How to increase sales in an online store: 7 effective ways
According to the Baymard Institute, up to 75% of users add an item to their cart but don't complete an online purchase. Forrester analysts specify: 89% of customers at least once underfilled an order, and 68% of visitors pick up a full basket of goods and leave with nothing.
We analyzed the behavior of users on the sites, ranked the reasons why customers abandon the carts, and suggest that you familiarize yourself with our recommendations on how to how to increase profits in an online store.
A way to increase sales in an online store 1. The store must be trusted
It is better to buy a thing not in the market or in the underpass, but in the store: they will give you a check and you will return the goods if you find a defect. The buyer pays the trusted seller. Online, they trust thoughtful graphics, convenient layout and navigation, and the experience of other customers. Broken links to products, non-existent pages of categories offered in the menu, and resources that are not adapted for smartphones and tablets repel customers. The buyer thinks: if the seller (website) looks untidy, then it also works somehow, no matter how good the proposed product is.
But a neat site is not enough. The buyer is afraid of losses, so he is in no hurry to part with the money, even if the “counter” is pleasing to the eye. According to a study by Unbounce.com, only 65% of brands show secure connection information when a shopper checks out and submits personal information. If the client does not see the usual security messages on the site, he is looking for detailed information about the work of the support service. If they are missing, the user leaves the resource, fearing for personal data.
Tip 1. To increase sales of the online store, place product reviews on the site. If customer feedback appears on the page, the degree of trust of new customers will increase. Consumers will think: "Other people use it" or "This store buys it." We changed the product cards in the online children's clothing store and created the "Already Bought" block, where visitors uploaded product photos and reviews, including from Instagram. As a result, the time to view the product card increased by 43%, and the conversion to leads - by 4%.
Tip 2. Add recognizable symbols. The client trusts the logos of familiar companies, the https secure connection protocol indicated in the address bar, and the “lock” icon that appears during the transaction.
Tip 3. Prove the credibility of the company. Customers trust online stores with completed About Us, Brand Story pages, registration data and certificate scans. The client-developer posted on the site detailed information about the company, licenses, photos of the team, after which the conversion into leads increased by 12%, and the value of the page - by 37%. You can calculate the value of a page using the Google Analytics service: set goals, and then determine the percentage of transactions received.
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Way to increase sales in an online store 2. Do not overfill the site with information
It’s easier to catch a rare Pokémon than to choose the right color and size of a gadget in an online electronics store, where pictures flash, inscriptions are full of inscriptions and there are no filters. The abandonment rate will exceed 90% if the user spends a lot of time navigating pages, reading content, and searching for a shopping cart.
Improving usability will help increase sales of an online store. Customers purchase goods in one or two clicks, and do not think why the button does not work. They won't open another browser or go to their smartphone to make a purchase. Let me give you an example: a site for wedding dresses posted information about products on a black background and was not structured. Therefore, we lightened the background of the resource, combined the articles into four groups, updated the filters for colors and sizes, reduced the buttons "About us" and "Contacts", focused on free shipping and added product reviews. After the redesign, the conversion to checkout increased by 32%, and the conversion of the "Rent a dress" section increased by 47%.
Tip 1. Adapt design for mobile devices. Retailers who don't pay attention to the mobile trend are losing up to 30% of conversions. On an unadapted site, smartphone and tablet users feel like a fashionista in a narrow dressing room without a mirror: category links overlap one another, the full list of products in the cart is distracting, so potential buyers do not complete the order.
Tip 2. Get rid of redundant information. Links, buttons, pictures interfere with perception, and an absent-minded buyer is the main reason for the loss of conversion. Structure the data: on the main page, leave up to seven buttons leading to large sections, and make detailed links within the sections. Do not visually overload section pages. Photos, if there are many, place them in the product cards. Do not forget about the sense of proportion: the buyer does not need extra information. The cleaning company increased conversion to purchase by 3% when they left one button on the site instead of two, while increasing its size. To figure out which button to make, test up to ten options.
