E-commerce conversion rates: the basics
We came across an interesting article from respected conversion rate optimisation company Future Now. They have put together a list of “reasons shoppers listed causing them to abandon shopping carts”.
If you have an e-comm cart and are wanting to convert more, this makes for an interesting list. But on reading this, ask yourself the question, “Have I even got the basics right first?” The list itself, whilst very valid, assumes that some of the basic issues present on many e-commerce website are already solved.
Their list includes things like:
- High shipping charges
- Desire to comparison shop
- Couldn’t find customer support
- Couldn’t find their preferred payment option
- Item unavailable at checkout
- Worries about security
- Leaving to find a coupon code on a search engine
In our experience offering clients conversion rate optimisation, many of them have already undertaken some search engine optimisation. However, the basic design of the site has never been examined in relation to what customers are coming to the site to find out about.
Does your site reinforce the message to the visitor that they are going to find what they came for on your site? Many understand the idea of conversion rate, but huge landing page bounce rates indicate fundamental conversion problems. If you’re new to Conversion Rate Optimisation, that’s the place to start.
So a user types a phrase in Google, finds your site (because you’re at the top of the search engines, right?), but can they find more information? Is it easy to see how to navigate to that product or to get the information required? Does the site keep answering the visitors’ questions and keep them on the scent towards getting what they want?
How many of us have to hunt around to find what we came for when we land on a website, to find we just can’t. So we give up and hit the back button. So many e-commerce sites still have huge issues around the home page design and how information flows from there.
You may have designed your website or you may have spent a lot of money on having someone else design your website and feel it’s ok. But think about it from a visitor’s perspective; the key search phrases surfers use to find your site, does your content directly relate to what they’re looking for? Is it easy to find exactly what they’re searching for or do they have to settle for the nearest thing?
If a user is searching for “nike trainers” then that is what they hope and expect to find. A generic sportswear homepage is a poor second best and is far less likely to convert than a page specialised on Nike trainers. This is where CRO and SEO are such complementary services; if the site has specific content then SEO efforts should be to get visitors there direct from the search engines.
For those of you not in the initial stages of considering conversion rate marketing, the list above is great. But for many, it’s a case of getting users past the home page.
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