8 Ways to Increase Your eCommerce Conversion Rate 1

8 Ways to Increase Your eCommerce Conversion Rate

Getting traffic to your site is challenging, especially in a crowded and competitive eCommerce field.

Once you successfully get visitors to your online store, it’s important that your site is well positioned to convert as many of those prospective customers as possible! This means your website should be engaging, effectively communicate your value, and provide a seamless user experience from checkout through delivery.

eCommerce stores can reach their conversion rate optimization goals by enhancing their website and back-office operations in the following ways:

1. Convince customers with chatbots

The beauty of running an eCommerce store is that you’re open for business 24/7, in theory, allowing you to make money while you sleep. But how do you make sure customers are taken care of when you’re out of the office?

Chatbots are the perfect solution. Many customers don’t mind speaking to a robot, as long as they can get the answers they’re looking for.

You can use chatbots to increase eCommerce sales by:

  • Introducing new products or offers
  • Guiding customers, giving them the confidence to buy
  • Upselling with complementary product offers or additional product options based on what’s already in their shopping cart

2. Perfect your product pages

When it comes to eCommerce optimizations, it’s worth taking the time to ensure your product pages accurately reflect what you’re selling!

Product descriptions should include relevant details, in addition to keywords with good search volume so prospective customers can easily find you on search engines. It’s also best to use high-quality photos, and to display your products at different angles so customers can zoom in and know what to expect.

If you sell clothing or shoes, it’s also very helpful to include accurate size guides – bonus points if they’re localized by country!

Doing all of the above doesn’t just help increase sales; it also reduces the chances of returns and inventory write-offs.

3. Give your shipping policy a shout out

Clearly communicating how you deliver your goods allows you to build trust with customers, ensuring they will get their items as promised and during the expected time frame.

Shipping policies don’t have to be complicated, either. At most, it should include:

  • Courier options
  • Shipping service types (e.g. overnight and standard)
  • Pricing
  • Handling times
  • Delivery time frames
  • Restrictions (e.g. where you cannot ship)

Easyship’s Shipping Policy Generator is a useful tool that can help you create a tailor-made policy for your store in a few minutes!

4. Customize your checkout

Believe it or not, shipping is marketing. According to the Baymard Institute, 55% of US adults have abandoned their cart due to high shipping costs, taxes, and fees at checkout.

Clearly, shipping costs can make or break your eCommerce conversion rate. Offering free shipping is helpful, but it shouldn’t be your only option. Instead, it’s best to display calculated rates based on the recipient’s address, in addition to a full breakdown of other costs and fees for full visibility.

Scale the optimizations of your paid shipping options by installing Easyship’s Rates at Checkout plugin, which shows the fastest, cheapest, and best value solutions at checkout.

5. Take transactional messaging to the next level

Did you know that transactional messages such as packing slips, tracking emails, and tracking pages are perfect opportunities to increase conversion?

If you think about it, these messages get a lot of eyeballs, and there are numbers to prove it. For example, tracking emails have an average open rate of 48%, which is relatively high compared to non-transactional emails. Additionally, a report on the state of eCommerce noted that 88% of survey respondents actively track the status of their shipment online.

Therefore, use this precious marketing real estate by including offers such as free shipping on their next order or teasing an upcoming product launch.

6. Cultivate customer feedback and social proof

Once you’ve closed those eCommerce sales, don’t forget to encourage customers to leave a review on their purchase or show off your product on social media!

All feedback, whether positive or negative, can definitely be useful for sales. When customers leave public feedback on an item, they can influence other prospective customers to complete their purchase.

Additionally, negative feedback can give you clues as to what’s not working, allowing you to improve your product or reduce inventory for a particular item.

Sharing your social media handles and promoting a branded hashtag can also encourage customers to spread brand love and awareness while showing off their latest purchase to their followers.

7. Partner with a good 3PL

Delivery is the last touchpoint in the customer journey for eCommerce businesses. Not only do you want fast delivery, but when your product reaches your customer, you want to make a great first impression by avoiding damaged shipments and incorrect orders.

This is where a good 3PL like Fulfillrite comes in. Outsourcing fulfillment is a smart business decision, as you can rely on professionals to quickly and safely pack your shipments – and with extreme accuracy.

While there are additional costs with hiring a 3PL, it’s a worthy investment, especially if you’re processing over 100 orders a month. Ensuring that all your orders get processed and shipped as soon as possible minimizes the chances of unsatisfied customers and protects your reputation.

8. Re-think your returns policy

According to UPS, 66% of online shoppers review a store’s return policy before they purchase an item.

Having a returns policy that’s easy to understand, in addition to actively preventing returns (remember tip #2) can help to improve conversion rates.

Your returns policy should include the following:

  • The procedure for a return or exchange
  • Whether you will provide packaging, or if the customer can return using their own packaging
  • The time frame when returns or exchanges are allowed
  • Who will pay for shipping

Additionally, offering free shipping for returns is a great alternative (and less impact on your bottom line) if you’re not able to offer free delivery for your customers.

Build trust with customers and watch your eCommerce sales grow

We hope the above tips inspire you to make the changes needed to improve your conversion rate!

Remember to:

  • Increase buying confidence with accurate product pages, shipping policies, and return policies
  • Provide a seamless experience from checkout to delivery
  • Leverage post-purchase communications to encourage social sharing and feedback

Michelle Mondonedo is a Senior Content Specialist at Easyship, an end-to-end shipping platform. By giving SMBs access to the technology needed to scale globally, Easyship aims to break down eCommerce logistics barriers for all businesses.

You’ve done everything by the book. Your Kickstarter campaign is almost ready to launch.

You made a great product. Built an audience. Set up a campaign page.

But how do you ship it?

We put this checklist together to help you get started. It's free.