Content for short or non-descriptive information. Diverse content on your products can help you rank better online. The content may include product descriptions, reviews, case studies, etc.
Infrastructure website
The quick opening of a website with easy navigation and an uncomplicated menu make a significant difference for a visitor. Not only do search engines rank such sites better, but these factors also help to retain potential customers and give them a smooth experience.
It is therefore essential to have a website that is easy to navigate, quick to open, and also mobile-friendly.
Influencer Marketing
Influencer Marketing is another excellent way to generate traffic on your website. The general public has grown immune to conventional marketing practices.
Overexposure and increased media literacy have led to a sharp decline in the impact of celebrity endorsements. People understand that celebrities are merely promoting a product for the money, that they have not used it personally, or that they have no attachment to the product.
“Influencer Marketing is halfway between an ad and a friend of yours. “—Raul Galera.
Influencers are people who follow a moderate fan and have built up their credibility in a particular field. For example, there are many ‘beauty gurus’ on YouTube and Instagram models with a large follower base that are considered to be influencers.
Products that they endorse on their pages are becoming extremely popular as people tend to trust that they are actually using the products. So when a referral comes from them, people take it a lot more seriously.
Email Opt-in
Email Opt-in is an option for customers to choose from if they want to receive emails from a website. These emails are a great source of marketing and are designed to maintain a loyal customer base. By choosing to receive these emails, customers can be in the loop about what’s going on in a company, be aware of new products, learn about all new deals and discounts, or make direct purchases.
It is essential, however, to keep things simple. Emails are the backbone of professional communication, which is why no one likes spam in their inbox. The message should be catchy yet concise, and if it includes an incentive for the customer to visit the website and buy something, the better.
You can collect the email addresses of your visitors on your landing page through a pop-up message that should appear after your customer has spent a few seconds on your website. To make things interesting, you can also ask your customers through games and offers when they’re about to close the page.
Reduce Cart Abandonment
“Only about 2 percent of visitors end up selling e-commerce websites, which means that 98 percent of people on the website are leaving. “—Kata Gazso, CRO Specialist, Optimonk.
While this tells us that not all people who visit e-commerce websites actually end up making a purchase, the worst is when people leave their cart and leave for one reason or another.
It is important to remind these people that they are holding items in the cart by encouraging them to proceed with the check-out. You can remind them through pop-ups or notifications that include time-bound offers that would encourage them to complete their purchase. For example, you can offer them a discount if they complete the purchase within a specified period of time.
By making the checkout process simple, you can encourage your customers. The more difficult, confusing, or time-consuming the checkout process is, the more people leave their carts. You can simplify the process by asking for basic contact information and billing information only. You can always contact them later, if necessary. By adopting this practice, you can keep cart abandonment to a minimum.
Geo-Target Customers
Since you have a gold mine of customer data at your disposal, you are in a unique position. Since you know the IP addresses, location, and time of the visit of your visitors, you can customize the experience of your visitors according to their region in order to provide the best possible service.
For example, if a customer from Canada visits your site and you offer free shipping throughout North America, let them know so that they are encouraged to purchase.
“A bad shipping policy or confusion can dispel the customer. “—Kata Gazso.
You should use Geo IP targeting and learn about the origins of your visitors so that you can best anticipate the needs of your customers and improve their retention rates.
Use Product Recommendation
It is essential to inform your customers about the best or most popular products on your website so that they are interested in making a purchase. It is impossible for a customer to know all the cool things your website has to offer-but with your unique insight into the shopping habits of the customers, you can make them aware of them.
For example, if a customer visits a high conversion rate product page, you can recommend a similar page with a high conversion rate that might be of interest to them. Or if they look at a certain product like shoes, you can recommend an additional product like socks or a shoe cleaner. You are already aware of the choices made by your customers, capitalize on knowledge!
Use clear CTAs that stand out
Calls-to-action (CTA) is the true conversion drivers on your site. That’s why you’ve got to make your CTAs:
- Clear, clear
- Eye-catch
In order for your CTAs to be clear, you need to make sure that they can be easily read and understood in 5 seconds or less.
Also, when labeling your CTA, be sure to address the objectives of the users. A good formula would be to finish the sentence:
“I want … “So, label your CTA with something like” shop now “or” learn more “as well as more aggressive words like” buy now “and” add to the cart.
It makes sense to use softer CTAs on your home page and category pages, as your visitors don’t know you well enough yet. Users are just getting warmed up for shopping, so you don’t want to be too pushy.
At this stage, be inviting, not aggressive.
Best Buy uses this strategy to boost sales: instead of saying “buy now,” which would make users feel pressured, they use a call-to-action that invites people to “shop now.” This is a much better option that encourages visitors to keep going from just browsing to shopping.
