In the past decade, the eCommerce landscape has become even more competitive. Companies are turning to Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) to gain a competitive edge. CRO requires businesses to refine and optimize various elements of their websites and user experiences (UX) to boost the number of potential customers who take a desired action, like signing up for a newsletter or making a purchase. Even small changes can lead to significant increases in revenue. With the right strategies, your brand can maximize its earnings without attracting more website visitors.
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Website Design Elements to Increase Conversions:
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4 Simple Tests to Double CVR
Button Color
Color affects emotions at an instinctual level. Over time, we have been conditioned to associate different colors with different experiences. As a result, we develop preferences for specific colors in specific settings.
The color of your Call to Action (CTA) buttons can influence the decisions of site users. Color science has long been a tactic used by businesses to promote desired customer actions. Red and yellow, for example, have been shown to increase appetite. The next time you’re out and about, notice how many fast-food signs feature these colors.
You can use color science as part of your eCommerce conversion rate optimization plan. Try to incorporate these effective CRO strategies into your website design:
- Use green for “add to cart” or “continue” buttons. This color is associated with growth and positivity; it encourages potential customers to keep moving forward.
- Use red when you want to grab attention. This is especially effective for CTAs with a sense of urgency, such as a “sign up today” button.
- Blue conveys a sense of trust and serenity. Use it for buttons that enable site visitors to sign up for newsletters or learn more about your company.
If you’re curious about the effectiveness of your CTAs, tools like Hotjar and Crazy Egg can track visitor behavior to provide insights into CTA performance.
Call-to-Action Copy
As we've mentioned many times before, a clear call to action is one of the most important aspects of a successful landing page and overall website. That’s why we love the idea of trying out different button text to see how it can impact your conversion rate.
Changing your CTA copy is one of the simplest eCommerce site improvements you can make—but it could also be one of the most effective. For CTAs that encourage the purchase of a product, use straightforward language like “buy now” or “buy today.” Use team-based language like “get started with us” or “join us today” when you want customers to order a service.
Personalization may also improve results. Tailoring CTAs to specific demographics can increase the likelihood of conversion and is simple to accomplish with tools like Klaviyo. For example, a customer who continually checks prices before leaving your site could see a “take an extra 20 percent off” CTA that may not appear for other site visitors.
Say you have a primary CTA button on your eCommerce store home page promoting your new line of snowboards. The standard CTA button might say something like “Shop Now.” Testing alternative copy like “Explore the Collection” or “Find Your Perfect Fit” may end up increasing your click-through rate. It's important to note that an eCommerce conversion rate optimization strategy that may work well with one brand may not work so well for another brand. But, that's the beauty of testing—we really don’t know until we try. As they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Promotional Offers
If you’ve run a sale on your eCommerce site, you likely saw an increase in your conversion rate. However, not all sales are created equal. One customer might respond better to a bundle offer instead of a simple percentage off.
When it comes to eCommerce conversion rate optimization, try testing different promotional offers to see their effects on both conversions and revenue. Urgency-driven offers can prompt site visitors to take action. Adding countdowns and phrases like “1 left in stock” could be an effective part of your online store's conversion optimization plan.
If you’re offering discounts as promotional offers (for example, free shipping on all orders over $30), it’s important to keep your Average Order Value (AOV) in mind to ensure that you’re not sacrificing profits to increase conversions.
Product Imagery
Product images are one of those website elements that can feel straightforward at times. You may think, "If I put my product on a backdrop, get the lighting right, and upload it to the site, then I can watch the sales start coming in." If only it were that simple.
Augmented reality and virtual reality allow customers to interact with products in a more personal way. Adding 360-degree views or offering a virtual try-on option can boost customer conversions. Tools like Adobe Commerce and BigCommerce provide the advanced image management needed to help a shopper imagine your product as part of their life.
The point here is that there are many different ways to approach imagery, and it’s an ideal website element to test. After all, design trends evolve and so do user preferences. Therefore, what worked two years ago might not be as effective now, so it’s important to keep your imagery up to date if you want to increase your conversion rate.
Emerging CRO Trends
It’s vital to stay on top of the latest trends in CRO to maximize your eCommerce business.
Some of the emerging conversion optimization best practices include:
- AI-driven personalization: Use artificial intelligence to offer unique product recommendations based on prior behavior and selected preferences. When customers feel like products or services are tailored to their needs, it can be easier to increase conversion rates.
- Omnichannel strategies: It’s key to provide buyers and potential customers with a streamlined experience across different devices and platforms. Your audience should be able to seamlessly shop in-store and/or on all of their devices without site or platform hiccups.
Using Data to Drive CRO
You’ll need to use data to increase conversion rates. Google Analytics 4, Shopify Analytics and other Key Performance Indicator (KPI) tracking tools can help you track the way UX changes affect customer behavior. Setting benchmarks for KPIs like bounce rate, click-through rate and conversion rate can help you see what’s working well and where your eCommerce business has room to improve.
Common CRO Pitfalls to Avoid
As you work to increase conversion rates, it’s important to be aware of common pitfalls:
- Overloading pages with distractions: Including too many elements designed to improve your site’s UX can have the opposite effect. When in doubt, keep it simple and streamlined.
- Misinterpreting data: Drawing conclusions from inadequate sample sizes can lead to false conclusions. Be sure that your sample sizes are statistically significant before making data-based changes, especially during eCommerce A/B testing.
Closing Thoughts
eCommerce conversion rate optimization is an ongoing process that’s crucial for the long-term success of your business. Best practices are constantly evolving in the eCommerce space, and you don’t have to stay on top of the latest effective CRO techniques on your own. To learn how we helped an online retailer boost its conversion rate by 35 percent, see our US Open Shop case study. Reach out to our experts today to schedule a free CRO assessment.
eCommerce conversion rate optimization is an ongoing process that, when implemented properly, treats your website like a living, breathing organism. As a result, your website adapts to current customer preferences and remains relevant. That said, A/B and multivariate testing isn’t always as scientific as you might hope.
If you’ve taken a basic statistics class, you most likely remember that sample size is essential to creating a statistically significant finding. That means that you need to have enough traffic to your site to have a result that you can definitely say was caused by the change you made.
Another element to consider when you’re setting up your test is to only test one element at a time. This goes back to attribution and makes it much easier to define exactly what caused your change. Make sure you keep things tidy to ensure a test that you can measure and replicate in the future.
If you have a specific test in mind or would like some help getting things set up with your eCommerce conversion rate optimization strategy, we’re here to assist. Contact us today if you're interested!
