With more retailers getting online, the competition becomes far more severe. The techniques that helped you grow online revenue a couple of years ago are effective no more. Online marketers need to come up with new solutions on how to sell for profit on the modern web. The key purpose of any online store is to find ways to boost its eCommerce conversions. Simply launching your web project on the web and filling it with content doesn’t guarantee a boom in revenue. In order to become a successful online retailer, you need to work on the online strategy carefully and fill your site with conversion-boosting design elements. Which ones? Let’s find it out in this post.
The Role of Images in eCommerce Conversions
Images lure the users’ eye far better than texts. It goes without saying that your eCommerce site cannot go without written data. However, complementing texts with quality images that relate to the topic of the things that you are talking about will help you grow the users’ interest tremendously.
Images can be placed in literally every part of your site. That can be a content section, a search bar or even the final checkout page. The key point to consider is that your website should include high quality, actionable shots that demonstrate your business solutions in the most favorable manner.
Images should be large enough, so that people can inspect every minor detail that a certain item features from the screens of their devices. A cloud zoom option is an awesome assistant of any web store. By hovering a product image, people are introduced to an enlarged view of the item that is of interest to them. Proper alignment and shadows will help you achieve the desired wow-effect on the audience.
Crosston – Fitness Clothing Store PrestaShop Theme
Videos
Users prefer watching over reading. By watching a product video, they are 64-85% more likely to make a purchase rather than after reading a text or looking through an image gallery. Online shoppers who watch videos on your site will stay twice as longer and view twice as many pages rather than those who do not see a video.
Videos are more shareable and clickable. What’s more, Google likes videos. The search engine displays a mix of search results including texts, images, news, maps, and videos. Thus, by means of videos you can attain higher rankings, thus making your eCommerce site more findable.
Notillis – Shoe Store Responsive Magento Theme
Colors
There is an ongoing debate on what colors work better for eCommerce sites. While the color choices of online retailers can differ, there is one thing that we can claim for certain – colors affect 85% of online shoppers.
The choice of a color scheme for your site is heavily dependent on your business niche and audience. If your goal is to attract female audience, then it’s NOT recommended to use green, purple and blue hues in your site’s design. Women are more captivated with warm hues. If your audience is made up of male shoppers, then black, green and blue are NOT your best choice. However, if you target impulse shoppers, then black, blue and orange will meet your needs. Shoppers on a budget are attracted by turquoise and dark blue hues. The eye of traditional buyers will be captivated by light-coral, light-blue and red colors. If you want to check the eCommerce templates, which already consider the recommendations above, go to TemplateMonster.
ArtWorker – Online Gallery PrestaShop Theme
Product Reviews
Even the most cleverly written marketing text cannot be compared to reviews left by your customers. We use to rely on the experiences of other people more than what ads say. We carefully look through reviews left by fellow shoppers before making the final decision. Taking into consideration the value that reviews bring to online shoppers, it’s logical to suggest the impact those have on your site’s conversions.
Mercore – Safety Equipment Store PrestaShop Theme
The availability of reviews on your website uplifts conversions by 10% on average. About 60% of online shoppers will consult fellow customers before making the buying decision.
Limited Time Offers
This is a proven way to create a sense of urgency on your site and generate more sales within a limited time. While running a promo campaign that will be valid for a set period of time only, initiating special discount hours, promoting items that are running out of stock, and providing your buyers with free delivery services, you may feel certain that the users’ interest in your offers will grow. As a result, it will bring a boost of a closed deals within a specific period of time.
StoreFlex – Responsive Multipurpose OpenCart Template + RTL
Trust Seals
Having a separate block with trust seals on your website is expected to uplift your website’s conversion by 40%. An average of 48% of your site’s visitors rely on them. Thus, having a set of powerful trust seals displayed on the front page of your site will boost your the level of credibility of your business in the eyes of online shoppers.
Clear Contact Details
In addition to an impressive showcase of your store’s products and explicit information about the products that you have on offer, your website needs to include clear, easy-to-reach contact details. A visible phone number, email and physical addresses will boost your website’s credibility. According to a study conducted by Econsultancy, 46% of customers will shop on a website with clear contact details. Having easy-to-reach contact details displayed on your site means that your company is open to being contacted by its clients whenever they need it. It is also so much easier to trust someone who is not hiding.
StoreFlex – Responsive Multipurpose OpenCart Template + RTL
Intuitive Checkout
A cleverly-built checkout page is a key to a boost of your site’s revenue. A checkout page that is free from clutter and ambiguity allows the users to complete their order in its logical hierarchy. A checkout page that won’t be abandoned by online shoppers should be:
- One-page;
- Clutter-free;
- Simple and easy-to-follow;
- Editable;
- Featuring clear hierarchy;
- Include error field and validation;
- Include progress bars, order summary, and save for later options;
- It should never force people to register.
Griffon Shop – Apparel PrestaShop Theme
Simple, Short Forms
People get pissed off when they need to fill in nasty long form instead of getting focused on making online purchases. So, no matter what kind of forms you upload your website with, make sure they are as simple and short as possible. In order to upload your site with a contact form, take care of saving the users from the hassle of filling in dozens of lines within a single form. In addition make the process as quick and effortless as possible.
Different Payment Options to Choose from
Provide online shoppers with an opportunity to select the currency and payment method that are the most favorable for completing an order. Thus, you will make them enjoy a more personalized shopping experience as well as show that you care about making their online shopping experience as seamless and worry-free as possible.
Advanced Search & Pro Filters
Your site’s navigation is of the top priority when it comes to the topic of growing your site’s conversions. 50% of online shoppers make use of advanced search to reach the desired items. So, adding a live search with autosuggest support will make it far easier for online shoppers to come across the necessary solutions by simply typing is a search request.
Smart filters are also indispensable for websites with huge inventories. First-time visitors will simply get lost in the rich variety of items that you have on offer. By means of product filters, you can help them narrow down the choice and get mainly focused on the items that match their search intentions.
Optimization for Speed
A contemporary customer will not wait for seconds till your site’s content loads. In order to keep online shoppers with your brand and not make them leave for a competitor’s site, all pages of your web reDetails should be optimized for speed. Even a 3-seonds wait is an unaffordable luxury in the highly competitive modern market. Also, a 1-second delay results in a loss of 7% of conversions. 51% of the US buyers will abandon a slowly loading site.
Live Chat
Online customer support can boost your website’s sales up to 38%. 63% of customers will get back to a site including the respective feature. A whopping 90% of clients will get back to a website featuring live chat functionality, with most of them getting in touch with customer support reps for the consultations.
Free Shipping
This is one of the most powerful benefits of any eCommerce site. Free shipping encourages 93% for a purchase. For example, 63% of customers made a purchase from Amazon because they were offering free shipping services back in 2014.
Special Deals Block
Discounts lure the users’ eye. 47% of online shoppers purchase discounted items only. When browsing a site’s inventory, people are more likely to acquire a product with a crossed price rather the one from a “new collection”. That’s why, adding a special section with discounted items will guide the users’ to the specific type of products they are seeking, save their time, and bring you a bigger number of closed deals.
Here we go. Implementing these techniques into your eCommerce site you will see significant increase of the users’ interest in your offerings, which will result in higher conversion rates. With so many merchants selling various solutions on the web, it’s important to stand out with a high level of usability of your web project. Make your site simple and easy-to-follow, and the desired conversion boost will follow.
This post was sponsored by Template Monster (in case you hadn’t guessed!)
Helen Miller
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