The more the conversion rate, the more the revenue. It’s as simple as that!
But optimizing an entire e-commerce website isn’t an easy task. There are lots to consider from testing to design and development. Not all the traffic that comes your way gets converted. Hence you need to really put in more effort in order to come up with a great, strategic plan in order to convert the maximum amount of traffic into customers.
So, how to increase the e-commerce conversion rate of your website?
This article is completely dedicated to answering this very question.
Read ahead.
Let’s start off by first understanding what the basic kinds of traffic a website gets are.
- Organic Traffic: the type of traffic resulting from a keyword-based search on the search engine
- Direct Traffic: user directly visits your site by typing your URL, or through a bookmark
- Referral Traffic: traffic that comes through the reference of another web site
Eg: through backlinks
- PPC Traffic: Pay-per-click, as the name suggests is a type of traffic that you pay for
- Social Media Traffic: traffic direct by social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc
Every click that leads a customer to your online platform needs a great deal of planning to direct that traffic into your conversion queue. Starting right from your lead generation processes like- live chats, paid ads, marketing emails, affiliate websites, and SERPs. Getting a good ranking on your search engine plays a pivotal role in generating traffic to your website. This is where marketing and promotions come into the picture.
Generating on-demand traffic is the best way in order to grab the attention of the targeted audience. You need to make the customers believe that you are the answer to all their questions. This is possible by strategic market planning. There are many ways in which you can promote yourself and gain a quick following. Here are a few tried and tested methods to help you get started-
- Social media marketing
- Social media paid ads
- Search engine paid ads
- Influencer marketing
- Relevant display ads
- Content marketing
- SEO optimization
With the right set of tools, these complex processes can be handled more efficiently. The average conversion rate is about 2% even if you have been doing everything right. It is time to consider Conversion Rate Optimization tools. There are a set of tools across various CRO processes that will help increase the conversion rate.
It is found that these tools offer around 220% ROI on average.
These tools are designed to analyze, manage, and even to help and resolve the root cause itself. Here are some of the functions for which CRO tools have been built.
- Data collection tools
- Analysis and Research tools
- Wireframing and prototyping tools
- A/B and multivariate testing tools
- Project management tool
- Abandon cart management tool
The tools can be categorized based on the functions they carry. However, now given how advanced and fast-paced the technology is, tools are being developed with multiple features embedded in them. Below, we have listed some of the best tools in the current market who perform various CRO functions combined in one
Take a look.
- Google Analytics 360:
How can one not mention this tool at the very beginning of this list? One of the pioneers in the field of analytics, Google’s analysis application is the best there is in the market. There is no data that this tool cannot help analyze. From long visitors stay on your website to how many times a particular keyword has been searched- GA can analyze them all. Even some of the below mentioned third party tools have inbuilt GA tools too.
Google Analytics 360 is the enterprise version of the basic GA tool.
- Iridion:
One of the most effective tools that not only helps in project management of the website it is integrated in but acts as a testing tool as well. It completely takes care of all the aspects of your platform such as data analysis, cloud hosting, content management, database solution, etc. All these features help in self-analysis of any issues which then will help in splitting and testing the same.
- Shoppimon:
Cart abandonment has been one of the top causes for low conversion rates in the majority of the eCommerce platforms. Customers who come as far as checking out their products abandon their carts due to many reasons. With this tool, there is no need for you to worry as shoppimon is more than enough to tackle all the server-side and client-side bugs. This is one such CRO tool that will tell you when an issue will impact you, its cause, and also let you know how it impacts your customers’ experience.
- HotJar:
It is one of the highest used CRO tools. It is a heat mapping tool that helps with detecting even the smallest of the analysis like- a click, cursor move, scroll-depth mapping, etc. This tool records individual user’s actions on your website. You can then watch it whenever you have the time and study the user interaction with your website. This is one of the best tools in order to help you understand real time customer behavior.
- BigCommerce Analytics:
Bigcommerce offers analytical tools to customers who choose to run their business using their software. One of the biggest issues an eCommerce site has is the abandon cart problem and this software is targeted to analyze and resolve this very issue. The administrative panel has included an analytics section which will display all abandoned carts including what products they had when they were abandoned. They also have built-in functionality that will show you what the customers are typing in the search bar of your application. Thus this helps you modify your website to per your customer’s likes and dislikes.
- Mixpanel:
Designed not only to support online eCommerce websites but also brick and mortar stores, this tool helps in evaluating A/B tests and then uses the results to make the customer interaction better. This analytical tool keeps a close eye on each and every step of a customer’s activity all through your funnel from the very beginning till the checkout process. Big wigs like Walmart and overstock use this tool to improve their ratings.
- Decibel:
Used by the likes of Tesco and Lego, this unique and all-encompassing tool focuses on the analysis of the digital experience score(DXS) of your e-business website. DXS is an all-inclusive metric to measure the customer experience on websites, web applications, and all its native apps. Solely developed by Decibel, this tool analyzes the overall experiences of all the features of your website and provides the result in the form of charts, tables, and graphs to make it easier for the owner to take the necessary steps in improving their conversion ratings.
- Pingdom:
All of us hate it when we have to wait for the website to load. And sometimes this is the reason why people leave the site resulting in lower conversion rates. Pingdom tool helps your web application in this regard. It works on optimizing the speed of your eCommerce website. In addition to providing exclusive site speed solutions, they also provide site uptime monitoring for applications in different countries and transaction testing as well.
- Similarweb:
Many insightful lessons can also be learned by observing your peers. This tool provides analytical information regarding your customers and your competitors as well. They also provide automated research tools that help you in creating new testing options for the continuous conversion optimization processes. The major functionalities they concentrate on are- website traffic volumes, keyword analysis, and demographics, etc.
- AB Tasty:
An enterprise-level tool that is no less than a full-fledged application in itself. They have a boundless amount of features covering all the stages of developing a great eCommerce website. Starting from the stages of planning till its execution, there are multiple functions this tool offers that will definitely help our website immensely. Some of the functions they offer are- analytics including heat maps, session recordings, etc.), brainstorming tools, a visual editor, A/B testing options, along personalized messages, pop-ups, timers, and much more.
Finding the best tools is just a small step post which comes the real deal like- implementation, testing, and reviewing, etc. Choosing the right set of tools is the key to your success. They fix your conversion problems when used correctly and effectively. Not necessarily are the tools that helped other platforms gain conversion rate increase and are guaranteed to work for you as well. It always depends on the individual website and its functionalities. So, even before finalizing on one, make sure you know what they do and how they do it.
We are always here to guide you in the right direction where necessary. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us if need be.
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