You can be dominating the SERPs with number one rankings for money keywords that drive huge amounts of traffic, but at the end of the day, an e-commerce store will never survive without sales.
A lot of times e-commerce stores will spend a lot of time and money on SEO, and knock it out of the park, as their traffic constantly increases, but their sales remain the same. It’s not uncommon for sales to level off or even dip, so what do you do when that happens? A good place to start is your website and look for little chances that can have a big impact on your conversion numbers.
I have consulted with several large e-commerce brands and my agency currently helps several with their search engine optimization, so I have seen a very wide spectrum of online stores, from five-figure and six-figure monthly earners, all the way to e-commerce brands generating $100 million a year.
I put together a list of ten tips that I believe to be the most effective, when attempting to increase the amount of sales an e-commerce website generates. A lot of SEO experts get so caught up in traffic numbers that they forget it’s only a small part of the success formula.
If you are struggling to convert more website traffic or if your sales have dipped, then dive right in and start to use these e-commerce sales tips today.
1. Provide every customer service option imaginable.
With so many options in terms of websites to buy products online, consumers will only do business with companies that they are confident in. They might not have an immediate customer service need, but if they feel like getting in touch with your company is going to be difficult they will have the potential hassle and go buy from someone that they have no doubts about.
This is why so many consumers buy from Amazon. It doesn’t matter who the end seller is; if there is a problem Amazon will step in and have any issue resolved, and lightning fast.
You should at the very least have an 800 or customer service number visible on all pages of your website and a contact page. If you really want to be proactive, have live chat support available. The more customer support options that are visible, the more confident your website visitors will be. To make sure requests don’t slip through the cracks, I would suggest you integrate something like ZenDesk to keep all support tickets in line.
2. Have full and complete company contact information available.
Just as customer service options is important, company contact information can help win over customer trust. There are a lot of shady websites out there, so it’s important that you take some steps to make everyone feel safe.
First, I would suggest that you make sure all of your pages have been converted to HTTPS. Many merchant service providers only require that your checkout pages are secure, which is fine, but it does nothing to help convert potential buyers that have yet to arrive on those pages.
I would even take it a step further and get an extended validation SSL certificate, which gives you the green bar in most browsers. In order to get this, you must verify your company details. There is no faking this, and it shows consumers that you are indeed a legit company.
A company address is also wise, even if you are remote. Get a virtual office address and use that. Consumers understand that most online companies don’t have physical offices, but they do expect at least a co-working or virtual office address to help validate your legitimacy.
3. Use professional images and not stock photos.
This one I don’t understand. If you are trying to sell something, online, sight unseen, don’t you want to do everything possible to make it look very appealing? The best approach is to take custom photos and I will give you an example from the automotive industry.
If you look at a dealer’s inventory online, you will see that some dealerships just list their new car inventory and use stock images or illustrations. Then, some feature images of the actual car at the dealership. These are professionally done, and they look 100 times better than a stock photo because you actually see what they have.
Yes, it’s a little more work and there is a cost involved, but in the end it’s worth it because it results in more products being sold. You don’t have to take photos of every single piece of inventory, but a nice custom photo of a particular item or product line will appeal much more to your potential customers than generic images found on all other websites.
4. Accept multiple payment options for convenience.
It drives me mad when I am trying to make a purchase online and they don’t accept PayPal, opting only for credit card payments. Some merchants just don’t like PayPal, so they don’t make it a payment option, while some just assume if they accept credit cards alone they will capture all sales.
This is so far from the truth, as so many consumers love PayPal just for its convenience. Omitting a payment option out of spite or just neglect is the same as leaving money on the table daily. The consumer needs to be able to make his or her own choice regarding what payment option they want to use. Give plenty of options, because the more options, the less risk of losing a potential sale.
As cryptocurrency increases in popularity, I would suggest also accepting it as well.
5. Stop charging for shipping.
I’m sure this is something you can relate to.
You are online buying something and then you go to checkout only to find that the company is charging for shipping. Even if it’s something as little as $5, it is a turn off. Most people will do one of two things when they are faced with a shipping charge. They will search on Google for a coupon code for your website or they will leave and look for a seller that offers free shipping.
You will see far less resistance if you offer free shipping and make that known the minute someone lands on your website. Sometimes something as simple as a sticky floating header bar with “FREE Shipping Today!” will help to quickly convert visitors. Be sure not to be too gimmicky, though. For example, a countdown timer is overkill, and most consumers know those are just marketing tactics.
6. Reduce the “noise” and use a clean simple store design.
The days of fancy websites are long gone, and now it’s all about simplicity and clean designs. There is a reason many e-commerce websites are using Shopify as their technology stack: they have very clean and user-friendly themes.
