Selling to 2% of the people who visit your site instead of 1% might seem negligible, but in the world of conversion rates that means a doubling of your number of sales. And when you consider that making that jump to 2% might mean making one small tweak to your store, you will realise how worthwhile improving your conversion rate could be.

 

Conversion is something that every ecommerce store owner must take notice of and work on over time. Below are a number of suggestions on how you can improve your e-commerce store's conversion rate.

 

 

Nobody wants to be ripped off. Anyone visiting your store for the first time, in order to make a purchase, must be satisfied that you aren't going to run off with their money. They want to know that you are a real company with ordinary and friendly people behind it.

 

Anything you can do to overcome that nagging doubt will improve your conversion rate. And if you make them feel comfortable enough to purchase from you once, then you will also have more repeat customers.

 

This could mean using an SSL certificate to improve store security when processing transactions, subscribing to VeriSign or a similar service, having an About Us page, having an 0800 contact number, and having a professional-looking website generally.

 

 

Making it easy to navigate your store is deceptively difficult. This is because your site must cater to several different types of visitor: there are those looking for a particular product; there are those that wish to browse through a particular category of product; and there are those who simply wish to browse randomly.

 

Amazon typifies great e-commerce navigation. Realizing the your store must help visitors with different objectives is key to creating more sales. 

 

 

People don't want to buy something they will later regret. When reading copy, the customer may fear that the product is being exaggerated in order to create more sales. You want your description to be authoritative, and your customers to trust rather than doubt. 

 

Customers want to make an informed decision, based on what they want. By telling the customer the features and the benefits of a product in a compelling yet understated way, they will be much more likely to buy.

 

People are more likely to be able to make a decision in your favour if they are offered all of the necessary information. Give your customers everything that they need in order to make that purchase.

 

 

As well as good copy, people need to be able to see what they're buying. The better the quality of your images, the more trustworthy and professional your site will appear and the more likely people are going to be enticed into buying the product. 

 

Beware of any attempts at home photography, unless you've got a professional set up. Take a look at some of the leading ecommerce sites out there. You want to mimic their quality as much as possible.

 

 

After customers have made the decision to buy, it is critical that you put them on a greased slide towards purchasing, not giving any doubts the opportunity to surface. This means that pages should load fast, customers should only have to type in their details once, and the process should be easy. 

 

A small stumbling block between the time the customer decides to buy and when they actually make their purchase can lower the conversion rate of your e-commerce store considerably. But on the bright side, identifying and removing such a stumbling block will instantaneously increase your income.

 

 

There are many things you can do to improve your conversion rate. For many, the amount of things that could be done is daunting. When you already have the day-to-day running of the store to contend with, such things get put on a to-do list and then never get done.

 

Implementing changes like those I've mentioned above can significantly increase your revenue. Even if you already have a busy schedule, it is worth finding time to make these changes. Your bank balance will thank you for it.