Ecommerce Conversion Rate
Optimization: The Ultimate Guide

If you’re an ecommerce site owner, a marketer, or simply an ecommerce enthusiast, this detailed guide on conversion rate optimization is for you! In short: if you want to sell more online, you’ll love it. Let’s dive in!

Ecommerce conversion rate optimization guide

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Chapters

Chapter 1

Conversion rate e-commerce basics

What is conversion rate optimization?

Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is all about increasing the percentage of website visitors that complete a desired action.

We call the action they take a “conversion,” and it could be anything from buying a product to signing up for a newsletter or registering for a webinar.

But when we’re talking about ecommerce conversion rates, we’re usually referring to purchases.

What's the average conversion rate for ecommerce stores?

We turned to Littledata for some ecommerce conversion rate benchmarks. They found that the average ecommerce conversion rate is 1.3%.

If your website’s conversion rate is above 3.2%, you’re already in the best 20% of stores.

How to get started with conversion rate optimization?

If you want to get started with conversion rate optimization, you’ll need to understand the basic steps involved:

  1. Research phase: This is where you discover the parts of your conversion funnel that need tweaking.
  2. Hypothesis phase: This is where you form a working hypothesis based on your metrics and research.
  3. Prioritization phase: This is where you figure out what to attack first.
  4. Testing phase: This is where you put a variant of your website (based on your hypothesis) up against the existing version of your website.
  5. Learning phase: This is where you deploy the winning variant and gather information for future tests and planning.

Recommended reading: What Are the Steps of Conversion Optimization: A Conversion Framework

Chapter 2

Conversion data

The best way to get ahead with conversion rate optimization is by gathering solid, actionable data.

Let’s take a look at how you can do that.

Gather qualitative and quantitative data

Quantitative data can be defined as “the cold, hard numbers.” This is the information that is not up for interpretation… it just is what it is. 

In ecommerce, quantitative metrics include:

  • click-through rates,
  • time on site,
  • visitor counts,
  • and really any marketing measure that can be represented numerically. 

With Google Analytics, you can track almost anything. Leads generated, new visitor conversion rate, returning visitor conversion rate, cost per acquisition, and average order value are some of the top metrics you should measure. 

google-analytics-dashboard

However, quantitative data doesn’t paint the full picture. To dramatically improve your business, you’ll also need qualitative data. 

Qualitative data leaves more room for interpretation and can be analyzed subjectively. Instead of just accepting what the numbers say, qualitative data asks “why?”  

Some popular ways to collect this data include customer interviews, focus groups, and other observational methods. 

Customer surveys are a great way to not only show that you care, but also to find solutions to problems you’re not even aware of.

Conversion rate optimization (CRO) with a customer survey

Here are 6 examples of the kind of questions you can include in your surveys: 

  1. What convinced you to buy from us?
  2. What other options did you consider before you bought from us?
  3. Were you unsure about anything when you made your purchase?
  4. What are you using our product for? What problem does it solve for you?
  5. How is your life better thanks to our product?
  6. What do you like most about our product?

Recommended reading: 30 Customer Feedback Questions to Ask in 2023 (& Tools to Use)

How to mine your data for actionable conversion insights

Ok, so you’ve gathered all this data, how do you efficiently go through it and put an action plan together? 

By using proper data evaluation methods. 

For example, when looking at the survey responses, you want to analyze patterns, objections, and language: 

  • Make note of words that keep popping up, things that are emphasized, etc. 
  • For objections, make note of the “points of resistance” or places that made browsing, searching, or buying difficult for your users. 
  • Pay attention to the language used to describe your website, your design, your business, etc. The words used in these surveys make for incredible social proof, powerful sales copy, and other compelling marketing intel. 

Chapter 3

User experience optimization

One of the most important steps when it comes to increasing conversions is understanding the customer journey.

Think of how smooth and effortless browsing on Apple’s homepage feels, or how easy the checkout process is when shopping for something on Amazon (both desktop and mobile).

That’s the power of great UX design.

