Top 5 Tips for Increasing Conversion Rate and Average Order Value on Your eCommerce Site

The goal of an eCommerce store is to sell your company’s products online and increase your profits. So how do you do that? 

You optimize for better conversion rates and higher average order values. 

What do those phrases mean?

Conversion Rate

Conversion Rate (CVR) refers to the percentage of total visitors on your website that complete the intended goal. In the case of an eCommerce store, this means the percentage of visitors who come into your store and purchase at least one item. Therefore, the higher the conversion rate, the more sales you have.

Average Order Value

The Average Order Value (AOV) simply refers to the average dollar amount each customer in your online store spends every time they place an order/make a purchase. Encouraging customers to spend more through up-sells, cross-sells, and promotions while improving your conversion rates leads to higher profits from your online store.

Our Top 5 Tips for Increasing Conversion Rate and Average Order Value

A good eCommerce site should experience conversion rates around 2% on average. Does that reflect your website’s conversion rate?

What does your average order value look like? Is it the best it could be?

If your answer to these questions is no, then take a look at our top 5 tips for increasing your eCommerce conversion rates and average order value.

1. Build a Seamless User Experience

At its most basic level, user experience (UX) is how a user interacts with your website or eCommerce store. A positive user experience is akin to a positive in-store experience, and the same attention to detail needs to be paid to the components that make up their user experience. At the most basic level, ensure that your site is easy to navigate and fully functional. Make Calls to Action (CTA’s) easy to find and identify and always include a search bar. Make your content engaging and relevant. And finally, make your checkout process a pleasant experience!

Let customers check out as a guest, include a progress bar, show off your safety badges, and utilizes a swath of easy payment options like PayPal and Apple Pay. Additionally, higher priced brands might consider including a trusted payment plan like Afterpay.

2. Consider Your Content

Your content is how you interact with your customers and prove your product quality. Put the time and effort in to make it worth their time!

Your images will show off your product quality and build consumer trust. Make sure they are high quality and each product has multiple images. Check out our article on <link>product photography</link> to learn more!

Your product copy is not only a good opportunity to boost your SEO, but it helps to support that high quality imagery your consumers have been checking out. Give them the details. As an example, a jewelry company might consider answering the following questions: 

• What material is that bracelet made of? 
• What sort of closure does it use? 
• How do I determine my size? 

This is your place to shine!

eCommerce content doesn’t need to just be product descriptions. Build out auxiliary content that compliments your brand.

An eCommerce site doesn’t need to be just a pile of product pages. Build out some valuable auxiliary content to build a relationship with your customers. This can include blog posts, shopping guides, quizzes, videos, and (maybe THE MOST IMPORTANT thing) social proof. That’s right – show off those positive reviews! Customers trust reviews from other people more than anything else online. Don’t let this step slip!

3. Keep your Abandonment Rate Low

Have you ever come across a box of cereal left in the wine aisle at Target? You thought to yourself, “Ah, a decision was made here.” That box Cocoa Puffs was just abandoned in the aisles, and a sale for General Mills was lost. 

This is the exact same thing that happens when people abandon a cart in your eCommerce shop. Except for one big difference. You have an opportunity to get in touch with that person to get them to change their mind! 

Set up automated emails designed to go out to those who abandon carts. 

Utilize retargeting ads to meet the customer where they are online and remind them what they’re missing out on.

And that’s just the start! You can also lower your abandonment rate earlier in the funnel by simply creating a stellar checkout process. I know I said this earlier, but a good checkout process is SO IMPORTANT! Don’t miss out on great sales just because your checkout is difficult. Be sure to let your consumers checkout as a guest, include a progress bar, and utilize easy payment options. This improved user experience will encourage your customers to stick it out and make that purchase.

4. Use Signals that Show Your Website is Safe

Online scams have been rampant for years, the simplest way to earn consumer trust is to show off your safety features. 

The simplest way to earn consumer trust is to show off your safety features.

First, ensure that your website is a secure site with an SSL certificate. These free certificates can be installed easily on your site, moving your URL from HTTP to HTTPS. They also keep your customers from receiving an ominous warning message before going to your website.

Next, utilize trusted payment options in your checkout process. These include things like Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Google Pay and PayPal. These tools allow customers to pay using a secured third party system that limits the chances their information will be stolen. 

Finally, utilize a trust third party website monitoring tool such as Macfee and show off the badge as proof. This not only keeps your customers and their data protected, but it helps to build consumer confidence in your brand, making them more likely to spend money in your eCommerce store. 

5. Utilize promotions, scarcity, and value

There’s a reason sites like RetailMeNot and Honey are so popular, consumers love to find a good deal. By utilizing promotions, scarcity, and value you not only encourage consumers to spend money in your eCommerce store because they see it as a good deal, but you can actually encourage them to increase their total spend. 

For anyone who’s shopped with Bath & Body Works, this lesson is abundantly true. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone into the store (or to their online store amidst the pandemic) with the intent of buying some more hand lotion, then come out with 3 candles because there was a buy 2 get one free sale. How could I pass that up?

Promotions are a great motivator for consumers, even for luxury brands.

Stephanie Novak, Co-Founder Louder Than Digital

Using something as simple as limited time offers, inventory scarcity, and time-bound shipping deals are a great motivator for consumers. Be sure you are taking advantage of this!

Looking to increase your conversion rate and average order value? We’d love to help!

For more information on conversion rates and average order value, check out these awesome blogs and articles!

• WordStream Conversion Rate
• Bigcommerce Conversion Rate Optimization
• Neil Patel eCommerce Conversion Hacks
• Quick Sprout Increase Average Order Value