What factors affect conversion in an online store?
The question of how to increase the conversion of an online store is very difficult. To achieve success, it is worth developing a comprehensive strategy aimed at promoting products and improving the quality of service in general. Only this approach will contribute to business development. We recommend paying special attention to the following factors:
1) Product quality and competitive prices
Product quality is an important factor to consider as people are less likely to purchase a product from a brand with a bad reputation. Consumers consider such products to be cheaper and short-lived. This emphasizes the importance of quality in customer retention.
2) Internet reviews
In a virtual world, people cannot physically touch products and rely on accessible images to learn more. In this case, online reviews and testimonials help buyers decide whether they should trust the seller or not. For the same reason, about 40% say that they would not buy high-tech products without reading reviews. This indicates that the customer spends a lot of time studying the quality of the product, comparing prices and reading reviews.
3) Delivery time, cost and return policy
Customers expect online stores to deliver products purchased at minimum prices for free and quickly. They believe that returning an item that doesn’t fit should be easy. This is a typical idea of online sales.
A well-thought-out return policy encourages consumers to trust the product because it shows that you are a responsible seller and strive to make the customer happy.
4) Conversion elements on a commercial website
The user does not like to search for a long time how to place an order, so a call to action button is crucial to encourage customers to transact.
For example, on an e-commerce site, the conversion elements can be: add to “Cart”, place an order, buy now, add to the wish list, etc. They must attract the user’s attention. To achieve this goal, you can use a bright colour and the technology of pop-up windows. Let’s create a sense of urgency. For example, make a limited-time offer to get users to act immediately without delaying a decision.
5) Landing page quality
Such pages on an e-commerce site work like digital storefronts. They perform the tasks of attracting the attention of visitors, and of retaining and stimulating interaction with the brand.
To increase the conversion of an online store with high site traffic, the best result will be a study of the motivation of visitors. This will help identify:
- “drivers” (things, desires, motives) that lead people to the site;
- “barriers” through which they go;
- “hooks” that convince the visitor to act (and achieve the goal).
First, understand what brings people to the site (drivers). To do this in Google Analytics, go to Behavior > Site Content > Landing Pages and examine the Conversions column. Find the pages with the most sessions and study them specifically. They can become points of growth.
Next, try to figure out what stops people from converting. To do this, go to “Conversions” > “Goals” > “Goal Map” in Google Analytics. Break down the resulting data by individual goals using the “Goal Options” drop-down list. This will show the paths visitors take and the number of bounces at each stage.
On the resulting graph, you can mark the pages with the highest bounce rates. Analyzing this data will allow you to determine the reasons why people leave your site without reaching their goals.
Try to find what convinced users to make a purchase. If you want to hear it directly from them, you can target people who have already converted and send them a simple email survey.
Conclusions
So, you have seen that store conversion is one of the most important indicators of business development. Using web analytics data, you can calculate average conversion rates for the site, individual pages, and channels. All this will help clarify the promotion strategy and show in which direction you should act to get high results. If it is difficult to deal with all these questions on your own, contact professionals who will take care of the success of your online business.
