The biggest challenge for e-commerce today in my opinion is not how to increase conversions or do business well, but to figure out a way to automate the process of selling. Never has this been done before in the history of human civilization.
How to get a user on your online store to buy things without having to move a muscle yourself? How to develop the art of shepherding traffic on a website into the pen of buying? The reason I say it is art is because it has not been mastered so far by any of the e-commerce players in India or abroad.
Flipkart, Tradus and a host of e commerce players in India are trying every trick in the book to increase sales through innovation and web optimizing but it in a cut throat world where investors must be satisfied, bottom lines become the only KPI (Key Performance Indicators) of success of a business. There are other metrics like Average order value, Task completion rate, Customer loyalty and Time between purchase. But it all boils down to conversions.
The first step though before anything else is know what do you want to convert. In terms of e commerce players, sales in the form of completed transactions through the 'Buy' button become the basis for measuring conversion rate (Number of people completing transaction to number of people who land on buying page).
In this post, we therefore discuss the best conversion practices of e commerce players.
1. Each sheep is unique
Different products force different user behavior.
Hence, although a standardized product page format is necessary to build trust and is an important branding tool, it is wrong to think that all users on the site will fall for it. The same user may display a different behavior when buying a household apparel than when buying a mobile phone.
2. Trust
The secret lies in winning over the trust of the user. Once, this is accomplished the Buy button becomes the blackhole you are looking for. Therefore, think about how to build trust with the user.
3. Reduce the pain
E commerce players report cart abandonment as a major issue. Many factors could be leading to this, including high loading times for pages or confusing directions. Even, asking the customer for too much information before registering a purchase puts off many. Make sure, you reduce the pain of buying by reducing the number of clicks it takes to actually complete the buy.
This way, not only user experience enhances, but you complete the purchase faster and give little chance to the customer to abandon your cart.
4. Product page design
Justin Rondeau talks of a few good things to improve your product page design. After all the product page is your virtual salesman. It should look good and appealing. There is a need to strike the right balance between too little information and too much distraction.
Some steps you could take are:
Bigger buy buttons (Call to action must be emphasized clearly)
Bigger product images
This concept of bigger images has been known to reduce bounce rates by 27% and increase lead generation by 36%. Priceless.
How to get a user on your online store to buy things without having to move a muscle yourself? How to develop the art of shepherding traffic on a website into the pen of buying? The reason I say it is art is because it has not been mastered so far by any of the e-commerce players in India or abroad.
Flipkart, Tradus and a host of e commerce players in India are trying every trick in the book to increase sales through innovation and web optimizing but it in a cut throat world where investors must be satisfied, bottom lines become the only KPI (Key Performance Indicators) of success of a business. There are other metrics like Average order value, Task completion rate, Customer loyalty and Time between purchase. But it all boils down to conversions.
The first step though before anything else is know what do you want to convert. In terms of e commerce players, sales in the form of completed transactions through the 'Buy' button become the basis for measuring conversion rate (Number of people completing transaction to number of people who land on buying page).
In this post, we therefore discuss the best conversion practices of e commerce players.
1. Each sheep is unique
Different products force different user behavior.
Hence, although a standardized product page format is necessary to build trust and is an important branding tool, it is wrong to think that all users on the site will fall for it. The same user may display a different behavior when buying a household apparel than when buying a mobile phone.
2. Trust
The secret lies in winning over the trust of the user. Once, this is accomplished the Buy button becomes the blackhole you are looking for. Therefore, think about how to build trust with the user.
3. Reduce the pain
E commerce players report cart abandonment as a major issue. Many factors could be leading to this, including high loading times for pages or confusing directions. Even, asking the customer for too much information before registering a purchase puts off many. Make sure, you reduce the pain of buying by reducing the number of clicks it takes to actually complete the buy.
This way, not only user experience enhances, but you complete the purchase faster and give little chance to the customer to abandon your cart.
4. Product page design
Justin Rondeau talks of a few good things to improve your product page design. After all the product page is your virtual salesman. It should look good and appealing. There is a need to strike the right balance between too little information and too much distraction.
