One of the biggest challenges facing many ecommerce stores is conversions. Unfortunately, especially for SEO minded folks like myself, we tend to get solely focused on rankings and traffic, assuming that to increase sales we must increase traffic. “It is much easier to double your conversion rate, than to double your traffic”
If I have 100,000 visits per month to my ecommerce site, is it easier to double my traffic to 200,000 or double my conversion rate from 3% to 6%? Both would have the same impact. In order to double traffic organically, it is going to take a serious SEO push over 6 – 12 months. If I am relying on PPC, I will have to at least double my budget. 
All though I would like to do both, the most effective solution would be to double my conversion rate so I am getting more out of the PPC and SEO I have already undertaken. This will also make my future investments into the Web property more profitable.
If you like this article, you might be interested in some of our older article on Key to Improve the Conversion Rate, Content vs Design, Landing Page Optimization Tips, and How To Make A Landing Page Convert Better.

1 Have A Strong Logo

Believe it or not, your logo can directly impact sales. Shoppers only want to do business with people they can trust.
Your logo can convey many things to a potential buyer. You do not have to pretend to be a fortune 500 company, as a matter of fact; it may be more beneficial to market yourself as a “mom and pop” store. However, your logo needs to communicate a message in a professional manner that lets people know you are here to stay.  

2 Place A Trust Symbol In The Header

In some conversion rate optimization tests I have run, simply placing a trust symbol in the header next to the logo will caused a marked improvement in conversions. There are many trust symbols available on the internet, but look for a common one, that often appears on different Web sites. 
I personally prefer to use a clickable graphic that displays my SSL information and says that I our security has been verified by a third party and that the site is PCI compliant. Another effective solution is to use the logo from the Better Business Bureau or Chamber of Commerce. Both are recognized institutions that communicate trust to your shoppers. 

3 Create Content, Content, And More Content

There are four basic personality types. Each one is looking for specific information before they make a purchase. If your content is skimpy, you are probably missing opportunities to at least two of the personality types.
Here is a basic overview:
  • Result Driven: this individual makes a quick decision; she doesn’t need much content, but does need content that speaks to getting results.
  • Spontaneous: this individual makes quick decisions, flexibility in the product’s uses and her ability to return the item are of chief concern. Usually only reads one or two paragraphs of information. 
  • Methodical: she will read every single piece of text on the page and needs to know every detail before making a decision. 
  • Humanistic: she wants to know how others have used the product, and how it helped their life.
Learn how to speak to the first two personality types in the first couple of paragraphs of content on your product pages. Then, spend time putting as much information as possible about the product on the page. The longer the page, the better it will perform. Check out Amazon’s Kindle page for a great product page content example.


4 Add Product Reviews

Get customers to review products on your site. Most people love writing reviews, sending a quick email to a recent customer will often times spark a review if you ask for one. According to Always be Testing, over 75% of shoppers read online reviews before making a purchase.
Putting the reviews right on your product page will enable the shopper to stay on the page and fulfill her need to see how the product performed for other people.
There are companies that can provide you with real reviews for your site; however I prefer to have my own generated if possible because they will be unique content and provide real SEO value to the site. 
If your product gets a bad review, don’t delete the review. Bad reviews sprinkled in with the good reviews will seriously raise your site’s trust factor in the eyes of your shoppers.
If you don’t have any customers yet, you can use sites like mturk or microworkers to have them review products they have actually used.

5 Add Upsell And Cross Sell Options

In order to make a sale, you have to keep the shopper on your site. If a shopper lands on a product that doesn’t match what they are looking for, giving them quick options to navigate to similar products will decrease your bounce rate and improve your overalls sales. 
The goal here is to do research on what products are purchased in conjunction with each other and offer your shoppers those products. Amazon often tells shoppers, “Those who viewed this item, ended up purchasing xyz…” It keeps shoppers on the site while applying slight peer pressure to influence the shopper into making a purchase.