Anyone who has been involved with ecommerce for any amount of time knows that the key to raising conversion rate is testing to see what works and what fails. Most people I talk to about testing to raise their conversion rate are so overwhelmed that they just don’t know where to start. Usually I get my best ideas from looking at other websites than the site I want to optimize. Over at Practical Ecommerce, Armando Roggio posted a chart that shows the top converting ecommerce sites for December 2008. This is a great resource for anyone who wants to increase the revenue from their existing traffic. Proflowers.com came in number one with a 31.1% conversion rate and Victoria’s Secret finished off the list with a 19.2% conversion rate. Given that the industry average is around 2% these online retailers are in a league of their own.
So what can your site learn from a flower or lingerie shop? Well the first step would be to compare elements on their site to yours. Now that may be easier said then done so here is some guidance on where to focus. First I would recommend taking screenshots of each step of the checkout process on your site and a few of the top converting sites. Create a document with the images of the checkout process in order, print them out and lay them on a table to compare. You will be amazed what you will discover with a side by side comparison versus switching between web pages. Once you have the pages printed start writing down elements you like and do not like for each checkout process. This will give you a nice, potentially long, list of ideas; you are just brainstorming so don’t hold anything back.
Now most people will want to jump right into making changes to the home page because the most traffic hits that page; however, this is a double edge sword because you also put yourself at the most risk of losing customers right off the bat. I prefer to look at the checkout process and work backwards starting with the page that a prospect confirms their order. Think about it, you have gotten this person to be one click away from placing an order; all you need to do is offer a little bit of enticement to complete the order while ensuring there is nothing to scare them away. A good way to accomplish this task is to reassure the potential customer of a few things:
1. The item is in stock and ready to ship
2. When the item will arrive
3. 100% satisfaction guarantee
Any bonus you offer such as free shipping, free gift or anything else should also be added to the list; but the above items apply to the majority of online store owners. Remember to keep the enticement short and sweet by using bullets otherwise it may be ignored. From this example there are several tests you can run in an attempt to raise conversion rate. First if you do not provide any reinforcement start by adding that content to the review order page. The next test will be to try different wordings to see what works best; a single word can greatly impact how customers perceive your site. Another test to run would be the position on the page of the reasons to complete the order. Here are a few screenshots of the page right before completing the order for some of the top converting ecommerce sites according to nielson-online (the data source for the practical ecommerce chart):
ProFlowers #1
ProFlowers focuses on a clear call to action to place the order however all the necessary information is there to reassure me that I have my order right including delivery date, picture of items, order total, payment method, recipient address and billing address.
L.L. Bean #2
L.L. Bean captures the payment data on the same screen as you review your order prior to completion but they do a good job reinforcing the delivery time frame and shipping cost. They also include their guarantee at the top of the page with GUARANTEED. You have our word.
Vitacost #4
I would venture to guess that Vitacost discovered through testing that placing a secure order is the number one deal breaker at this point in the process for their customers or they haven’t done focus testing on this page yet. Maybe ordering vitamins doesn’t require reinforcement of delivery but I suspect they could improve conversion rate by adding other text to comfort the prospective buyer such as ships in 24 hours which they display early in the order process but not at the end. Only testing will reveal the truth.
Victoria’s Secret #10
I am a bit disappointed with the order review page at Victoria’s Secret so I suspect the brand awareness and trust they’ve built helps them get away with little reassurance on the page. The delivery date, addresses and products are listed but I see a few areas of opportunity I would test. First I would add a thumbnail of the product since the item description doesn’t really help me remember what I am ordering; especially if I have multiple products from the same category. Also the text (for in-stock items only:) is not very reassuring; why not indicate that the item is in stock? If I am buying a gift that needs delivered by the date listed this could scare me into thinking the item will not arrive on time.
One item to note about each of the screenshots above is that you are not seeing the whole page; just what I saw without scrolling the page. Depending on your screen size and resolution this may vary. I would also reinforce that it is much more likely someone will scroll at this point in the purchase process but it would still be a good idea to put your place order button and reinforcement text above the fold. Also, every one of the above sites shows a progress bar at the top of each page so you know exactly where you are in the checkout process; this helps erase the anxiety of accidentally placing the order prematurely. Do you see anything in the above screenshots you want to try or have tried in the past on your stores checkout process? Leave a comment on what you have tested to raise conversion rates.