How do your users find navigation on your ecommerce site? Are you making their experience as enjoyable and simple as possible? Are you providing the same excellent experience for mobile users and desktop users?

These are all important questions you need answers to if you’re serious about optimizing the customer journey.

In general, the on-site user journey should flow something like this:

  1. Website discovery
  2. Product search/discovery
  3. Product page
  4. Cart
  5. Checkout
  6. Confirmation

You’ll want to optimize every step of this journey:

  • In the website discovery stage, you should position the brand clearly and create a positive first impression as soon as possible. 
  • In the product search stage, you should make it easy for your users to find what they’re looking for.  
  • When the user gets to the product page, your calls-to-action like “buy now” or “add to cart” should be in prominent places and as easy as possible to find. You should describe the products using power words and clear language. 
  • With the average cart abandonment hovering around 67%, this is clearly a problem that desperately needs a solution. You can shrink your cart abandonment rates dramatically by implementing positive user experience techniques like showing a clear cart summary and having tailored exit popups that enrich the shopping experience. 
  • The checkout and confirmation stages can be optimized by allowing users to check out as guests, accommodating a wide range of payment methods, providing detailed order confirmation after checkout, and sending updates via email.

Now let’s take a look at a few other key factors that could have an effect on the user experience and might be worth optimizing.

Page speed

How fast does your website load?

If you don’t know the answer to that, you may be missing out on an opportunity to convert more visitors and you should conduct a website audit. Here are some facts about page speed, according to Shopify: 

  • 79% of customers who are dissatisfied with a website’s performance are less likely to buy from that site again 
  • 64% of smartphone users expect a website to load in 4 seconds or less 
  • 47% of online shoppers expect web pages to load in two seconds or less 

These percentages could potentially represent thousands of dollars out the window if your website is slow to load.

You can check your page speed by using this free Google application:

Optimize online store conversion rate with google page speed insights

Mobile optimization

In this increasingly mobile-first world, it’s imperative to optimize for mobile. You’re putting yourself at a serious disadvantage if there’s anything off on mobile devices, like design, navigation, load times, or button placement.

Tools like PageInsights or Mobile-Friendly Test can help you find the places where mobile optimization might be lacking.

google-mobile-friendly-test

When optimizing your site for the best possible experience on a mobile device, ask yourself these questions: 

  • Might you need to eliminate some of the content on smaller devices to simplify the experience? 
  • How will your navigation work on different devices?
  • Are clickable elements easily tappable?
  • How will you handle the layout of grids and images on different devices?
  • Are your images beautiful and crisp on retina screens?
  • Is the add-to-cart, checkout, and payment workflow optimized for different screen sizes?

Chapter 4

Ecommerce website optimization

When it comes to optimizing an ecommerce website for conversions, there are a few foundational elements you’ll want to make sure you’ve got covered.

Have a strong value proposition

Creating a strong value proposition is an essential part of running a successful ecommerce business.  

Your value proposition is your brand’s identity. It’s what you use to create trust and build a tribe of loyal brand evangelists that will be singing the praises of your store for years to come. 

So where do you begin? What is the formula for writing a kick-ass unique selling proposition?

  1. Identify all the benefits your product offers (Note: benefits are not the same as features) 
  2. Describe what makes these benefits valuable 
  3. Identify your customer’s main problem 
  4. Connect this value to your buyer’s problem 
  5. Differentiate yourself as the best option to provide this value 

Here’s a great example from Nutro’s homepage that highlights that their products are “made of real, recognizable, non-GMO ingredients.”

value-proposition-example

If you’d like to learn more about how to find the right value proposition for your visitor segments, watch this video:

Build trust

The rise of advertising fraud, fake reviews, and fake influencers have made shoppers very wary of online brands in general. This decline in consumer trust means you’ll have to work that much harder to gain it and keep it. 

The best way to create trust? By making one hell of a first impression. 

And to do that, you’ll want to focus on website optimization: make sure your website is clean, mobile-responsive, contains high-quality images, displays information properly, and generally offers a pleasant browsing experience. 

