If you're running a Shopify store, then increasing your conversion rate should be one of your top priorities. After all, a higher conversion rate means more sales and more revenue for your business. In this guide, we'll show you how to identify the main factors that influence your conversion rate and make changes to improve it. We'll also recommend some of the best Shopify apps for boosting conversion rates and getting more sales. And finally, we'll show you how to implement a good testing framework so you can track results and continue making improvements. Let's get started!
Conversion rate is a key metric for any ecommerce business. It measures the percentage of visitors to your site who take a desired action, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter. A high conversion rate is indicative of a well-performing store - one that's able to turn visitors into customers efficiently. Conversely, a low conversion rate could be indicative of problems with your site, such as a poor user experience, technical issues, or a lack of product-market-content-experience fit. Yeah, product-market fit isn't all you should worry about anymore.
There are a number of factors that can influence your conversion rate.
Each of these factors can have a big impact on conversion rate. For example, if visitors can't find what they're looking for on your website, they're likely to leave without taking any action. Or if your website is slow and difficult to use, visitors may get frustrated and bounce before completing a purchase (or even browsing).
That's why it's so important to understand what conversion rate is and how it works. Once you have a good understanding of the main factors that influence conversion rate, you can start making changes to improve it.
There are a number of things you can do to boost conversion rates on your Shopify store. Here are some of the common areas of focus that prove effective:
This used to be a major bonus, now it's just table stakes. Your visuals have to do twice the work of visuals in a retail location. They have to make up for a lack of touch, smell and other senses. Video helps some by adding more visual information as well as sound and movement. If you need help with this, there are companies like Soona that can help you take your photos up a notch.
Your products have to a) be found and then b) convince people they are done looking and ready to buy. Get creative with your descriptions. This is an opportunity to show off all the benefits and your brand personality. Boring descriptions can sell products, amazing descriptions do sell products.
Your products should be well organized. Use categories and tags effectively. Make sure search is great. Add relevant products to product detail pages. Do product level paid search experiences. If they know what they want -- don't get in their way. If you have a bunch of popups and other distracting stuff (which can work well in the right context) consider turning that off on paid dedicated pages with purchase intent queries. See what happens.
I'm so tired of saying free shipping. But it still works for most brands (if you can make it work with your pricing). The real takeaway is -- don't give them any reason not to buy if you can help it.
Your site content should be addressing all common objections. But for the random ones -- why not have the ability to crush them in real time? If you can swing it try adding live chat. If you can't afford to do it full time, at least test it yourself for a few hours during peak traffic. If you notice a significant lift, maybe you can afford it. If nothing significant happens, cool!
Mobile is the majority for so many sellers. Especially if you drive a lot of traffic via TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, etc. And even if you don't. Mobile is harder to win at in terms of technical excellence (page speed etc.) but it's so crucial. Invest here!
Back to speed and performance. Faster sites make more money. That is proven across basically every industry. Don't sleep on page load. Shopify is notorious for page speed problems (almost as notorious as plugin-ridden Wordpress sites, sorry WooCommerce merchants) -- depending on the template and site infrastructure, amount of content, etc. Find ways to improve performance and watch it impact your conversion rate.
How and when you ask someone to do something is just as important as what you ask them to do. "Click here!" is a bad CTA (okay, like 98% of the time it is a bad CTA). Work on your messaging. It should be done in a way that makes people EAGER to smash that link!
This is so key. The messaging and how it is ordered on the site is one of the BIGGEST factors for conversion rate success. It should directly address what they came to accomplish-- be it learn, weigh options, or buy. It should reflect and deliver on whatever got them there. It should address their fears, desires, and crush their objections. It should show them who you are and make them want to be a part of what you're doing. Messaging is so important. Get it right. Then keep testing it to get it righter.
WebsiteFeedback has a free teardown available for e-commerce sellers and offers completely done-for-you conversion rate optimization services if you're ready to 3x your conversions this quarter!
