7 Ecommerce Conversion Optimization Strategies Shoppers Can’t Resist

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Conversion optimization can be a game changer for your ecommerce business.

Imagine this.

200 people visited your ecommerce store yesterday. And 20 became customers.

That’s a 10% conversion rate.

Most businesses will kill for that.

After all, the average ecommerce conversion rate is 2.6%. 

Sometimes, you don’t need to get more visitors to your online store. You just need to convert more of your current visitors into customers.

Let’s go over 7 ecommerce conversion optimization strategies to turn more of your current visitors into customers.

1. Use social proof and FOMO to convince potential buyers

Everybody is influenced by what other people do. 

Especially people like them.

This is why social proof will never get outdated.

Social proof tells shoppers you’re the popular option for people like them.

When you add the right social proof and fear of missing out (FOMO) elements,  many shoppers will nod along as they click on “Checkout.”

Some ways to implement social proof on your ecommerce store include:

• Showing off customers’ experience with your product
• Displaying results buyers achieved through testimonials 
• Flaunting your customer base if it’s large
• Having categories for best sellers and best-rated products
• Acquiring and showing user reviews

An added benefit to these social proof elements is that they’ll help shoppers make the best decision.

For example, according to research by Statista, 86% of U.S. shoppers stated that reviews are at least moderately important when looking for a new product.

While exploiting social proof, remember to add FOMO into the mix.

The fear of missing out moves many people into buying products. 

Why?

The fear of losing is stronger than the joy of gaining the same thing.

How can you implement FOMO on your ecommerce product pages?

• Offer a discount for a limited time.
• Show the small number of remaining products.
• Display popups of people who bought your products.

See how Walmart uses FOMO on one of its product pages:

Combining social proof and FOMO can help reduce cart abandonment rates.

This means more sales and profits for your business.

Use social proof and FOMO to key into shoppers’ desires and the need to belong.

2. Use lead magnets to collect shoppers’ information

No one can resist the right gift.

The idea of a lead magnet is simple.

Offer a gift shoppers want. And in exchange, they’ll submit their contact information (usually email address).

Once you have their email addresses, you can now reach those shoppers directly.

You can send useful guides, promotional offers, and product announcements. 

And with your email marketing software, you can deliver personalized emails that can convert prospects to customers in the future.

What lead magnets will work for your ecommerce store?

Here are some common lead magnets:

• Discounts (or coupon codes)
• Your products
• Free shipping
• Giveaways
• Shopping guides
• Ebooks
• Educational videos
• Whitepapers

See this popup from Old Navy offering a discount to shoppers:

Lead magnets like discounts and free shipping are popular among ecommerce stores. But you should explore other options.

You can also experiment with various lead magnets to see what works.

However, just creating an offer doesn’t make it a “lead magnet.”

Your offer only becomes a lead magnet if:

• It’s appealing to your audience
• Can meet an immediate need
• Can get rid of their pain points
• It’s easy to use

So, look into your buyer personas to determine a gift your ideal buyers can’t turn down.

Having an email list of shoppers means you can attract them back to your website. It’s also easy to track the effectiveness of your email campaigns.

Using lead magnets can encourage shoppers to buy now. 

Then, you have the opportunity to turn them into repeat customers.

So, using lead magnets should be a continuous strategy for your ecommerce store.

3. Develop a system to track conversions

Many times, there are opportunities to boost your store’s conversions.

But you’ll miss out on those opportunities if there’s no system to track conversions. 

In fact, having no conversion tracking system means you don’t know how many conversions occur on your ecommerce site.

Conversions happen when a visitor takes an intended action. So, conversion can mean many things for different campaigns.

Some examples of conversions on ecommerce stores include:

• Product purchase
• Form submission
• Account signup
• Giveaway entry
• App download
• Answering a survey/poll

Whatever conversion means for your campaign will determine the metrics to track.

Here’s the bad news;

You can’t track conversions manually.

But the good news is that you can do it with a free tool.

Google Analytics is free

Google Analytics helps you to track conversions on your online store.

To do that, you must connect your ecommerce data to Google Analytics.

