Successful e-commerce: 10 ways to increase your conversion rate

The conversion rate is one of the most important KPIs for measuring the success and effectiveness of your online marketing activities. If it increases, you have the ideal starting point for winning more customers and generating higher sales. In this article, you will learn which conversions are crucial in e-commerce, which factors influence the conversion rate, and how you can optimize it.

Particularly important conversions in e-commerce

Even if your first thought when defining conversion is measuring completed purchases, there are many other conversions that can be tracked, such as:

• registering or creating a customer account,
• Newsletter subscriptions,
• participation in a contest,
• clicking on an advertising banner or
• contacting us (e.g., via a contact form or chat).

Touchpoints that are crucial for conversions

In e-commerce, there are several touchpoints that are crucial for conversions and therefore require your special attention:

• Successful advertisements (ads) take users to the product detail page.
• An ecommerce search engine function and intuitive user guidance provide orientation and quickly and easily show customers the way to a suitable product.
• Digital consulting options determine the customer's needs and help them choose the right product.
• Thanks to compelling product detail pages, customers add the product to their shopping cart and then proceed to checkout.
• Relevant product recommendations tailored to individual preferences trigger further purchasing impulses.
• Users can easily complete a clear and compact checkout process in a short amount of time.
• A good selection of easy-to-use payment methods enables customers to enjoy a smooth purchasing process.

Mobilezone relies on relevant accessory recommendations on the product detail page as an important touchpoint for conversions. (Source: Screenshot from mobilezone.ch)

Calculating conversion rate: two simple formulas

To calculate the key figure, use this formula:

–> Conversion rate (in %) = Number of conversions : Number of visits x 100

However, this formula has a weakness: it counts all sessions. If users need several visits to the online shop to make their purchase decision, they count multiple times and thus lower your conversion rate. When calculating the conversion rate in e-commerce, it is therefore better to refer to unique visitors. Use this formula for this purpose:

–> Conversion rate (in %) = Number of conversions : Number of unique visitors x 100

What is a good conversion rate for an online store?

As a general rule, the higher the index number, the better your sales opportunities. However, what constitutes a good value depends on many factors. We have listed some of them below:

• Industry
• Target group
• Structure of the product range
• price level
• Brand image and awareness
• Website structure and design

According to uptain, the average conversion rate for online pharmacies is around 10.4 percent, for fashion 2 percent, and for travel only 0.4 percent.¹ However, a direct comparison of this key figure only makes sense if all parameters are the same, i.e., the same industry, identical target group, corresponding product range, and price level. Since this is rarely the case, a benchmark is neither possible nor meaningful.

#1 Content

The content of your online shop, such as category texts and product descriptions, should evoke emotions in visitors, build trust, and encourage them to make a purchase. Ideally, they should present the most important information clearly, provide accurate technical details, and answer any questions readers may have.

If your customers feel well informed, nothing will stand in the way of their purchase. However, if the product description does not tell them how the product feels or what benefits it has, they will leave the online shop due to their negative digital customer experience.

You can find tips for writing compelling product descriptions in our blog article Product descriptions in e-commerce: How to inspire your target audience.

GartenHaus GmbH provides users with the most important product information in a clear format on the PDP and also answers frequently asked questions.

#2 UX Design

UX can trigger a positive customer experience in e-commerce. After all, user experience is all about evoking emotions in shop visitors and creating incentives to buy. This cannot be achieved with an aesthetic user interface, the right tone of voice, or professional photos alone. Factors such as accessibility from any device, user-friendliness, and the usefulness of a page play an essential role.

If the design looks outdated, the display on smartphones is disastrous, or the page layout looks sloppy, users will quickly switch to the competition.

#3 Call to Action (CTA)

The way you guide users through your online shop also has a direct impact on the conversion rate. The CTA plays an essential role here with its clear call to action. Cleverly placed CTA buttons with labels such as "Buy now," "Request information now," or "Contact us" show your users what their next step could be. This means they contribute directly to a higher conversion rate.

Stay up to date on personalization: Sign up for the Epoq newsletter. Register now!

#4 Navigation & Page Structure

Imagine a customer has found the product she wants, wants to add it to her shopping cart, but can't find the button. Her digital customer journey is interrupted, and she is bound to abandon her purchase. The usability, clarity, and navigation structure of a website therefore contribute greatly to the success of a conversion. Non-functioning links, an invisible navigation bar, a lack of optimization for mobile devices, or information that cannot be found, on the other hand, drive up the bounce rate.

With a clear navigation structure in its online shop, Fackelmann provides a good overview of all categories.
(Source: Screenshot from fackelmann.de)