Making sales online is a complex process that can be difficult to manage at times. While many people think that online stores are just as successful as brick and mortar stores, the truth is that they see a lot more traffic than they receive sales. This is because the majority of visitors to online stores are just looking and move on quickly. For an online store, the key to staying open is maximizing the e-commerce conversion rate.
Conversion rates can tell a lot about a company’s performance. Unfortunately, many companies do not have a detailed understanding of conversion rates and how to increase them. In this article, we discuss the basics of conversion rate optimization so that you can improve your company’s conversion rate marketing performance.
Conversion Rate and Calculations
When you advertise, there are two groups of people that your ads encounter. There are the people that see your ad (leads) and move on, and the leads that take the action that you want them to take leading to a sale. Everyone starts out as someone who sees your ad. You want to convert them into people who complete sales.
A conversion rate measures how often you are able to convert leads into sales. For example, if half of your leads follow through on your ad’s CTA, your conversion rate is 50%. Calculating the conversion rate is simple. Here is how to calculate conversion rates:
Conversion Rate = Total Conversions/Total Leads
Keeping track of your conversion rates per ad is an important part of understanding how your ads can be more effective. However, many business owners are discouraged by their initial conversion rates. That is because they need to understand what is a good conversion rate and what is not.
A good conversion rate depends on what your ad is, where it was placed, and how it was viewed, but the numbers are always low. For example, a good conversion rate is 2% or higher, with the average being 1-2%. That means that you will only convert 1 person out of 100 people on average. That may seem very low to most people, but that is not as bad as you may think. Many ads receive millions of impressions throughout their lifecycle. That means that you may get 10,000 conversions. Think of how much 10,000 sales could help your company. Now multiple that by the number of ads that you could put out in a month. If you are managing your advertising correctly, then that 1-2% on each ad could be more than enough for your company to thrive.
Fix Technical Issues
The first step in fixing your e-Commerce conversion rate is to fix technical issues. If you are experiencing technical problems when delivering ads to customers, you are going to lose most of your customers. People do not want to struggle with technology, and you cannot convert someone who cannot see your ads. Do a full review of the platform that you use to deliver ads to customers, whether that is your website or some other platform. Everything should run smoothly and quickly. If not, fix any problems that you find.
Work on Your SEO
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is an important part of how you attract customers online. If your SEO isn’t working for you, then you are not likely to get the high number of views that you need to maintain an average conversion rate. Fortunately, it is easy to fix your SEO with some simple steps.
The most important change that you can make to improve your SEO is to improve the quality of your writing and content. Search engines prioritize well-written content that is made to help readers. While there are other things that you can do to raise your SEO ranking, like using long-tail keywords or creating backlinks, improving the quality of your content is the best option in every situation.
Incorporate Social Proof
When people shop, they avoid risks in most cases. If you can make your company look less like a risk, then customers are more likely to buy from you. Social proof is evidence that someone used your product or services and had a positive experience. When other potential customers see this, they are less apprehensive about buying from your company.
Social proof can be one of the most effective drivers of engagement and sales, which is why you should collect it whenever possible. Post-purchase surveys, social media comments, and other forms of testimonials are commonly used as social proof. If you can incorporate social proof into your ads, then you may see a higher conversion rate.
Partner with an Expert
Improving your E-commerce conversion rate is not something that you have to figure out overnight or work on by yourself. Partner with an expert like KitelyTech to gain access to the experience and resources needed to find the best method of managing your conversion rates. Give us a call at (800) 274 2908 to discuss your eCommerce sales and development needs.
