You’re creating content to market your products. You’re also running ads on social media and the search engine to get your products and discounts discovered. Oh, and don’t forget the email marketing campaigns that are going out every week! But even after this, all you see is an increase in your store traffic. The number of visitors you’re turning into customers are still struggling to grow.
That’s when you need to start focusing on optimizing your site for conversions.
After having worked with thousands of Shopify stores, we found ten simple tactics that you can implement right away to increase your conversion rate. Keep in mind that each of these tactics is based on the goal of wanting to keep a visitor engaged, learning more about them and then using that data to nudge them towards making a purchase.
Time-tested tactics to increase conversion rate on your Shopify store
All the answers you need on how to increase conversion rate on Shopify stores.
1. Ensure quality content and images on product pages to convey the value you have to offer
First things first. When a shopper visits your store, they have a certain expectation in terms of learning more about the products you’re selling or the discount that they found appealing. That’s where your content and images on the product page come into play.
Make sure that you’re including product images that cover a 360-degree aspect of the item, enabling the shopper to get a virtual look and feel. Ensure the pictures are of high quality to give a deeper aspect or consider including a few short videos as well. The Shopify 3D models is also a great way to add more depth to your product pages.
Here’s a good example of giving more perspective to your store visitor:
The second thing is your content. It’s not just about the product name and the price here. Shoppers want to know more about the value your product has to offer. So you need to do better than that! Here are a few tips from Shopify experts:
- Focus on your ideal buyer (know who you’re speaking to)
- Entice with product benefits (not features, but how it adds value to the buyer)
- Avoid bland phrases like ‘excellent product quality’ (no one’s going to believe it when it comes from you)
- Justify using superlatives
- Appeal to your buyer’s imagination (let them be the hero in your story)
- Address rational barriers with storytelling for persuasion
- Lure them in further with sensory words (check them out here)
- Tempt with social proof (ratings, reviews, testimonials, user-generated content like pictures)
- Make your description scannable with proper formatting
Here’s an example:
2. Enhance the shopping experience by creating a personal space with customized customer account pages
What’s the one thing that keeps you hooked to your Instagram? The ability to create your own space where you can share anything, save anything and even create collections of posts you want to come back to. Imagine getting a chance to do that on an online store.
You probably already have experienced this on stores like Amazon, where you get to create your account to make wishlists, save addresses, and more. Following the same strategy on your Shopify store, and giving your visitors a personal space to stow away everything they like and can use to make purchases, is a sure-shot way of increasing the conversion rate.
But to get such a commitment, like Amazon, you too need to let the shopper know the value they get from creating an account on your site. Let them know how sharing information like birthdays can get them access to special discounts or how it gives them early access to premium product launches in the coming time.
Also read: Customer Account vs Guest Checkout – Why and When to Enable Both on Your Shopify Store
Indie and Harper has a customer account page wherein fashionistas can step in and create wish lists of products they like. They can come back to their account at any given point in time to revisit their recently viewed products, shop from the wishlisted items – all within minutes. If you’ve been wondering about how to increase Shopify store conversion rate, this is the strategy you need!
Setting up a customer account page like Indie and Harper isn’t even difficult anymore. With smart Shopify apps like Flits, you can set up a customer account page for your store in minutes – that’s exactly what even Indie and Harper did!
In fact, apart from being able to offer a personalized shopping experience to visitors, the brand was also able to increase its sales by enhancing its customer account page using add-ons like Wishlists and Rewards. Read all about it here.
Ready to give your visitors a personal space in your store? Install the Flits app today!
3. Display personalized product recommendations to guide your visitor’s shopping journey and reduce drop-offs
The average drop-offs from an online store range anywhere between 40-56% on an average. That’s losing almost half the visitors you’re driving in through marketing and advertising campaigns. But more importantly, losing all the dollars you spent on getting those shoppers to your site in the first place.
All because you weren’t able to engage them right away or simply because they didn’t see a product they expected to and left without exploring what else you had to offer. That’s where personalized product recommendations come in.
A shopper indicates their interest and intent when they visit a specific product page. Use that information to engage them better. Display other products from your range that they make like, based on similarities or what other shopper’s like them may have purchased. This is a great way to nudge them to look at the other items available on your store, increasing the chances of conversions during the visit. That’s exactly another strategy used by Amazon too!
And you can display product recommendations easily using apps like Wiser for product recommendations. Be it inspired by their browsing, similar or related products, trending products or more, you can recommend products as the visitor browses through your site.
4. Display product reviews, ratings and testimonials as social proof to build your credibility
Surveys suggest that implementing social proof can increase conversions by up to 15%. That’s also because don’t we all tend to trust recommendations from those who are similar to us, as compared to brand advertisements?
The reason being that when we know someone’s commented on a product, they have tried and tested it out and that we’re not going to be the first ones to take the hit if the product isn’t good. That’s why more than 60% of us go searching for ratings and reviews on products before making the final purchase decision.
Instead of letting visitors go seek reviews on other platforms where they may also come across competing stores, why not display that social proof on your site? With smart apps like Loox, Photo Reviews and Testimonials, and Judge.me, you can display product reviews and ratings on your site to give that extra assurance to your store visitors.
PS. Did you know that Flits integrates with these social proof apps to enable a rewards program to encourage shoppers to drop more reviews/ ratings? It’s a paid add-on, but it works really well!
