The pandemic has changed consumers’ shopping habits, leading them to buy online.
According to business data platform Statista, in 2021 retail eCommerce sales reached approximately 4.9 trillion U.S. dollars worldwide, compared to 3.3 trillion U.S. dollars in 2019. And it’s forecast to grow to about 7.4 trillion dollars by 2025.
The statistics show that the industry will continue to develop at a frantic pace. That’s why you need to make sure you know how to get the most from your online store.
In this article, we will explain how to increase eCommerce sales in 2022. We’ve covered the following points to help you create an effective strategy:
- typical eCommerce conversion rates
- and best ways to increase eCommerce conversion rates
Let’s dive into some efficient tactics that will boost eCommerce conversion rates.
Average eCommerce Conversion Rates
To measure the conversion rate of your online business, you first need to know the average conversion rates.
According to Littledata’s research, as of April 2022, the average eCommerce conversion rate is 1.3%. The good conversion rate is believed to be above 3.1%.
However, do not rush to evaluate the performance of your business based on these numbers. There is also data on eCommerce conversion rates by industry, which we find more relevant.
A 2021 benchmark study from Statista shows that food & beverage has the highest average conversion rate of 5.5%, whereas luxury bags and home furniture don’t even hit 1%. Beauty, haircare, health, and apparel categories also show high eCommerce conversion rates.
How to Increase eCommerce Sales
Your website looks neat, user-friendly, and modern, but still doesn’t sell as much as you want? Don’t worry, we know ways to help online businesses increase eCommerce rates.
Optimize checkout process
Some website visitors, who find your ad somewhere on the internet, may be determined to buy your product at any cost, but there are also people who are doubting the purchase. And if you make their checkout process long and tiring, they may drop the cart anytime. That’s why you need to optimize the checkout process.
According to recent research by Baymard Institute, 24% of US online shoppers had abandoned a cart because the website asked them to create an account. 17% of pollees hadn’t finished the shopping process because of a too long or complicated checkout process.
How to apply it
- Let customers choose if they want to create an account or proceed as a guest
- Remove all distractions, unnecessary information and extra navigations that may overload the checkout page
- Provide as many payment options as possible
- Make the checkout process transparent from the beginning, show customers what steps they need to face to complete the purchase (add a progress bar as well!)
Want to know more tips on how to optimize the checkout process?
Read our article on 8 checkout optimization techniques: 8 Explicit Techniques That Improve Checkout on Magento
Follow up abandoned carts
eCommerce conversion rates suffer a lot from cart abandonment. Baymard Institute has calculated the average cart abandonment rate of 69.82%. A pretty big number, right? Good news, there are ways to «catch up» cart abandoners and bring them back to your website.
Retargeting is a powerful tactic for the eCommerce boost. Due to various studies, retargeted visitors are more likely to convert by 40-70%.
When potential customers leave your website without buying a thing, you remind them of your products through ads on social media or other websites. By connecting your online store to Facebook pixel and Google Analytics, you give these two platforms an ability to follow the path of your website visitors and propose a relevant deal in your ads.
Retargeting doesn’t end on Facebook and Google. Also consider implementing SMS and email retargeting campaigns to increase eCommerce sales.
How to apply it
- Identify and re-engage cart abandoners with retargeting Facebook Ads or/and Google Ads campaigns
- Build an email list for effective email retargeting campaigns
- Collect phone numbers to follow up cart abandoners via SMS
- Offer free shipping, gift, or discount in your retargeting campaign to stimulate sales
Create a sense of urgency and exclusivity
A sense of urgency and exclusivity is a good old, yet ever-green marketing tactic. Exclusive items, limited-time offers, and scarcity always attract customers and increase eCommerce sales. Let’s face statistics.
People love feeling special. According to Y Pulse research, 34% of asked 13-39-year-olds decided to buy a limited edition product because it made them feel unique.
People also have a fear of missing out. If they know that the desired item might no longer be available soon, they are unlikely to postpone the purchase.
