Why would I want a better conversion rate?
We hear a lot about conversion rates – but why are they so important? In order to answer that question, we need to look at how people use the internet, and what processes they have to go through to not only find and navigate your WooCommerce site, but to purchase from it.
Your potential customers have a lot of work to do in order to find you, gain interest in what you offer, and be compelled enough to spend their money on your products.
Your job is to make that process as straightforward as possible, because you want them to buy from you, repeat the process, and tell their friends about you.
So improving your conversion rate is essential – if there are any obstacles between your customer and the checkout, you’ve lost the sale.
Let’s have a look at some of the issues we might face, and how we can solve them in order to improve your conversion rate.
Reduce page loading time
If there’s one thing we hate, it’s waiting. From queuing at the supermarket to waiting in for a parcel – it’s a huge gripe for most of us. So having to wait for a webpage to load can be infuriating. Did you know that 40% of people will click away from a webpage if it takes more than 3 seconds to load?
Thankfully, there are things you can do to make sure that you reduce your page loading times. Think about the size of your WooCommerce store – is the delay caused by too many elements trying to load? It might be that too many large or complex images are the problem. Keep images simple, and don’t overload the site with too many large files. Optimise and compress your images to improve the loading times.
Something else to consider is your hosting. As your store grows, it may be that you need to think about the bandwidth you’re using. You’ll be dealing with a higher number of customers, and increased diversity of products, so it’s obvious that as you grow, your site and your store need to grow too.
Shorten the checkout process
Remember those steps I mentioned to get your customers from searching to buying? Well, we call that process ‘the checkout funnel’, and it works like this:
- Awareness – The first bit in any transaction is to get your customers to notice you, and what you’re selling.
- Interest – You need to do everything you can to make your products look attractive, in order for your customers to want to buy from you.
- Decision – Once your customers have seen a product they like, they need to know without doubt that this is the product they want to buy.
- Action – Make it as simple as you can for your customers, having made their decision, to make the purchase.
Those four steps need to be as seamless as possible. If your customers find your checkout process hard to navigate, or there are too many hoops to jump through, they will go elsewhere.
Position and wording of CTA/buy buttons
It might sound obvious, but the key to prompting people to take action, whether that’s making the purchase, signing up for something, or visiting another page, is to make sure that the CTA buttons are prominent! Place them where your buyers can’t miss them – preferably at the top of the fold, so it’s the first thing they see when they open the page. Make sure it stands out – use bold colours and highlights to make sure they don’t disappear within the background. Make the message clear – instead of ‘click here’, or ‘download, use words like ‘add to basket’, ‘get my eBook’, or ‘show me more’.
Mobile experience
Sales by mobile are exceeding sales by desktop for the first time in history. So providing the best mobile experience you can is not only a nice-to-have, it’s absolutely vital.
Stores which are optimised for mobile sales and can promise a simple and straightforward way to purchase are the ones which your customers will return to.
Live chat/chatbot
Here’s an interesting statistic; 29% of consumers say they would be more likely to buy from a store which has the option of live chat, even if they don’t use it.
The reason behind that is simple – people buy from people. And the addition of live chat on your site tells them that there is a real live person behind the screen. It makes the whole experience feel more personal for them, and they are more likely to trust your brand.
The use of live chat also means that your customers are more likely to make a quick decision to purchase from you, because they are reassured that they will have their questions answered quickly.
Using remarketing to target abandoned carts
It’s inevitable that if you have a WooCommerce store, you’re bound to get some customers who abandon their purchase part way through. This leaves you with a dilemma – how can you find out the reasons behind the abandonment, and how can you persuade them to return and complete their purchase?
If you’ve got their email address, you could consider a couple of things. Perhaps send them an email, reminding them of their desire to purchase, and even offering a sweetener if they complete, by way of a discount or gift. Alternatively, you could send targeted ads to those customers who failed to complete their purchase, along with a reminder of the great product or service they missed out on.
The key is to remind them and encourage a re-visit. That way, they’re more likely to make that all important purchase.
Check out my ‘What is Remarking’ video to find out more.
Navigation
It goes without saying that in order for people to want to buy from you, they have to be able to navigate your site as easily as possible. If your customers can’t find the products they are looking for, they’ll leave.
Having a comprehensive, well-structured product menu/list, whether that’s in the form of a drop down box, or side menu, means that they can easily be clicked in order to view and buy. Make sure that the labels and descriptions you use are simple to understand, and make use of subcategories to avoid overwhelming lists of stuff!
It’s also important for customers to be able to enter their own search description if they need to, making the process much quicker for them if they know exactly what they want.
Security
If your customers don’t think your WooCommerce site is secure, you risk scaring them away. They are trusting you with their personal details, not to mention their payment details, so make sure that they are aware of the level of security they can expect.
As well as using a reputable host, think about your passwords – consider employing a two-step security system, and offer a password strength indicator so that your customers are assured that efforts are being made on your site to prevent fraud.
Find out 5 more ways to secure your WooCommerce site.
Conclusion
There are plenty of ways you can improve your conversion rate on WooCommerce. If you would like to know more, or are looking for someone to help you to adapt your WooCommerce site for a better conversion rate, contact me and I’d be happy to help.
