More and more businesses are deciding to sell their products through online channels to reach a larger number of customers, without limiting their sales only to those made in physical stores.
The pandemic has generated new forms of consumption and retailers have had to adapt to this by creating online sales channels. In addition, according to a Nielsen report, since the start of Covid-19, online consumption has grown by 86.6% and the fear of buying online has been reduced, which further favours the trend of buying through this channel.
Achieving a good conversion rate is one of the keys to measuring the success of a business, whether online or physical. There are several actions that can be carried out to achieve this increase, and throughout the article we will focus on those more oriented towards ecommerce (although in many cases they will also be applicable to face-to-face commerce, especially in an omnichannel environment like the one we have today).
But what is conversion rate and how can it be increased? The conversion rate is a metric that indicates what percentage of ecommerce users complete a certain action. This action can be any goal we have set for our business, but this time we will focus on the conversion rate to sale, which is the one that measures what percentage of users have completed a purchase in the online store.
For this purpose, some of the most effective techniques are detailed below:
Free shipping
65% of Spaniards who make an online purchase look for free shipping. Therefore, establishing free shipping costs makes the customer more predisposed to make a purchase, since one of the main reasons for abandonment usually is that these costs are high.
Variety of payment methods
One of the most effective ways to increase the conversion rate is to offer a wide variety of payment methods to make the purchase as convenient as possible for the consumer. Some payment service providers such as Sipay’s payment gateway, offer a wide variety of payment methods that provide global coverage for ecommerce, thus improving the end consumer’s experience.
Reduction of checkout steps
The checkout process should be as easy and fast as possible, sales may be lost since users are increasingly reluctant to provide their data and if too much time is wasted asking for more information than necessary in the process. Therefore, the ideal is to simplify this process as much as possible so that the customer can complete the order the sooner the better.
Responsive design
Another essential requirement for any ecommerce is to have a responsive design, that being, a web design adapted to all mobile devices. According to Salesforce data, 47% of purchases in Spain in 2020 were made through a smartphone, which further reinforces the preference of consumers to use this type of device.
Facilitating returns
The fear of making a purchase over the Internet and not receiving the product as expected is usually one of the main concerns for consumers that the retailer must know how to manage. Therefore, to solve such situations, it is important that retailers possess easy, fast, and free return processes, so that it is as pleasant as it can possibly be for the end customer.
For every different type of business there are many options to increase the conversion rate in ecommerce. To achieve this, it is important that retailers analyse which tips are best suited for their business and work on defining their own strategy to help them achieve their goals.