Here are some other trust-building techniques that can help to increase your site’s conversion rate: 

  1. Using trust signals like testimonials, video product reviews, professional/medical affiliations, celebrity endorsements, etc.
  2. Showing off the products using high-quality images.
  3. Showing empathy for the users by making helpful docs, tutorials, and other materials easy to find.
  4. Making the user experience accessible. Are you catering to users with disabilities? Is your site too reliant on visuals? Do you have other options for people to search for what they want?
  5. Validating your user’s beliefs. Some of the most helpful articles start with “If you’ve had enough of wasting time looking for X, you’ve come to the right place.”
  6. Playing the long game. Trust takes time to build, and you’ve got to keep this customer-centric way of operating in everything you do. Always make sure that they have the easiest, most pleasant experience when interacting with your brand.

Increase scarcity and urgency

Why do some people camp outside (even in crappy conditions) for up to 3 days in advance waiting for the latest Supreme drop? And why do some people literally fight over Black Friday deals at Best Buy (yes, I know it’s ridiculous)? 

It’s because these companies have figured out how to create scarcity and urgency and take full advantage of it. 

FOMO (fear of missing out) is not just another 4 letter acronym for you to use to show how cool you are… it’s a real, powerful marketing concept that you can use to drive sales in your business. 

Of course, shopping online is a little different than lining up at a physical storefront, but it’s still possible to create this “craving” for your products with the right execution. 

There are many ways to make your visitors feel there is a ticking clock urging them to make a purchase now.

One of the best ways to create a sense of urgency is with a product or offer that’s only available for a limited time. A countdown timer can help to emphasize the time limitation and increase conversions even more.

Limited quantity (scarcity) is another great way to create a sense of urgency. You can even combine techniques, as Groupon does in the example below. They encourage their visitors to buy a product before they run out of time or before the item is no longer available.

increasing-scarcity-and-urgency

Another powerful way of creating a sense of urgency is by showing that the product a visitor is currently looking at is already in the shopping cart of another customer.

You can also display how many people are currently viewing the item and how many times it was viewed today or in the past week.

Simply presenting the number of purchases and remaining stock can also be effective to encourage your customers to make a purchase.

increasing-scarcity-and-urgency-groupon-example

Optimize your homepage

Think of your homepage as your virtual storefront. It’s an excellent place to seduce your visitors and turn them into customers using the powerful conversion techniques covered in this guide.

Here are some ways for you to improve ecommerce conversion rates on your homepage: 

  1. Promote your bestsellers to new visitors
  2. Use browsing history to personalize product recommendations for returning visitors
  3. Highlight your main value proposition
  4. Welcome returning customers with a personalized message (see example below)
Improve online store conversion rate on your homepage

Using OptiMonk’s Embedded Content feature, you can easily create a section on your homepage that’s only visible to returning customers. This will help to improve the conversion rate among this segment.

Chapter 5

Product page optimization

Your product pages play a major role in your conversion optimization process. 

In a moment, we’ll dive deeper into the various factors that make product pages outstanding, but before that, let’s talk about the overall purpose of a product page.

A product page is used to provide your shoppers with information about a specific product or service (and your brand). This is the place where you want to be including all the information they need to make a decision.

Write killer product descriptions

To write solid product descriptions, you need to harness copywriting principles like good storytelling, using magnetic headlines, focusing on benefits, and making your words as clear as possible. 

In the example below, Revelation! provides details on the product (a suitcase) and highlights all the most important product-specific information such as which airlines allow you to take it on board:

product-description-in-ecommerce

Using photos effectively

Notice how top companies like Nike, Adidas, Apple, and ASOS showcase their products?

The use of high-quality imagery, multiple viewing options, displaying different angles, using the right thumbnails, and maintaining consistency throughout play a major role in their success. 

