If you ran a physical store, for example, you’d make sure it was appealing to the eye and simple for customers to locate what they were looking for. The same idea goes for your ecommerce site.
Shopify, BigCommerce, Squarespace, and Wix are just a few of the leading ecommerce platforms that make it simple to create a lovely website with minimal design or web programming knowledge. However, an attractive website is only half the battle.
Shoppers are seeking for a product that fits their specific requirements, so it’s critical to design an online store with a website that highlights your items in the best light. This way, visitors can quickly assess the value you provide and feel more confident about buying on your site.
It’s not too late to make some final tweaks to your online store to boost conversions even after BFCM approaches. We held a live website teardown webinar with the aid of Jon MacDonald, founder and CEO of The Good, an agency that specializes in ecommerce conversion rate optimization (CRO).
During BFCM and beyond, DTC companies from a variety of sectors received tangible action items they may quickly implement to their website to boost conversions and increase sales.
Watch the video below to witness the website teardowns in action, or continue reading for a list of recommendations provided by Jon. This advice is based on thousands of CRO tests and revenue data collected from customers who take action. Learn what experts have to say about ecommerce and their tips to make it better.
Close pop-ups and redirect newsletter signups toward the bottom of your website.
Imagine being greeted at a shop by someone offering you a clipboard and requesting your email address. Is it perhaps off-putting?
It’s all too common to encounter a pop-up on an ecommerce site asking you to provide your email address in order to receive a discount. Although they are used to create an email list, the emails gathered are generally of poor quality. Shoppers will frequently click out or input their email address merely to have the popup disappear.
There are a few problems with giving a percentage or dollar amount discount right away:
- It tells consumers that your items are not worth the full price because of the discount you’re offering right away.
- The discount is frequently only exhibited once in the popup. As a result, if someone first clicks away to learn more about your goods before making a purchase, they will be hesitant to continue and buy from you if they are unable to find the discount again.
- Customers like knowing that they are receiving the best deal, so if you offer a discount right away but lose it, they will most likely look for a different place to get the greatest price for a comparable product.
Instead, here’s what Jon recommends you do:
- Remove the discount incentive since it is distracting and makes the sign-up box seem to float away from your home page’s footer.
- Make sure your email signup offers clear expectations. Make it clear how signing up for your newsletter benefits them and how often you’ll be in touch with them.
- Make sure to include a privacy statement that reads, “We will not sell customer information to a third party.”
Popups should not be used to acquire email subscribers. Instead, include incentives throughout your website that need an email address to access:
- First to know about new items
- Offers: Free gift with purchase
- Offers: Free shipping
- Offers: VIP access to items
Instead of offering incentives at reduced prices, offer ‘Free Delivery’ or ‘Free Gift with Purchase’ specials.
Adding a sitewide bar at the top of the website and above the navigation is a fantastic approach to promote a deal. However, ‘Free Shipping’ is the only message that has been shown to move the needle. Jon and his team conducted numerous studies on promo bars, and ‘Free Shipping’ was found to boost purchase volume. This sort of
If you still have any COVID-19 messages in your top bar, get rid of them. Consumers are weary of hearing about it, and now that we’ve gotten over the initial shock of the epidemic, they’re expecting you to keep shipping.
The above is a great example of how the brand FOCL CBD uses its top bar effectively to promote “Free Shipping.”
Another excellent incentive, according to several experts, is ‘Free Gift with Purchase,’ which is utilized by health, beauty, and wellness companies but Jon made note that there’s a lot of potential for other ecommerce sectors to test ‘a free gift.’ Offering a free gift might be a new product you want to try out by letting your customer
For example, with your next purchase, Deodorant brand Native gives you a free little deodorant (see below).
Rethink your ‘above the fold’ strategy when it comes to ecommerce
What used to matter most was the material “above the fold” (or what a visitor sees when they land on your site without scrolling), but that is no longer the case. People are accustomed to scrolling thanks to social media feeds.
Don’t be afraid to spread out your messaging and show off different product categories and the value they provide on the homepage, since you don’t need to pack it all above the fold.
The most important thing you must have above the fold is your value proposition, which explains what you sell and why. Shoppers want to understand what you provide and how it will meet their requirements. More information about your product(s) and social proof can be found below the fold instead of on top.
During the live website teardown session, ecommerce brand Papaya Reusables received the following feedback from Jon: “Make sure it’s absolutely clear what you’re selling right off the bat,” so they revisited their hero image selection and added callouts to their items over product photos (see below for before and after images).
Instead of a static hero image, many companies use a slider, also known as a “carousel,” instead. This is yet another attempt to cram too many messages above the fold at once. According to data, only 0.1% (as in 10%) of website visitors will click on a slider call to action.
If a user hasn’t finished reading something and then it’s vanished, it can be confusing. Additionally, when images are rotated, it might divert the customer’s attention away from what is most important. Remove the carousel and stick to a straightforward message that clearly expresses your value proposition instead.
With ecommerce it’s important to show off your goods, use the top navigation.
It’s not advisable to have more than five navigation links on your website, so keep an eye on how you’re arranging things.
