How To Improve Shopify Conversion Rates

Your Guide To Improving Website Conversions

You might be asking yourself, why does this matter? Most companies that I work with want to start with paid advertising and rightfully so, it’s easy to make a lot of money running social media advertisements. The key to being successful with advertising is to have a very dialed in website that has a high conversion rate. A conversion rate for those who are unfamiliar is a catch-all term to define when a customer takes an action that we desire. Sign-ups, purchases, add to carts, all fall within umbrella term on conversion.

In this blog post, I’m going to give you some of the secrets I use to grow clients and my own eCommerce companies.

Quite simply Increasing your conversion rate can make you more money with the same traffic you are already receiving. Let’s look at the following examples to see what that looks like:

  • 1% conversion rate = 1 out of 100 people buying

  • 2% conversion rate = 2 out of 100 people buying

To flesh this idea out a little bit more image you’re selling a $25 item:

  • 1% means $25 in sales

  • 2% means $50 in sales

You might be asking yourself “how do I find this information?” the great news is that most websites like Shopify or Squarespace have a built-in analytics feature that should be able to tell you what your percentage of conversion is.

All the end of the day we want your company to make more money and in the case of Shopify, that means purchases. This means that the conversion event that we care most about is purchases but we must start with points earlier on in the funnel in order to properly diagnose and fix any potential revenue leaks.

Let’s start our adventure together improving your e-commerce conversion rate by taking a look at Add-To-Cart. For those who are wondering, Add-To-Cart is when someone selects a product on a website to be added to their digital shopping cart.

IMPROVING ADD-TO-CART

Why should we start here you might wonder. Let’s say you have a 3% add-to-cart conversion rate and we’re able to double that number. This most likely that will double your entire revenue without changing anything else or spending any additional capital. If we can make you more money without spending additional money we’re off to the races.

Our target goal for your store is somewhere close to a 10% add to cart rate. If it’s less than 5%, most likely something is wrong.

Completing Your Store

While most looking at this blog already have a Shopify store it’s imperative that you go through the entire website with a fine-tooth comb. The reason that making sure your online store is complete is so important is that your website needs to inspire a lot of trust with potential customers. When people are handing over their money let alone their credit card information to a random storefront it’s imperative that they trust you.

  • Have a filled out About Us page

    • Try and tell your story. If you’re familiar with StoryBrand check it out. It will help you to tell your story in a way that customers want to buy and won’t make you the hero.

    • Include a video if possible. I get it, trying to create a well-produced video can feel like a cumbersome task. If you take the time to create a video and do it well, it will go miles with potential customers who will buy into your brand. The key to doing this video well will be having the best lighting, sound, and picture quality as possible.

    • Include links in your header and footer. This sounds simple but make sure your logo clickable to go to your homepage. Your footer should also be the junk drawer of your website with all of the miscellaneous tabs that might be a distraction to potential buyers.

  • Contact Us Page/Customer Service Contact

    • Create an email address with your domain. This small step of creating an email, like support@yourdomain.com, that goes to your domain will give potential customers a sense of ease knowing that you’re there to take care of them in the event they are unhappy with the product.

    • Phone Number (if possible) with a voicemail. If you can create a business line that people can use to contact you in case an issue comes up. Even if this is a line that eventually goes to voicemail, having this number will let online buyers’ subconscious know that you’re an established company.

  • Put the following links in your footer.

    • List your email

    • Phone

    • Link to Facebook Page

    • Form to submit email (not needed but optional)

  • Step back and review the site.

    • Once you’ve made sure that all the information is correct and up to date on your website take a break for a few days and come back to it. After you’ve done that take another critical look at the overall look and feel of your website.

      • Be honest with yourself. Not doing so is only going to cost YOU money.

      • Would you purchase something from this site?

        • Ask friends

        • Try and put more work into your site

        • Review other top sellers by going to xpareto.com

        • Google “ _Niche_ Shopify Stores” for other examples of what might be working well.

How to Improve a Product Page

Improving your product page is an easy way to get quick wins with your online store and improving conversions.

Product images

    • Make sure you have clear and crisp images

    • Use a white background or a constant mockup that does not distract from the product.

    • Add lifestyle mockups for apparel or other lifestyle items as it helps people visualize what it might look like to have your product.

    • Have the same size images throughout the site to maintain a high level of branding.

