Electronic commerce – also known as e-commerce – is the process of buying and selling goods or services online. And while many businesses have struggled since the onset of the global pandemic, the internet commerce sector has never been stronger. Why? Because consumers can purchase from the comfort of their homes, without the need for stores or physical contact.
It’s not just the established e-commerce businesses that are thriving. Shopify, a market-leading platform that allows businesses to set up simple online stores without the need for coding, observed that many direct-to-consumer (DTC) companies have prioritized a ‘seamless omnichannel experience,’ to attract new customers. They predict that companies who prioritize e-commerce and customer experience will continue their upward trajectory, while others who provide subpar service will struggle to compete.
Statistics show that e-commerce penetration in the US market experienced a jaw-dropping 10 years’ worth of growth in 90 days. All of this incredible progress does have some consequences. For a start, there’s more competition than ever for leads and customers.
If you’re looking for ways to boost conversion, here are some tried-and-tested strategies to help your business stand out in a saturated market.
1. Simplify your checkout process
One major factor that sets successful online businesses apart from failing ones is user experience and when it comes to e-commerce, the most important part is the path to purchase. Sites that gross the highest online sales typically spend time optimizing their checkout process and are careful to eliminate clutter on the page. Many also offer express checkout systems, enabling customers to auto-fill their details and make a purchase within seconds.
Rather than a clunky interface that’s confusing, hard to navigate, and jam-packed full of text, consider simplifying your checkout page. By removing unnecessary text and fields, you’ll minimize distractions and make the process quicker for potential customers. It’s a good idea to offer multiple payment methods, too; allowing only Visa or Mastercard payments may be impacting your sales.
2. Cart Abandon Email Campaigns
If you’re new to the world of e-commerce, here’s a hard truth you need to understand: the majority of people who add things to their digital basket will leave without making a purchase. There are a number of reasons why they may do so, but if they’ve added something in the first place, you can assume they were interested in owning it. Therefore, an abandoned cart doesn’t mean you’ve lost their custom forever.
Cart abandonment email campaigns are a great conversion strategy to target these lost sales. They remind customers what they had in their cart and usually include a call to action or incentive. For instance, campaigns may include a discount code or list how many items are left in stock, creating a sense of urgency. Marketing automation platform Moosend found that 45% of cart abandonment emails are opened, 21% are clicked through and a very respectable 10.7% make purchases.
3. Optimize your site for different browsers and devices
The ease with which a customer can navigate your website and make a purchase has significant implications on your business. If a website is riddled with 404 errors and broken links, potential customers are far more likely to leave. However, these issues can also affect your search engine ranking. Google, along with other engines, have extremely sophisticated algorithms that analyze website performance. So, if your site isn’t designed to function well across different browsers and devices, the chances are, it’s not going to rank well. And if your website doesn’t appear on the first few search engine results pages (SERPs), then customers simply won’t find it.
Before hiring a developer, take some time to research the factors which make a website successful, and prioritize them according to your overarching business goals. You’ll be surprised at how much of a difference optimizing your site can make on overall conversion.
4. Rework product pages
Just like website optimization, the appearance of product pages can have a big impact on a consumer’s decision to purchase. Typically, the highest performing product pages are clean and simple, with succinct copy and key information clearly listed. Old-school SEO tactics once dictated that website pages should be thousands of words long and packed full of keywords, but today, your focus should instead be fixed on the customer. Put yourself in their shoes. If you were browsing for a bookshelf, would you want to scroll through mountains of text to find information like product dimensions? On the contrary, some product pages contain too little text and exclude useful details that a customer may want before placing an order.
Thinking like a customer and redesigning your product pages accordingly will help you convert browsers into shoppers.
5. Display customer reviews
E-commerce is growing faster than consumers can keep up and more options equals more competition. So, how do you stand out from the crowd? With trust. When you can’t walk into a store to meet a sales assistant, ask them questions and check their legitimacy, the next best thing is reading about their products or services from fellow shoppers.
The best way to gather reviews is by setting up an automated post-purchase email campaign, prompting customers to review their items. These emails are incredibly useful tools for a number of reasons. First, they demonstrate that you care about a customer’s experience with your products or services, and aren’t simply focused on the sale. But they also cultivate trust by appearing on your website for other potential consumers to read and encouraging them to convert.
Article by: Digital Marketing Directory Australia