Best Buy is really good at using product images. They use huge, top-quality images and videos to demonstrate what a product looks like.

product-photos-in-ecommerce

Use product videos

Video is quickly rising as one of the best tools for marketing and sales in just about any industry.

Here are some interesting stats on the power of video marketing

  • Including a video on your landing page can boost your conversion rate by up to 80%
  • Video increases organic search traffic on a website by 157%

With ecommerce, video can deliver a dramatic uplift in leads, sales, and revenue.

Here are 5 powerful ways of effectively using video in ecommerce: 

  1. The “how-to” video: Demonstrate how to use your product.
  2. The “product-in-use” video: Try to use actors who look like your target audience and demonstrate the product in action.
  3. The “close-up” video: This zooms in on your product to show the details, the craftsmanship, and other aspects that you want to highlight to entice users to buy.
  4. The “installation” video: This describes how to install or assemble your product.
  5. The “story” video: This is where you describe the story of your product and how/why it came to be. This video is a great opportunity to use emotion to draw your shoppers in.

Use personalization

If you sell products that can be targeted to several different customer segments, then you probably realize that the same product can have multiple value propositions based on who you’re targeting!

For example, a blender can be useful for busy parents who just want a quick, healthy breakfast…

But also for avid gym-goers who would love to elevate their workouts with a protein smoothie…

In this case, you probably have Facebook ads targeting different groups of people based on demographics, but they all land on the same product page.

To increase the conversion rate of these ads (and your product pages) you should display personalized product messaging for each customer group. Using our Dynamic Content feature, you can easily personalize your product pages and increase conversion rates by at least 10%.

Testing different value propositions

A low conversion rate could be a sign that your product page is too focused on features (as opposed to benefits), or that you simply haven’t used the right value proposition.

Either way, you should consider testing different value propositions to find out which USP resonates most with your visitors and potential customers.

Finding the best value propositions by using data and not just your gut instinct will increase your conversion rates and drive more sales for your business.

Use social proof to build trust

People are more likely to buy a product when that product has been validated by other people. 

You can leverage social proof by displaying customer reviews and user-generated content in many different places, but especially on your product pages.

Check out how BOOM! by Cindy Joseph leverages the power of social proof with 20K+ reviews below one of their lipsticks:

social-proof-for-trust-building

Increase urgency

We mentioned before that increasing urgency is important in ecommerce. 

Companies like Amazon use a host of urgency-increasing techniques on their product pages. You’re probably familiar with their “Same-Day Delivery or Next-Day Delivery before a certain time” technique.

increasing-sense-of-urgency

This technique is so powerful because it provides instant gratification (getting your product as soon as possible), something that 75% of shoppers value. 

From displaying product stock levels to creating time-sensitive discount codes, there are many different urgency-creating techniques you can implement. 

Try upselling

Upselling can be defined as offering your customers a better (more expensive) item when they add a product to their cart or on the checkout page. 

However, the most profitable ecommerce sites combine upselling, cross-selling, and down-selling to find the best way to maximize their profits with each customer.

upselling-cross-selling-down-selling

Here’s a 4-step guide to successfully upsell without annoying your customers:

  1. Install an upsell app/plugin: Huge ecommerce platforms like Shopify, Magento, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce all have different upsell apps for you to try out. These are quick, easy plugins that integrate with your site seamlessly.
  2. Determine the best products to upsell: Bundle “him and her” products, upsell accessories, create a ”buy one, get one for X% off” offer, promote related or recommended products, and so on. These are just a few ideas to get you going when thinking about cross-selling and upselling.
  3. Run your offer for at least 1-2 weeks: you’ll want to run your campaigns and then check the conversion rates. By A/B testing things like price, item offered, and copy, you can get a better sense of how your campaign is doing after this period.
  4. Measure, tweak, repeat: If one of your campaigns works, that’s great news! As mentioned before, always be open to experimenting with other ideas and looking for ways to improve the ones that are performing well.

You can get started with these upselling popup templates if you’d like to increase ecommerce conversion rates quickly:

Chapter 6

Landing page optimization​

Landing pages act as a tool to persuade website visitors to take action on an offer.  

