eCommerce Optimization Guide [with the best tips to boost your sales]

Regardless of the industry you’re in, as a business owner, you want to boost sales and drive conversions. 

As more and more people are opening up eCommerce stores, you need to be at the top of your game when it comes to optimizing your own store.

With a direct impact on your overall SEO strategy, eCommerce optimization is going to be the key to attracting users and increasing your sales. 

Below, you’ll learn what a good eCommerce conversion rate is and some tips on how to boost your sales.

What is eCommerce Conversion?

For those who are not familiar, possibly those who are new to running an eCommerce business, conversion is when your strategies have worked to change a website visitor into a buyer. 

In other words, the visitor completes a desired action, such as making a purchase or sometimes even filling out a form.

It is important to realize that eCommerce conversion rate is different for stores that sell physical products and stores that sell services.

What is a Good eCommerce Conversion Rate?

The average conversion rate across the board is 2.77%. 

This number will vary based on a wide number of factors, including the device being used to shop, the location of the shopper, your industry, and more.

Your eCommerce conversion rate can be found in Google Analytics, as well as other tools. Google Analytics takes the ratio of transactions performed to the number of unique visitor sessions.

Once you have identified your current conversion rate, you can begin to develop a strategy to improve it. After all, the higher the conversion rate, the better.

6 eCommerce Optimization Tips to Boost Your Sales

There are plenty of steps you can take to optimize your eCommerce site and boost your overall sales and revenue. Here is a look at some of the most effective eCommerce optimization tips.

#1: Improve Your Product Pages

One of the first things you should do is ensure your product pages are keeping visitors on your site and convincing them to buy.

Ideally, your website needs to be easy to navigate, allowing visitors to locate new products or products by category. 

It is recommended that you use breadcrumbs that are based on history and product hierarchy.

Make sure that your products pages are all equipped with SEO-friendly titles that are appealing to visitors. This will not only help your product pages rank in the SERPs, but it will also aid visitors in finding what they’re looking for.

Don’t forget to use quality product images as well. 

The images displayed show visitors what they’ll be receiving if they were to make a purchase, so it is important that your images show various aspects of the product.

Product descriptions are key as well. Your product may come with a manufacturer’s description, but it is better to craft your own. 

This gives more personality to your description, which can often be more enticing to visitors.

#2: Use Personalization

Over the last several years, personalization has become a key component in the success of eCommerce and pretty much any online business. 

In fact, when you’re able to obtain good personalization, you can realize a 15% boost in profits. This is due to the fact that 45% of shoppers are more likely to make a purchase after being offered personalized recommendations.

Basically, by personalizing your content, you are showing your customers offers/content that are relevant to them. 

So, how do you do this, you may ask? It all comes down to the data that you have obtained from social and web analytics that shows you who your customers are, what they are interested in, and what pages they’ve visited on your site.

Personalization for your eCommerce store can come in many forms. Here are just a few ways in which you can use personalization to your advantage:

• Focus on relevant content.
• Highlight recommended or related products. 68% of revenue for eCommerce stores comes from this type of section on product pages.
• Adjust site navigation based on the interests of your visitors.
• Behavior-related marketing emails.
• Offer personalized discounts.
• Create offers based on the visitors’ location, which can boost conversions by 200%.
  
  

#3: Use an Upsell

Upselling can be a very effective tactic to improve your eCommerce revenue.

You can encourage customers to purchase a more expensive version of the product that they’re showing interest in. 

This can be done on the product page, during the checkout process, or after checking out.

You can also just upsell to your existing customers. It is much easier to sell something to someone when they’ve already shown direct interest in your brand.

In order to be effective at upselling, you need to understand the value in the upsell, price the upsell right (about 60% cheaper than what is in the cart), and use social proof for a more appealing upsell. 

This can end up doubling your conversions.

#4: Optimize for Mobile

With more people using their mobile devices instead of desktop or laptop computers, it is imperative that you ensure your website is mobile-friendly.

One of the most impactful ways of optimizing your website for mobile devices is by working on how quickly your page loads. 

