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Six ecommerce conversion rate optimisation tips

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Last editedMar 20232 min read

A good ecommerce conversion rate optimisation strategy involves numerous incremental improvements throughout an entire website. In this guide on how to improve ecommerce conversion rate, we explain what it is and how to calculate it, as well as provide six of the best ways to improve your ecommerce conversion rate.

What is ecommerce conversion rate optimisation?

A conversion rate represents the percentage of visitors to a website that follow through with certain actions such as purchasing a product. What exactly constitutes a conversion depends on the key performance indicators (KPIs) that a company considers valuable.

Conversions can consist of a variety of customer actions, with the most common being:

online sales
products added to a wishlist
email signups
shares on social media

How to calculate conversion rate ecommerce

You can discover your ecommerce conversion rate with some simple division. First decide which conversion you are calculating, then divide the total number of visitors to your website by the number of those conversions. Multiply the result by 100 to get a percentage, which gives you the conversion rate.

For example, if you had 1,000 visitors to your website in one month, and you made 10 sales in that same time period, then your conversion rate for sales is 1%. If the following month you have the same number of total visitors but sales increase to 50, then your conversion rate is now 5%.

What is a good conversion rate in ecommerce?

What constitutes a good conversion can differ between different companies and industries. One company may have a strategy to present themselves as a useful resource to drive as much traffic to their website as possible, through posting regular blogs and news content that don’t aggressively try to convert visitors into customers. This company’s conversion rate will likely be lower than a company that has a narrower focus on targeting users who have demonstrated an interest in the products or services on offer.

In general, consider a good enough conversion rate to be around 2–3%. Ideally you would want to be hitting above that score, and there are numerous ecommerce conversion rate optimisation tips to help you achieve this.

How to improve ecommerce conversion rate

Here are six proven ways to improve your ecommerce conversion rate.

1. Optimise website for both desktop and mobile

Your website must be easy to navigate so users can find what they are looking for within a few clicks, regardless of what device they are using.

2. Streamline the checkout process

The checkout process must also be streamlined to minimise the potential for abandoned carts. This includes clear shipping information and a link to your returns policy.

3. Prominent product reviews

Reviews are critical to inspiring confidence in users who are considering making a purchase, so make sure they are prominent in the buyer’s journey.

4. Time-limited promotional codes

Time-limited promotions such as discount codes that must be redeemed before a certain deadline create a sense of urgency in potential customers.

5. Trust signals and security

Make sure you have plenty of trust signals letting your customers know your website is safe and secure. SSL certificates, official images of payment options and security badges go a long way to inspiring trust.

6. Enable guest checkouts

It’s good to encourage users to create an account, but it is better for ecommerce conversion rate optimisation to also allow guest checkouts too.

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