A high-converting landing page uses elements like a magnetic headline, powerful body copy, convincing social proof, and an irresistible call-to-action button to persuade shoppers to make a purchase. 

Landing page design principles

There are certain design principles and landing page best practices that are pretty much universal when it comes to increasing conversions on landing pages.

Here they are:

  1. Dedicate your landing page to one purpose. Don’t confuse your visitors by asking them to do 2 or 3 different things. Each landing page should have a singular call-to-action for a singular goal.
  2. Make your content skimmable. Your visitors are busy and you don’t have much time to get (and keep) their attention. Leverage a short, sweet call-to-action and balance visuals to get the point across on your landing page.
  3. Properly display trust indicators. For example, social proof and trust badges.
  4. Place your call-to-action above the fold. You definitely want to make your call-to-action as obvious as possible.
  5. Use the right color scheme. The colors you use have a profound impact on your site visitors’ moods, emotions, and experience. Make sure your color scheme makes sense on your landing pages and across your online store.

Personalize your landing page headlines and copy to echo your ad copy

Are you running multiple Facebook or Instagram ads with different copy, value propositions, or designs? And are you driving traffic from all those ads to the same landing page?

There’s a great opportunity in front of you: personalize the copy and the value proposition of your landing page for each ad (OptiMonk’s Dynamic Content feature can help you do that).

This will go a long way toward increasing your conversion rate and the ROI of your Facebook ads.

Chapter 7

Checkout optimization

Cart abandonment is when a shopper visits a website, views the product page, and adds one or more items to their cart but DOES NOT complete the purchase. 

This is a real, persistent problem in ecommerce and an area of opportunity for optimization.

According to our study, the average shopping cart abandonment rate is 66.5%.

This means that millions of businesses are leaving money on the table because their customers are leaving their website right at the finish line.

Here are some ways you can optimize the checkout process: 

  • Keep shoppers on the same domain.
  • Reduce alternative navigation at checkout.
  • Be transparent about prices. (This is one of the top reasons why shoppers abandon their carts.) 
  • Make the next steps super clear.
  • Show a progress bar so shoppers can see how close they are to finishing.
  • Offer payment options that people actually use.

More useful cart optimization tips can be found here: Optimizing the checkout process

Use discounts and coupons as incentives

Offering discounts can be a great strategy to increase conversions, offload excess inventory, and increase customer loyalty.

discount-popup-christiano-ronaldo

But how do you use a discount or coupon code without hurting your own bottom line?

You can consider rewarding new customers by offering them a generous discount for their first purchase. A decent discount on the first purchase can lead to more sales down the road.

Or you can offer a post-purchase discount that gives customers a small discount on their next purchase, encouraging repeat purchases.

Read up on the impact of discounts on consumer psychology and check out some great examples of discount strategies here

Chapter 8

Lead generation

User behavior and psychology are closely linked. When users browse stores and click around, there are a lot of emotions and hardwired instincts that come into play. 

Tapping into these emotions can help you create happy customers that grow your business at a rapid pace.  

The psychology behind the purchase funnel

The purchase funnel is an interesting concept that highlights the stages each customer goes through. 

Of course, humans are complex and there are so many random decisions that can be made on any given day, but there’s generally a pattern when it comes to shopping. 

Here’s what the typical purchase funnel looks like: 

ecommerce-purchase-funnel

Source: Code95

In order to get someone to move from one stage of the funnel to the next, they’ll need motivation, assistance, and powerful incentives (discounts, calls-to-action, loyalty programs, etc). 

Understand your website visitors through buyer personas

Retail giant Amazon always leaves an empty seat at the table for an invisible customer when they have meetings. 

amazon-empty-chair-buyer-persona

Source: Rounders England

Why? 

According to CEO, Jeff Bezos, it’s a visually compelling way to reinforce the company’s stance of “start with the customer and then work backward.”  

