Low conversion rates are often inevitable when starting up an e-commerce website. Most companies have an average conversion rate of around 2%. This means that for every 100 visitors to your site, only two will actually make a purchase.

Within the context of e-commerce sites (field, industry) a conversion rate above 2% is considered to be above average. Unfortunately, many sites tend to experience conversion rates closer to 0.1 - 0.2% which can significantly impact and hurt the overall profitability of those sites, and demolish any chance of them rapidly growing.

Bringing your conversion rate from 0.2% to 2% is a tremendous jump and will result in a great deal of growth for your business. This article will cover 5 different strategies that you can utilize in growing your conversion rate and remove the competition with other businesses in your industry.

1. Remove Distractions

Finding a product you are looking for and then visiting a website that pulls you in too many different directions is never good.

Your landing page should be easy to navigate and free of unnecessary distractions. If you incorporate elements on your landing page that are not essential in securing a customer, you will remove focus from your products and ultimately hurt your own chances of turning traffic into sales. This means making sure that every element on your site communicates only what your visitors need to know, and nothing else.

Don’t include unnecessary photos or videos related to other products and advertisements. Most of the time, a visitor will not be interested in these, and they can turn them off from looking at the product or service you are offering.

Your landing page should be simple and include the following, without other content that could divert the visitor’s attention too much.

• Benefits and features of a product

• Headlines and subheadings

• Reviews

• Visuals that relate directly to what you are offering

A great way to track what your visitors are focusing on is using websites and apps that show exactly where visitors are clicking.

Many e-commerce platforms give you the option to see heatmaps, which show you exactly where visitors click. This is useful when determining what links/elements are getting clicked on, and which ones are being ignored. Based on this information you can assess and decide what needs to be removed from your landing page and what needs to be emphasized.

For example, if you incorporate ads or special offerings onto your landing page, using heat maps you can see if any visitors are actually clicking the ads and which ones are ignoring them.

Look for what customers are ignoring and remove it. Often, the things that aren’t catching visitors’ attention are not useful for making the sale. In most cases, this will increase conversion rates as visitors aren’t overwhelmed with extra content.

2. Simplify The Initial Step

The first step of every purchase or sign-up on your website should be extremely simple. This means, rather than asking visitors to complete a whole form, start with a simple request, such as asking for an email address. After getting the email address, necessary measures can be implemented to secure more information on a visitor. Although, if the visitor does not fill out this additional information, you will still have their email address, from which you can choose to pursue the potential customer further, or not.

The simpler the initial step is, the easier it is to pursue a sale and make a relationship with the customer.

Let’s say you visit a clothing website for the first time. If the website asks for your email address or phone number so they can send you sale promotions or news on upcoming products you are more likely to give in and send them your email address.

On the other hand, if the same company asks you to submit your clothing sizes, your city, email address, name, or phone number you would be less likely to give in and submit all this additional information. If the company that simply asked for your email address were to ask for your clothing sizes and city down the road, you would be more likely to give them this information as you have already signed up for their email notifications and are a bit more about the website compared to when you had initially visited their site.

3. Craft Effective CTA Copy

Most companies are prone to using a generic call to action (CTA) copy. A call to action is a way to bring a visitor into your site and convince them to sign up. Two commonly used CTAs are “Sign Up” and “Start Trial”. These two types of CTA copies will not give you the best conversion rates, but rather will keep you stuck at your existing conversion rates.

Testing out and finding CTA copies that work well for your business can bring your conversion rate up significantly. Rather than using a simple “Sign Up”, test CTA copies that may attract visitors to the website by offering them something.

For example, offer them a discount with the signup and write the copy as “Sign Up for a 20% Discount!”. This gives the visitor a sense of being rewarded for signing up, making them more likely to be attracted to your offers and products even more, as they feel as if they are getting something additional.

Another effective tip for writing a CTA includes starting your copy with the word “Yes”. This approach is highly effective, as it presents your offer in a positive way. A simple formula that will go hand in hand with this would be to write “Yes, I want [your offer]”. For example, giving free shipping with a sign-up would equate to your CTA being “Yes, I Want Free Shipping”.

Test out different CTA copies and find out what works best for you, and appeals to your visitors the most, as every company has different visitors, some copies may be more effective than others.

4. Make Your Customers Feel Safe

As a business owner, it is critical to understand that consumers want to avoid risk. Telling customers that you will guarantee their money back can be an extremely attractive part of your offer.

When shopping online, there are a ton of scam websites that consumers will be wary of and may even decide to leave the website due to any number of discrepancies. A good way to combat this is to offer a money-back if the product is not what the customer ordered or if it is ineffective.

This means telling consumers that if they are not satisfied, you will offer them a full refund, which may cost you some money occasionally, but it will go a long way in giving your customers a sense of security while shopping on your site.

If you, as a business owner, are fearful of losing sales and having to refund too many customers, don’t be. Money-back is not something you will have to face often, as it is more of a way to provide security to your customers and build a trust-based relationship with them, increasing your conversion rate and making them buy more, as now they know that you will live up to your word.

5. Test Multiple Headlines

Effective headlines can make or break a landing page. A headline is essentially the ‘hook’ that pulls in a customer. If the headline does not relate to what the customer is looking for, they will simply click away and be gone for good.

On average, 8 out of 10 people will read the full headline, but only 2 out of those 10 will read the rest. To increase this number, you must test different types of headlines and find out what works best for your target market.

When testing your headlines, experiment with the length, tone, and use of statistics and numbers. For example, try a headline that is professional and simple, and then also try a headline that is more focused on numbers.

Let’s say you use a headline that says, “The Best Product for Your Home Theatre” and another headline that says “The Perfect Addition to Make Your Home Theatre Feel Like a Dream!”. Although these both will lead you to the same page and product, the second one seems more personal and attracts the consumer by giving them a ‘feel’ of what this product will do.

This increases conversion rates, and it gets customers more interested in the specifics of the product and how it will “make your theatre feel like a dream”. Different headlines attract different customers and will need to be adjusted based on what you are selling and what offer you are making.