One way to do this is to create a tag in the Google Tag Manager to transfer your conversion events data to Google Analytics 4 (GA4).

This YouTube video walks you through  setting up ecommerce tracking on Google Analytics 4.

If you use WooCommerce on WordPress, there’s a WooCommerce Google Analytics integration. 

Check out their guide on how to set it up.

Also, MonsterInsights is a WordPress plugin that can help you set up ecommerce tracking for Google Analytics.

At least this will save you from going through the complicated process.

With proper tracking on Google Analytics 4, you can get ecommerce conversion metrics such as:

• Ecommerce revenue
• Shopping cart abandonment rate
• Form conversions
• Top conversion sources and paths
• Customer retention rate

With Google Analytics, you can obtain a lot of valuable data.

Without paying a dime.

Mixpanel is affordable

Another top website analytics tool is Mixpanel. 

Mixpanel helps you track user behavior on your website.

If you run an ecommerce app, you can see how users navigate the app.

You can also create a cohort for your top buyers. This will show you their common paths to conversions.

You can also remove conversion barriers.

Using the data effectively lets you get more shoppers to your product pages and convert them into customers.

Mixpanel has a free plan. 

And its growth plan starts at $20, which is affordable for most ecommerce store owners.

If you only depend on your ecommerce platform for conversion data, you likely have insufficient data to make the right decisions.

So, use an analytics tool and create a system to help track ecommerce conversions.

4. Implement website personalization

Every shopper wants a personalized shopping experience.

Even if you have 10,000 customers.

Or 200 products to sell.

We’re that selfish.

A shopper only wants to see the 3 categories and 9 products that interest them. 

Otherwise, they’ll bounce off your website.

That’s why website personalization is a must for ecommerce stores.

Website personalization means shaping your ecommerce store according to a shopper’s browsing patterns, purchase history, preferences, location, time of the year, and more.

Beyond keeping shoppers on your website, personalization can boost your ecommerce conversion rates.

For example, an Econsultancy study revealed that 94% of companies had increased conversions after personalizing their website.

Some ways you can personalize your shopping experience include:

• Relevant and dynamic page content according to engagement, traffic source, weather, browsing device, and social media details
• Personalized product recommendations based on past purchases, products added to cart, and products viewed
• Personalized email recommendations to subscribers
• Cart abandonment email sequence

If you want to implement ecommerce personalization, you need the right personalization tool.

I’ve heard good things about Dialogue, OptiMonk, and Coveo.

These tools have a good chance of personalizing your ecommerce experience to each shopper.

But you need to do your own research before purchasing a personalization tool. Because there are many options today. 

Through research, you can find one that fits your needs.

What’s an example of a personalized ecommerce store you’ve visited?

Amazon.

When you visit the megastore, there’s no question that your shopping experience is unique.

You can see products based on your location, browsing history, past purchases, and other factors.

In a world where your site visitors have experienced Amazon, you need website personalization to meet expectations.

And most importantly, to increase conversions and sales.

5. Carry out A/B tests

There’s following best practices.

Then, there’s following what works for your ecommerce store.

Ultimately, it makes sense to follow what works for your website. Even if it contradicts best practices.

That’s why A/B tests are critical to improving conversions.

A/B tests remove the guesswork and help determine which changes on your website result in higher conversions.

A/B testing (split testing) is the process of checking out a hypothesis on a web page variation to see its effect on conversions. 

An A/B test always results in two outcomes.

Your hypothesis proves true, with the page variation getting a higher conversion rate. In this case, the change in the variation becomes permanent.

Otherwise, your hypothesis is wrong, and the original page remains.

Until your next A/B test.

Common elements you can A/B test on your ecommerce store include:

• Social proof such as reviews
• Landing pages 
• Product pages
• CTA button and copy
• Product descriptions
• Product images
• Popups

To A/B test these elements, you need to understand your customers and their behavior on your site.

Having this initial knowledge gives you a higher chance of testing page elements that affect conversions.

Once you start forming hypotheses, you need an A/B testing tool to run experiments.Some popular A/B testing tools are VWO, Optimizely, and Google Optimize.

