E-commerce has long been an integral part of our lives. Every day more and more people shop online, and recently creating an online store has become incredibly easy. There are many automated resources with ready-made layouts of Internet sites, but at the same time the level of competition is growing. Evaluation of the effectiveness of the selling resource is becoming more and more relevant, and one of these indicators is the conversion of an online store.
What is a conversion?
The conversion of an online store is the ratio of the number of site visitors who completed certain actions to the total number of visitors.
Unfortunately, most owners don't quite understand what a conversion is. In their naivety, they believe that the more people visit the store, the more they will make purchases. Of course, there is a grain of truth in this, only by increasing the conversion of an online store, you can get more sales from existing traffic.
Increasing conversion is a set of measures to improve sales. To improve the commercial situation, it is necessary to find problematic points and eliminate them.
Average
It is worth noting that the target action of an online store is not always the purchase of goods. This can be a link, subscription, registration, etc. In order for the resource to work effectively, you need to correctly understand and analyze the dynamics of conversion, because income directly depends on this. Only by determining the conversion rate of an online store, you can understand how effectively it functions.
Based on average indicators, one can observe the dynamics of resource development. It is believed that the average conversion of an online store is 1-2%. Such indicators are considered normal, and if the owner is close to the norm, he can develop and expand his resource with a clear conscience and a calm heart. But if the average is less than 1%, you should look for additional sources of customer acquisition.
It is also worth noting that each owner must decide for himself how suitable the average conversion of an online store is for his business. For example, if a resource specializes in the sale of expensive household appliances, then 20 transactions per 1000 views (that is, 2%) is a very good indicator. But if the online store sells small and inexpensive goods, then such indicators will ruin the owner very soon.
Formula
The owners of online stores and marketers use special tools to record indicators. Simply put, theycalculate the conversion percentage of an online store using the formula:
Conversion=Number of orders / Total number of visits x 100%.
For example, if the store was visited by 2000 people, and the order was placed by 104 customers, then the conversion rate in this case will be 5.2%. According to the latest market research, rates above 5% are considered high. But still, much depends on the specifics and the proposed product. That's why so many owners are wondering how to improve conversions. Trying to find a worthwhile answer, they do not even notice how many fatal mistakes they make.
Advice from the contrary
The question of how to increase the conversion of an online store is of interest to many, so the owners are not averse to sharing their experience and achievements. There is only one big “but”: what works for one business can be detrimental to another. So don't:
- Use general advice. Each store has its own unique challenges. And if some method worked well for someone, this does not mean at all that it will bring the same results to others.
- Thinking about making changes. Before you try anything new, you need to do some pre-testing.
- Focus on the wrong metrics. You need to focus on exactly the action that will bring profit. It is more important for someone to increase their market share, for someone it is more important to make a profit from advertising returns, etc. It is these little things that need to be paid attention to, and not the quantityvisitors and the items in their carts. Who knows if they won't buy it yet.
Improve conversion
Owners of online stores often face a problem when their resource is visited by more than a thousand users, but no sales are observed. This can be caused by a number of reasons: from inappropriate traffic to an inconvenient and complex interface. What needs to be done to increase the conversion of an online store?
First, put yourself in the place of a potential buyer. Owners often sin by never placing orders on their site on their own. Very much in vain! They must walk this path from start to finish with accompanying video footage and screenshots of each step. After analyzing the ordering procedure from the point of view of the client, you can understand what is superfluous in this process, what can be added, and what can be simplified.
Secondly, you need to build a sales funnel. That is, to create a list of pages that lead to sales. This list ends with a thank you page. This will make it possible to understand at what stage and where potential customers go.
Thirdly, you need to connect additional analytics to study user behavior on the site.
Fourthly, you need to work with reviews. No one, except for buyers, will say what and why they do not like. Even better, if the owner conducts usability testing. This will increase understanding of the problems the buyer is facing.
Problem Solving
All these steps help to identify problems with the functioning of the resource. At the next stages of increasing the conversion of an online store, they need to be solved. To begin with, it is worth making a list of all the shortcomings.
Behind every problem lies its own reason, it must be identified and circumvented in the future. Every problem needs a solution. Sometimes there may be several such solutions, so you will need to conduct preliminary testing.
Besides this, it is worth looking for promising hidden opportunities. For example, on the thank you page, you can list all the advantages of registering and invite the client to register. The person, knowing that he already has an account, will use it. This method will help increase the number of subsequent sales and, accordingly, make a good conversion for the online store.
After the work on the bugs has been done, and if there are options for how to fix the situation, it is necessary to test and apply the method that will bring more profit.
Popular methods
Often, online stores use the following methods to attract visitors:
- SEO promotion. Internal and external resource optimization to attract traffic. Usually, key queries are entered into the texts, and the site gets the target audience that is set to make a purchase.
