So, you’ve opened up an e-commerce store. Maybe you’ve even gotten a few sales and some nice reviews from satisfied customers but at the same time, you’re probably wondering when it’s all going to ‘blow up’ and get really big.
While it’s much easier to start an ecommerce, the challenges of running it are quite similar to that of most other ventures. The key to success is still the same: turning as many leads, visitors and prospects into customers as possible. Unfortunately, most ecommerce stores have a conversion rate of less than 2%. That means if a 100 people visit your website, less than 2 people are going to purchase a product or service.
However, don’t let this statistic worry you. It’s neither impossible nor unheard of for ecommerce stores to raise their conversion rates much higher than 2%. These stores are the ones that understand the issues that are turning away potential customers by the hundreds and in this article, we’re going to be addressing three of the commonest ones:
There Isn’t Any Proof of Validity
Customers need to know that you’re a valid store before they decide to make a purchase. Hence, here are some tips to get that sorted out:
- Use your own product photographs. A lot of ecommerce stores, especially drop-shipping simply use the same products as their supplies. Often these are pretty low quality and may even have watermarks on them.
- You don’t offer multiple payment getaways – payment getaways are a sign that reputable financial institutions trust your website. Hence the more getaways you have, the more valid your store seems.
- Customer reviews – almost all customers read reviews of products before they make a purchase. Hence, if your products don’t have any, then customers may be hesitant to buy.
The Checkout Process Isn’t Streamlined
A lot of customers tend to drop out without completing a transaction if the checkout process is taking too long. It’s often annoying and a lot of customers will not want to bother with it. So, if possible, always opt for a single page checkout and only ask for the most relevant details. For example, if you’re asking for the email address then you also don’t need the customer’s phone number as well.
In addition, you should enable the guest checkout option as well, allowing customers to complete a transaction without setting up an account.
There are other ways to streamline a checkout process and we highly recommend carrying out ecommerce conversion audits to find out what you can do better.
Your Website Isn’t Working Properly
Here are some common website errors that are causing you to lose sales:
- Page loading speed is too slow – customers are very impatient and it doesn’t bode well to make them wait.
- Checkout isn’t working properly – this can deter customers for a very long time.
- The website isn’t optimized for mobile – a lot of customers now shop on their phone so a website that doesn’t offer a smooth mobile experience can cause you to lose sales.
Once you start addressing these three problems, we’re confident that you’ll see an increase in your daily conversion rate.