The phrase ‘future is here’ came into effect about three decades ago with the emergence and subsequent infiltration of eCommerce in all aspects of our lives. The launch of Amazon.com brought about the genesis of mainstream eCommerce to the US with home delivery of thousands of products. The credit-card driven economy whole heartedly embraced this novel idea, and since then, there’s been no looking back.
Given the historic rise of eCommerce, it’s not surprising that the online shopping trends have now evolved into a daily habit, bringing billions of consumers online and with it, cut-throat competition in the digital realm with real-time effects on the physical plain. This is where eCommerce websites come into play and why their optimization and scalability are vital for a business’s success.
Every year the eCommerce domain experiences new challenges in terms of both technological progressions and evolving consumer spending habits. Indian eCommerce professionals understand these challenges and you can now boost your eCommerce sales when you outsource services to India.
For 2019, the global retail eCommerce sales stood at a staggering $3.53 trillion, while the same is expected to skyrocket to $6.54 trillion by 2023. As per numerous financial reports and surveys, the eCommerce boom has made a significant impact in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region, eCommerce saw a 25% growth in APAC for 2019, with a combined revenue of $2.27 trillion.
Moreover, eCommerce is rapidly shifting away from desktops and has found its way into mobile devices. Users around the world prefer to shop via smartphones and tablets than being confined to bulky desktop computers. According to analysts, 53.9% of overall eCommerce conversions are expected to be mobile-driven by 2021.
Now, as exciting as these figures and the prospect of eCommerce is, there are variables that need to be taken seriously if you wish to venture into this highly competitive domain and have a slice of this lucrative pie. Creating an eCommerce website isn’t rocket science, but it does require significant market research and consumer behavior understanding. On top of it all, you need to have an engaging eCommerce website that can keep a user hooked to the site and lead to a potential sale.
Keeping the ultimate goal of ‘sales’ mind, here are 6 highly effective tips to boost eCommerce conversions and traffic.
Existing Customers are Gold
Your existing customers should be your focus before you even begin to target new customers. These are the people who know your business, have used your products/services, and are satisfied with them to be tethered to your business. Reaching out to this existing lot is a great idea to boost your eCommerce sales.
Use all the communication information of an existing user and advertise your eCommerce offerings, along with any active promotions. Customer retention is much easier than customer acquisition and it further strengthens your brand’s credibility and trust factor.
Here’s a peek at a few benefits of customer retention:
- Existing customers are more likely to give you higher conversion rates.
- Each visit by a current customer increases the chances of the addition of products to the cart, which can boost your eCommerce sales.
- Raises the possibility of revenue generation through sales, every time an existing customer visits your website.
Responsive is Effective
As mentioned in the intro, mobile devices are quickly surpassing desktops as the preferred eCommerce platform for consumers. Offering an effective and engaging mobile eCommerce website makes sound business sense, as more and more users are now shifting to mobile devices for their online shopping needs.
According to Econsultancy, 47% of online shoppers prefer to see an eCommerce web page to load under 2 seconds. Patience is neither a virtue nor is it present in the mobile domain. So, it’d be great if you optimize your website for the following factors, ASAP.
- Page load speed
- Personalized content
- Saved settings and preferences for ease of navigation
- Discounts and rewards for shopping on your mobile site
Live Chat Support
We are all scared of a possible Skynet and AI taking over the world! This might be science fiction but what’s not is the fact that nobody likes talking to a machine, especially when it comes to customer or after-sales service. Your eCommerce website might be a maze for a new customer, regardless of how streamlined the navigation might be.
Integrating Live Chat support to your website is a sure shot means to boosting eCommerce conversions. Offering a personalized touch to the user, Live support can help the user navigate the website, offer detailed insights into a product, and provide accurate information to a user’s query. This step is a great tool to enhance brand credibility while offering a stress-free and friendly online shopping experience.
Content still Rules!
No matter how good your SEO, multimedia and the bling is on an eCommerce website, it still, cannot beat the presence of written content on the site. Many shopping sites offer great products but the user has no idea what the product does or what its specifications are because there’s just no content.
Provide relevant product information in short and precise sentences. Remember, you’ve got an average person as a potential customer and not Shakspeare shaking your vocabulary tree. Keep the text short but catchy.
Make sure your content conveys the USP, the value propositions, and how the product might help the user in the short and long run. A well-phrased and placed product description greatly boosts eCommerce conversion and can also turn a new customer into a recurring one.
Customer Reviews
The holy grail of any eCommerce website, customer reviews give your conversion rate the make or breakpoint. A website featuring authentic customer reviews is well on track towards building concrete credibility and boosting eCommerce sales. According to a Statista survey, 91% of the respondents from a pool of U.S online consumers stated that positive and authentic reviews made them approve of a brand business.
Put simply, customer reviews boost eCommerce conversions and traffic. A product page with both customer reviews and user Q&As is 105% more likely to witness a conversion and recurring traffic. Furthermore, users tend to trust and rely on customer reviews about 12 times more than a monotonic product description provided by a manufacturer. Last but certainly not least, you can relate to the importance of customer reviews by the mere fact that 61% of online customers make purchase decisions based reviews and customer feedback.