How to apply it
- Use scarcity and urgency words, such as «Last chance», «Today only», «24-hour deal», etc.
- Add countdown timers to show how much time is left before the special deal expires
- Support limited edition products with free shipping
- Use pop-ups to inform customers about offers
Show the limited stock availability of the product.
Provide multiple discount options
According to Blippr survey, 29% of online shoppers will make a purchase they didn’t originally intend to if it has a heavy discount. No doubt, discounts increase eCommerce sales. But you have to use them carefully since the ill-conceived discount strategy can hurt your business. If you give discounts too often, customers may think your products have low quality. Or you сan create an image of a discount brand.
To make sure the discount strategy will benefit your business, you need to set your goal first. It can be getting rid of old products, attracting new customers, following up cart abandonment, increasing sales or remarketing.
Consider multiple discount options to reach your goals. For instance, with a bundle discount – when you lower the price of a group of items sold together – you increase a number of items per order, grow revenue and give customers an opportunity to try new products. A volume discount lets your customers pay less per item while you can clear inventory and, of course, increase eCommerce sales.
How to apply
- Set your goals first
- Offer free shipping. It works as good as a discount
- Combine different types of discounts to reach different goals
- Give discounts when customers expect them to have (holidays, Black Friday, etc.)
Allow shopping via social media platforms
There is no need to explain why a business needs to connect with its customers through socials. However, today social media platforms provide more than just communication and advertisement. In recent years, Meta has been working on making both Instagram and Facebook more eCommerce focused. With Instagram Shopping and Facebook Shops you can not only inform prospects about your products and lead traffic to your store, but sell straight inside the social media.
Social eCommerce makes customers’ path towards the purchase way faster and easier by letting them checkout directly through social media. It’s a game-changer for impulsive shopping. When your customers see an item they like on your Instagram post, they can simply click the tag of the product and buy it immediately within the app or on your website. There is no need to go find the company’s website in bio, then search for the desired item in a catalog, then checkout. Remember, easy and convenient checkout increases eCommerce conversion rates?
In addition to Instagram and Facebook, TikTok and Pinterest provide social eCommerce opportunities to businesses. TikTok alone is famous for driving sales by organically viral videos where mostly non-influencer users share their experiences and opinions on different types of products.
How to apply
- Create digital stores on as many social media platforms as possible
- Make engaging and eye-catching content to attract prospects
- Support your social eCommerce efforts with ads and influence marketing
- Encourage your audience to make user-generated content
- Provide great customer support within social media accounts
Add social proof
One of the most crucial ways on how to increase eCommerce sales is by showing buyers’ reviews. 93% of consumers say that online reviews influenced their purchase decisions. According to a Canvas8 and Trustpilot study, 9 out of 10 global consumers read online reviews before making an online purchase.
People DO read reviews. By showing customers’ feedback on your website, Google, or social accounts, you benefit your business. Even negative testimonials have a positive impact — they prove that good reviews of your products are not fake. Also, they help you to fix mistakes and come up with better solutions.
Prompt satisfied buyers to leave reviews. People rarely share their positive experiences with products or services they like. They tend to write only negative reviews. To correct the imbalance, offer a free gift or а small discount with the next order in exchange for reviews.
How to apply
- Ask your buyers to leave reviews in an order confirmation or follow-up email
- Let customers leave their reviews on your Facebook and Google pages
- Don’t hide negative reviews. Answer and analyze them. Fix the problem
- Offer a free gift, discount, or free shipping to active feedback givers
- Encourage customers to share their opinions on your products on social media
- Display star ratings for your products
Use live chat support
Sometimes customers need to clarify specific information before buying your product. And in the modern busy world, it’s important to give the answer to your customer as fast as possible. Of course, you can create an F.A.Q. page or Help Center, where they can possibly find the information they need. However, it takes plenty of time. Forcing customers to put extra effort before buying your product leads to a decrease in eCommerce conversion rates. That’s why implementing live chat support is so important for a business.
