Having low eCommerce conversion rates is the most significant concern for marketers who have online stores.
If you cannot convert your web traffic into customers, or you experience a drastic drop in your conversion rates, your revenue will reduce significantly. The best way of dealing with such an issue is by identifying the cause.
For an eCommerce website, a conversion occurs when a visitor purchases an item or adds it to their wish list. If your traffic is doing neither, you have a problem in your hands.
The Top Reasons for Low eCommerce Conversion Rates
Here are the top reasons why your ecommerce website is experiencing low conversion rates.
- A poor first impression
- An undefined target audience
- Poor site optimisation
- Non-responsive website.
- Low-quality product description
- Low-quality product images
- Unconvincing copy
- Several distractions
- A vague call-to-action
- Distrust
- Expensive shipping fees
- Complicated checkout
- Lack of exit-intent popups
- Lack of retargeting strategies
- Non-functional tracking codes
- Wrong pricing strategy
- Lack of abandonment emails
- Lack of testing
- External factors
- No live chat
Factors That Hurt Your eCommerce Conversion Rates
The following are the reasons behind the low conversion rates on your eCommerce website.
A Poor First Impression
Your eCommerce website should be easy to use. If a potential customer is looking for a specific product, they should find it quickly.
Here are the most common challenges that leave a poor first impression on your visitors.
- Poor navigation – customers should find what they want easily.
- Poor search – your search functionality should deliver accurate results.
- Poor sorting and filtering – you should include filters to allow users to refine searches.
If you are getting traffic without conversions or suffering from a high bounce rate, you need to redesign your site. The company you choose to do your website design in Singapore must focus on providing an optimal browsing experience to users. This way, you can significantly boost your conversion rates.
An Undefined Target Audience
You cannot improve your website conversion rate without knowing your target audience. If you optimise your eCommerce website for the wrong people, you will notice any improvements in your conversions.
It is vital to know the preferences of your existing and potential customers when looking to improve your eCommerce conversion rates. You need to evaluate their behaviour when they are on your website, as well as their activities on social media. You can also collect information by posting surveys on your website.
Once you have a defined audience, it is easier to optimise your website and get more conversions.
Poor Site Optimisation
Another reason for low conversion rates is poor site optimisation. In this case, you need to implement SEO such that your site appears on top of search results when people search for keywords related to your business.
Besides, you also need to ensure that your content is valuable to your audience. Many marketers hurt their conversion rates by focusing on keywords and failing to create matching content.
Non-responsive Website
Many people are now using their mobile phones to research before purchasing items online. You should make a responsive website that displays correctly across all devices. If your site is non-responsive, you cannot convert mobile users.
Poor Product Description
The quality of your product description influences the buying decision. If the description is poor, it lowers the conversion rate. A proper description shows the features and benefits of a product to the clients. With this information, the user will see that the product is valuable, and this increases the chances of converting.
Low-quality Images
Images have a significant impact on your eCommerce conversion rates. The higher the quality, the more the conversions you get. You should use high-quality images over blurred options. The same applies for video, as a higher quality gets more likes and shares, and gets many conversions as well.
Unconvincing Copy
Your copy should be informative, free of errors and persuasive. It should also evoke the emotions of the reader.
More importantly, it should be persuasive, as this increases conversion rates. A persuasive copy shows consistency, authority and has social proof.
Additionally, your copy must include action words that evoke emotion and encourage the user to take a specific action.
Several Distractions
The content on your eCommerce website should strictly focus on what you are selling. Many distractions such as ads are likely to turn visitors away.
Vague Call-to-action
Your call-to-action must be clear and compelling. It should plainly state what action you want the user to take. For instance, if you are offering a free eBook, it should state ‘click here to download X eBook.’
The design of your CTA button is also important. You should use a design that makes it stand out from other on-page elements.
Distrust
There is a correlation between trust and sales – if your customers trust your brand, you will make more sales. Here are some of the ways you can build trust.
- Do not send spam messages. Only send marketing messages after getting consent.
