![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.egwebdesign.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/cart-abandonment-rates.png\")
<\/p>\nGetting more people to buy from your e-commerce store is tough. With these tips you should be able to get up to a 35% increase in conversions from a visitor to a purchaser on your e-commerce website.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve set up your store. It looks great, the branding is good, your copy is fantastic and the traffic is starting to build. You just need more people to make a purchase. Each person who comes to your site is a potential customer. So we need systems in place to nurture them and make the path to purchasing as easy as possible.<\/p>\n
Install Google Analytics before you do anything. Without know where people drop out of your \u2018sales funnel\u2019 on the way to the checkout we don\u2019t know where to improve.<\/p>\n
83% of user expect your site to load in less than 3 seconds. A 1 second increase in load speed can result in 7% more conversions.<\/p>\n
If you are using Shopify, make sure you have a good theme that loads quickly. The same goes for WooCommerce websites. However for WooCommerce you will need good web hosting too.<\/p>\n
An SSL cert ensures your website\u2019s traffic is encrypted and that secures any personal details being transmitted from your visitors browser to your website. People are becoming aware of the need for online privacy and an unsecured site will turn users away.<\/p>\n
If visitors find it hard to find the product they want, click the buy button and then go through the checkout, you have an obvious problem. Clear menus, large buttons and an easy to use checkout increase sales.<\/p>\n
Having positive reviews on your site increases visitors trust in your site and products. Don\u2019t worry if you get the odd bad review. Make sure you rectify the problem. In fact people\u2019s trust starts to go down when a product has a perfect 5 star review. As a bonus, reviews come up in Google Search results.<\/p>\n
You may have seen Up-sells and cross-sells on other e-commerce sites. Up-sells usually appear on individual product pages. They are similar products but might be better, more expensive or just variations of the product being viewed. This encourages website visitors to maybe purchase a more expensive product.<\/p>\n
Cross-sells are usually found in the checkout process and are often something to compliment the purchase. For example an accessory that goes with the main product. Like a bag for your laptop or lipstick to go with an eyeliner.<\/p>\n
Getting website visitors to the checkout is half the story. Once there the amount of people who leave the checkout without buying is high. The industry average is 70%. So out of the people who put items in their shopping cart 7 out of 10 will leave without paying.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Fortunately there are a few things we can do about this too. If we look at the reasons why people leave we can get a better idea of how to improve conversions.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.egwebdesign.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/cart-abandonment-reasons-1024x656.png\")
<\/p>\n
First we will go over the \u2018on site\u2019 things you can do to get more sales.<\/p>\n
A complicated checkout process will result in people leaving your site. Try to make the checkout as easy to use as possible. This includes cutting down the number of steps to payment and having less forms to fill out. A lot of this will be down to the theme that you use on your e-commerce store.<\/p>\n
Have a few options for payment. Some people don\u2019t like using their credit card and would rather use a bank transfer. Some payment options that take visitors off site, like PayPal, are dis-trusted by some people. And if you store is international having the option to use a local payment gateway is a good idea.<\/p>\n
This is a proven conversion killer. If people are in a hurry they don\u2019t want to enter a username and password. They just want to pay.<\/p>\n
This can be tough to do and it\u2019s not for every type of product or store. But Amazon does it. At the very least consider having a local area where shipping is free.<\/p>\n
People want to know where their order is at. Having notification emails sent out at every step of the order and shipping process builds trust. Shopify can even send SMS text messages to the customers phone.<\/p>\n
Another great idea is sending the package tracking number or link to the customer so they can see when to expect delivery.<\/p>\n
Now let\u2019s take a look at the \u2018off site\u2019 things we can do to entice people back to your site to complete their purchase.<\/p>\n
If you have every looked at an e-commerce store online, decided not to buy, but then been followed around the internet by adverts from the same store you have been retargeted.<\/p>\n
By using tracking script on your website we can see who visited your site and didn\u2019t make a purchase and send highly targeted ads to them. It\u2019s slightly creepy, but effective.<\/p>\n
A more advanced version of this is cart abandonment recovery. Cart abandonment recovery systems get peoples email addresses from half completed checkout forms and then email them reminding them they have left their cart behind without paying. The more advanced systems can send the site visitor a link to their actual cart, complete with the product in inside. This used with a gentle email reminder or even a small discount can get them back to complete the purchase.<\/p>\n
Even more advanced systems can use Facebook Messenger to contact the site visitor. If they are a Facebook user they can be sent a message with a link to their cart. Facebook Messenger can also be used to send information about promotions and special deals too.<\/p>\n
Baymard, an ecommerce research company, discovered that using a combination of better checkout design, payment and retargeting increased conversions by up to 35.25%<\/p>\n