Why conversion rates matter and how to boost them

While every business wants to make more sales and increase conversions, most go about it the wrong way. They build their website and set up shop. But then they let their website sit for two years without analyzing their data, testing new CTAs, or making any real effort to boost conversions.

Sound familiar?

Most businesses have convinced themselves that increasing site traffic is the key to making more sales. While this is true to an extent, if you put more focus on increasing conversions, your sales could significantly increase.

Let's do some simple math.

Let's look at what could happen if the traffic stayed the same but conversions increased. Say an ecommerce website generates $300,000 in sales per year. The conversion rate for this website is 1.5%.

2% conversion rate = $375,000

3% conversion rate = $600,000

6% conversion rate =  $1,200,000

Note: A 6% conversion rate would be very high, but I wanted to show you the math and how important conversions are to your bottom line.

When the conversion rate went up by 0.5%, revenue increased by $75,000/year. See how important it is to focus on improving your website's conversions?

The good news is that there are six simple steps you can take to do just that.

1. Cart abandonment recovery 

Cart abandonment is very popular. There have been multiple studies to back this up, and from the data provided, the cart abandonment rate from top retailers is around 68.81%. 

A straightforward way to increase conversions and win back these customers who were seconds away from purchasing is utilizing a cart abandonment email strategy. A cart abandonment strategy is a process in which you make an effort to email and win back the customer who left your site just before purchasing. For the time and investment involved, it's well worth it.

• Nearly half (44.1%) of all cart abandonment emails are opened.
• Over a tenth (11.6%) of all cart abandonment emails are clicked.
• Just under a third (29.9%) of clicks lead to a recovered purchase back on site.

Source: Ometria

2. Provide upsells 

Another simple adjustment you can make on your ecommerce website is to offer upsells.

Typically, upsells offer a related product to the one the customer has just purchased or is about to purchase. The key here is offering products related to the current product the customer is buying.

Upselling can be done either before or after the customer purchases. The choice is yours.

Source: https://www.groovehq.com/support/upsells

3. Offer free shipping

Charging for shipping can be a giant conversion killer. Almost 50% of all retailers offer free shipping, so why would someone purchase from someone who doesn't?

In another study, 93% of the respondents said that free shipping on orders encourages them to purchase more products. Also, high shipping rates were the most prominent reason shoppers chose to use a brick-and-mortar store over online stores.

If you can't offer free shipping, another option is to include the shipping fees inside your product cost. It's always worth testing and seeing if conversions increase.

4. Site speed

You might not know this, but a faster website boosts conversions. Here are some simple stats to back this up.

• 47% of consumers expect a web page to load in 2 seconds or less.
• A 1-second delay in page response can result in a 7% reduction in conversions.
• If an ecommerce site is making $100,000 per day, a 1-second page delay could potentially cost you $2.5 million in lost sales every year.

If you're on Drupal and want a faster website, we can help. Learn more about our Drupal solutions here.

5. Multiple payments options

People often have a payment option they would prefer to use. I will use PayPal almost every time I have the opportunity because I know it is secure and safe.

For something so simple, it only makes sense to offer multiple payment options to satisfy every customer.

6. Have clear CTAs

It amazes me how complicated some sites can be. Decide what the primary CTAs on your website will be, and then make them VERY CLEAR & BOLD so that you can guide the site visitors to the next actionable step.  

You never want a customer looking for the "next step" that they need to take. You should be guiding them through the entire process and making it very easy for them with clear CTAs.

Here are some areas where you should have clear, bold CTAs:

• Add to cart button
• Newsletter sign up
• Checkout

Next steps

If you start changing things on your website, be sure to measure the result to know what works and what doesn't. You should never do anything without having some measurable data to see if the changes are actually working.

Now go out there and start boosting your conversions today!