Ideas to increase e-commerce sales/conversions?

[ThopHayt]

I'm looking for ideas to help me boost my e-commerce sales and/or conversion rates. I've read through a ton of posts here on people who run e-commerce stores, but I'm still looking for something that will help. Both on-site and off-site. Specifically I'm looking for things that can be done without altering the page's design. It's rough out there boys...

 

[the_demon]

1. You might want to start with split testing:
http://www.optimizely.com

2. If you're running ads, I suggest you start split testing them. Also, re-visit your keyword selection and targeting options.

3. Do you currently have live chat support? If not, get on it. I'd recommend: http://www.livezilla.net OR http://www.livechatinc.com

4. Have you analyzed your site for Trust Signals?
--> http://www.mywot.com (just one example)
--> Are you using EV SSL (green bar)?
--> Do you play any trust / secure logos such as, Verisign Trust Seal or Comodo Trust Seal?
--> Is your company information prominently displayed?

5. Are you using high res, and good quality photos that accurately represent your products?

6. How's your web design look? Are you using the right color scheme for your audience?

7. How's usability?

8. How's your site load speed. <-- HUGE factor when it comes to conversions, just ask Amazon ... they've done extensive research on this.

9. How's your online reputation, do you have reviews? are they good? do they look real / are they real?

10. Is your brand message, brand display, and overall brand image consistent?

 

[DHSellerUK]

Better Content?
Blog with good posts?
YouTube Video tutorials on your industry?
Social Media?
Competitions?
Events?
Webinars?
Reviews?
Email Campaigns?

There's tons of ways to drive traffic and conversions!

 

[azcardinals2009]

In my experience the following can up conversions.

Checkout Button
Add $5 Coupon option in checkout
security logos
product pictures
Why shop with your business

But overall a good design and easy navigation would go a long way.

 

[supermanden]

Sorry for a stupid question, but what is e-commerce? Seen a lot of posts about it, and always wondered :S

 

[switch_2012]

get targeted traffic to your site - start with PPC, for the first site they'll give you $100 voucher, resources are there if you are serious about it.. sometimes you need to spend a little to see action.

 

[partymarty4870]

A simple thing but sometimes so overlooked - your phone number, EVERYWHERE.

I run a travel site and we get maybe 1/3 of our sales by phone. I have our phone number at the top right of the page, bottom left and also placed down the left margin so as it's always in peoples faces when scrolling.

 

[switch_2012]

sometime people amaze me with their questions...

 

[WPRipper]

Sorry for a stupid question, but what is e-commerce? Seen a lot of posts about it, and always wondered :S

A joke right?

 

[the_demon]

e-commerce basically means online sales of products or goods, you setup a website and people purchase your goods or services online as opposed to buying from a physical store front in the real world. Often times brick and mortar retailers also sell online via a website.

 

[russtbay]

Google search will answer all most any question .

 

[ThopHayt]

Who's giving the $100 voucher?

get targeted traffic to your site - start with PPC, for the first site they'll give you $100 voucher, resources are there if you are serious about it.. sometimes you need to spend a little to see action.

 

[Smart SEO]

Who's giving the $100 voucher?

Google adwords always give you a 'start up' voucher when you open an account with them

 

[ThopHayt]

Are there any little things that help in on-site meta-tags etc? Maybe stuff that helps rank in Bing shopping, or increases clicks in SERPS?

 

[Narrator]

Is your site mobile friendly? Check your stats to see how many of your visitors are from mobile devices, you may be surprised. On one of my sites 30% of my visitors are from phones and tablets.

Also is your contact info displayed? Adding a phone number to the top of each page can make a big difference.

Do you accept paypal? About a third of my customers prefer to use paypal because it gives them piece of mind, a lot people aren't comfortable entering their CC info on sites they never bought from before.

Cheers!

 

[Bestbuyfoam]

This was said above^^

"Is your site mobile friendly? Check your stats to see how many of your visitors are from mobile devices, you may be surprised. On one of my sites 30% of my visitors are from phones and tablets."

This if very true I hired a new guy last week that used to work for me and all my sites had no less than 20% of traffic comes from mobile and one of my main sites was over 30% and he said the sale will be more % starting this year... He showed me in Google webmaster tools... And all my sites I only have one of them set up with mobile site that was optimized the one he set up for me last year... He pulled up that site one my phone site show and worked like a charm... So we are thinking about offing a mobile site service on here to build them...

 

[kideze]

Great discussion going on in this thread. Landing pages are key and as previously said above I would revisit keywords.

Email blast daily wouldn't hurt either.

 

[TrollDad]

sale=traffic*conversion

traffic: ppc, seo, social, email, or something else as metioned above.
conversion: your product quality, service, website design and speed ect....

if your products are ok, website design like a boss, you can start with ppc, that's one of the best method to improve sale

 

[GiorgioB]

have as many payment methods as possible.

paypal
credit card
wire transfer (not popular in the US i think but in EU works well)
western union/moneygram
cash on delivery (i don't do this, but i think it would be popular)
... others i can't think of now

 

[ThopHayt]

I try to avoid using PayPal because it's more expensive for us than CC is... big chunk, and they hold money a LONG time. Is it really that big of a deal? Also... when you say mobile you mean tablet or phones. Any idea what the spread is between tablets and phones, which is more dominant. Because even normal sites look good on a tablet, but phones are a different story.