Last Updated on February 13, 2023 by Team Experts

It comes as no surprise that the great majority of firms have switched to an overwhelmingly online form of commerce given the present state of the globe and the ease that digital marketing generally offers.

Online merchants must consider conversion rates as a key factor, and every business should work to improve them. Low conversion rates are a sign of an inadequate marketing plan and are frequently the outcome of subpar online sales tactics.

We’ll cover everything you need to know about conversion rates, including what they are, how to calculate them, and how you can use them to increase sales through e-commerce optimization, in this beginner’s guide to conversion rates.

Conversion rate optimization (CRO)

A business owner uses calculations known as e-commerce conversion rates to ascertain the proportion of website users who actually make purchases through their online store.

The goal of conversion rate optimization is to increase sales by using a variety of approaches and strategies to optimize the customer experience.

This procedure entails streamlining the checkout process for simple checkout, e-commerce site SEO, digital marketing, and many other eCommerce optimization techniques.

Computation of conversion rates

To get the conversion rate, divide the total number of conversions by the total number of site interactions.

Assume you receive 1000 visits per month.

50 of those visitors made purchases from your website. A 50/1000 ratio equals.05, or 5% conversion rate.

The typical eCommerce conversion rate is 2.2% or less, which is considered average. The objective is to obtain appropriate conversion statistics with an average conversion rate of 3% or higher.

Useful metrics for e-commerce websites

We previously discussed that the volume of interactions on your website might affect your e-commerce conversion rates. There are many metrics to measure and take into account, so while the number of visitors may be included, it is not the only one.

Here are a few distinct conversion rates that are often monitored by most e-commerce websites:

• CTR
• Sessions
• Bounce back rates
• Session lengths
• Exits

CTR

The click-through conversion rate is the proportion of individuals who click on your banner ad or another online advertisement on another website to those who go on to make a purchase as a result of clicking on the advertisement.

Session of pages

The pages per session measure are intriguing and offers useful information about typical customers’ browsing patterns.

The total number of unique page views divided by the number of sessions is used to compute the page-per-session rate.

The percentage of visitors that proceed past the landing page and convert to additional customers may be determined by looking at the page per session rate.

Bounce back rate

Bounce rates are conversion rates of site visitors who arrive via an advertisement or another method but depart right away, the opposite of pages per session.

One may calculate the bounce rate by dividing the overall number of sessions by the total number of single-page sessions.

Typical session length

The average session duration is self-explanatory; it represents the typical amount of time visitors spend in your eCommerce store throughout each session.

The average session length can reveal how well the site manages to keep traffic flowing from the time users log in until they leave and helps to suggest user retention.

Leave rate

The pace at which users leave a particular website page is known as the exit rate. This measure is calculated by dividing the total number of departures by the total number of unique page views.

This information may be quite useful in determining which pages are driving away potential buyers.

Similarly, if a post-purchase page has the greatest exit rate, something is obviously being done well.

Visit our comprehensive post on e-commerce analytics for additional details on the KPIs to monitor.

7 suggestions for increasing e-commerce conversion rates

Sometimes it may be difficult to find your way around the e-commerce sector, especially if you’re new to the digital world or have little to no expertise in digital marketing.

We’ve developed a list of 12 e-commerce conversion optimization tactics that are certain to raise eCommerce conversions and boost total retail sales for those who are unsure of where, to begin with their marketing strategy:

Make your product pages’ material user-friendly

Quality content marketing is the foundation of everything. You can’t just substitute “anything” for something. Keep in mind that every small thing counts.

Visitors will be wary and less inclined to make a purchase if your website appears amateurish and low-quality. This problem arises for two primary reasons: first, poor content damages your reputation and gives potential buyers the impression that your website is a swindle.

The second problem is that low-quality items are frequently indicated by low-quality content. At least, many clients will perceive it that way, and they will ultimately leave your website in favor of rivals with a stronger online presence.

For instance, providing a variety of product photos allows for a more thorough communication of the product’s features.

You probably won’t appear high in search results either. By adding high-quality graphics and information to your landing pages, you can easily increase traffic.

Improve your checkout procedure

It should be as simple to check out as to browse. Your conversion rates will inevitably drop if online shoppers are having trouble checking out.

Because not everyone is computer literate, having a drawn-out, challenging checkout procedure won’t be helpful to anyone. Some firms could even suffer more than others.

For instance, suppose your target market is an older age group with little internet usage and expertise since they weren’t reared online.

Since they are your primary customers, you don’t want to turn them away, thus you should take every possible measure to improve their experience.

