Conversion
.png)
Turn customers who receive refunds into your biggest fans who buy more, spend more, and refer others.
Foolproof tips to boost your online sales
Optimizing ecommerce conversion rates is a never-ending task for online retailers – but incremental improvements can add up to significant change over time. Here are ten of our top tips for increasing ecommerce conversions.
When it comes to conversion, free shipping significantly sweetens the deal. Research conducted by Stitch Labs found that shop owners who offered free shipping could expect an average 10% uplift in sales. Meanwhile, according to FedEx, 73% of consumers want to see free shipping at checkout.
How can you make free shipping work hard for your business? Remember that free doesn’t always need to mean fast. According to the UPS study Pulse of the Global Online Shopper (which surveyed over 18,000 online shoppers), 51% said they would be willing to wait longer for a delivery if it was free (or cheaper).
Additionally, consider implementing free shipping thresholds to incentivize higher cart values and boost your AOV over time.
Instant refunds are a powerful conversion booster. Their efficiency all comes down to consumer trust. The promise of an easy “no quibble” or “fuss free” returns process removes a considerable blocker to conversion for many shoppers – particularly first time customers.
The key to success here is communication. Don’t depend on consumers searching for your returns policy – keep your promises up front and easily interpreted by highlighting the promise of instant refunds, facilitated by Disputify, across your PDPs and landing pages.
The fine art of haggling has been around since the first humans started trading. There’s been a digital transformation in the process of bartering to find a seller’s best price and online marketplaces like Ebay, Etsy and Facebook have all influenced consumers. As the desire for “make an offer” pricing functionality increases, this customer experience can be replicated on any channel with the introduction of “name your price” buttons.
As well as allowing automatic acceptance or rejection of an offer (increasing conversion without the administrative burden), retailers can also enjoy curating an additional brand touchpoint in the automated emails the action triggers, and capture more email addresses for ongoing marketing opportunities.
Peers are highly persuasive when it comes to conversion. Social proof, delivered in the form of star ratings, customer photos, testimonials, video reviews and more is said to boost conversion by as much as 15%. 92% of consumers claim they’re more likely to trust non-paid recommendations than any other form of advertising.
There are two steps to leveraging social proof to boost conversion. First, retailers need a solid strategy in place to ensure that the social proof they’re collecting is high volume and high quality. Second, social proof should be deployed strategically – incorporated into PDPs, marketing campaigns and social content.
Conscious consumerism is rising – especially among younger generations. This means cause marketing (the act of marrying a promotional campaign to a charitable cause) is here to stay. We can safely assume that this type of marketing will form an increasingly important component of future strategies.
Boost conversion by helping customers feel good about themselves and their purchase. “Buy one, give one” campaigns are increasingly popular and their positive impact on conversion is proven by research. It’s also worth considering the added social reach these campaigns can attain – in addition to hiking up conversion, they typically boost loyalty and engagement with a brand too.
The Coronavirus pandemic accelerated consumer concern about company values and environmental impact of supply chain management.
As a result, if you’re looking to boost the chances of conversion, be sure you’re talking confidently (and truthfully!) about your sustainable credentials. Think about carbon labeling, and keeping your products’ providence story at the forefront of presentation.
Omnichannel is, by now, a widespread expectation in terms of customer experience. For conversion optimization to be truly effective, it needs to take place across all sales channels. The key to success here is consistency. Modern customer journeys span multiple touch points so be sure to exercise good brand control across all of these important outlets.
Keep on top of product listing accuracy to sustain buyer trust and provide multiple channel options to suit all shoppers. A modern PIM or DAM solution can be very helpful for ensuring accuracy as you scale.
Before a customer can convert, they need to find the perfect product! Product discovery is a critically important aspect of conversion optimization. And AI increasingly offers the best opportunities to see significant results at scale.
Working with a third party solution that offers intelligent product discovery – either in the form of recommendations, cross and upsells or via intelligent site search – is a great way to ensure a true 1:1 personalization of the product search experience, via automated reordering of search results to suit individual customer profiles.
Slow support response is a known conversion killer. According to data from Accenture, 48% of consumers expect specialized treatment for being a good customer. If they’re not getting rapid responses to product queries, they’ll quickly head elsewhere.
Tips for improvements here, beyond adding to your customer service team’s capabilities, include looking at opportunities to improve access to “self service” information. FAQ sections answered by customers combine easily accessible product information with additional social proof points.
Finally, the importance of personalized experience cannot be overstated. Ecommerce is no longer a “one size fits all” game – customized experiences and service are expected by today’s consumer. While true 1:1 personalization should be the goal, even standard segmentation of customers into marketing cohorts can give impressive results.
To accomplish this, focus on the ongoing collection of zero party data (increasingly essential as third party cookies die out) and apply this information to deliver highly targeted offers and messaging. Help your customers to see the most value in your offering will ensure ongoing conversion success.
Ultimately, conversion optimization is all about building trust. Take every opportunity to reduce perceived risk among your customers – enhancing your brand, reputation and sales to boost bottom lines.