By Erin Wawok

Feb

21

Running an eCommerce business involves a constant struggle to boost visibility and convert customers. Maybe you’ve already been working hard and are seeing results for your website traffic. But is the traffic leading to sales? If you notice strong rates for website traffic but are failing to see conversions, it is time to focus on your conversion rate. 

It is tough to critically evaluate the online store you spent so much time developing, but you must evaluate it with a careful eye to find the underlying cause for poor conversion rate. Once you know what is responsible for your low conversion rate, it will be much easier to solve it. In this post, we outline some of the top reasons your website traffic isn’t converting to sales, and what you can do about it. 

Your Website is Difficult to Navigate

If people arrive at your site and do not like what they see, or cannot find what they need, they will likely leave. A tell-tale sign of poor website usability is your bounce rate. If your bounce rate is quite high, that means visitors are leaving very quickly. How your site looks is very important, but so is the ability to navigate it. The top factors to consider are:

  • Navigation: Make sure popular items and critical information are easy to find. 
  • Filtering and sorting: Do not overwhelm visitors with too many options. Make sure they can filter items to quickly find what they need. 
  • Search: Search results should match what people want to find so they buy what they are looking for. 
  • Moving non-essential pages to the footer. 

You Aren’t Optimized for Mobile

Mobile devices are increasingly more popular and used more often for eCommerce shopping. If your website already has great usability, make sure the same holds true for the mobile experience. Ensure you have a strong cross-device marketing strategy and that your website is mobile-optimized. 

Your Brand Does Not Look Professional

Remember, you are trying to sell your products and your brand to people who may have never heard anything about you. Your brand must look and feel professional in order to gain trust from customers, and your website is the best way to display your brand. Important pieces for professionalism include:

  • Professional logo 
  • Strong brand identity with consistent colors and fonts. 
  • High-quality images are crisp and clear. 
  • Well-organized, scannable text. 

You Aren’t Selling to Your Target Audience 

Evaluate if you are clear on who your customers are. Is your current marketing strategy reaching your ideal customers? Does your website copy entice your target audience? Check your website analytics to determine how people behave on your site, including online reviews and customer interactions. Use that information to understand your market better and refine your marketing strategy to reach your target audience. 

Your Website Copy Isn’t Persuasive

Always keep your ideal audience in mind when creating website copy. Use your buyer persona to craft your copy. Additionally, your copy must be powerful and enticing. According to SmartInsights, the best copy is informative, error-free, well-written, descriptive, persuasive, and emotional. Persuasion is exceptionally important for converting to sales. The six principles of persuasion include:

  • Reciprocity 
  • Authority 
  • Commitment
  • Consistency 
  • Social proof
  • Scarcity 
  • Liking 

Checkout is Too Difficult 

Complicated checkouts will inhibit sales. Customers who become confused or frustrated during checkout are likely to leave. Declutter your checkout pages to ensure they are clean and clear. Make sure customers know exactly where they are in the checkout progress by adding a progress bare. So that customers remember what they are buying, include product images on the checkout page. Include shipping information and make sure the exact cost is clear. Allow people to checkout as guests or without creating an account. This way, you still get their contact information from the future but simplify the checkout process for them. 

Customers Must Pay for Shipping

Over 61% of customers abandon shopping carts due to high shipping costs. Due to eCommerce giants like Amazon, consumers now expect fast, free shipping. If you notice high rates of abandoned carts, shipping costs may be a large factor. Shipping costs annihilate conversions. Consider adding free shipping and make sure you clearly advertise your free shipping policy on your site if you have one already. 

You Aren’t Remarketing to Visitors

Sometimes, customers just are not ready to make a purchase after visiting your site once. Use remarketing to target previous website visitors based on how they interacted with your website. Remarketing keeps your brand at the forefront of their mind. One simple way to execute remarketing is through email marketing or paid ads. 

Increase Your Conversion Rates

Using all of the tips above, you can optimize your website and boost conversions. Always evaluate your eCommerce business to determine if you are selling the right products to the right audience, focusing on a niche, driving high-quality traffic, nurturing customers, and gathering feedback. 

Dedicate less time to managing your business operations so you can focus on boosting conversions with Listing Mirror. Our #1 multichannel listing software allows you to sell more and work less with listing management, order fulfillment, inventory syncing, and warehouse management. To learn more about increasing conversions and how we can help, contact us HERE.

Erin Wawok

Erin is the Co-Founder of Listing Mirror.