Every website should be built with conversions in mind. After all, all websites have one function and one function alone: to get across their point, and win supporters or buyers. There are many brilliant articles and tutorials written about conversion optimisation. Below, however, is a set of tips and tactics, with statistics to back them up, that should help greatly boost the sales and conversions of any website.
Simple, to the point site navigation
Getting the right navigation for a normal website is crucial. When it comes to E-Commerce, however, it is do or die. A website’s navigation must be slick, easily navigable, and conversion oriented.
Make your website or items Social
83% percent of online shoppers share information about their purchases with people they know, while 74 percent are influenced by the opinions of others in their decision to buy the product in the first place. The potential offered by Social Media is vast, and not to be overlooked. Take advantage of this. Put a Facebook ‘like’ or ‘recommend’ button on each page of your website, as well as on each product that you are selling.
Take advantage of User Reviews
63% of consumers indicate they are more likely to purchase from a site if it has user generated product ratings and reviews. This is especially true for user searching for hotels or holiday packages, of which 83% look for onsite user reviews. Do not ignore this. Make it possible for customers to leave reviews and feedback.
Have a ‘top rated products’ section
Have a ‘top rated products’ section available in the main navigational tool bar. Top-rated products site navigation path featuring 4- and 5-star products in each category has shown to deliver and average of 49% higher conversions. These conversions then work out to be an average of 63% higher in value.
Minimise the number of advertisers on your site.
People don’t like websites crammed with advertisements. It puts them off, and they turn to a cleaner, less push e-retailer instead. Users have shown that they are also less likely to Facebook ‘like’ or ‘share’ websites that have high ad-to-content ratios. This has not become even more prevalent, in the dawn of the Google Panda Update. Websites are now being actively penalised in the Search Engine Rankings for having too many advertisers.
Start minimizing the number of advertisers you have on your website. Make sure that the content always comes first on a web page. NEVER START A WEB PAGE WITH AN ADVERTISEMENT. Sorry for shouting, but we can’t make that point too strongly!
