A few days ago, I was reviewing website analytics with a client selling handcrafted leather products. He runs a family business, and they don’t take shortcuts. They’ve got great products and a decent number of website visitors, and yet the conversion rate is below 1%.
As we tried to understand what was happening by digging through analytics, the client vented his frustration by telling me, “I don’t get it. We’re getting visits, clicks, but no sales!”
I know how this feels, and you may have experienced this as well. The good news is that I’ve seen this happen many times in the past, and I know exactly what needs to be done. I implemented the changes for my client, and within three months, conversion rates exceeded 3% without them having to spend more money on ads.
And now, I’m going to spill the beans, telling you exactly what I did. Let’s get started!
1. Streamline Product Pages
Many e-commerce store owners make the same mistake, overloading product pages with tired product descriptions and competing call-to-action buttons, confusing visitors.
Design each one of your product pages as a landing page optimized for conversion. Use benefit-driven headlines, bullet points, and most of all, a simple, clear, prominent call-to-action button that draws people’s attention.
2. Use High-Quality Product Images
Have you ever heard about Microsoft Clarity? It’s a free platform that records visitor sessions and creates heatmaps out of them. I have watched tens of thousands of recordings, and I can tell you that people distrust e-commerce stores with low-quality product images.
It’s true that stores with large product catalogs need to pay hefty amounts of money for high-quality product photography. However, many business owners are now using high-quality AI-generated product images, which look great and cost a fraction of the price.
3. Make Checkout Simple
It’s well known that every new step added to the checkout process diminishes sales. E-commerce store owners who manage to keep friction to a minimum have the highest conversion rates.
Ask a friend who isn’t familiar with your online store to buy one of your products. Then, see the recording in Microsoft Clarity and write down all the steps they needed to make the purchase.
Then, go through each step and ask yourself if it’s really, really necessary.
Here’s what one of my clients did to have their conversion rates go through the roof:
- Guest checkout.
- Address auto-completion.
- Single-page checkout.
- Multiple payment options.
4. Show Social Proof
Humans are wired to copy other people’s actions. Next-gen e-commerce stores use strategic social proof to increase conversion.
Here are a few ideas:
- Have a dedicated “client reviews” website section.
- Show real-time purchase notifications, such as “James from Idaho purchased...”.
- Highlight user-generated content. Show people using your products!
In the end, it’s all about testing, evaluating, and improving. Start with your “best seller” pages, create minor variations of them, and then use A/B testing tools to measure conversion rates. Keep the winners, and then improve them even further.
Winning e-commerce stores don’t necessarily have the highest marketing budgets. However, their owners have understood that conversion rate optimization must be an ongoing process.