- Improve social proof by getting customer reviews.
- Ensure that your site shows your address and contact details. You should also add photos of your business premises.
- Display security badges so that shoppers trust you with their credit card details.
Expensive Shipping Fees
Expensive shipping fees are a leading cause for cart abandonment on ecommerce websites. The best way of curbing this challenge is by offering free shipping. If you already have this offer, you should make sure that every visitor knows by putting a display banner on the checkout page.
Complicated Checkout
Many people often add items to their shopping carts but fail to confirm the checkout page. A complicated checkout page is one of the main reasons for this trend.
If you hire a company to do website design in Singapore, make sure that they adhere to the following practices when creating your checkout page.
- The page should be free of clutter.
- Include a status bar that shows the progress of the buying process.
- Display a photo band short description of the product being purchased.
- Display security badges that reassure the buyer of the safety of their card details.
Lack of Exit-intent Popups
A smart way of increasing your eCommerce conversion rates is by including exit-intent popups on your website. This functionality displays a popup message with an offer when a visitor attempts to leave your site without converting.
You can boost the effectiveness of exit-intent popups by using page-level targeting. This means that the popup will show something related to the products the user was browsing. For instance, if they were browsing for mobile phones, it could display the phone with the biggest discount.
Lack of Retargeting Strategies
Retargeting is an excellent strategy if you engage in digital marketing in Singapore. Using this tactic, you can grab the attention of people who leave your site without converting. It is particularly effective in persuading users who were not ready to purchase your products at the time.
Non-functional Tracking Codes
Your analytics tracking code is one of the external factors that could lower your website conversion rate. In most cases, poor installation of the code is the reason behind a drop in the number of conversions.
Wrong Pricing Strategy
The price of a product has a massive impact on the buying decision. A poor pricing strategy can reduce your conversion rates. However, you can use psychological pricing tactics to boost conversions. These include;
- Bundling related products.
- Using price tags such as S$99 instead of S$100.
- Use small but visible fonts.
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There are also dynamic pricing solutions like Dealavo that help automate your pricing strategy for you so that your products are always competitive
Lack of Abandonment Emails
Many marketers in Singapore miss out on potential conversions by failing to send abandonment emails. These are follow-up messages sent to visitors who fail to complete an order after adding items to their cart.
Here is how to send abandonment emails and get positive results.
- Send the first message within an hour after the abandonment. You should ask the user what prompted the abandonment.
- The second should follow within 24 hours. It should alert the visitor that their cart will expire.
- The last email should offer an incentive to encourage the user to buy the product. For example, you can offer a discount or a coupon code.
Lack of Testing
You should continually test your website if you want to improve your conversion rates. Tests allow you to see the strategies that need improvement and those that are generating a positive ROI.
Another way of conducting tests is by setting up split test campaigns. A split test is where you segment your audience and send different messages to see what they like.
External Factors
Sometimes, external factors can hurt your eCommerce conversion rates. For instance, a rival might introduce a product that ‘steals’ buyers from your site to theirs.
Here are some ways of mitigating the effects of external factors on your conversion rate optimisation campaign.
- Set up Google Alerts to get notifications about any new developments in competing businesses.
- Monitoring competitor keywords using SEMRush and Moz.
- Analysing the traffic received by rival companies.
- Checking the type of content that is driving conversions on other websites.
- Keeping a log of social media analytics.
No Live Chat
Shoppers love it when you interact with them. Besides adding a human feel to your website, it provides a channel for customers who want assistance when buying products.
Conclusion
If you are experiencing low eCommerce conversion rates, it is probably because of one or a combination of the reasons mentioned above. You should avoid them if you want to convert leads into customers and boost the revenue earned by your business.
Lastly, you should conduct regular site audits to identify the weaknesses that are hurting your conversion rates. Keep in mind that consumer behaviour is always changing, and what is boosting conversions today might not be as effective in the following month.
Call us today on +65 6789 9852 for more tips on how to optimise your eCommerce store and do digital marketing in Singapore.
