Why conversion optimisation is crucial for online stores

At this moment, you may find yourself in a situation where you have a great product, your sourcing process is completely in order, your margins are healthy and the quality is excellent.

And yet, your revenue figures are still falling somewhat short. They are not as strong as you would like them to be. This is a familiar scenario for many e-commerce entrepreneurs. And there is a good chance that the problem does not lie with your product, but with your website.

Many entrepreneurs invest almost all their time, money and energy into generating more traffic. More visitors, more advertising and, ultimately, greater reach. But what good are thousands of visitors per day if only a handful of them actually end up buying something?

This is where the term conversion optimisation begins to play an important role.

What is conversion optimisation?

Conversion optimisation includes everything you can do to turn as many visitors to your online store as possible into actual paying customers. You achieve this by focusing on converting the average visitor more effectively, rather than simply generating more traffic to your online store.

Suppose you currently have an online store that attracts 10,000 visitors per month. One per cent of them buys one of the products you offer. That means a total of 100 products sold. Not bad, of course, but what if you managed to double your conversion rate from 1% to 2% with a few small adjustments? You would suddenly sell an additional 100 products without spending any extra money on advertising or SEO.

The great thing about this is that you often only need to make a few small changes that can have a major impact. For example, you could focus on improvements in the following areas:

• Your website’s loading speed
• The clarity of your product pages
• The level of trust your website conveys
• How easy the ordering process is
• The use of smart pop-ups

It is not without reason that so many successful e-commerce companies make significant investments in conversion optimisation. It remains one of the most profitable investments you can make as an entrepreneur. After all, you get more out of a budget you were already spending.

How can I optimise conversion on my website?

Enough theory. From this point onwards, let’s make things practical. With the step-by-step plan below, you can also get started with increasing the conversion rate of your online store.

Step 1: Analyse where visitors tend to drop off

Before changing anything, it is useful to first understand where things are going wrong. A helpful tip is to use a tool such as Google Analytics to see at which point visitors most often leave your online store.

For example, do you notice that people tend to leave on the product page itself? Then you may be missing convincing and clear information, such as high-quality product photos.

Are people dropping off at the checkout page? Then the problem is probably related to a checkout process that has not been fully optimised.

There are countless other examples as well.

Step 2: Build maximum trust on every page

Online shopping requires trust. Especially in the world we live in today, where the online offering is larger than ever. A visitor cannot simply pick up your product and test it in person, which makes it important to build that trust in other ways. You can do this, for example, through:

• Clear reviews and ratings
• Verifiable quality marks
• Payment icons
• Transparent shipping and return information
• Sharp, professional product photography
• Product videos in which your product is tested in real-life situations

A customer who is uncertain will click away very quickly. And that customer often will not return. Make sure that every page clearly answers that one subconscious question: can I trust this online store?

Step 3: Simplify the ordering process

This may well be the most underestimated step. Every unnecessary click or additional form costs you customers. It is crucial to remove unnecessary steps from the ordering process immediately and keep everything as simple and clear as possible.

Ultimately, it is a real shame when people still abandon their order just before they are about to pay.

The following questions can help you think more deeply about your ordering process:

• Does someone really need to create an account in order to place an order?
• Can the number of fields customers need to fill in be reduced?
• Is it clear which payment methods are available? And if so, could you add more?

Every small point of friction can cost you several percentage points in conversion.

Step 4: Test, measure and repeat

Conversion optimisation is not a one-time project, but an ongoing process. What works for one online store will not automatically work for another. That is why you should start running A/B tests. For example, change one element at a time, such as the text on your order button or the position of your reviews, and measure the effect.

This allows you to gradually build an online store that converts better and better, based on real data. And that is exactly what it is ultimately all about.

Why this is also relevant to your brand

At Redjumla, we often see this same pattern among entrepreneurs who are just beginning to scale. They build a strong brand, organise their sourcing down to the smallest detail, and then forget that the website itself also needs to function as a genuine sales machine.

That is why we first help entrepreneurs establish a strong product and brand. We then support them in developing a website focused on conversion optimisation.

Would you like to know how to manage everything involved as effectively as possible for your online store? Contact us and we would be happy to think along with you about how you can sell even more effectively.

FAQ

What exactly is conversion optimisation?

Conversion optimisation is the process of increasing the percentage of website visitors who actually go on to make a purchase. Instead of attracting more traffic, you get more value from the traffic you already have.

How can I increase the conversion rate of my online store?

Start by analysing visitor behaviour so you know exactly where people drop off. Then work on the level of trust your website conveys and the clarity of the information it provides, for example through reviews and quality marks. Simplify the ordering process and continue testing to find out which changes actually have an effect.

How much can conversion optimisation increase my revenue?

This varies significantly from one online store to another. However, increasing your conversion rate from 1% to 2% can potentially double your revenue without requiring you to spend more on advertising or SEO.

This only applies if factors such as the number of visitors, average order value and return rate remain the same. The exact impact depends on your current conversion rate and which obstacles you manage to resolve.

Is conversion optimisation a one-time action or an ongoing process?

Conversion optimisation is definitely an ongoing process. Customer behaviour changes, competitors adapt and new trends or opportunities will always emerge over time. What works well today may already be outdated six months from now. That is why you should continue testing and improving, instead of treating conversion optimisation as a one-time project.