It is very much true that a few mistakes can kill conversion rates on your website partially or entirely. You might have good products to sell. But if you have a low conversion rate it simply means that you have low profits. And you certainly don’t want that. You want to increase website conversion rate for sure.
In this post, we would discuss some effective ways to increase conversion rates.
Ways to Increase Website Conversion Rate
There could be a lot of reasons for the low conversion rate on your website. But the most common mistakes that can hurt your conversion rate are as follows. Also, we will be discussing how to fix those issues, to increase website conversion rate for your business.
Slow Loading Website
If your website loads slow, your visitors would leave your website in a few seconds. Obviously, that would badly affect your website conversion rate. People don’t want to wait for a website to load where they can make a purchase.
Even if your website is brilliantly designed and have unique products, but takes a long time to load, people would not wait to get it completely loaded.
Time is precious, and people have very low patience. So, you need to get your website right and optimize it for fast loading on all the devices.
There are lots of online tools through which you can estimate your website’s loading speed. The best is Google’s PageSpeed Insights. It gives you a complete picture of your website’s loading status. Also, you can find areas of improvement from this tool.
Mostly the issues are with the images, server response time, CSS, Java Scripts, etc., which can be fixed quickly with the help of a website developer.
Doing this would help you increase website conversion rate surely.
Unclear Purpose of Your Website
If a user lands on your website and gets confused about what is he supposed to do there, or how he navigates through your website, product pages, or how did he make a purchase, etc., then you need to consider redoing your website structure.
In such cases where your website confuses the visitors, most likely they would close your website in a few seconds and probably never come back.
Hence, you need to design your home page and landing pages in a clear and understandable way.
Your visitors will then easily understand what kind of a store it is, and what type of products they can buy there.
This would help you increase website conversion rate by making the user take an intended action.
Bugs in the Website
Any technical error in any part of the website could be a turn off for the user.
If a bug makes it difficult for the visitors to search items, place an order, edit their carts, make payments, zoom into the product pictures, it would be a disaster.
Not only you would lose your customers but also earn a bad name. Because people write and share about their bad experiences online for sure.
So, before you launch, test your website completely. Try clicking every link, every button, check the auto triggering emails are getting them delivered. Also, make sure that the OTP or forget password functions are working properly.
Have a checklist of all the actions on your website and begin checking everything to make sure that all the actions can be completed properly.
Make sure that everything looks clean and professional right from the log, menu, home page layout, product pictures, buttons, breadcrumbs, product descriptions, reviews, etc.
Test your website on all browsers like Safari, Mozilla, Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Opera, etc. Make sure it looks clean and complete on every browser and every device viz., PC, laptops, tablets, mobile phones, and on all the screen sizes. This would help you increase website conversion rate.
Poor Navigation Flow
The visitors on a website want to see the products and offers without making extra clicks. Or they may want to contact you quickly if you offer services and make secure and effortless payments in the minimum time possible.
But, if your website navigation is all messed up, and visitors can’t understand the navigation of your website, they don’t know where to click next on your website to do some action, then there is a problem. And in such cases, your visitors will exit your website and probably never want to come back.
You have got to fix this problem. To do that either ask an expert for help or ask some of your friends to visit your website and make a purchase. (Of course, you can cancel their order if they don’t want it). Note their feedback and start fixing the issues.
However, it’s always good to consult an expert on Website UX to help resolve the navigation issues.
This will make your visitors quickly find the products on your website and make purchases.
This would help you increase your website conversion rate.
Unprofessional Website Design
If your website is unprofessionally designed, for example, having low-quality banners, images, broken links, irritating animations, poor color themes, cluttered text, heavy design elements, etc., the visitors can’t even understand what’s going on and he is supposed to do next. It makes them lost and confused. They don’t make a purchase on such websites.
This can be fixed by creating your website in a professional way. Better to use a professional website design theme based on your choice. The advantage of professional designs is that they are clear, responsive, and fast in loading.
They are usually made with user convenience in mind. They appear really good on any device users to open it. Here is a complete article on how to design a professional eCommerce Website to increase website conversion rate.
No Business Contact Information
No one would want to do business with you if they don’t trust you. People want to make sure that you actually exist, and they can contact you if they need to. Hence, it is important for you to put in your actual physical address, phone number, email address, and other contact information on your website so that customers can trust you.
A good idea is to integrate the Google map location through Google My Business, which makes it easy for the customers to locate you and reach you with the help of google maps. This, in fact, can help you increase website conversion rate.
No Terms & Conditions
People want to see the terms and conditions of a website before they make a purchase on it. Because they want to ensure that what shipping rate they would have to pay.
How long would it take for their order to be delivered? What is the return and refund policy of the product, etc?
They need to know everything before they actually make the purchase.
The websites those who don’t mention their terms & conditions are the ones where they have the problem of very low or almost no conversion at all.
Make sure that all these details are written on your website on a dedicated page and links to these pages are visible.
The best idea is to link these pages in the footer of the website.
