Simple rules for higher conversion rate

Getting new customers is not easy. As e-commerce grows, the competition is getting harder and the costs of getting new customers are rising.

The average landing page conversion rate in 2021 is about 2.35%. The top 25% sites in the world have a slightly higher rate of 5.31% and more, while the top 10% can get at 11.45% and above.

What is even more upsetting, is the fact that you’ve got someone interested in your products does not yet mean that you have a customer. In fact, as much as 69% of users just abandon their purchase after having added items to their cart. So most of the resources spent on attracting prospects are simply wasted.

But do not despair. There are universal ways to increase conversion rate, no matter where you operate and what you sell.

In 2015 mobile devices accounted for 31% of global traffic. As of 2021, 54.8% of all internet traffic in the world comes from mobile devices. And the trend keeps going strong.

This is why it is crucial to optimize your website for mobile. Always check that it is working fine on all platforms and is displayed correctly in different browsers.

And yes, having your own app is great. Yet there will always be many people who prefer mobile websites - they might just want to quickly check your business or maybe they just do not want to download another app. Anyway, an app cannot fully replace a website.

Finally, having a mobile version is important for SEO. Can’t get a high SERP rank without it.

Getting users to register an account might be necessary for your business. But it is also an unpleasant obstruction for many. How do you solve this?

By making registration as easy as possible. Allow the users to sign up with Google, Facebook, or other quick methods, don’t make them fill out forms and confirm emails unless it is necessary.

Better yet - present them with an option to skip registration entirely and use guest checkout. The option should be easy to find and easy to understand. This way you will not lose visitors who do not want to create an account.

Consider your approach to user passwords. You might have been told that you can never have too much security. However, if you are not handling large volumes of strictly confidential user data, it might not be the case.

In fact, if your password rules are too strict, you might lose customers. Up to 18.75% of abandoned purchases are abandoned because of the needlessly severe password limitations. In most cases, it is alright to allow regular users to choose any password they want.

And don’t forget about the small stuff. Details like supporting the “Back” button for previous stages of checkout, marking the required and optional boxes explicitly, and even using the right font might seem insignificant. However, it is exactly these little things that can make or break the user experience. And this is what matters most for getting return customers.

Here’s an odd question for you. Does “Shipping Speed: 2 Business Days” mean that you will get your order in two days or in less than two days? Or is it “at least 2 business days”?

The answer might be obvious to you. But it is not clear for many users.

Some websites also use specific jargon on the checkout page. For example, sometimes you can see the nonstandard term “CSC” instead of “Security Code”. While this is not necessarily a deal-breaker by itself, it makes some customers pause to work out the meaning of what they are seeing.

This creates needless confusion that might drive many prospects away. There really is no point in being enigmatic when it comes to customer interactions. Even experts prefer to read the simple language - so why use anything else?

No matter how well you prepare your website, there is always room for improvement. After all, universal methods can only go so far. Every business requires individual solutions.

There are some things to consider. The first question is: which tools should you use? 74% of analytics professionals use Google Analytics. And they do it for a good reason - it is a powerful and robust tool that can handle many tasks. Yet there are other alternatives that have their own advantages. Don’t be afraid of experimenting and trying new things.

If done right, tracking and testing can work wonders. For example, the UX team at Bannersnack, a graphic design platform, used heatmaps to understand how people interact with key landing pages. They collected valuable data and used it to create an alternative design to A/B test against the old one. The update led to a 25% increase in sign-ups.

If you decide to track users - don’t forget about GDPR and other regulations that govern data collection! Compliance is usually not that problematic and the price of breaking the rules might be quite high.

Social trust is a powerful force that impacts all businesses. And there is no better foundation for it than the independent reviews.

Having user reviews directly improves sales. A study from iPerceptions shows that 63% of consumers become more likely to buy products on a website if it has user reviews. And Reevo discovered that having 50 or more reviews per product can lead to an increase in conversion rates of up to 4.6%. On average reviews increase sales by about 18%.

Some companies still prefer classic advertising and simply describe the advantages of their product. Yet the study by eMarketer shows that consumers trust these descriptions 12 times less than reviews.

Revain provides companies with easy access to reviews. Anyone can launch a review competition and quickly gather many reviews for their business.

And Revain Widget allows companies to display the reviews and ratings directly on their websites. This way visitors can see the opinions of other satisfied customers and share their impressions without having to open another page.

Are you interested? Then get your widget here.