How to increase conversion rates at e-commerce sites

Getting traffic to an e-commerce site is only the first part of what the site needs to bring in business. Numerous factors affect consumers' decisions to buy, with price being only one of them.

Contents 1 Information availability 2 No return policy 3 Shipping costs 4 Pricing 5 Ease of checkout 6 See also

Information availability

Types of information that are often difficult to find or not available at e-commerce sites:

• All the product details that consumers want to know, such as dimensions when the product is set up or whether the product is intended for both indoor or outdoor use
• A phone number or email address that consumers can use to ask questions
• The location that the items will be shipped from
• Shipping costs
• Whether the company ships to their location
• The warranty
• The return policy

Link to all relevant information from each product page, and include a search box so that consumers can search for information that might still be elsewhere at the site.

No return policy

Having a return policy that's difficult to find will keep some consumers from reaching checkout. Not allowing returns at all will cause more consumers to shop elsewhere.

Shipping costs

Consumers want to know shipping costs before they put items in the shopping cart. If they have to put something in a shopping cart to find out how much shipping will cost them, the rate of shopping cart abandonment will rise. If you have to have items in the shopping cart to determine shipping costs, at least allow consumers to find out the cost before going to checkout. Better still, publish a shipping price guideline, such as a rate per pound based on geographical area. The shopping cart is then only needed to calculate the exact amount, and consumers will already have a good idea of their shipping price.

Having high shipping prices will also turn people away. Consumers don't like thinking that they've found a bargain and then finding the savings eaten up by unexpectedly high shipping prices. Instead of inflated prices for shipping, free shipping with shipping costs included in the price is often psychologically more appealing for consumers.

Pricing

A price of $11.95 is pretty well the same price as $12.00, but people tend to think of the first price as lower. Even though they know that there's only a five-cent difference, the first part of the price registers more in people's minds.

Showing discounts also influences how people perceive prices. Originally $16.95, now $11.95 sounds like a better deal than just $11.95.

Ease of checkout

Some online merchants see checkout as an opportunity to collect information about customers for marketing purposes. While the information may be useful, the longer it takes to go through checkout, the more people will abandon the process. Keep it simple, and check the process regularly to make sure that everything is working right.

See also

• How to set up an ecommerce site
• Vital strategies to building a successful e-commerce store
• E-commerce terminology