- Context advertising. Such advertisements are shown on Yandex and Google search pages. These ads quickly attract the targetaudience, but for them to work properly, they must be configured by a specialist.
- Advertising goods on marketplaces. According to the latest statistics, the bulk of online purchases are made on trading floors. Plus, by adding your ads to these shopping conglomerates, the online store automatically gets into the first lines of the search results.
- Social networks. Since they are incredibly popular around the world, they are a valuable resource for attracting visitors. You can advertise an online store through the official group or place ads in other groups with related topics. With the help of social networks, the conversion of an online store, whatever it was initially, will increase several times.
- Advertising on thematic forums. This method is great for those resources that are aimed at attracting a narrowly focused audience.
- Content marketing. Useful articles about the store's products and their proper use will significantly increase traffic, and also inspire loy alty and trust.
These tools to attract traffic work, but you need to analyze them correctly. Some stores will only need to advertise on thematic forums, while others will have to apply a whole range of measures.
Influencing factors
It's not difficult to measure the conversion of an online store, but be that as it may, it is important to understand that many factors influence the number of percentages. Anyinnovation can change the conversion for better or worse. What should be done in order not to lose ground?
Firstly, understand your target audience correctly. Before launching a project with a product or service, it is important to understand who will buy it. Not only the style of communication with the client and the content of the site will depend on this, but even the design. It happens that the target audience is not at all the people that the online store was focused on. Therefore, you need to thoroughly study your typical buyer.
Secondly, it is important to correctly address visitors, that is, to conduct a dialogue with them in an understandable language. This will help build trust.
Third, trust. With the development of online commerce, the risk of falling into the hook of scammers has increased. On the site, the visitor does not see either the store employees or its manager, and to be honest, even the goods cannot be held in their hands. Therefore, you need to prove to the visitor your honest intentions and convince him of the safety of the transaction. For this, social evidence is usually used: real contact details, team photos, reviews, etc. Design, usability, high-quality texts, reviews of real customers and specialists will also cause trust.
It is important to pay attention to the terms of delivery, payment and return of goods. If the proposed options are suitable for the buyer, he will certainly place an order. It is important that the client has the opportunity to choose the method of receiving the goods that suits him best. Total. Don't lose sight of the technical factors too: users are generally impatient, and if a page loads slowly, they'll just leave it.
TOP 15 working recommendations to increase conversions
If an online store has a normal conversion, it's good, but this is not a reason to refuse to improve it. Experts recommend using the following tricks:
1. Eliminate mandatory registration. The bulk of buyers are annoyed by the need to fill out a questionnaire and confirm data via mail. It is better to refuse this bureaucracy by offering the “Buy in 1 click” button. If registration is still necessary, then some bonuses or discounts can be offered for it.
2. High quality photos and videos. The buyer cannot touch the product and inspect it in real life, so everything possible must be done so that he can examine the product in detail through the monitor screen and form a positive opinion about it.
Texts, pages, delivery
All texts are "for people". Visitors are repelled by descriptions that are similar to each other. Also, don't overuse keywords. You need to write as if you are talking to a person in a store.
Main page. Since it is the most visited, it should be written about the activities and advantages of the company. In addition, you can talk about the range of goods, inform about the promotion - in a word, do everything to interest and keep the visitor.
Smart delivery. You need to analyze the work of competitors and work out everythingpossible delivery options.
Advertising, consultations, reviews
No pop-up ads. Not that it should not exist at all, but attacking with pop-ups of a client who just followed the link is too much.
Online consultant on the site. By communicating with customers, managers can positively influence customer decisions.
Comfortable website with responsive design. The interface should be simple, intuitive and displayable on all devices.
Reviews. Real customer reviews should be placed on the site, they have a great influence on the decision to make a purchase.
Discounts, payment, goods
Offer alternative and complementary products. Visitors don't always buy what they came for. If the product has several options, then you can offer the buyer an alternative.
Basket. Oddly enough, but it is the simplicity and literacy of the design of the basket that has a big impact on the conversion rate.
Bonuses and discounts. This is the most effective way to attract and retain customers. It is worth developing an effective reward system - and the conversion rate will increase significantly.
Payment. It is worth offering customers several payment methods, in other words, accepting money in all possible ways.
Blog & Specifications
Technical moments. You need to constantly keep your resource in working order. Visitors will leave if the site starts to give errors or slow to load.
Blogging. Interesting articles in a constantly updatedblog - a guarantee that more visitors will get to the site.
And finally: it is worth remembering that conversion is a dynamic indicator. You can’t get a good influx of customers once and stop there. You need to constantly work and improve.