The backend is very important, and Shopify’s it top notch, but that alone won’t make up for a horrible layout and design. Years ago, custom themes were popular, especially ones with several custom features. The trouble with a feature packed theme is that is slows down load time and can create a confusing user experience. Those are two negative aspects, so now themes with mild modifications and customizing are the popular trend.
You can also split test several different templates and layouts to learn what works best for your target audience. The design that 24 – 28-year olds respond well to will differ from what works to convert the 50+ age demographic. The only way to know is to test but focus on simple and clean layout options.
7. Use video to highlight products.
Consumers love video content, especially when trying to decide whether or not to buy something, and I will give you proof. Look at how popular some YouTube channels are that feature product reviews and unboxing.
When someone can look at a product being opened or out of the package in its natural element, it gives them that personal connection that can quickly trigger a purchase. This is why brands pay these YouTube influencers to feature their products and push traffic to their site.
Look at some of the popular review and unboxing videos, and you will certainly find a link to the company’s website, and some of the more skilled YouTubers will actually do the videos themselves and then push traffic to a website like Amazon using affiliate links.
Even if you don’t have the budget to shoot your own video content, look for videos that you can re-purpose on your website. They often add more substance to your product pages, which gives your visitors more value and reason to buy.
8. Always run special offers and special savings.
This is something I feel more e-commerce website could do better, and it’s something I do with my own business, even though we are a service provider and not selling products. Consumers like to feel like they are always receiving a deal, and if you don’t give them one they will look for another website that does have a special offer for them, no matter how significant it is.
My agency sends out special offers to our customer list weekly, simply because I believe that constantly providing extra value is a great way to build a long-term customer base. It costs a lot less money to keep your current customers happy and buying than it does to go out and constantly attract new customers.
Little things like 10% OFF coupon codes that pop-up or slide out will always perform well, and they can help convert indecisive buyers. It’s also a great idea to constantly send out offers and discounts to your email list. The majority of your list will be previous buyers or at least people familiar with your business. Email marketing has very little cost involved, which can generate extra monthly income on a regular basis.
9. Write in-depth product descriptions.
There are two reasons that you need to focus a lot of attention on your product descriptions. First, product pages tend to be very thin on content, and we all know that Google likes content-rich pages. So, writing long descriptions allows you to put content on all pages and work in some long-tail search terms related to each particular product. When you analyze this across thousands of products on an e-commerce website it can be the difference of thousands of additional visitors every day.
This is also your chance to answer common questions that a consumer will have before making a purchase. Don’t think too hard here, as sometimes the most common-sense information is left out. For example, I have seen conversions for products increase simply by including information that says whether or not a product comes with batteries.
What will help to educate, inform and convert the average consumer? Figure that out, and then include it in your descriptions, naturally.
10. Attempt to convert abandoned shopping cart traffic with exit pop-up offers and emails.
If you don’t attempt to convert your abandoning cart traffic, then you are missing out big time. If someone adds a product to their cart and then leaves you clearly missed something, whether it was the price or in the user experience.
Test different bribes, from percentage off coupons to discounts on multiple quantities. You have to learn what the sweet spot is for your customer base. While exit-intent pop-ups are great, one of the most effective abandon cart strategies is email. It’s so effective that platforms like Shopify have the feature built-in.
If someone leaves without finishing the purchase, they are emailed a day or two later, with a reminder that their item is waiting. If they click on the link they are taken directly back to the cart to finish the process, eliminating the need to start the purchase funnel over again.
Conclusion
No matter how much traffic you are sending to your e-commerce store, either from paid efforts like Facebook ads and Google AdWords PPC clicks, or pulling in organic traffic through SEO, you have to make sure you do everything possible to get the highest percentage of traffic to convert into sales.
Think of it from a retail environment perspective. If you just funneled foot traffic through a shopping mall it doesn’t guarantee any of the stores the people walk past will get sales. Their presentation needs to entice the consumers to take a look inside and their offers need to get them interested.
While traffic is key, there are so many more things that come into play. You can buy all of the best links and increase the authority of your website and search positions in Google, but if your website doesn’t do its job, then all is lost.
The tips I outlined above are not all that difficult, and anyone can implement them almost immediately to start converting more traffic into sales. Some of the most successful e-commerce brands didn’t necessarily have the best products, but they provided the best website experience, and when that is combined with amazing marketing and conversion optimization, the sales come rolling in and the revenue generated allows them to scale to the moon.
Have any questions pertaining to converting more of your e-commerce store traffic? If so, leave them in the comments and I will try to answer them for you. Also, if you have some tips to add, feel free to share them as well.
