8 E-commerce Optimisation Tips
E-commerce websites often have unique optimization tactics to increase the number of potential buyers that will travel through their sales funnel. This is done with the goal of increasing the number of buyers and converting them to repeat customers. In order to get more results, businesses need to fully optimize their websites and landing pages. If you would like to optimize your brand’s e-commerce website, it would be wise to seek the services of an SEO marketing agency. Take a look at these 8 e-commerce optimization tips.
1. Leverage on the power of personalized content
Using personalized content on the website can boost leads and conversions. The idea behind personalized content is to make visitors feel like you are talking to them alone, when in fact the same personalized message can be addressing thousands. Such content tends to drive more leads and conversions when compared to generalized content.
Rather than displaying the actual product alone on a page, you can display the product actually being used in a way that is relatable to the target audience. Throw in the zoom-in option on the displayed product to give the visitor a closer look at what he or she is buying. This is a smart move that makes the brand appear to be sensitive to the needs of the buyer. This strategy enables the buyer to ascertain the specific details of the product as if they were buying it in a physical store. This would require images to be in higher resolution for the zoom-in feature to be effective.
2. Gather and display reviews to boost credibility
This is a great way for e-commerce websites to optimize their websites. It is easier to convert a visitor to an immediate buyer with reviews left by those who have bought and used the product. Oftentimes, people are moved to buy certain things because they have heard about it before from someone else, seen someone somewhere using it or someone close to them recommended it. So there is very little effort in trying to convince them, rather they go straight to the call to action. This is also the same effect that user-generated content creates.
Brands can reach out to customers to get images/footage of them using the product or give away some of their products in return for such images. They can then include this footage on the brand’s landing page and create a compelling story with a call to action to generate more sales or leads.
3. Remove unnecessary processes or content in the cart area
For most e-commerce websites, the cart area and the checkout area is where they experience a lot of bounce rate – after successfully leading visitors from the landing page to the checkout page. You can make use of existing pop-ups to encourage the visitor to complete the buying process. The kind of compelling copy used here can also determine whether the visitor will oblige or not. So get creative with this and you can also throw in an offer or discount to encourage the visitor.
4. Optimize for mobile devices
This is one very essential step every e-commerce website must take if they want a better-optimized site. Ideally, the entire website should be well optimized for any kind of mobile device as well as any type of web browser. The reason for this is that a larger percentage of the world’s population use mobile devices and that percentage is going to increase over the next few years.
While making that adjustment to the website in whole, do not leave out unique landing pages you have already created for the sales funnel because it the gateway through which visitors get to experience your website for the first time (hence the need to make a good lasting impression). Also, it is at this point that they make two crucial decisions: first, to go ahead and make a purchase (or add their email address for future deals); second, to decide if they would ever revisit the website.
5. Use compelling copies and call to actions
The more believable and compelling copies used on the website are, the easier it becomes for brands to get more leads or conversions. In addition, the keyword or group of words used for the call to action also has to be compelling.
6. Improve the overall opening speed of the site
Having a compelling and well-designed website is useless if the site takes forever to load. Businesses should always think about the consumer when creating their website. Online shoppers have both short attention span and they have multiple ecommerce stores that they can shop from (unless a brand is exclusively selling the product that the visitor wants).
7. Be clear and direct
No one likes to be left in the dark about anything that would help them make important decisions, so don’t expect less from your website visitors. Be very clear and direct about every piece of information that the visitor needs to know about the product, from the pricing to shipment, availability in the location of the visitor and so on. Doing this helps shorten the time they spend on making a purchase. This information should be placed where visitors can easily see it without having to scroll to deep down the landing page. If they have to be researching what they need to know before going ahead to buy, you might lose them and they might never come back. Depending on how fast the e-commerce website opens, throwing a self-explanatory product video on the landing page can also boost conversions.
8. Leverage on the psychology behind urgency
Brands can capitalize on the ‘fear of missing out’ on awesome deals. This is a fear that online shoppers often have when they spot shopping offers or discounts that can help them make savings. It works all the time, so leverage on this by tying such offers or discounts to a limited time frame or a limited number. In addition, give users the option of taking advantage of a special offer by using their social media to log in. This eliminates the fear of having to go through a long registration process before they can access the time-bound offer.