38% of consumers are more likely to buy from a company that offers live chat support and 51% will buy again from a company that has live chat support. Buyers stay loyal if the company provides excellent customer service. Moreover, support managers may help you sell more by offering a substitute product (in case the requested one is out of stock) or additional items to an order. For example, if the customer is planning to buy a shampoo for oily hair, the support manager may recommend a hair balm that enhances the effect of the shampoo.
How to apply
- Set up a live chat widget on your website
- Live chat must be easily found on your storefront
- Add chatbot for primary communication. Don’t try to replace real people with it
Offer multiple payment and delivery options
If prospects want to give you their money, let them. You can make the checkout process way easier and faster by giving as many payment options as possible. Some customers drop checkout when they don’t find a preferable payment method.
And this is definitely not what you want if you expect to improve eCommerce conversion rates.
There are plenty of shipping methods — both worldwide and nationwide. Try to give as many of them as possible as well. Some services provide fast delivery and high payment, some are cheap yet slow. Let your customer decide what they want to choose.
Free shipping is a great way to optimize conversion rates. A lot of businesses provide free shipping when customers order products for a certain amount of money. Visitors prefer to spend extra money on items rather than delivery.
How to apply
- Provide as many payment and delivery methods as possible.
- Offer free shipping for exclusive, expensive products and for a certain order amount.
- Make sure the payment method shows your customers the items they are purchasing and the order amount.
Segment and analyze traffic
Traffic analysis and segmentation are a MUST if you want to boost eCommerce conversion rates. If you don’t know your customers, their needs, and expectations, you won’t succeed much in your business. Traffic analysis helps understand your website visitors’ behavior and spot weak places in your online store. To understand your audience deeper and suggest a more personalized customer journey together with relevant marketing activities, you need to segment your website’s audience.
You can segment customers by the below key criteria.
| Type of a customer segmentation | How to segment |
|---|---|
| Demographic | Age, gender, language, education, income, marital status |
| Geographic | Country, state, region, city |
| Device | Mobile, desktop, tablet |
| Psychographics | Lifestyle, personality, values, interests |
| Behavioral | Buyer journey status, actions done online, purchase occasion, purchase frequency, loyalty |
| Traffic source | Search, direct, email, ad, social media |
How to apply
- Define your traffic analysis and segmentation goals.
- Segment your website’s audience into specific groups.
- Craft personalized customer experience and marketing campaigns.
- Analyze the results of segmentation efforts.
What else should be done to increase eCommerce conversion rates?
Even though we already discussed 9 highly effective tactics for improving eCommerce conversion rates, there are a lot more ways on how to increase eCommerce sales.
- Highlight return and guarantee policy. People hate losing money. Let your customers know about your return and guarantee policy so they won’t worry about a single penny even.
- Add high-quality visuals that make the product more attractive and trustworthy. When people buy online, they can’t touch, feel or try on the product. That’s why you need to provide high-quality photos and videos, so they at least experience it visually. Especially when it comes to clothing and footwear.
- Create persuasive design and content. A website’s appearance can influence the decisions of prospects. Taking into consideration psychological principles, persuasive eCommerce website design provides a comfortable customer experience that positively affects eCommerce conversion rates.
- Strengthen your CTAs. Make your CTA bold and clear by enhancing them with precise сopy, noticeable placement and size, bright colors, formats (pop-up, buttons), etc.
- Optimize your speed. Only a second delay in page loading decreases eCommerce conversion rates by 7%. You need to optimize the speed of your website if you don’t want to lose sales.
Still not enough tips on eCommerce conversion rates boosting? Then check out our video!
Increase eCommerce Conversion Rates: Sum Up
Whether your eCommerce website conversion rate is already higher than average by industry or not, you still need to work on improvements that will increase online sales.
If you are willing to boost eCommerce conversion rates, make sure to:
- Optimize checkout process
- Follow up abandoned carts
- Create a sense of urgency and exclusivity
- Provide multiple discount options
- Allow shopping via social media
- Add social proof
- Use live chat support
- Offer multiple payment and delivery options
- Segment and analyze traffic