The footer and header of the website remain the same on all the pages, so people can find the terms and conditions page easily from any page of the website they want.
This will make your visitors trust you and help you increase website conversion rate.
No Testimonials or Business Reviews
People trust people’s opinions, and this is very true when it comes to online shopping.
And this is not only for the websites selling products, but also equally true for the website offering services.
People trust the reviews of other people about your website.
So, if it is positive they will buy from you, and if it is negative they won’t buy from you.
No one wants to risk their money on the businesses which they don’t trust.
Reviews left by other people are also highly significant for your online image, reputation, and credibility.
Remember, most people take the pain of writing reviews when they are unhappy or dissatisfied with your products or services.
They will write negative reviews about you.
And if people are very happy with your products or services and if you request them to write a review for you, then they will write positive reviews for you.
The best way is to encourage your customers to write reviews on Google My Business listing. But even if they write about you on your social media pages, or on TrustPilot it would be good.
You can send an email to your customers post their purchase with a link to the place you want them to write a review for you on your website or social media page.
No Social Media Presence
We live in an era of rapidly evolving communication technologies, and if your store or brand doesn’t have a social media presence, it will surely make people suspicious about your brand or business. Social proof is important to influence people’s decisions.
Add social media links to your website and manage your social media on a regular basis with informative and engaging posts. Also, encourage your visitors to follow your brand on social media so that they remain connected to your brand.
No SSL Certificate
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is a specific technology that ensures safe information transfer between a web server and a browser.
Internet users can easily see whether a website has SSL: there’s a tiny green icon shown in your browser next to the website address. And it says https://www.websitename.com instead of http://www.websitename.com
This is necessary because people want to make sure that their credit card details would remain safe when they transact on your website.
So, you need to buy an SSL certificate and implement it on your website for safe transactions and make people trust your business. This would help you increase website conversion rate.
Unpopular Products
People want to buy popular and useful products, no one would buy products which are not useful to them.
So, do thorough research on what people want.
Put those items on your homepage with nice images and description, which looks appealing and readable.
On every eCommerce website, there is a section of best-selling products, and research says that the best-selling category is the one where people buy the most.
The next category of highest selling products is from the new arrivals section. The third category is where there are huge discounts or offers.
Make sure that the best selling products or shown nicely on the home page to increase your conversions. And this would help you improve your conversion rate.
Poor Product Categorisation
Imagine going to a store with all the items mixed together – will it be convenient for you to look for something specific? Or having hundreds of product categories but only with 1 or 2 items in each.
Obviously, it would not make sense at all. So, if your website is categorized like that, you need to fix it.
Plan the product categories very well and make sure that the structure of your website looks logical and it remains easy for the potential customers to navigate through the site.
Make sure they can find the products they are looking for in your store under those categories. If you get the product categorization right you can increase the website’s conversion rate.
No Search Filters
Search box and search filters are very important for a website. A user should be able to key in the product name in the search box and find it quickly.
If the visitor on your website couldn’t find what he was looking for on your website through the search box he won’t waste his time on your website.
So, keep the search filters in consideration when you develop your website. Also, it is important to show the most relevant results in those searches through the search box.
So make sure everything is there to make it happen, and you won’t lose a visitor because of this.
Incorrect or Unattractive Product Titles
Product titles on your website should be short, clear, and crisp. The long and strange names of the products are obviously not attractive. Many of the websites upload the product details exactly as it comes to them from the vendors.
That is a wrong practice. For example, if you have listed on your website a shirt which is in 8 different colors.
The good idea is to make the variants in the SKU not write the Product – Red, Product – Blue, Product – Green, etc., or write available in 8 different colors in the product title, that looks funny.
Rather in such cases, you should give a drop-down on the product page for the customer to choose the color and order the same.
The titles shouldn’t be more than 2-4 words, and those words contain the keywords which your customers would search in the search box to look for that product.
Dull or No Product Pictures
A picture is worth a thousand words. That’s true when it comes to shopping online. People first see the product they want to buy through the pictures.
After the picture they read it’s title, then they see it’s pricing, and then they read the product description. After reading the product details, they look for social validation to make their decision to buy the product.
A good idea is to add multiple good quality pictures of the product shot for showing the various angles and features of the product.
Do not use watermarks, product titles, or product descriptions in the picture.
Products shot from various angles provide convenience to the customers to completely understand the product before they buy it. This can increase the conversion rate on your website.
Incomplete or No Product Description
Many websites and especially the market place websites have either no product description for many products or even incomplete information about the product. People don’t buy anything until they get all their questions answered about the product they want to buy.
Your product descriptions should be long enough to answer any possible common question of the visitors intended to buy that product. If your product description would answer every possible question of the visitor you likely have a better conversion rate on your website.
No Product Reviews
Reviews of products make a big difference. As we already discussed that customer’s reviews make the visitors trust that product. Reviews are like social proof, and you have to have a provision on your website for people to write reviews for the products they buy from your website.
