Increasing your ecommerce conversion rates is a critical part of making the most of your site traffic. Many business owners work so hard to attract visitors, but don’t successfully convert them into buyers.

Investing heavily in attracting website traffic is irrelevant if these individuals do not convert into customers. If you're experiencing low website conversion rates, your problem may be technical, design, copy, or all of the above. Addressing these challenges will help your business increase buyers and help to lower bounce rates and lost opportunities.

Here is a closer look at five strategies that might help you to increase your e-commerce conversion rate.

‍Understand the average ecommerce conversion rate – and how you compare

‍It’s nearly impossible to forecast a general ecommerce conversion rate. Big Commerce estimates the range is between 1% on the low end and 5% on the optimistic end. Digging into specific resources for your industry and product category can help you develop a better sense of what’s realistic for your business.

From high-level perspective, when conversion rates ecommerce are below 2%, that signals an urgent need to focus on optimization. If your rates are higher than 5%, you’re doing a great job reaching your desired audience and should focus on micro-optimizations that can further lift your conversions.

‍Improve your site’s search and discoverability to help people quickly find productsCustomers can’t purchase items they can’t find. That’s why business designers and site owners need to focus on product discoverability. There are several ways to do this, including:

• Setting up an easy search feature on your site to let users incorporate keyword search
• Developing an information architecture that creates a single product page for each item you sell, with clear descriptions, images and tags that will improve both organic SEO and general navigation
• Choosing an overall site navigation that makes it easy for site visitors to find products, services or other information
• Creating shoppable social galleries that curate and display user generated content of your products, here is an example of this from Gaiam which is powered by Pixlee.

Remove friction from the checkout processOne of the biggest barriers to your ecommerce conversion rate is a difficult checkout process. Often, buyers add a product to their cart and then become frustrated due to checkout processes that require too much information, too many clicks, or that have too many forms with required fields. Boil your checkout process down to its essential information: contact and shipping details, payment information and product requirements. Think about the least complex way to get that information and design your process around that. Focus on simplicity and minimizing clicks, while also optimizing forms for mobile device users. The easier it is to check out of your website, the more likely buyers are to complete their purchase and come back in the future.

‍Focus on your calls to action

‍The average ecommerce conversion rate suffers due to one simple factor: retailers fail to focus on a clear call to action. A call to action (CTA) tells a visitor on a specific page what to do. For example, when a visitor lands on a product page, the CTA might advise them to add the product to their cart. In another instance, the CTA at the end of a blog post might be to purchase a related product or download more information. Look at your website through the lens of providing a clear path to purchase, and make sure each page or piece of content has a single, clear and actionable CTA to focus on. Simplify CTAs that may be too complex, and ensure CTAs stand out from a design perspective.

‍Continuously test everything from ongoing improvements

‍There’s a saying in conversion optimization that “smart brands should always be testing.” By continuously forming hypotheses on what is effective with your audience and testing them, you’ll be focused on a creating an increasingly effective consumer experience. When testing elements, think of everything from the copywriting on your pages to page layouts to calls to action. With each test, it is possible to identify which approach to a specific design or word change can lift your conversions. When compounded over time, approaching conversion optimization as a continuous process can lead to a significant increase in revenue and sales.

Conversion optimization is a powerful way to increase your site’s conversion rates. Develop a basic understanding of the average conversion rate ecommerce in your industry, and then develop a plan that helps you improve your own performance. From clear call to actions to strategically increasing your site’s discoverability, investing in improving the customer experience will yield a strong ROI for your business.