5. Upsell and cross-sell your products – but only where it’s relevant and appropriate
The goal of a product page is to make you sales. But more often than not, stores end up using the entire page simply adding endless offers or leaving it at the product description. That’s where they start losing conversions. And this is where upselling and cross-selling comes into play.
You know what a customer is looking for. Now suggest a product that is similar to the one they’re looking at and has more to offer, making this purchase intent more driven towards conversions. Or you could cross-sell a product that complements what they’re looking at, making it look more enticing.
For example, if someone is looking at a t-shirt in your store, consider showing them a selection of your best pair of jeans. This will help them visualize a complete look, leading to higher conversions. Because who doesn’t like getting themselves a complete outfit? Here’s a similar example to what we’re recommending:
6. Capture purchase intent and stop losing sales to product stock-outs using back in stock alerts
Once a product starts to trend on your Shopify store, you’re going to see a sudden influx of traffic that is highly inclined towards making a purchase. In such scenarios, reaching a product stock out is very common. But what’s also common is that the same product continues to get more traffic, but you start losing out on conversions because your inventory hasn’t been refuelled.
That’s where setting up back in stock alerts comes into play. Whether you’re launching a new product that has picked up hype in the market or a product that has been trending for days and now gone out of stock, remember to capture the purchase intent of those who visit the product page. Give them the option to subscribe to alerts via SMS, email, web push notifications or the Facebook Messenger.
You’ll be surprised how willing high purchase intent shoppers are to wait out on an upcoming product or for the restock of a product.
If you’re not planning on restocking the product, you can also use this data to recommend products to these shoppers. You already know what kind of products they’re interested in. All you need to do now is recommend similar products to them to get them back to your store and nudge them towards conversions.
You can set up the restock alert subscription button using the Back in Stock app by Appikon. It enables you to add a smart little widget below the out of stock button as well as on the right corner of the product page, letting shoppers subscribe via the channel they’re most comfortable communicating on.
7. Add a countdown timer to instil a sense of urgency to claim the deals you’re offering on products
When you’re in a brick and mortar store, the salespeople are always hovering around you telling you how the product is in demand. They don’t miss a chance to tell you that the offer is only valid for another day or how it is the last of the stocks in the product you’re interested in. They play with consumer psychology to nudge them to make a purchase faster.
You can do this on your Shopify store as well by adding a countdown timer to your product pages or deal pages. They act as a constant reminder to the shopper that the offer or the product you’re selling may not be available on their next visit. This will make them want to make a purchase decision faster, usually leading to them converting on your site.
8. Implement live sales popup notifications to trigger FOMO in the store visitors
With so many stores as an option to purchase from, visitors usually tend to leave without making any interaction on their first visit to a site. They want to be able to explore the other options they have before committing to a brand. But exploring other options also means finding someone who’s either better than you or being forgotten in the process as they move from one site to another. That’s why you need to create FOMO in your shoppers, making them want to convert at that very moment.
An effective tactic to do this is to implement live sales notification popups on your store. These pop-ups basically keep reminding the shopper that there are others like them that are looking at the same product or deal. It indirectly tells them how that product/deal will soon be out of stock and they’ll lose out on something amazing!
9. Help your customers reach the product they’re looking for faster with advanced search and product filters
While this one may seem obvious to you, the truth is that not as many Shopify stores focus on helping visitors narrow down their search results. So they often see visitors searching for a product, browsing through the first page of the search results and then leave without bothering to take a look at the second page, which actually might have the exact product that they were looking for. That’s because reaching this product seemed too tedious to the shopper. Imagine having to browse through thousands of t-shirts to find a black one with a simple quote on it, in your size.
Yes, that’s why it is important to focus on making it easier for the shopper to find their way around on the site. With advanced search, you can ensure you’re showing the visitor relevant products even when there is a typo. And with advanced product filters, you can help the shopper narrow down the search by applying variables like color, size, rating, etc!
The faster they get to the product they’re looking for, the less likely they are to change their mind about making the purchase.
And the one last strategy that gives you another opportunity to recapture a shopper’s interest…
10. Trigger exit intent pop-ups to recapture a store visitor’s interest with something appealing
One thing that we swear by is always giving it that one last shot. Then why not try to recapture a visitor’s attention as they indicate exiting your store?
Now you can’t physically hold down a visitor to your store. But what you can do is convince them to stay a little longer to explore your other offers or re-consider the purchase they were just about to abandon. You can do this easily by implementing an exit-intent popup on your store!
So that just when a visitor decides to leave your site without making a purchase, you entice them with an offer they can’t say no to. You can use the space to offer an additional, time-sensitive discount, free shipping or simply to create a little urgency by telling them that the product they’re abandoning is soon going out of stock.
You can implement an exit-intent popup easily using some of the best Shopify apps like Privy, MailMunch, WooHoo and others.
Do you need to worry about your Shopify store conversion rates?
If you ask us, YES. Now more than ever as the number of online stores are increasing by the day and your ideal customer has a wider choice of brands to choose from – local, global, international or even the industry-leading brands that have so far only been offline.
So if your traffic is leaving without making a purchase, you’re in dire need to work on your Shopify store conversion optimization!
Need help optimizing your store for higher conversions? Let us know and we’ll connect you to the right experts.