Some steps you could take are:
Bigger buy buttons (Call to action must be emphasized clearly)
Bigger product images
This concept of bigger images has been known to reduce bounce rates by 27% and increase lead generation by 36%. Priceless.
 |
| A camera being sold on Flipkart. Notice the various sections on display. Specially, the call to actions in the form of buttons. |
5. Clear returns policy
A clear policy stating company rules regarding return of goods and faulty deliveries should be stated. Not in some spooky corner of the page but visible in a relevant place.
6. Product information
Displaying correct and accurate product information is of paramount importance. Absence or improper of product information is as good as misleading the public. Inexcusable.
7. Different payment options
Quite often an ICICI card holder will not find his bank listed in the payment options or a state government bank holder will feel left out. (A large segment of target market for Indian e commerce lies in the rural and tier 2 and 3 towns where people tend to hold state govt. accounts!!)
Make sure you encourage people to make instant payments by rolling out the carpet for them. Make them avoid cash on delivery purchases since they get returned 20% of the time. It buys them an additional time to rethink the buy. But this does not mean you reduce the purchase time by blocking cash on delivery option altogether. Give them a chance to make cash on delivery purchases. Give them the option, yes, but work on developing an illusion of choice. Behind it, lies your gold.
8. Be talked about everywhere
Being talked about on other blogs and in the market is not only a good way to get traffic but also a good way to build your brand image. A brand image should be built around trust. Check what people are saying about you for in the online world. Remember here viral information flow occurs, especially negative news.
9. Customer reviews
Encourage people to give feedback and make sure you display it prominantly on relevant pages. Ask them not only about the product but about your service, which is what you are really selling.
10. Marketing
Finally, the pricing mix in the form of discounts and schemes has to be managed well by the marketing team.
A clear policy stating company rules regarding return of goods and faulty deliveries should be stated. Not in some spooky corner of the page but visible in a relevant place.
6. Product information
Displaying correct and accurate product information is of paramount importance. Absence or improper of product information is as good as misleading the public. Inexcusable.
7. Different payment options
Quite often an ICICI card holder will not find his bank listed in the payment options or a state government bank holder will feel left out. (A large segment of target market for Indian e commerce lies in the rural and tier 2 and 3 towns where people tend to hold state govt. accounts!!)
Make sure you encourage people to make instant payments by rolling out the carpet for them. Make them avoid cash on delivery purchases since they get returned 20% of the time. It buys them an additional time to rethink the buy. But this does not mean you reduce the purchase time by blocking cash on delivery option altogether. Give them a chance to make cash on delivery purchases. Give them the option, yes, but work on developing an illusion of choice. Behind it, lies your gold.
8. Be talked about everywhere
Being talked about on other blogs and in the market is not only a good way to get traffic but also a good way to build your brand image. A brand image should be built around trust. Check what people are saying about you for in the online world. Remember here viral information flow occurs, especially negative news.
9. Customer reviews
Encourage people to give feedback and make sure you display it prominantly on relevant pages. Ask them not only about the product but about your service, which is what you are really selling.
10. Marketing
Finally, the pricing mix in the form of discounts and schemes has to be managed well by the marketing team.
What do online firms have to say about this? Apparently, there is no one answer to the problem. Santosh Jose, owner of Intentree says, " E commerce companies need to make sure that they have adequate and balanced content on their product page. Price details need to be clearly mentioned and distractions should be limited."
Notes:
- To measure you conversion rates and know more about user behavior Santosh recommends web based tool KISSmetrics.
- To explore more about conversion tactics and the importance of conversion rate as a KPI visit Avianash Kaushik's Occam's Razor and also, Added Bytes by Dave Child.
- Focus on measuring your macro (Primary) conversions, but to really test the conversion rate and analyse it measure your micro conversions in the form of subscriptions and and page likes as well. Macro+Micro=Complete analysis. It will give you a better idea about where the problem lies and help you design a better product page.
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Also,What do you think? Would you like to add things i seem to have missed out. Feel free to use the comments space below.
- Zain Siddiqui
Wow. I am so excited and happy to learn all these great points to improve conversions. I am quite sure that they will help in boosting the conversions on my website as they are sounding working. Thank you.
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