The content of this article is provided for informational purposes only. You should always obtain independent business, tax, financial, and legal advice before making any business decision.
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In the world of ecommerce conversions, the purchase consideration process is shaped early in the customer journey — most shoppers make their purchase decision long before they ever hit the “pay now” button or land on a checkout page.
Many factors play a role in whether a shopper turns into a buyer: the overall brand and site experience, product information, cost, and associated reviews, shipping options and fees, and even available payment methods.
In other words, this decision-making process can start as soon as a shopper’s first click on your website.
So when it comes to ecommerce conversion optimization, business owners should first look to their online store for solutions.
A shopper may enter your site on a product page, a campaign or sale landing page, or your homepage. In any case, you have only seconds to retain their interest.
Your goal should be to make it as easy as possible for shoppers to scroll through every page and find the information needed to make a purchase decision.
If not, a lack of trusted information — or difficulty finding that information — can disqualify your store for the customer, resulting in fewer potential sales and lost revenue.
What details do shoppers care about when deciding to make a purchase — and does your website deliver?
To get started, explore these 10 strategies to optimize your store, which may help increase ecommerce conversions later.
Help customers quickly find what they’re looking for with search and filter functionality. But keep in mind: Search and filters are only as strong as your site’s ability to turn up the right results.
Searchable product content can include the product name, description, and any tags or categories assigned to it. Customers may want to filter based on size, color, material, price, availability, or other options specific to your product’s niche.
You may want to consider a “save for later” or “wish list” functionality, too. After creating an account, customers will be given the option to save products they like but aren’t ready to purchase.
This encourages repeat purchases for your store — and gives you valuable insight into what your customers are most interested in.
Some customers choose a brick-and-mortar shop over an online store for the experience of feeling and seeing products in person.
That’s where high-quality imagery can help, giving customers a better understanding of products without leaving the comfort of their screens.
Here are some product imagery tips to keep in mind:
Conversion Tip: You have very little time to get that shopper on board. Use visuals that pop, tight and energetic copy, and a prominent “Buy Now!” CTA to grab them when they're most excited about your product.
Check out more tips and tricks to elevating your product photos.
Shoppers should know if a product is in stock before they check out. If they’re alerted of out-of-stock items during the checkout process, they may become frustrated and abandon their cart.
Stock indicators can update automatically with set threshold stock counts. So if a product drops below your threshold, it can display a note like, “Only a few left!”
Low stock indicators can also decrease shoppers’ deliberation time and encourage a quick purchase. And if stock has run out, take the opportunity to get a commitment from shoppers by allowing pre-orders on out-of-stock items.
Reviews and social proof are helpful ways to showcase your product and establish trust — they’re also excellent learning tools for shoppers.
With a small reward (like a 5% discount code), customers may be encouraged to provide feedback on valuable details like:
While it can be tempting, try to avoid deleting negative reviews, unless they include inappropriate language or contain spam. Customers may grow suspicious of perfect reviews on all your products. Instead, respond to negative feedback to let shoppers and customers know you’re taking their experience seriously.
Display your prices in local currency and be transparent about taxes. Offering the right currency options helps localize your online storefront. This is vital to closing sales because customers often want to pay in their local currency instead of guessing the correct conversion rate.
With WooCommerce, you can use the Currency Converter Widget to display values with any currency codes that you specify. You can also allow customers to choose the currency displayed as they browse your site. Taxes are typically calculated during checkout. However, you can add transparency for customers with a statement on product pages such as, “VAT or local taxes may apply.”
Conversion Tip: Transparency with your shoppers is essential. No one likes surprises when shopping unless it's a discount or a gift. Transparently surfacing payment options, inventory availability, and all associated costs like tax or shipping early in the purchase journey can help set buyer expectations and provide a better overall experience.
Shoppers often look for promotions that offer free shipping, even with a purchase threshold needed to qualify. Ship time — including fulfillment time — is also a key detail that will sway a shopper’s decision.
When shipping internationally, shoppers want to know if you ship to their country, how much it will cost, and how long it will take.
Conversion Tip: Challenge your assumptions when it comes to shoppers. Different customers have different priorities and while some may be price sensitive and react positively to discounts, others may value the total price certainty that options like free shipping can offer — even if the total price with shipping included is higher.
Birthdays, holidays, travel, and eager anticipation can push a shopper to choose one store over another, even if the price is less favorable.
Offering same or next-day delivery and pickup options to local customers can both alleviate their stress and help increase your ecommerce conversion rate.
Payment options should be surfaced throughout the shopping journey to ensure buyers understand the choices available to them.
Many shoppers want to know if they can purchase on your site with a method they trust. Remember that payment options vary for different countries, so it’s important to offer familiar and trusted methods based on customers’ locations.
BNPL functions as a short-term line of credit allowing customers to pay in installments while businesses receive the full payment amount at the time of purchase.
Offering BNPL gives shoppers the flexibility to buy what they need while still managing their budget. This increased flexibility can serve as a major factor in a shopper’s decision to purchase.
When you enable one-click checkout, customers can automatically log in to authenticate and access stored payment information, reducing the steps required to check out. This may help reduce abandoned cart rates and is especially helpful to mobile shoppers navigating a small screen.
Learn more about securely storing your customers’ payment methods.
Each of these tactics can be implemented to help you expand your audience, increase conversions, and maximize purchase values. With WooCommerce and PayPal, you can deploy these strategies to your shop right now.
In partnership with three expert business owners, the PayPal Bootcamp includes practical checklists and a short video loaded with tips to help take your business to the next level.
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