Ecommerce enterprises need to convert customers arriving at their websites if they want to stand a chance of staying in business. But getting users to fill their carts and check out is a massive challenge - one that developers are still working on.
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Providing that perfect conversion experience is not easy. But today, we’re in a much better position than at any time in the past. We are pretty sure we know what doesn’t work, at least.
Conversion rates vary from sector to sector, but they tend to average between 2 and 10 per cent. If you’re below that, then there’s probably an issue with your conversion pipeline that you need to address.
Here are some of the reasons why your conversion rate is dreadful and what you can do about it.
Your Site Looks Terrible From The Outset
It doesn’t matter how sophisticated you make your sales funnels; if your site just looks terrible, then it will immediately put customers off, encouraging them to go elsewhere. Things like elements overlapping each other, poor typographical arrangement, and bad use of colors can all lead to problems with getting people to part with their cash.
Professional web design is all about building attractive interfaces that do your business justice. If yours looks great, then people are much more likely to use you again in the future.
You Haven’t Optimized Your SEO
Another reason your conversion rate might be low could be because you haven’t optimized your SEO. Ideally, only people who stand a reasonable chance of buying your products should be coming to your website. All other traffic is essentially “dead weight” that takes up your bandwidth and costs you money.
Here’s where you need a targeted SEO strategy. Don’t just stuff your pages with generic keywords that seem related to your product. Instead, look for phrases with clear buying intent and target those. This way, you can attract the kind of traffic most likely to make a purchase once they arrive.
You Aren’t Catering To Mobile Users
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The majority of people now consume the internet via mobile devices. But even though this has been the case for a long time, many businesses are still not catering to it.
Ideally, you need to adopt a “mobile-first” approach to web development and design, especially if you run a local business. You want people to be able to log onto their devices in your area and see your site and contact information immediately.
Your Product Images Suck
One of the biggest reasons customers return goods to the store is because they don’t match product images. They see something that looks one way online, but then quite another when it actually arrives.
The ideal product image offers several things. These include a true-to-life representation of the product and something that tells the user about scale. For instance, clothing retailers will often show their apparel on models, giving their audience perspective on the size of the actual items.
Low-quality grainy images are also a problem because they obscure product details - another thing that can lead to blowback.
