Want to know the top 10 must-haves for your e-commerce store to boost conversions? In this blog post, you will learn how to catapult your sales by making sure your website offers the best possible customer experience. You can use this blog post as a guide if you are planning to start your own e-commerce store or as a checklist if you already have one.
But firstly, what is considered a good conversion rate?
This is never an easy question to answer but in short, the average conversion rate of a website is 1 percent. This may come as a shock to many but on average websites convert at a rate of 1 percent. A conversion rate of 2-5 percent is considered as good or high and anything above 5 percent is very high. However, some websites convert at less than 1 percent, which is considered a low conversion rate.
But don’t despair! Below I give you 10 must-haves for a high-converting website to help turn your website visitors into paying customers.
- Compelling Web Copy
Although a beautiful design is important, your copy is the foundation for a high-converting website. If your customers are confused about your offer or don’t see the value of purchasing your product, they simply won’t. Words really do have power so tell your customers the benefits and results they will get when they purchase your product.
It is important to use conversational language that your ideal customers are familiar with for it to be relatable. Keep your words clear and concise and avoid lengthy paragraphs. Most website visitors skim through the text and will avoid lengthy paragraphs and complicated language, they really don’t have time to figure out what you’re trying to say.
Make sure your homepage has a clear value proposition at the top. This should state who you are, what you sell, who your target audience is and the benefits of your product. Research has proven that copy really does matter so let your website design be dictated by your copy.
- Mobile responsive website
More people than ever are shopping from their smartphones, so it is CRUCIAL to have a mobile-friendly website if you want to see good conversion rates. If the text is too large or too small making it difficult to read, the buttons are hard to click or images do not appear correctly when viewed on a smartphone, you are offering your customers a poor shopping experience, which will lead to low conversions. Customers should have a seamless shopping experience no matter what device they choose to shop from and this will help increase your conversion rate. More importantly, Google hates websites that are is not mobile-friendly and will rank you lower in terms of SEO.
- Social Proof
Customer reviews and ratings help to build trust and prove that your business is legit. They encourage your customers to make a purchase as people are more likely to take on board what others have said about your products. Without social proof, it is very difficult to sell anything. Customers want to feel reassured that others have also bought your products and have benefited in some way. It also helps to position you as the authority in your industry. So be sure to include reviews and ratings on both the homepage and product pages.
- Fast Load Times
Most website visitors will leave your website if it loads slowly or doesn’t load at all! Your website should load within the first 3 seconds or you risk losing potential customers. You also run the risk of being penalised by Google. You can check your website loading speed on GTMetrics.
- Simple main navigation
It is important to keep your main navigation clear and simple. Overwhelming your customers will too many options will confuse them. Analysis paralysis is real! Keep navigation links to a maximum of 7 including Contact and FAQ. Less is more here. Your customers should easily be able to find what they are looking for. Also, keep the language clear so your visitors don’t become confused. Remember this rule, if you confuse them, you lose them.
- Secure payment gateway
Your customers should feel safe and confident in providing their payment details on your website. One of the biggest reasons visitors abandon their carts is a lack of trust. Use trusted and secure payment gateways on your website ensuring you offer customers as many payment options as possible so they can conveniently make a purchase. Also placing payment icons under the Add to Cart button will also increase trust. These should be payment icons that your customers are familiar with such as Visa, Mastercard and PayPal.
- Easy checkout process
Offering your customers a simple checkout process will help them make a quick purchase. Customers hate it when you force them to create an account just to buy the product they want so ensure you offer guest checkout. The fewer form fields and steps they must go through with multiple payment options available will not only help them make a quick purchase but also offer them a great shopping experience with your business.
- Optimise for SEO
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is to set your website up in a way that Google and other search engines can easily understand what your website is about and rank your website accordingly in its search results. This is a huge and complicated topic but there are some simple things you can do to help your chances of being at the top of Google’s search results.
- Use keywords in your headings and copy. Be careful not to stuff keywords in your content so it doesn’t sound unnatural. Google will penalise you for this.
- Google doesn’t understand images, it sees images as a blur. Using alt text (words behind the images) will let Google know what your images are.
- Compress your images to keep your website loading speed fast. Also, name your image files to let Google know what they are.
- High-quality images
Aesthetically pleasing websites can spark the emotions of your visitors, leading them to spend more time on your website and increasing their engagement. This will ultimately lead to more sales when paired with good copy. It’s important to use high-quality product images and show your product from different angles. Unprofessional images will not only make your business look unprofessional, but it will also lead to a lack of trust.
There are also some great websites that offer free high-quality images such as Unsplash, Pexels and Pixabay.
- Contact Page
This is often overlooked but is crucial for making your customers feel at ease when shopping from your website. If your customers cannot find a way of contacting should any questions or problems arise, they will simply not buy from you. Clearly display a link to your contact page on the header and footer of your website so your visitors can easily locate it.
Conclusion
If you want to see good conversion rates on your website, you need to look at it from the eyes of your dream customers. Persuasive web copy will showcase the value of your products and keep them engaged. Ensuring they can shop from any device is essential as well as building trust through elements such as social proof, secure payment gateways, quality images and a clear way of contacting you if they need to. To offer your customers a great shopping experience it needs to be quick and simple, so easy navigation and a simple checkout process are key.
There is plenty here to help you create a high-converting website for your business. However, if you would like to skip the stress of doing it alone then I’m here to help! Click here to book a call and let's talk.