Struggling with low Shopify conversion rate? You’re not alone. The goal is to turn curious visitors into happy customers. However, many Shopify store owners feel like they’re putting in the hard work to drive traffic, but without the desired results. A Shopify store’s success hinges on a well-optimised customer journey.
This article will explore 10 proven strategies to address a low conversion rate, focusing on actionable steps that can boost sales and customer engagement on Shopify. Once you know how to increase the conversion rate on Shopify, you’ll see your business step onto the path of increasing sales and revenue. So grab a coffee, and let’s dive in.
Understanding Shopify Conversion Rate Challenges
Why Your Shopify Store Isn’t Converting
When an online store has a low Shopify conversion rate, it’s usually due to factors such as slow website speed, complex navigation, and lack of customer trust. The speed at which your web store loads has a significant impact on user retention and conversions.
If a website is not intuitive or easily navigable, visitors might not find what they want quickly enough and give up. And if your website doesn’t look safe, visitors might not feel like your store is trustworthy enough to click that button. Being aware of these factors is the first step towards improving your conversion rate.
Analysing Your Store’s Performance
After you’re aware of the factors that can hold stores back from conversions, it’s time to analyse your store’s performance to identify problem areas.
Learning how to get more conversions on Shopify does not help you unless you apply the knowledge to the circumstances and needs of your e-commerce. This is why it’s important to analyse your store metrics. First and foremost, you’ll want to determine your current conversion rates. You’ll also want to analyse other metrics, such as bounce rates and cart abandonment.
Top 10 Strategies to Improve Shopify Conversion Rate
1. Speed Up Your Store for Instant Results
The first tip you can implement to improve your Shopify conversion rate instantly is to speed up your store. In this fast-paced world, a slow store is the death of conversions. According to Google, improving a site’s load speed by only one second can increase mobile user conversions by a whopping 27%.
One quick tip to speed up your online store is to compress images. This reduces the file size of your images without compromising quality. Another way to speed up your store is by reducing app usage. While several Shopify apps can enhance conversion rates, some will slow down your site performance.
Finally, make sure to choose a lightweight Shopify theme (or design a bespoke one) to keep your store running smoothly.
2. Streamline Your Checkout Process
A Shopify store’s conversion funnel usually follows the sequence: Product page -> Shopping cart -> Checkout page -> Thank you page. Keep the checkout process as simple as possible, as a simplified process will reduce cart abandonment rates and increase Shopify conversion rate.
Remember to enable guest checkout to reduce friction and improve the user experience for visitors who don’t want to create an account. You also want to use Shopify’s amazing and highly converting one-page checkout. This one-page checkout is shorter, faster, more intuitive, optimised for speed and conversion, and it’s all on one page. These kinds of seamless checkouts are the key to keeping your visitors from abandoning their carts.
3. Create Compelling Product Descriptions
According to research by the Baymard Institute, 10% of online stores don’t provide their visitors with sufficient product descriptions. The next strategy for how to get more conversions on Shopify is therefore to create compelling product descriptions.
While you have your visitors’ attention, it’s time to address their pain points. Focus on how your products provide benefits and solve their problems. Craft product descriptions that use clear and concise language that resonates with your target audience.
At the same time, don’t neglect to provide sufficiently detailed specifications and high-quality images and videos featuring the product. This way, your visitors will have a clear understanding of the products’ benefits and all the information they need.
4. Boost Trust with Customer Reviews
The next tip on how to increase conversion rate on Shopify is related to building trust. Shoppers who come across your brand for the very first time have no reason to trust you unless you give them reasons.
Almost 70% of shoppers online will read 1–6 customer reviews before making a purchase. The key to building trust with more wary shoppers is to use trust signals like customer reviews, social proof, and security badges.
Showcase positive reviews prominently on product pages. These trust signals will help shoppers view your brand as reliable and professional. As a result, they’ll feel more confident about making a purchase.
5. Offer Free Shipping and Discounts
Urgency is an important factor when considering how to improve conversion rates in retail stores. A sense of scarcity or urgency can be the final motivator for visitors to take action. This sense of urgency can be created by highlighting a limited-time discount or offering free shipping.
Unexpected shipping costs are a common reason for cart abandonment. Offering free shipping or a discount can increase conversions, enticing hesitant customers to make a purchase.
Studies show that offering free shipping can increase overall revenue because it encourages shoppers to make larger purchases. Naturally, you still need to be balanced when using these strategies so you don’t decrease your margins too much.
