They define the scope of your store One of the biggest issues I see when looking at stores (especially newer ones) is the lack of categories in the header. This is the main way for users to grasp the scope of your store. They scan your main categories and get an idea of what you’re […]

For large catalogs If you offer a large variety of products, search is indispensable to delivering a good user experience. The statistics are quite convincing as well: 43% of users immediately use the search box for navigation after landing on the homepage. The number is even higher for mobile users – 60% (according to Baymard […]

Shoppers need help A study by Econsultancy from 2013 of 5,700+ online consumers revealed that 83% of online shoppers need support to complete a purchase.  They also found that 31% of shoppers expect an immediate response, and 40% expect a response within 5 min. To be more precise: 31% of shoppers expect an immediate response […]

The following product attributes are a must Image Title Price Star ratings + # ratings Product variations, if any (typically in the form of color swatches)   Title The product title should be a no-brainer. It should be clear, descriptive, and unique. You should also try to keep it as short as possible without compromising […]

98% of visitors to e-commerce sites don’t buy anything. They come, look around, and leave. Brick and mortar stores solved this problem a long time ago. Many of them get 15% to 30% of their walk-in customers to buy something before leaving. Department stores can convert as many as 60% of their visitors into buyers. […]

Product images are the most important component Having beautiful relevant quality images is more important than the product information, a long description and ratings & reviews.   According to MDG, here’s the breakdown of what customers said is important to them: Quality of a product image – 67% Product-specific information – 63% Long description – […]

Video is one of the most beloved communication mediums of the modern era. For starters, it’s easier to digest than text.  Secondly, videos are quite easy to share. The same thing can’t be said of text pages. Video is also quite captivating, but most importantly, it works.   Video works Video appears in 70% of the […]

Aim to get 10+ reviews per product, which is enough for shoppers to make an informed decision. If a big percentage of your products have zero or only a few reviews, that can hurt your conversions.   How? Place the Write a Review button prominently in the Reviews section  Offer sweepstakes or discounts in exchange […]

A reason to bounce “Email Me” buttons or waitlists are ineffective for out-of-stock products, because users will just go shop somewhere else.   Let them buy anyway Allow instead users to purchase temporarily out-of-stock products, warn them, and increase the delivery time. Also prominently display product alternatives.   Discontinued products For discontinued or deprecated products, […]

An example from Raphael Here’s a good example of how to offer upsells/cross-sells when adding to cart. This was extracted from a video shared by CRO expert Raphael Paulin-Daigle on his LinkedIn.   See the other two ways he talks about by watching his video on LinkedIn:   Relevance, relevance, relevance In the example below […]

28% of sites use horizontal tabs on the product page. While professionals like web developers have little issue with them, ordinary Joes are experiencing some trouble with them.   Users don’t see them According to Baymard, 27% of users overlook the hidden content in the inactive horizontal tabs. In fact, horizontal tabs happen to be […]

Typical payment methods Credit card PayPal Google Pay Apple Pay   PayPal In regards to PayPal, roughly half the stores I looked at (see the table below in the examples) offer an express PayPal checkout with a CTA button at the same place as the normal ‘Checkout’ button (in the cart). And the other half […]

About 5% of packages are undelivered. While shoppers like to blame vendors, improperly typed addresses are the leading cause of these delivery failures. There are ways of reducing errors during the entry of addresses to reduce cases of undelivered packages. Automatic zip code lookup is one way but it only gets you so far.   […]

Customers are jittery about small brands According to Baymard, 18% of shoppers (from 1044 respondents in the US) abandon their cart because they do not trust the site with their credit card information. I would assume that as a site owner who is serious about your business you’d take your security seriously. If you use […]

Performance and conversion are inextricably connected   Slow pages cause abandonments According to Unbounce, 1 out of 5 shoppers will abandon their loaded shopping cart if they perceive the pages as being too slow. (source) According to AnnexCloud, a slow website can increase abandonment by 75%, and loyalty drops 50% when your site is slow. […]

Extra costs cause abandonments Extra costs too high (shipping, tax, fees) is the #1 reason for cart abandonment, according to Baymard (source).   Free shipping Free shipping is the best kind of shipping. You get bonus points if it’s also fast. It eliminates a major pain point for ecommerce customers and helps you conquer a […]

High up NN/g recommends prioritizing them over more generic recommendations. Put that ‘Recommended For You’ section high up on the homepage. (source)   Tell them how Specify how you came up with those personalized recommendations. They can be based on their previous orders and interests. At a minimum, mention that these recommendations are ‘Based on […]