Include a sizing guide

Add to Cart Button

  • Try big BOLD green buttons

    • Your button should contrast with the rest of the site

  • Language can vary but “add to cart” and “buy now” are both good options.

  • Make it look secure by adding trust badges.

  • The button should be above the “fold if possible” or as close as possible so that it’s easy for people to see and click on.

  • Test a “sticky” add to cart button (works better for younger people as it can be confusing for those who are not as tech savvy.)

Product details

  • Address possible concerns of the product

    • “What material is this shirt?”

    • “What is it made of?”

  • Create engaging copy content for each product (minimum of 2-3 lines of text) - be creative and make it emotional.

Important information

  • Include shipping times (be transparent) on the following:

    • Product Page

    • Shopify Page

    • Confirmation email (repeat this info)

Policies

  • Put the following in the footer

    • TOS (Terms of Service)

    • REFUND POLICY

    • Privacy Policy

    • I’d suggest some sort of money-back guarantee like 60 days because it alleviates the fear of working with you and most do not use it.

    • Consider adding a satisfaction guarantee

Establishing Trust

  • Add trust badges

  • Adding social proof on your product page is very powerful because no one wants to be the first person to buy something. This feels very first to be the first for most customers.

  • Text works for reviews but pictures are better. You can increase the number of reviews on your store by adding an automated app in the Shopify app store to help you get those reviews.

  • Install an app that helps build social proof like a pop-up showing when the last time someone bought something was

  • Adding reviews from people not only in text but also in the form of video

Most common add to cart to-do items

1. Edit your add-to-cart

2. Improve images

3. Ensure you have same size images

4. Improve product copy

5. Ensure they can access the important info in your footer

6. Try banner headlines or trust badges like

  • Free shipping worldwide

  • Free returns worldwide

  • 24-month warranty

  • 100% secure checkout

IMPROVING REACHED CHECKOUT

At this point, we’ve made a huge impact on your bottom line already by improving your add to cart numbers. If you’ve skipped ahead to this part slow down and go back and complete each suggestion step by step. My suggestion would be to bookmark this page and pick it up a week later. Make sure that all of your edits improved your add to cart. In a perfect world, you can make one tweak at a time and see how each change affects your store over the course of a week. Now that people have added one of your products to your store we want to make it as frictionless as possible to reach checkout.

reached checkout

  • The goal is to have a smooth transition from the add-to-cart button to the checkout sequence.

  • Important: Your add to cart button should take you to the cart, not keep you on the screen.

  • Make sure it looks good on mobile and desktop (most of your traffic is coming from a mobile).

    • You can check this on your phone, but you can also make your browser very skinny to see how it might look.

  • Make sure that the header isn’t so big that it keeps people from seeing the checkout button.

    • Can they access essential info?

    • Can they access your navigation?

  • Remove alternative checkout options like Paypal because it keeps you from being able to retarget with emails and texts.

  • The checkout and add to cart button should be the same color to add trust.

  • Use software like HOT JAR to see how people use your website.

IMPROVING SESSIONS CONVERTED

Sessions converted has been out the end goal. In other words, sessions converted is how many people went through the entire process and actually turned into a paying customer. While you might be well on your way into skyrocketing your store sales there are still a few things left that we can do to squeeze just a little bit more out of your marketing funnel.

  • Since Shopify controls the checkout process, our options are limited here.

  • There are things we can control, but more advanced things need coding experts.

  • Google “Shopify conversion scripts” for plugin options to try out. Like with each suggestion within this blog, try and take it one step at a time to see how it’s affecting your percentages.

  • What we can tweak:

    • Installing trust badges on the checkout page (fast shipping, easy returns, satisfaction guaranteed)

    • Possibly add a countdown timing

    • Maybe adding more reviews

  • Shipping Costs

    • During the reach outed checkout stage, your shipping price will be presented to the customer based on what you have set up for your products/store.

    • If your product shipping is too high, they may abandon the checkout and not want to purchase.

    • Test out your shipping costs on a customer and make sure nothing is wrong in your settings.

    • Adjust shipping costs down if needed to improve this section.

    • Possibly charge $4.95 for flat rate shipping across the board.

  • Make sure your payment processor works well.

Additional thoughts

  • Improve your site speed

    • Reduce image sizes

    • Hire a programmer to optimize your website load speed

  • Make sure you respond to social media comments as it signals that your brand cares about your customers

Evan Knox

Founder Of Caffeine Marketing & CaffeineLabs

Team At Caffeine Marketing