You don’t need to have an empty seat at all your meetings, but you do need to nail down your ideal buyer persona

A buyer persona describes your customer’s needs, preferences, motivations, and inhibitions.

The more you know about your ideal customer, the better your web content, marketing campaigns, emails, and products will be. 

Here’s a useful checklist of factors to include when building a compelling buyer person: 

  • Job title/position
  • Work experience
  • Industry/business type
  • Location (a type of place is fine)
  • Gender
  • Interests
  • Age
  • Marital status
  • Family (number and type)
  • Income
  • Decision maker? (yes/no)

Build your email list

Jeff Walker, creator of the Product Launch Formula, says having an email list is a “license to print money.” 

Wow… pretty bold statement, right? 

Despite all the new “get-more-customers” hacks that flood the internet and the “gurus” peddling their latest “become a millionaire in 60 days” programs, good ol’ email still outperforms most channels. 

After an analysis of over $1 billion in sales on the Shopify platform, email led the way in conversions at 4.09%, followed by search, direct, and then social media.

conversion-rate-by-channel

Source: Smartinsights

Email performs well for a few reasons: 

  • Your list is (ideally) full of people who are interested in your content and/or your products.
  • Receiving an email feels more personal than seeing something on social media or a generic ad.
  • It’s one of the best places to build trust and create loyal brand advocates (the people who will spread the word about your brand).

Even if you’ve already started building your email list, it’s worth checking out this comprehensive guide that shows you how to build an email list from scratch

Make content marketing work for your site

Content marketing is one of the best things you can do if you have any sort of online business, and should be part of your lead generation campaigns. The average conversion rate with content marketing is 2.9%, compared to an unimpressive 0.5% for sites not using it. 

Good content connects with people. Good content builds engagement. Good content boosts brand loyalty, which can in turn skyrocket conversions and sales. 

Here are 5 content marketing ideas for you: 

  1. Deliver your content via email. 
  2. Create easy-to-read guides and summaries for your users.
  3. Share customer stories.
  4. Create a glossary of commonly asked questions, terms, and industry jargon.
  5. Share hacks or secret tips.

Use popups to build your list

“But popups are annoying!”

Is that what you thought when reading the title?

Fair enough. 

There’s nothing like a massive popup with a nearly-invisible exit button taking up 80% of the screen as you’re trying to read something online. 

However, the right popup with the right messaging at the right time can work WONDERS for your list building. 

collect-email-addresses-with-popups

For popups to work well, they need the following elements: 

  1. A compelling call-to-action 
  2. A personalized offer 
  3. Eye-catching design 
  4. The right timing 
  5. To be optimized for both desktop and mobile 

Here’s a 25-point checklist to help you get started with popups.

Or you can set up one of these list-building popups in just a few minutes:

Chapter 9

A/B testing

A/B testing (also known as split testing) can be defined as the practice of splitting your audience to test a number of variations of a campaign to see which performs better

a-b-testing-in-ecommerce

What you should be A/B testing

A/B testing will be most effective when it removes consumer pain points.

Check out this infographic for the top 6 web elements that you should A/B test.

what-to-ab-test

Source: Convert.com

What A/B testing tool is best for you?

To save you time and unnecessary headaches, we’ve created a list of the top 6 A/B testing tools for you to check out: 

  1. OptiMonk: OptiMonk offers far more than just A/B testing. It’s a complete website personalization platform with advanced visitor segmentation options, list-building tools, and much more.
  2. Adobe Target: This A/B testing personalization tool makes the list for its enterprise-focused solution and testing capacity.
  3. AB Tasty: As the name suggests, this platform excels at A/B testing but also offers a suite of other basic personalization features.
  4. Unbounce: Arguably one of the most popular landing page builders in the game, Unbounce knows a thing or two about conversion rate optimization. Their simple drag-and-drop builder and integrated A/B testing make them an ideal choice for a first-time test. 
  5. VWO: This is often seen as the simplest possible solution to A/B testing and conversion rate optimization. With an all-around platform and simple pricing structure, this tool is a favorite in ecommerce. 
  6. Nelio A/B Testing: WordPress powers about 42% of all websites on the internet, which is why WordPress plugin Nelio earns its place on this list. With Nelio, you can manage your A/B tests, check heatmaps, and improve results—all without leaving WordPress. 

