Offer multiple payment methods
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 […]
Avoid horizontal tabs in Product pages
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 […]
Offer upsells and/or cross-sells when adding a product to cart
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 […]
Allow users to purchase temporarily out-of-stock products
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, […]
Aim for 10+ customer reviews per product
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 […]
Add unboxing, explainer or promo videos
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 […]
Have multiple high quality product images for each product
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 – […]
Feature products, bundles or deals at the top
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. […]
Display these product attributes
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 […]
Add a Live Chat to quickly answer your visitors’ questions
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 […]
Add social proof and build trust
Unless your store is a big established brand that most people already know about, building social proof and trust is a must. 80% of people are already concerned about their online privacy so first time customers are not just going to hand over their credit card information and residential address without some proof that you’re […]
Feature your top categories right below the fold
A sign post to direct your users You have introduced your store and praised it to high heaven. Your shoppers know who you are, what you do, the benefits of buying from you, and are just beginning to trust you. What next? Many visitors on the homepage don’t know what they want to buy. Those […]
Avoid automatic carousels in your homepage’s hero section
On the homepage above the fold, avoid carousels altogether. A quickly rotating image distracts attention away from the CTA button. What I usually recommend is to either have a static background image or a slowly moving background video, especially if it is well-integrated with the text & CTA(s) above. I wrote an article on my […]
Place a search box prominently in your header
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 […]
List your main product categories in your menu’s level 1
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 […]
Offer personalized recommendations
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 […]
Offer free shipping or free shipping above a threshold
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 […]
Optimize your website’s loading speed
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. […]
Increase the perceived security of your checkout page
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 […]
In the checkout form, autocomplete the address as they start typing
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. […]