An excellent website is simple to use and comprehend for all users. There shouldn’t be any too-lengthy fluff or “fine print” between the lines. Be clear and uncomplicated.

Fortunately, Rentle lets you personalize the checkout page for every product and only request data from the consumer that is pertinent to that product. Ski rentals, for instance, require more consumer data than rentals of many other items do.

Additionally, trust signals should be used throughout the checkout process to let customers know they are making a reliable purchase.

This will eventually result in brand trust and increase confidence in the reputation of your business.

Offer delivery that is cheap or free

Offering more consumers something that benefits them, like free or reduced delivery in your online business, is a great strategy to increase the average purchase value.

Since shipping is a necessary component of e-commerce, many customers appreciate the concept of free or cheap delivery and are more likely to make a purchase if there are no additional charges or fees if they don’t have to pay for shipping.

Offering free shipping while really including the cost of shipment in the product’s price is a cunning marketing ploy. In this manner, you get to charge the entire amount while the costs are covered by the clients secretly.

Making a promo code that deducts the cost of shipping is an additional choice.

Add social evidence

Social proof is the endorsement of your brand and its products by your users. It’s similar to when a famous person or other well-known figure promotes and suggests a product to their intended market.

Social proofs are crucial for establishing brand trust and increasing consumer motivation to purchase your company’s goods and services.

Since individuals are accustomed to seeking solace and approval in the words of others, it is more psychological than anything else. The conversion rates of your brand will certainly increase when groups of people are complimenting the goods and services provided by your company.

It is best to include this evidence near product descriptions on the home page so that customers can quickly learn what other people think.

When people first arrive at your eCommerce business, the goal is to provide them with a comprehensive list of reasons to believe in your brand.

Adapt to mobile users

Daily internet traffic on mobile devices accounts for 65% of total internet traffic worldwide, which is much more than 53%.

Additionally, it is logical. People are always on the move, and cell phones have taken over the world of communication. Naturally, there will be a large number of individuals taking advantage of this easy access to the internet.

Since so many people access the internet via mobile devices, optimizing your website for them should be standard practice since 43.2% of users would remove it if it is not mobile-friendly.

This doesn’t necessarily imply you should create an app for your company, though it could be helpful in some circumstances, it just means you should make sure mobile customers can easily access everything on your website. 

Rentle takes care of automatically optimizing your online store for mobile devices, so you don’t have to bother about it.

Shopping online on a mobile device should be just as simple as doing it on a PC if you follow all the proper instructions (or even more manageable).

Use techniques to prevent shopping cart abandonment

When a customer adds products to their online shopping basket but then leaves the page before making a purchase, this is known as shopping cart abandonment.

There are several reasons why a consumer could act in this way.

It’s possible that they just became bored or discovered something else. If this is the case, there isn’t really anything you can do.

There’s also a potential that they accidentally abandoned the checkout process or forgot to make the transaction.

In each of these scenarios, a shopping cart abandonment tool could prove useful. Even with Google Analytics, you can perform a rudimentary cart abandonment study, but there are also several specialized conversion rate enhancement solutions for the job.

Customers who have abandoned their online shopping carts will get emails from a shopping cart abandonment plugin reminding them of the things in their basket.

This could improve conversion rates and reduce the likelihood that customers would forget to make the transaction.

Email addresses

You should aim to get your clients’ email addresses before they leave your eCommerce website since email marketing may be a highly successful method to increase sales. Once you have their email address, you may add them to your email list.

You may get a visitor’s email address through a variety of methods.

If you have a newsletter, you may ask people to subscribe on your home page. If you have a large number of readers, this method is successful and rather direct.

You may also make register for an account on your website need an email address.

This is a terrific strategy to increase the size of your email list if clients have a cause to register for an account or membership with your company.

The best way to collect email addresses is to ask consumers who are purchasing something to do so.

Although technically not required for billing information, few will challenge your need for it.

Additionally, they are target consumers who will be more open to any emails you send them since they have been added to your email list.

Conclusion

Many individuals associate internet buying with ease and usefulness.

You will see greater conversion rates as long as your e-commerce website gives users access to these two essential elements.

There are many resources in the shape of study courses, journals, and other reliable sources accessible if you still want to learn more.

As long as you know how increasing conversion rates is actually not that difficult. With the help of the 7 suggestions in this post, we hope you have all the information you need to improve your conversion rates and gain the acclaim your company deserves.

Read more: 5 Reasons Why Contract Management is Critical in your Business