While running A/B tests, keep these points in mind:

• Let your A/B test run over time (and sizable traffic) to have statistical significance.
• Test a single website element at a time to know the change responsible for the change in conversions.

A/B testing is a continuous activity to increase your ecommerce conversion rates. 

Unless you have a 100% conversion rate.

Start forming hypotheses today and use them to create A/B tests.

6. Ensure website accessibility 

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), at least 2.2 billion people have a near or distance vision impairment.

But some have it worse.

Some people are colorblind.

Some are blind.

And other impairments make it difficult to browse the web.

How difficult?

Blind people have to depend on a screen reader and keyboard to navigate your website.

They scan website pages, use alt text to understand what images are about, and memorize websites they visit often.

Practically, they depend on your website’s structure and accessibility to even have a chance of using it.

If that’s absent, they’ll leave your ecommerce store without buying.

And tag your website as a forbidden place to visit.

If you’re unlucky, you may even get sued for website accessibility issues.

Seyfarth Shaw LLP revealed that plaintiffs filed 3,255 website accessibility lawsuits in 2022.

According to Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance expert Kris Rivenburgh, a website accessibility lawsuit can cost your business up to $25,000.

So, website accessibility compliance is a no-brainer for your online store.

Website accessibility is the practice of building your website with elements that make it usable for everyone, including people with impairments.

How can you make your website accessible?

• Fix the basic website technical issues: sometimes, issues like missing alt text, empty links, and missing page titles can make a web page inaccessible. Fixing this will help you meet users’ basic needs.
• Follow the Web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG): the WCAG lists the criteria to make your website accessible.
• Use website accessibility tools: these tools help you fix website accessibility issues. Some of them place an accessibility button on your web pages. Examples are accessiBe and WAVE. But tools are not perfect.
• Employ accessibility experts: accessibility experts will review your website to find issues a tool may miss. They can improve your website design and perform user testing at different times.

Making your website accessible means people with impairments can navigate it easily.

Your visitors will be happy, and you’ll make more sales.

A win-win for both parties.

7. Run retargeting ads

No matter how well-optimized your website may be, some first-time visitors will leave without converting.

In fact, a SharpSpring study says only 2% of website visitors convert on their first visit.

This is a lot of money leaving your site.

But how do you deal with it?

Retargeting ads present an opportunity to bring these visitors back.

Retargeting ads are ads targeted at people who fail to convert on your ecommerce store. These ads will contain offers tailored to a visitor’s behavior on your website.

For example, if a shopper visits a product page but fails to buy, you can target them with a discount or time-bound free shipping for that product.

Retargeting ads have proven to be effective for businesses.

For instance, research shows that the average click-through rate for retargeted ads is 0.7%, compared to 0.07% for conventional display ads.

That’s 10X!

Some platforms to run retargeting ads for your ecommerce store include:

• Google Ads
• Facebook Ads
• AdRoll
• Criteo
• MailChimp

Using these platforms, you’ll reach visitors across various marketing channels such as search, social, and emails.

To create successful retargeting ads campaigns, keep these best practices in mind:

• Create custom audiences based on your buyer personas.
• Run retargeting ads on your audience’s favorite marketing channels.
• Use shopper data to match retargeting ads with the right audience.
• Determine the frequency of ads to prevent ad fatigue.
• Run A/B tests to increase ad conversions.

Sierra Trading Post ran retargeting ads for shoppers who viewed products on their site.

What was the result?

A 5X boost in conversions.

When you lose shoppers close to conversion, retargeting ads can get them to hit the goal.

Since retargeting ads recipients already know your brand, exploit the familiarity to sell more products.

So, run and test retargeting ads to achieve the best conversions possible.

Conclusion

Ecommerce conversion optimization is a continuous activity for your business.

So, schedule conversion tasks at intervals. 

If you can take the time to schedule social media posts, do the same for conversions.

Follow these strategies to boost your ecommerce conversions and profits.

What’s your favorite ecommerce optimization strategy?

Submit a comment!

Also, share this guide with an ecommerce marketer who will benefit from it.