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Each month we will feature a question from you – our readers! So send your burning SEM questions to: Ask an Expert. This month's question comes from Sara:
How do I increase my conversion rate?
Without actually seeing your Web site and trying the shopping cart, this is a difficult question to answer. However, there are some general guidelines that will apply to any Web site. Read on for some hands-on advice for increasing your conversion rate, but first...
What is conversion rate, anyway?
For those who are new to Internet marketing, conversion rate is the ratio between the number of visitors to your web site, and the number of those visitors who make a purchase. To calculate your conversion rate, you divide the number of orders placed online by the number of visitors who came to your site. In other words, if 100 people came to your Web site and four people bought something, you would have a four percent conversion rate.
Remember: Not all traffic is good traffic
So, the number one goal in increasing your conversion rate is to entice more of your visitors into making a purchase, right? Well, that's part of it. The other part is to make sure that you are attracting the kinds of visitors who are most likely to buy.
A Higher Conversion Rate, in Five Easy Steps:
With these two objectives in mind, here are five steps that will help you increase your conversion rate that will apply to almost any retail Web site:
- Identify your target customer and market to him/her. Ask yourself, who are you selling to? Find out who your customers are and target your marketing efforts to them. Speak their language. This way, you can be sure that you are drawing the right kind of traffic to your site – customers who will buy rather than just look around and leave.
- Streamline your shopping cart and checkout. Once a visitor decides to buy, the checkout process should be completely seamless. Study your log files to see where shoppers are abandoning their carts. Review the purchasing process on your Web site over and over again from every possible angle in order to identify any frustrations or roadblocks. And study the shopping carts on popular e-commerce Web sites to see if you can incorporate any of their innovations into your own shopping cart and checkout.
- Guide shoppers towards a purchase. The sole objective of your Web site should be to gently entice shoppers into making a purchase. The decision to buy should always a click away no matter where visitors are on your site. This does not mean that you need to add blinking yellow “buy” banners all over your site - but you should never display a product without a very obvious “add to shopping cart” option.
- Make sure that your Web site is easy to use. Maybe you know how to use your Web site to find exactly what you are looking for. Then again, you built it. To really find out if people can use your site, you have to get outside the office. Bring a few less-than-Web-savvy people in to use your site and watch them carry out routine tasks. And regularly quiz your customer service staff about what kinds of problems your customers are having. Then adjust your Web site accordingly.
- Instill trust. Good Web design is all about getting the customer to feel comfortable about making a purchase on your site. Make sure that this good feeling stays - from the minute they land on your Web site, right up until they receive a confirmation email. Provide quality images of your products and comprehensive descriptions so that shoppers know exactly what they are buying. Don't abruptly change your look-and-feel at the shopping cart and checkout - keep your customer's confidence and you will close the sale.
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We hope you enjoyed the first of many issues of the Ecom Expert to come! Stay tuned for the November newsletter! Have feedback for us? Have a question? Email us at newsletter@ecomaccess.com - we'd love to hear from you!
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