How to Increase Ecommerce Conversion Rates (18 Ways)

In this post, we are going to cover some of the simple things you can do that can have a big impact on conversion rates and set up a foundation for more advanced things like heat mapping, so let’s get started.

We won’t go into depth on conversion rates and why they are significant because the answer is simple:

The higher your conversion rate
The more revenue you make without having to get more traffic
The better your marketing’s ROI

Because what you want to know is: How can I increase my conversion rate?

In this post, we’ll cover some of the simple things to improve conversion rates and set up a foundation for more advanced things like heat mapping, so let’s get started.

Average Ecommerce Conversion Rates

Actually, before we do let’s take a quick second to look at average conversion rates, so that you can set realistic goals for where you want your conversion rate to be.

Recent data from Kibo found that the average ecommerce version rate was 2.65%, interestingly Desktop (3%) and Tablet (3%) had higher conversion rates than Mobile (2%).

But even if your store is falling in this average range of 2-3%, there are probably areas that you can still improve and even a 0.5% increase could result in a significant increase in revenue and profit.

1. The Importance of Speed

One of the most important components of improving your conversion rate is speed. You can have the best sales funnels in the world, but it won’t matter if your site is slow.

Speed directly relates to user experience, slow sites are frustrating (we’ve all experienced them), and the longer it takes for a site to load, the more likely that person will click off and go somewhere else.

• When it comes to improving site speed, it very much depends on the platform you are using, but some general things include:
• Optimizing images
• Using a fast-loading theme
• Keeping the number of apps or plugins to a minimum
• Reduce the number of redirects on your site.

Use tools like Uptrends Speed Tool or Google PageSpeed Insights to check how well your site performs and look for areas where it can be improved.

2. Remove Pop-ups 

This refers to pop-ups that display when a visitor first lands on your site and try to get them to sign up for your email list. While these can be useful in building an email list, they could be harming their conversion rate because:

• They can slow sites down (it is another thing to load);
• You are putting a barrier between the potential customer and the product.

So, if you’re running them, try removing them, but don’t remove essential pop-ups for things relating to data compliance.

3. Site Design & Usability

First impressions count, and the aesthetics of your site play a big part in this, which is why you should utilize a modern design on your site since if it looks like it hasn’t been updated since 2010, it can cause people to question your site’s credibility.

The second component is usability, which is important because the easier your site is to use, the better the customer experience, so make sure that:

• Your navigation menu is well designed and easy to use.
• Add filters to your category pages so customers can easily find the products they’re looking for.
• Include a search feature on your website.

A good methodology for site design is to keep it simple. A clean, easy-to-use site will likely have a much higher conversion rate than a crowded, complicated site.

4. Show Your Site is trustworthy.

Building trust is a crucial component of convincing people to buy from you, and there are a lot of things you can do to show that your site is trustworthy and that it is safe to buy from you, including:

• Make sure you are running on HTTPS so that customers don’t see that horrible ‘site not secure’ notification.
• Add any trust badges from reputable sources.
• Show any professional memberships you have with a link to your profile with the organization.

These can be quite important, especially as a lot of your traffic will probably be people that have never bought from you or possibly even heard of you before.

5. Add Live Chat

One of the primary methods people use to contact businesses is live chat, with 43% of people being likely to use this option. Adding live chat to your store can enhance conversion rates because:

It is another way that they can contact you and it may be the preferred option.
They may have a question about the product and they can ask it directly on the product page.

When it comes to offering live chat, you can have a human answer it within your business hours or have a chat bot as the initial point of contact, which will be available 24/7.

6. Mobile Design & Usability

Traffic from mobile devices converts better than traffic from others, so you need to make sure your site works as well on mobile devices as it does on desktop, as over 50% of web traffic now comes from mobile devices.

Google’s Core Web Vitals can provide valuable information on your site’s mobile performance, and when customizing your site, make sure to check how it looks in the mobile viewport and finally, check it on an actual mobile device!

7. Add Videos to your Page

For some products, adding videos showing the product being used can lead to a jump in conversion rates, as a video can show things that normal pictures can’t and once again, it gives customers an idea of:

What the product will be like in real life, such as how big it will be;
Whether the product will be suitable for what they need it for;

And once again, making your own video for this will be better than one from the manufacturer, especially if you can provide more information in your video than they do in theirs.

8. Use Original, high-quality images.

One of the most important selling points of your products is the use of high-quality images, and it is amazing how many people buy just from the images.

You should also avoid using the manufacturer’s stock images, as you want your site to stand out from the crowd, so you should:

• Take your own product images.
• Show the product from all angles.
• Include relevant information, such as dimensions for applicable products;

For some products, it can also be useful to show them being worn or used, as this helps the customer visualize what the product will be like in real life, which is why most clothing retailers use models to show how good the product looks when being worn.