Tip 3. Change cart. Users are used to seeing a grocery cart from a traditional self-service store, so a wallet or pouch won't work. The shopping cart in the upper right corner of the site will increase the number of orders by 85%. A design that will show that purchases have been made and the order has been shipped is 20% off. We add a page where we thank the customer for the purchase. Change the background color of this page for clarity. Shipping information and recommendations in the shopping cart will increase online store sales by 20%.
Tip 4. Take care of download speed. A customer won't buy a product if the page loads slowly. The timeout must not exceed a second. Let the webmaster make sure that the server and data storage work correctly.
Way to increase sales in an online store 3. Don't torment users with transitions
According to statistics, the buyer places an order in five steps. But this path is outdated: the user is already accustomed to quick actions and gets tired even after five transitions. The client gets confused when he buys on one page, enters data on another, and then returns to the first again. A more complicated shopping process, according to our calculations, increases the cart abandonment rate by 10%.
Advice. Consider buying in one click to increase sales in your online store. Pop-up windows for creating an account and returning to the "personal account" to clarify the data interfere with the client, distract from the main goal - the purchase. An analysis of a resource that sells smartphones showed that users leave the site at the final stage of placing an order. Then the online store reduced the number of steps from four to two and stopped sending customers to the registration page when placing an order. Conversion to completed order increased by 15%.
Way to increase sales in an online store 4. Do not force the guest to register
Experience shows: the user will abandon the cart if he is forced to create an account at the final stage. A dozen already selected products will not save the situation.
Advice. Decide on a development strategy. Online retailers put up with abandoned carts when they collect detailed customer data for marketing strategies and loyalty programs. But if you do not spend money on contextual advertising and special programs, allow customers to buy goods without registration. Instead, ask the user to leave an email address and send order information.
Way to increase sales in an online store 5. Make shipping rates transparent
According to Unbounce.com and the results of a survey by the Higher School of Economics, 70% of Moscow residents who buy online wait for a courier the next day, and 24% of visitors leave if the store does not specify a specific delivery time. 44% of users abandon the cart at the final stage of checkout when they realize that courier services are too expensive.
Advice. Put your pricing information in plain sight, which will help both increase online sales and repeat purchases. Designate rates by zone, provide discounts for purchases above the specified amount, ensure that orders are received in a short time. Do not be afraid: there will be more customers attracted by a clear price list than dissatisfied with the high cost of delivery.
Way to increase sales in an online store 6. Add a warranty section to your website
The "Guarantees and Returns" button placed in the main menu does not scare away customers. People will not think that goods from this store are being returned. On the contrary, a special section on guarantees will add weight to the seller in the eyes of users.
Tip 1. Add a Warranty and Returns button. Let the user, who has just entered the site, be convinced that the company works honestly. Inform customers about warranties and mandatory returns, but don't highlight the message in a different color.
Tip 2. Speak easier. Keep the information simple - explain step by step how, when and where to return the purchased item.
Tip 3. Submit a return form. Publish a form on the site in which the client will only have to enter data.
Tip 4. Designate a return time. Specifying the exact time within which you can return the goods will prevent conflict situations. Timing data should not be highlighted in a different color and placed at the top of the page.
A way to increase sales in an online store 7. Offer many payment methods
According to a study by the Higher School of Economics, customers prefer to pay with a bank card on the store's website (46% of respondents) and at couriers' terminals (29.4%). Other payment methods - using Qiwi Wallet, Yandex.Money, at Euroset and Svyaznoy terminals - do not always affect purchases, but you can mention them to show that the quality of services is important for a store.
Advice. Analyze audience preferences. If users pay for goods online, add more payment options. We increased conversion to purchases by 15% when we added the option to pay with Yandex.Money in the online games store. The store's customers are gamers, users of information technology, so the introduction of PayPal increased the conversion by another 2%.
Optimization of business processes and analysis of the target audience will reduce the number of purchase refusals by 10-80%.
According to Bronto Software Inc., 20% of online shoppers forget to pay for goods and checkout. Remind about the products in the basket by email: this will increase sales in the online store by 10%. Specify the time when the cart will be cleared or the discount will expire - the customer will buy the product faster. Send three to four reminders a week. Don't be afraid to get bored - let the client unsubscribe from emails
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