Page load is important regardless of the device, but 40% of mobile users will exit your site if it is taking longer than three seconds to load.

Plus, when your render start time is good, you can boost your overall engagement by 50% when compared to slow-loading websites. This provides you with a higher chance of converting visitors.

In order to speed up your site, you need to ensure you’re using a responsive theme, consider using a caching plug-in that will deliver content faster, and check your speed regularly through Google’s checker tool.

Don’t forget to optimize your site for voice search, since half of all mobile users utilize this feature.

#5: Create Urgency with Flash Sales

There aren’t many people who don’t like a sale, and it can be quite beneficial for eCommerce sellers.

So, how does it work? You need to create a sense of urgency, as it prompts people to take action as quickly as possible. 

Ultimately, they want to get something while it’s still available to get. This type of reaction can be triggered with the right marketing message.

Flash sales are great for eCommerce stores. However, you must make sure that you trigger FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), utilize urgent verbiage, and include an urgent and actionable CTA. 

To increase the urgency of your flash sale, you can offer a doorbuster, display stock levels, and/or display a countdown timer.

#6: Reduce Cart Abandonment

One of the main problems that eCommerce stores have when it comes to selling is shopping cart abandonment. 

In fact, research shows that the average rate of shopping cart abandonment is 69%.

While this may be normal, you want your business to be as successful as possible, which means you want to reduce that rate. So, with that being said, what measures can you take to reduce your cart abandonment rate?

A common reason visitors abandon their carts at checkout is due to surprises, especially ones related to cost. 

Therefore, whenever you can, offer free shipping, as research shows that 47% of customers will abandon their cart when they realize they must pay for shipping.

Therefore, free shipping is by far one of the most common and effective incentives for those who shop online. 

If you decide to offer free shipping, make sure that your visitors know about it by advertising it in multiple places.

Another turnoff for shoppers is being required to create an account to checkout. In fact, this turns roughly 37% of shoppers away.

So, rather than requiring an account to checkout, make it an option. You could also allow the purchase to be completed and then offer the customer a chance to save their information and stay up-to-date with shipping alerts. 

They will be far more receptive about creating an account after they have completed their purchase.

Finally, you can send out cart abandonment emails and coupons. 

If someone leaves something in their cart and you have access to their email, an abandonment email can be sent to them. 

Generally, you would send one a couple of hours after they abandon the cart initially, another one the following day, and then a final one the next (third) day.

In these emails, make sure that you ask them if they had an issue with the checkout process, show the items that were left in the cart, and offer a coupon as an incentive to return to their cart and complete the checkout process.

Enhance Your E-Commerce Experience with ION

In the ever-evolving world of e-commerce, staying ahead of the curve is essential. That’s where ION by Rock Content comes into play. ION is a powerful interactive content platform that can transform the way you engage with your customers and optimize your online store.

Interactive Product Showcases

With ION, you can create interactive product showcases that allow customers to explore your products in detail. This immersive experience can lead to higher engagement rates and a deeper understanding of your offerings.

Personalized Quizzes and Assessments

Engage your customers with personalized quizzes and assessments that help them find the perfect products. ION’s interactive capabilities ensure that your customers enjoy a tailored shopping experience, increasing the likelihood of conversion.

Data-Driven Insights

ION provides valuable insights into customer interactions, allowing you to refine your marketing strategies and product offerings. Understand your audience better and make data-driven decisions to boost your e-commerce success.

Seamless Integration

Integrate ION’s interactive content seamlessly into your e-commerce platform. Enhance your product pages, landing pages, and marketing campaigns with engaging content that sets you apart from the competition.

Wrap Up

Optimizing your eCommerce store is a continuous journey towards improving customer experience and driving more sales.

As you explore ways to enhance your online presence, consider the power of interactivity with Rock Content’s ION. With features like MicroXPs for personalized product recommendations, gamification elements for engaging experiences, and the ability to create quizzes and ebooks for audience engagement, ION takes your e-commerce strategy to the next level.

Elevate your online business and engage your audience in new and exciting ways. Ready to experience the difference? Test drive ION today and transform your e-commerce journey!