For ecommerce websites, your conversion rate is one of the most important metrics for measuring performance. Here are three things you can do to improve your site's usability, lift conversion rates, and grow your bottom line.
1. Implement a visual configurator
Some websites allow users to select product options using a visual configurator.
A visual configurator allows the customer to see a visualization of the product they are trying to purchase so they know exactly what they will receive. This in turn increases conversion rates and can lift average order value.
A few years ago, Lightburn rebuilt thecasestore.com to include a visual case configurator for Pelican Cases. The new configurator helps customers visualize their cases by allowing them to pick the color, the type of foam insert, and other accessories that go inside or on the case.
This update created:
- 17% increase in conversion rate
- 7% increase in average order value
- 9% increase in revenue
2. Create a single-page checkout
A single-page checkout makes it easier for your customers to breeze through the checkout process with fewer clicks than a multi-page checkout. The longer it takes to get through your checkout process, the more likely customers are to give up and abandon their purchases. In other words, a well-designed single-page checkout can help increase your conversion rate by reducing friction points and loading periods during the checkout process.
Lightburn recently redesigned and relaunched Wristband.com, complete with a single-page checkout.
With this new component, Wristband Resources saw a:
- 29% increase in ecommerce conversion rate
- 54% increase in revenue
3. Create urgency with a one day only sale
Creating a sense of urgency in shoppers—with flash sales, countdown timers, or other time-based incentives that prompt users to make purchases right now—can be a simple and effective way to get a boost in conversion rates. Sure, offering consumers a sale or markdown for a two-week time period can often foster goodwill and encourage extra sales. But more often, if customers see items they want on sale, and they know they can come back to the site next week and the sale will still be going on, it decreases the incentive to make the purchase immediately. In many cases, they’ll leave your site and forget to come back.
However, if customers see an item marked down for that day and that day only, they’ll have incentive to buy the product immediately. Many consumers will make a purchase right away if they know it will cost them more tomorrow.
A visual countdown timer (often seen on ticket-buying sites) is a great way to add urgency to the buying process. Lightburn regularly uses countdown timers on Q-Redew’s main product page, signaling the imminent conclusion of a special sale or promotion.
Q-Redew's outcomes included a:
- 22% increase in conversion rates*
*when the visual timer was running and prominently displayed on the product page, compared to the previous 7 days when it was not running, even though the price of the item and the promotion were exactly the same.
So much online consumer behavior can be traced to a fear of missing out or a fear of running out of time, so any way you can add urgency to the buying process—whether it’s by highlighting a limited-time offer, pointing out the dwindling inventory of a popular item, or another pressure-inducing method—is likely to increase your sales and conversion rates.