In today’s digital landscape, e-commerce has revolutionized the way businesses connect with their customers and generate revenue. With millions of online stores vying for attention and wallet share, standing out amongst competitors, within and outside of your category, can be a challenging task. However, armed with the right strategies and innovative tactics, you can acquire and retain the right customers. We tapped Annie Ricci, brand experience builder and e-commerce expert for her trade secrets.
Quick Fixes to Boost Conversion Rate
- Analyze user behavior. Leverage web analytics tools such as Hotjar to visualize and understand how users interact with your website. Hotjar session recordings provide insight into popular content, buttons, or links, which can help you optimize your website's layout and call-to-action (CTA) placements. Segmentation by the platform also allows you to analyze user behavior based on device type (desktop, mobile, or tablet).
- A/B test. Everything. From homepage banners to landing pages to CTA button colors, running time bound A/B tests allow you to quantify behavior and make decisions to optimize performance rooted in data rather than assumptions. The cost of A/B testing software or tools can vary, but in the early stages, be scrappy about how your tests are implemented. Popular A/B testing tools include Google Optimize, Optimizely, VWO, and Crazy Egg.
- Change product names. When you’re so close to the product or experience you're working on, naming conventions can often become convoluted or overly romantic. Simplify your product names to help your consumer understand exactly the benefit or value it provides.
- User Generated Content (UGC). The power of UGC does not just live within social – bringing a human element to your PDP within the carousel to show authentic images and videos taken by real customers can give potential buyers a more realistic view of the product and its usage. If your product has had a significant impact on customers' lives or businesses, showcase their testimonials and success stories on the product description page. These stories can resonate with other potential buyers and highlight the product's value.
- Purchasing optionality. Also known as "buy now, pay later" (BNPL), purchasing optionality allows customers to make purchases and spread the cost over a set period without incurring interest. There are several benefits of BNPL for the consumer, but also for you, the brand, including increased conversion rates, higher AOV, reduced abandoned carts, loyalty, and broadening your customer base.
Top Tips to Set up a high converting PDP
Once a customer lands on your Product Description Page (PDP), the primary goal is to sell, making the PDP a critical step where potential customers decided to proceed with the purchase or leave the website. Setting up a high-converting PDP includes:
- Communicating clear unique selling value props. It’s crucial to provide clear and comprehensive information about the product, including its features, specifications, dimensions, materials, and any other relevant details. The goal is to ensure that the visitor fully understands what the product offering is and its benefits.
- Building credibility. Leverage social proof, reviews, awards, and press mentions (via emblems or logos) to instill confidence in potential buyers. Go ahead, show off where you’ve been featured.
- Offering pricing transparency. Display the product's price prominently, and if applicable, any discounts or special offers. Transparent pricing helps customers make informed decisions and reduces the chances of cart abandonment due to unexpected costs during checkout.
- Ensuring key elements are above the fold. This includes eye-catching visuals and any UGC to establish relatability and interest, price point, and a clear CTA.
If your development team resources are limited, you are still able to maximize your site’s performance by templatizing communications across landing pages, blogs, and other touch points, and by making your tools work harder (e.g. collect email and SMS at the same time). There are also a number of free tools and plug-ins to validate insights ahead of upgrading to paid versions.
Beyond specific website optimizations, there are various strategies and initiatives that a brand should undertake to strengthen its foundation and boost sales.
- Master your customer experience via owned marketing. Owned marketing channels include but are not limited to your website, email, blog, social media, loyalty programs, and more. Annie stresses the importance of email marketing automated flows and behavior-triggered flows to communicate with customers within different touch points of their journey. This is content you can invest in that works in the background and education that can encourage repeat purchases.
- Focus on content that feels relatable and attainable. People want to see products they’re considering in the most authentic way - incorporate UGC across owned channels to further validate via social proof that the product is genuine and valuable.
- Nail your positioning. Crystalize the value you’re providing to your audience and what sets you apart from competitors. When customers see that your offerings align with their needs and desires, they are more likely to become loyal and repeat buyers. A clear value proposition addresses customer pain points and demonstrates the benefits customers will receive from choosing your brand. This can lead to higher conversion rates as customers understand the value they will gain from your products or services.
Annie’s Picks: Must-Have Shopify Plug-Ins
- Peel: Designed for customer-obsessed teams, Peel is a data analytics tool that provides retention and cohort analyses, providing information about customer insights, source of acquisition, purchasing insights, and how to create more of these high-value customers. Peel makes metrics like CAC to LTV ratios digestible from Facebook and Google, and even influencer campaigns, referral campaigns, newsletters, etc. You can track monthly, quarterly, and annual KPIs and break them out by channel or customer segment. This tool is highly visual and can enable brands to deliver a highly personalized DTC experience.
- The Lobby: This invite-only online marketplace is a destination for brands and creators to connect, to generate shoppable videos reviewing clothing, accessories, and more. Say goodbye to cold emailing or DMing, contract negotiations, or spreadsheet trackers, The Lobby does the heavy lifting providing access to premium creators who authentically love your brand.
- PostPilot: Direct mail marketing has been reinvented by PostPilot–a plug-in that allows you to send one-off or triggered postcard campaigns to customers and prospects so you can navigate low email engagement, skyrocketing CPCs, and iOS changes via a personalized solution.