6. Implement Live Chat for Real-Time Customer Support
Many customers will have questions they want answered before they make a purchasing decision. Turn hesitations into sales by implementing a live chat feature for real-time customer support.
A live chat can significantly improve Shopify conversion rate by offering immediate assistance to visitors with doubts. Real-time support helps clarify product details, provide personalised recommendations, and resolve any potential checkout issues.
For maximum effectiveness, ensure that your live chat system is user-friendly and always staffed during peak hours. Offering customer support through a live chat also increases customer satisfaction and loyalty. If a customer has already received help before the purchase, they’ll feel more confident about getting support after the purchase.
7. Personalise the Shopping Experience
Part of creating an enhanced shopping experience is making your customer feel special and seen. Use personalised marketing and product recommendations to cater to your customer’s wants and needs.
Tailoring the store’s content based on customer behaviour is a sure-fire way to boost engagement and increase Shopify conversion rate. You can personalise your landing page copy and value propositions to match your different ads.
One way to personalise the shopping experience is also to use segmentation popups that ask questions and thereby sort shoppers into different groups. Create tailored suggestions that recommend products based on customers’ browsing behaviour and preferences, making their user experience more relevant and meaningful.
8. Recover Lost Sales with Abandoned Cart Emails
A well-established conversion rate optimisation (CRO) strategy is to set up automated abandoned cart emails. Even with a great checkout process, some visitors will inevitably abandon their carts without completing the purchase.
Abandoned cart recovery emails remind customers of the items they left behind and can offer incentives in follow-up emails to increase the chances of conversions. For example, you could craft an email that reminds them of the product and simultaneously offers a discount or a free shipping code. These automated emails can engage visitors who have already shown interest in your products. When used effectively, they can increase Shopify conversions and recover lost sales.
9. Optimise for SEO
Before you consider how to get more conversions on Shopify, the first step is to draw the right crowd to your store. To attract high-quality traffic, you have to ensure that your store is SEO-optimised. Tips for good SEO is to use relevant keywords, meta descriptions, and alt tags.
Conducting keyword research helps you find terms that your target audience is looking for. Incorporate these terms into your product titles, meta descriptions, and other content. Using keywords in image file names and alt tags will help your products appear in image search results.
These tips give you increased chances to rank higher in search engines, drawing in customers who are ready to make a purchase.
10. Regular Testing and Analysis
One final strategy to increase Shopify conversion rates is to run regular A/B testing. These tests are basically conversion rate experiments.
In A/B testing, two versions of the same page are compared and analysed to see which one is more effective. It is essential to perform split testing of CTAs, product pages, and checkout processes. This helps you discover what works best for your store's audience.
For example, two versions of your store with two different CTAs are presented simultaneously to similar visitor groups. The version with the higher conversion rate wins the test and is implemented.
Conclusion
Some key strategies for how to increase conversion rate on Shopify are optimised speed, checkout, descriptions, and SEO. It’s also essential to provide trust-building reviews, discounts or free shipping, live chat support, a personalised shopping experience, and abandoned cart emails. Finally, regular testing and ongoing analysis and optimisation are crucial to truly transform a store's conversion rate.
Ready to take your Shopify store to the next level and increase Shopify conversions? Start implementing these strategies or let our Shopify agency experts handle it for you. We can help optimise your store quickly and effectively, ensuring that you see noticeable improvements in your conversion rates. Contact us today to get started!
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
What is the conversion rate on Shopify?
The Shopify conversion rate is the percentage of visitors who make a conversion. A conversion can be any desired action, such as signing up for a newsletter or making a purchase.
What is a good conversion rate for a Shopify store?
According to industry benchmarks, a good conversion rate for a Shopify store typically ranges between 2.5% to 3%. If your store’s conversion rate is lower than this, you can implement strategies on how to increase conversion rates on Shopify.
How can I find my Shopify store’s conversion rate?
You can find your store’s conversion rate by going to the Shopify platform’s dashboard, clicking on Analytics, and then on Reports. Being aware of your rate is important, as a low Shopify conversion rate can mean poor revenue.
Why is my Shopify store’s conversion rate low?
An online store might have a low conversion rate because of slow load speed, complicated navigation, or a lack of customer trust. Address these issues to solve how to get more conversions on Shopify.
How do I improve conversions on my Shopify site?
Ongoing analysis and optimisation are crucial to increase Shopify conversion rates for your site. Make sure that your site speed and SEO are optimised and that your checkout process is streamlined.
