From 2017 to 2018, the average conversion rate for e-commerce stores hovered between 2.5 and 3 percent. For an entrepreneur who has invested time and money into building an e-commerce site, those low figures can be devastating; they suggest that it will take a long time (and a lot of website traffic) to make that business profitable. Find out why the current conversion rate for e-commerce is so low and what steps you can take to stand out and enjoy higher-than-average conversion rates for e-commerce.

What’s Causing the Problem?

Reasons for low conversion rates with e-commerce can be sorted into two main categories: Either shoppers don’t understand what you are offering, or they don’t like what they see.

The second problem is a product, pricing or presentation issue. The first problem, customer confusion, is difficult to troubleshoot. Rather than test every variable to find out whether it’s search, navigation or a confusing checkout process that’s tanking your conversion rate, partnering with an e-commerce website development company can be helpful. You may have forgotten to implement best practices for your online store – that’s where professionals can come in and make a difference.

Additionally, across device types, conversion rates are lowest on mobile devices, with tablets delivering a moderate conversion rate and desktop computers delivering the best conversion rate for e-commerce, at roughly 4 percent. This data indicates that few online stores are optimized for mobile.

Improve Your Website

Investing in your e-commerce website is the surest path to success.

Many online retailers focus on quantity of products offered over quality — either of their products or their website.

Photo by Igor Miske on Unsplash

If product descriptions and images are unclear, shoppers won’t be compelled to buy. Here’s what you can do:

⚓ Swap out small or blurry product images for large, crisp images that show the product clearly and feature a lot of white space, to make the items pop.

⚓ Show off products from several angles.

⚓ Include videos.

⚓ Consider implementing product zoom to help shoppers feel as if they really understand your products.

Write keyword-rich, clear product descriptions. After reading a description, a consumer should know exactly what you’re offering and what makes the product unique. By describing the item’s size, shape, color and notable features, you can create that urge to buy.

By improving your images and product descriptions, you will boost your odds of a conversion. To really gain traction, invest in a better website — one that’s intuitive, responsive and elegant. Use an e-commerce platform that displays well across device types, looks modern, and complements your high-quality product descriptions, images and videos.

Segment Your Audience

After improving your website, segmenting your audience is the best way to increase your conversion rate. A staggering number – some 73 percent – of e-commerce store owners don’t use customer segmentation techniques.

Audience segmentation groups your web traffic and email lists by certain characteristics. This might be general demographic data, such as age, gender or location, or specific data, such as shopper purchase and browsing history. As you segment these groups, you can deliver targeted marketing messages and ads that increase the likelihood of conversion.

Improvements in artificial intelligence, or AI, make it cost-effective to segment your audience using analytics tools.

Data gained in segmentation will bump up your conversion rate, because it allows you to use email marketing to intelligently target your customers and:

⚓Upsell previous customers with special deals, based on their purchase history.

⚓Cherry-pick new inventory that appeals to the demographics of your e-commerce customers.

⚓Learn what works and what doesn’t work, to make smarter purchasing decisions.

⚓Experiment with average selling prices to see what works for your audience.

Ease your way into audience segmentation by tracking one variable at a time. After you’ve tracked sales by gender, for instance, you can look at customer location data. The more you learn about your shoppers, the more effectively you can target them to boost conversions.

Use The Right Technology

When you make the above adjustments, you are in better shape to see an uptick in customer conversions. Keep the new customers you’ve captured and build the brand loyalty that will help you thrive in e-commerce with a few tech tools.

Chatbots are a low-hanging fruit for tech tools. They allow customers to get answers they need in real time and take the pressure off your customer service team. A chatbot may be able to save the deal by providing need-to-know information in real time.

Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

Augmented reality can bridge the gap between in-person and online shopping by allowing shoppers to picture the item in their home. IKEA has introduced AR in its app so shoppers can picture a new sofa in their living room and buy with confidence. The AR industry is projected to be worth $120 billion by 2020. Get in on the ground floor with AR technology that helps customers connect to your products.

If your checkout process is too long, customers won’t complete it. Magento and Shopify recently added one-click checkout to their e-commerce platforms, as have third-party payment providers. Simplify your checkout process (and reduce shopping cart abandonment) by being transparent about shipping on the item page and adding one-click checkout to the shopping cart.

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