How to Boost Your Ecommerce Conversion Rate in the First 10 Ways

Do you know the total number of web pages on the internet? Most probably, not! Well, according to WorldWideWebSize.com, it fluctuates between 47–48 billion.

What’s even more intriguing is that there are 12-24 million eCommerce websites on the internet, but only 650,000 of them (3%) can make $1,000 or more in annual sales, according to InternetRetailer.com.

This might mislead you into believing there’s something wrong with the way eCommerce industry is progressing, but the fact of the matter is that it is doing really well. According to Statista B2C, eCommerce sales will do quite well in 2016, amounting to $1.92 trillion in annual sales. 2017 will also witness the same upward trend, expected to yield $2.356 trillion by the end of 2018.

So, is it that only the top 3% of eCommerce industry players contribute to this rapid growth trend? Yes, it is, irrespective of how unbelievable it sounds. But then why is it that only the top 3% of eCommerce stores can achieve this remarkable feat, which even the rest collectively can’t?

The same question kept bugging me for a long time until I got hold of another important piece of information on Adobe 2013 Digital Marketing Optimization Survey Results, according to which:

• 53% of online retailers do not allocate more than 5% of their total marketing budget to the conversion optimization process
• For 35% of online businesses, the conversion rate remains below 1%

It is reasons like these that have compelled me to compile these top 10 ways how to boost your eCommerce conversion rate like never before.

1. Speed up!

Yes, it’s as simple as that because people don’t feel like waiting ages for a page to download; they move to other better and faster alternatives. According to the results of a study published on Akamai:

• 47% of online shoppers want a webpage that takes no more than 2 seconds to load
• 40% of them will move away from a page that’s taking more than 3 seconds to load

And this is how promptly loading web pages are rewarded, according to radware.

2. Incorporate structured data and rich snippets

Google loves to inform its searchers, and that’s what structured data and rich snippets are all about. They deliver the essential information about a website right in the SERPs when a curious visitor is surfing through them. Moz is more than happy to tell you more about rich snippets, how they are helpful for your site and how to incorporate them into your site.

3. Facilitate your customers with the ‘Live Chat feature

It might have never occurred to you, but something as meager as the "Live Chat" feature can positively influence 90% of your customers. Kissmetrics Blog gives these stats on live chat:

• 90% of eCommerce website customers feel satisfied when they get live chat service
• 63% agreed to return back to a site where they had the option of live chat.

4. Showcase influential security seals

If you want to improve conversions on your eCommerce site by up to 11%, one simple thing can do the trick, i.e., showcase influential security seals or trust seals. And if you are wondering which seals might work best for that, a study published on inflow declares Norton Security Seal to be the winner by increasing conversions up to 11%, whereas monetizepros share a heat-map of which seals get the most response from site visitors.

5. Use the power of videos

Because adding videos on your landing pages can improve the chances of your visitors turning into your customers by up to 80%, according to results of a study shared by eyeviewdigital.com.

6. Add reviews

In the real world and in the virtual world, the level of trust people develop for a brand over time determines how low or high sales it makes. In a virtual world, people cannot see, touch and feel what they are presented, so user reviews help them develop trust and confidence in your site.

Read more: 4 CRO Hacks to Increase Ecommerce Website Conversion Rate.

According to Reevo, product reviews result in an 18% sales uplift, courtesy of econsultancy.com. Its breakup is given right below:

7. Say out loud – Use bigger and bolder call-to-action statements

This can help you improve your conversion rate by 10%-25%, according to this infographic on truconversion.com.

8. Use the word ‘Free’ in your call-to-action statements

You can enjoy boosted conversion by up to 28% using the word ‘free’ in your CTAs, and if it still doesn’t make sense, imagine you are the shopper here!

9. Leverage the power of up-selling and cross-selling

If you want to comprehend the power of up-selling and cross-selling, consider the example of Amazon, who reported amassing 35% of their total annual revenue in 2006 by up-selling and cross-selling to their customers, courtesy vwo.com.

10. Simplify checkout

Last but not least, check out is considered one of the most critical moments in online shopping; it can either make or break the deal. Unfortunately, statistics suggest that it is mostly the ‘deal breaker’ for most online retailers. According to stats shared by Baymard Institute, 68.63% of shopping carts are abandoned on average, and one of the top reasons for shopping cart abandonment is none other than the confusing checkout process, which accounts for up to 12% of the cart abandonment issue.

The good news, however, is that if owners of the abandoned carts are retargeted with a discount offer, as high as 54% of them are most likely to make the purchase, courtesy VWO eCommerce Survey 2014 Report.

Perhaps that’s what compels internet marketing guru Neil Patel offers an ingenious solution to retarget abandoned cart owners in this conversion rate optimization roundup.

It’s your turn now

So, that’s it; end of my list of tips on how to boost your e-commerce conversion rate, but surely, there are plenty more ways of conversion rate optimization. I am handing it over to you now; share your experiences with us in the comment section below. What has helped you the most in boosting your conversions, and what hasn’t worked well for you?

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