One of the most common blunders Jon sees businesses make is to hide their goods behind “Shop” in the main navigation. The single most important thing a consumer wants to learn about is your product line, so try shifting what’s in your top bar by showcasing your product portfolio instead.
‘Shop,’ ‘Marketing,’ and ‘Supply Chain Management’ all make up the same three-word brand acronym for a large number of businesses. For example, if your company sells clothes that can be found in stores or online and are also available to buy. You don’t need both links. While you
On the subject of search engine optimization, in order to increase your rankings and stay away from Google penalties, make sure you’re using keywords that are relevant to your business. Remove ‘Blog’ from the top menu. A blog is fantastic for generating top-of-funnel website traffic and increasing brand recognition, but once someone lands on your site
Here are some more short-term solutions to make your website simpler for consumers to use and increase the chance that they’ll buy from you:
- Don’t have a top-level “New Arrivals” navigation, but rather, one for each goods category (e.g., Jeans > New Arrivals).
- Move your ‘About Us’ navigation to the footer of your email.
- If you want people to find your site, avoid using the term “Home” in your top navigation. People are familiar with going back to their home screen.
Reviews from buyers and publications can be used to boost social proof.
It’s true that social proof is critical on the web, but it doesn’t have to be right up front. Make sure all client reviews include photos of the goods being reviewed and direct visitors to the product page so they can discover where to purchase it.
Instead of having extensive reviews, focus on key remarks made by consumers that emphasize the worth of your items. FOCL’s example below is fantastic in displaying their evaluations.
For example, a heatmap would show that visitors would try to click on logos for more information. Consumers want to know what these publications have said about your items, so add callout quotations or links to the articles to increase social proof. Otherwise, they may believe that “as seen in” implies simply that you advertised in the publication.
Don’t send visitors to social media sites (or off your website) to get recommendations.
Social media networks are an excellent approach to build a community and attract new customers to your website. But sending visitors back to social media after they’ve come to your store will simply send them down a black hole, and most likely they won’t return to make a purchase.
If you’re going to embed Instagram social media posts (which are great for displaying social proof around items), make sure to include a shopping feature that directs customers to a page on your site where they may easily purchase products. Brathwaite, a high-end watch brand, does this effectively (see below).
Remove the text and replace it with bullet points (icons are also popular!)
Although articles are considered beneficial for SEO, this does not imply that you should overload your homepage with long-form material. Instead, shift lengthy content to your blog and take away paragraphs of text (and fluff) from your home page.
Your homepage should clearly display your product lines, the value of your items, and why you’re in business. You may accomplish this using clear bullet points as well as eye-catching icons that emphasize the value, features, or differences that your products provide.
Which platform should you optimize for first? The answer is to start with what generates the most income.
This is a typical website optimization question, but the solution is simple: Optimize for where your company generates the most money. While mobile users are more likely to conduct research (e.g., finding you on social media), when consumers are ready to make a purchase, desktop wins hands down. It’s still crucial to make your website mobile-friendly
However, with mobile commerce growing at a rapid pace, consumers do make online purchases on their phones. However, the higher the price point, the more likely customers are to buy on desktop.
Look at Google Analytics or any other analytics program to see where the majority of conversions are coming from, and start there.
With Ecommerce it is important to reorganize your footer content.
According to Nathan, the two most important elements in your footer are your items and contact information.
- On the left column, list out your product types or categories vertically.
- On the right, make a note of an email address, physical address (even if it’s a PO box), and phone number.
Even if they’re in a different country, displaying your contact information will increase trust among new customers.
Keep in mind that you should separate your social media information from your contact information.
Use low-intent CTAs to boost interaction.
The second major CRO blunder that businesses make is launching a high-intent CTA prematurely in the buyer’s journey. If you deliver a “Buy Now” call to a customer before they understand exactly what the product is, they will not react. Instead, utilize a low-intent CTATrickle them with information such as ‘View
A good rule of thumb is to avoid CTAs that change colors as users scroll over them, since this functionality does not function on mobile. This was an easy fix for Papaya Reusables, which was able to make it right away (see below for before and after photos).
At checkout, be on the lookout for any unpleasant surprises.
Add information on your website that helps customers avoid any unpleasant surprises at the checkout. Another benefit of including “Free Shipping” in your top navigation bar is that it eliminates surprise shipping expenses at checkout.
Frequently, an online store will have a FAQs page, which is typically full of useful information, but as Jon puts it, these sites are “where excellent material goes to die.” Instead, respond to commonly asked questions on your site where it makes the most sense. Add a blurb about your ecommerce returns and exchange policy to a product page so that customers are more comfortable buying.
Conclusion from ecommerce experts
Taking the time to make minor modifications to improve your website’s performance may dramatically cut cart abandonment and commerce. There are a number of optimization solutions and techniques available to assist you optimize your website based on user behavior. Alternatively, you can work with The Good’s expert experts by requesting a free landing page teardown.
Your website’s goal isn’t to be beautiful; it’s to interact with customers, build trust with them, and encourage them to make a purchase. Before BCFM, you could easily make these minor website adjustments to boost sales.
It’s never too late to start working with Launch Fulfillment if you need assistance fulfilling a large number of holiday orders. Click the button below to discover more about how Launch Fulfillment can help you and request custom pricing if necessary.