6 Tips to Skyrocket Ecommerce Conversions on Your Site Want a great role model? Click on Amazon.com.
By Syed Balkhi Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Building a profitable business is no easy task. After all, you can design your online shop to look and function the way you want it to, promote it across many channels and even drive a ton of traffic to it on a daily basis. But just because people visit your online store doesn't mean they'll actually buy anything.
Related: 25 Ecommerce Conversion Hacks to Make Your Website Profitable (Infographic)
In fact, it's only after you have your shop up and running that the real work begins.
In that context, here are the best tips out there to help you skyrocket your ecommerce conversions so you can start generating more sales.
1. Start building trust.
Not everyone that visits your site is at the right stage of the buying cycle to convert. In fact, some may be visiting your site for the very first time and may be hesitant about making a purchase. That's why establishing trust, in tiny increments, is the key to helping move those in the early stages of the buying cycle towards a decision to buy something.
One of the best ways to do this is to start small and ask site visitors for their email address, just as Nike does.
By encouraging people to trust you enough to provide their contact information, and later sending your campaigns to them via email, you can convince those that aren't sure about buying from you to go ahead and give you a try.
2. Use quality images.
People that are shopping online rely on your shop's images to make their purchasing decisions. After all, they can't physically see or touch your products. But they definitely want to know that the money they're about to spend is worth it.
Related: 5 Strategies for Turning Ecommerce Browsers Into Buyers
To get around this problem, Ikea, for example, does a great job of giving online shoppers a look at what it's selling.
Leverage the power of high quality images like these throughout your own ecommerce shop to help increase sales. Make sure the images are large enough to show detail, are crisp and clear and have good descriptions to back up the imagery.
3. Eliminate the risk.
Another common reason people shy away from finalizing an online purchase is the fear that it won't fit, won't be what they expected, will come damaged in the mail -- or any other number of concerns.
If you eliminate these risks, your customers will be more likely to make a purchase from you. For instance, make returns easy and free of charge. Offer free shipping and product guarantees. Even consider allowing hassle-free returns to your brick and mortar shops if that's possible.
Take it from successful ecommerce shops likes Hugo Boss. Not only does the brand offer free shipping on all purchases, it makes all returns by mail free of charge.
Your customers are sure to appreciate that buying from you carries no risk.
5. Add social proof.
When it comes to making a purchase, no matter what the cost, your customers will want to know that others before them made similar purchases and were happy with the products or services they bought.
That's why adding social proof to your online storefront is a good strategy for boosting conversions. Not only does it help establish you as a reliable store to purchase from, it gives customers on the fence reason to take the plunge and finalize their transactions.
After all, 84 percent of people trust online reviews and testimonials as much as they would a personal recommendation.
For example, B-School is an online business school dedicated to helping modern entrepreneurs. However, courses like this can be pricey and a lot of them out there have been proven to be scams.
But Marie Forleo takes the right approach in having satisfied customers testify to their success:
She also uses celebrity endorsements to lend credibility to her course:
Social proof like this can be added to your online store in multiple ways:
Testimonials
User reviews
Celebrity endorsements
Case studies
Star ratings
Number of users
Media coverage
Official stamps of approval
Social media shares
All you have to do is find the type of social proof your target audience relates to the best, and use it to your advantage to boost conversions.
6. Create an easy checkout process.
As one of the biggest exommerce giants in the world today, Amazon can teach every online shop owner a thing or two. And, while your ecommerce shop may not be as large, study Amazon: The way it runs things is efficient and could help you increase your shop's sales.
For example, many people abandon the checkout process because of things like unexpected shipping costs, the requirement to create an account, concerns about security and, most importantly, a difficult checkout process.
Sure, your online store may need multiple steps in the checkout process, no matter how hard you try to avoid this. But making things as easy on customers as you can is the way to reduce cart abandonment.
Again referencing Amazon, take a look at how this ecommerce store offers a one-click checkout process:
And for those that don't want to engage in one-click checkouts, Amazon still makes the multiple step process easy to follow and understand, helping customers to feel at ease as they pay for their items.
Notice how each step is broken down into a progress bar so customers always know which step they're on and how many more steps there are to go until the end.
And, there you have it! Six quick and easy ways to optimize your ecommerce shop for increasing conversions and boosting sales.
Related: 6 Mistakes Your Ecommerce Store Must Avoid
Just remember, it doesn't matter what you sell, how you promote it, or how much traffic comes to your online shop if no one's buying. Take the time to apply some of these tricks so you can generate the most revenue possible and continue to build your business.
