10 Ways to Increase Conversion in Your Online Store in 2021

ECommerce conversion is one of the most important factors for online store owners. This indicator shows what percentage of website users finally made a purchase. For example, if in a given period the store was browsed by 10,000 users and 250 of them bought a product, it means that the conversion rate in that period was 2.5%. In today's article, you'll find out how to increase your store conversion in 2021.

What is the optimal conversion rate for the online store?

Successful eCommerce platforms typically achieve 1-3% conversion rates. Even though the store owner took care of every detail and optimized the website operation as much as possible, about 3% of users browsing the website will make a purchase. Of course, these values may vary considerably depending on your business profile. Gift shops and online drugstores have the highest average conversion rates of almost 5%, whereas consumer electronics and home improvement sites can generally expect values around 1.5%. Still, this is a very good and desirable result.

If the conversion rates in your online store are relatively low compared to the average for your industry, it means that you can make additional improvements and attract new customers.

Ways to improve conversion rates

1. Optimize the process of completing a transaction

Streamlining the process of completing a transaction is one of the most important ways to increase your conversion rates. The lengthy, complex and multi-step checkout process can discourage customers and lead to increased basket abandonment rates. It is extremely important to the customer that the payment and order confirmation go quickly and seamlessly.

2. Streamline navigation through the store's tabs

If your customers are not able to find what they are looking for almost immediately, they will go to the competition. Users generally prefer a simple model of browsing the directory and a model of completing a transaction similar to the one found on major eCommerce sites such as Amazon. Therefore, it is very important to pay special attention to designing the eCommerce site in such a way as to make it easier for customers to browse through various tabs and categories.

3. Implement personalized solutions on the website

Personalization is one of the hottest trends in eCommerce today. It is the adaptation of the content visible on the website to the needs of users, based on the data collected thanks to cookies. We wrote more about cookies here .

Solutions that improve the personalization of the store may include special banners or pop-ups with offers, versions of websites based on geolocation or systems of personalized recommendations. The latter, depending on the selected model, display the products to users that they would most likely be interested in, taking into account both their browsing history as well as the preferences of users with a similar taste. Personalized recommendations are a great way to improve engagement in your online store, which translates into increased sales. You can learn how recommendations work in this article .

4. Use as clear and simple website layout as possible

Clear design of the store's website is vital in order to keep the new customer interested. When planning the website layout, store owners should follow the K.I.S.S. (Keep it simple, stupid) principle using a simple and minimalist design, thereby simplifying store directory navigation which plays a huge role in conversion rates on eCommerce sites.

5. Offer free delivery to your customers

Customers of online stores quickly get used to new solutions on the market and therefore they quickly become a standard. Free delivery has become one of such trends. For most online stores, this type of solution does not constitute an additional cost, as delivery costs are included in the price of the products. However, it is a psychological ploy that encourages customers to make purchases and often to add more items to the basket when the free delivery starts with the agreed value of the order.

6. Make sure your products are presented well

One of the best ways to improve conversion rates in your eCommerce store is an attractive presentation of the products you offer. It is commonly said that consumers generally buy with their eyes. Professional photographs of the products and their carefully prepared descriptions are key elements of store optimization and a profitable undertaking.

7. Provide special time-limited offers

Creating special offers for a limited time is another popular strategy in online trading. It gives a sense of urgency and the need to make a purchase in order to take advantage of the offer before it is too late. It is a strong incentive and an increasing number of brands are implementing this type of solution to boost sales and conversion rates. This phenomenon is particularly visible among young consumers, so it is worth considering introducing limited-time offers on websites with modern gadgets, youth clothing and the like.

8. Implement cross-selling and up-selling strategies

A great way to increase AOV (Average Order Value) and other conversion rates is to implement various cross-selling and up-selling techniques. The above-mentioned personalized recommendation systems can help in this. By implementing the “other customers also bought” model on the shopping basket page or as a pop-up that appears when selecting a product, it can encourage customers to add other matching products to their order. We wrote about various cross-selling models earlier here .

9. Implement personalized pop-ups

Pop-up windows are very universal tools that can perform various tasks on eCommerce platforms - from product recommendations to contacting customer service. One of the most effective and innovative implementations of this type of pop-up windows may be pop-ups that keep the customer on the site. When a given user shows signs of disinterest in the offered products (e.g. remains idle for a relatively long period), the system may show him a special offer, recommended products or promotional codes that may encourage them to continue shopping.

10. Use social media to sell products (Social Commerce)

Recently, social media platforms such as Facebook or Instagram are more and more frequently proving that they are a very effective tool for selling products. We do not mean just running the Fan Page of your eCommerce store, but direct sales via Facebook. The Facebook Marketplace is constantly being improved, and its use may positively affect the overall conversion rates in the store. According to the latest report “The e-Commerce Trends Report 2021” prepared by Divante Social Commerce is the most important trend in online sales in the year 2021.

Summary

There are numerous ways to improve conversion rates in your online store. When trying your best to optimize your eCommerce site, it's best to start with the aspects that are easy to improve. Making minor changes to the website design or improving product descriptions probably will not take much time, but may positively affect the sales results of the store. Introducing even one change on a regular basis will ultimately have a significant impact on the conversion rates of your eCommerce website.