How to understand your A/B test results

How long you’ll run your test and when you analyze results ultimately depends on you.

The general rule of thumb is to let tests run for at least 3 weeks to a month before acting upon the results. 

Note: The longer you run your test, the more accurate your results may be. Ask yourself these questions as you look through your results: 

  • Was the original version better? 
  • Was the second variation superior? 
  • Did they both fall short somewhere? 
  • Where did they both fall short? 
  • Did they both underperform? 
  • Were there any outside factors that influenced results (like seasonality)?

A/B testing mistakes even the experts make

There are pitfalls that even the most experienced marketers fall victim to, and being aware of them could save you a lot of time and grief in the future.

Here are some of the most common ones: 

  1. Expecting A/B testing to be the silver bullet: When you set out to build your ecommerce store, you have dreams of running a successful store with brilliant marketing and the sales to match. But once you get into the world of ecommerce, you realize that it’s not quite that easy. So you dive into the top CRO tactics and A/B testing tools out there thinking they’ll be the cure to your problems. When they don’t work as well as you expect, you’re left more frustrated than before. This is a familiar story for many in ecommerce. Sometimes the fix isn’t as simple as tweaking the color of your CTA… you might have to face the hard reality that no one wants your product.

  2. Ending a test too early: Getting data from A/B testing can be exciting… so exciting that you might be tempted to end tests early and call a winner prematurely. Maybe you ran your test for 2 days and the challenger variant decreased conversions by 30%. Simple enough, it’s clearly the loser, right? Well, not so fast. What if you let the tests run for a month instead, and that same challenger variant ended up increasing conversions by 45%? You would have missed out on a great CRO opportunity simply because of impatience!

  3. Trusting everything you read online: Blindly following things you read online is very dangerous for your business. Yes, even the greatest success case studies from Digital Marketer or Neil Patel may not work for your business. Heck, they might even hurt your business. If another company changed their button copy and got a 35% increase in conversions, that’s awesome, but there’s no guarantee you’ll get the same results. There’s a lot more than meets the eye for many of these case studies such as specificity to industry, seasonality, prior tests, etc. There are obviously general gems to take from them, but it’s important for you to know that someone else’s success story will not automatically become yours. 

Chapter 10

Website personalization

Relevance, relevance, relevance. 

That’s the most important factor when it comes to website optimization. 

It’s not enough to just have a single one-size-fits-all message on your website. You need your messages to be relevant to your users and for them to feel like they’re being given a custom experience. 

Website personalization can help to create a customer journey that’s unique, remarkable, and meaningful on a personal level. It’ll help you boost sales, grow your lists, and win customers for life… all at the same time.

Customization is an essential part of success, whether we’re talking about your landing page headlines, your homepage, or your popups and other overlays.

Here’s how you can create a solid website personalization strategy that will make your brand memorable and lead to higher conversions:

  1. Analyze your current customer journey. 
  2. Check your data for more insights on your traffic.
  3. Brainstorm ideas for solutions.
  4. Prioritize your idea backlog.
  5. Create the campaigns.
  6. Run experiments to test different ideas.
  7. Evaluate results and optimize.
  8. Go back to step one and repeat!

Click here for a detailed guide on each step of the website personalization process. 

Closing thoughts...

In this guide, we’ve covered a lot of different techniques that can help you boost your site’s conversion rate.

By understanding your customers, creating engaging content, constantly testing, and keeping an open mind, you’ll be setting your ecommerce store up for success.

With that being said, conversion rate optimization is certainly not an easy process and it will most definitely test your patience. Come back to this guide in those difficult moments.

Remember, real conversion optimization is not about quick tricks and techniques—it’s about truly understanding what’s right for your store and your customers. Good luck!

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