Do not try to get fake or paid reviews for the products because that clearly seems fabricated. And in such cases, the visitors know that the reviews are not true and have been fabricated to lure the customers. Be original and genuine when it comes to product reviews and it would surely help you improve your conversion rate.
No Related or Alternative Products
Sometimes it happens that the products on your website are out of stock or have been discontinued and people still look for that product on your website. In such cases, you should have alternative products ready to offer to your customers looking for that product.
If you don’t offer them alternative products for the products they are looking for you would lose that customer and the sale for sure.
A good idea is to prepare a set of 3-5 recommended products for every item which is not in stock at the moment, and show it on the product page instead of showing an Out of Stock page or 404 error page.
This gives the visitors an option to buy alternative products instead of exiting the website and obviously it would help you improve your conversion rate.
Call-to-Action
Sometimes on some websites, the call to action button is not clear, or poorly designed, or doesn’t state the intended action.
Call-to-action buttons should be clearly visible on the page, these should be neither too small nor not too big.
The right size of the Call-to-action button with the right text improves the conversion rate of the website.
Make sure that all the relevant buttons (Buy Now, Add to Cart, etc.) are clearly visible, bright, and designed in a nice way.
Product Pricing Problems
If the products on your website are priced too high or too low it will hamper your conversion rate for sure. For instance, if you set the prices for your products too low you lose a part of your potential profit, as well as you also lose your customers’ trust.
Also, if this price of your products is suspiciously low, your offers will probably be considered to be a fraud.
To set the most suitable price, check out your competitors’ website and look at their pricing strategies.
Price your products accordingly so that you don’t lose your conversions.
High Shipping Charges
Though many eCommerce websites offer free shipping on the purchase of a certain amount or certain products. But, free shipping is not viable for the smaller eCommerce websites. So, they charge the shipping fee from the customer for the products they buy.
But, the shipping price should be kept as minimal as possible. Otherwise, the customers would prefer to buy it from the local market. Or would buy from the website where the shipping price is free or very less.
For instance, if you charge Rs. 300 for a Rs. 1000 product your customers would simply leave your website and won’t pay extra money for delivery.
The best idea is to add the shipping price into the product’s price itself. If you can afford to deduct the shipping charges from your profit margins offer free shipping to your customers. This would surely help you improve your conversion rate on your website.
Unresponsive Shopping Cart
If the shopping cart of your website is not responsive, or visible, editable then you might experience a low conversion rate. People want to quickly add the products they want to buy to the shopping cart and checkout from there to place their order.
If your shopping cart doesn’t react to your actions, doesn’t allow you to edit the items, or modify the quantity, remove the product from the cart or add a new product to the cart, then you need to fix that.
Ensure that your shopping cart button is bright, easy to notice, editable, professionally designed, fully responsive to work on both the desktop and mobile devices so that you don’t lose a potential customer because of the shopping cart issues.
No Guest Checkout
Some websites make it mandatory for the user to register himself on the website to place an order.
Many people don’t want to register on your website, but they would want to buy in a guest mode.
In guest mode, they just fill in their shipping address and pay the price of the products.
You should honor their privacy and reluctance to register.
Your website should allow them to shop in guest mode.
Once they become regular shopper they would register to avoid the unnecessary hassle of filling detail every time they shop.
And if you have this option then show it on the header of the website. Visitors should know that they can shop in the guest mode without registering on your website. This would surely improve your conversion rate.
Very Long Forms to Fill In
People don’t want to fill in every detail about them until it is something which gives them direct benefit. So, keep the minimum fields to fill in by the customer on your website.
You just need the name, email address, phone number, the shipping address of the customer to process an order.
You don’t really want to know the gender, age, occupation, date of birth, religion, ethnicity, etc., of the customer. So, don’t make the forms too long with unnecessary fields to fill in.
Keep it short and simple. Remember that every extra field makes your conversion lower and simple quick forms increase conversion rate.
Payment Gateway & Options to Pay
Many websites offer limited payment options, like only pay through Credit Card & Debit Card. Or only pay through PayTm, or PhonePe, or FreeCharge, etc.
Many websites don’t accept cards issued out of India. Many websites don’t offer Cash on Delivery.
So, you need to do a little research to learn a bit more about your target audience. If you want to sell your products globally, you need a payment gateway to accept international credit and debit cards.
You can also offer to accept international payments from PayPal.
But, if you’re going to sell in a single country you need a local payment system. For instance, if you want to sell only in India, you need to have a local payment gateway.
In India payment gateways like PayTm, and other mobile wallets. Doing this would surely improve your conversion rate.
Conclusion
These were some common issues that cause a lower conversion rate on the website. You can use this as a checklist to check and make the necessary changes to your website.
Post that you can enjoy an increased conversion rate on your website and more profit for your business!
For more detail, or help in growing your business and increase your conversion rate you can get in touch with us. Or write to me on krishan@digitoly.com for a one-on-one consultation.
