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Ecommerce Conversion Rate: 5 (REAL) Reasons Yours is So Low (+How to Increase it)

Ecommerce Conversion Rate: 5 (REAL) Reasons Yours is So Low (+How to Increase it)

5 mins Read
Ecommerce Conversion Rate: 5 (REAL) Reasons Yours is So Low (+How to Increase it)

It doesn’t make sense. 

You spent months preparing for relaunching your ecommerce store. 

You even paid boatloads of cash to various professionals to get your website right. 

You had high expectations. 

Except, you can’t seem to convert your web visitors into actual customers.

Does this scenario sound familiar? 

Reasonable ecommerce conversion rates are essential to digital commerce optimization. Poor conversion rates affect your bottom line, and your business suffers in the long term. 

Curious to learn more? 

Let’s dive in.

What is a Conversion Rate? 

To understand a conversion rate, you need to understand conversions. 

Typically, a conversion is an action taken by a website visitor in response to your call to action (CTA). 

Would you like your site visitors to subscribe to your email list? Buy a product? 

When site visitors respond to these requests, these actions are considered a conversion. 

In marketing, a conversion is an action taken by your website visitor in response to your call to action (CTA).

So how do you calculate a conversion rate

You need to know:

  • Number of people who see the CTA
  • Number of people who take the desired action

Add a little math:

(Number of People who take the desired action ÷ Number of visitors who see CTA) ×100

Not too complicated, right? 

Let’s explore what makes a good conversion rate. 

Good Conversion Rates—Do they Exist? 

Examples of ecommerce conversions include adding items to shopping carts, saving for later purchases, or completing a purchase. 

So you’re probably wondering what’s a good ecommerce conversion rate.

Well, that depends. 

Most ecommerce metrics vary widely by industry. 

The good news? 

Regardless of your current conversion rates, there’s always room for improvement. 

So what are some of the reasons for low ecommerce conversion rates? 

Let’s find out. 

5 Reasons For Low Conversion Rates

#1: Your Site Makes A Bad Impression

Visitors are unlikely to buy from you if they don’t like your site. The same thing happens when visitors don’t enjoy a physical store. 

What’s worse is if visitors can’t find what they need

If you have high traffic but low conversions, consider site design issues first. 

Site design issues may include:

  • Poor navigation. Ensure that the most popular items are easy to find.
  • Poor filtering and sorting. Visitors to your site should have the ability to limit options using specific criteria. Too many options overwhelm visitors and affect your conversion rate. 
  • Poor search. Search results should match what people want. If your web visitors can’t find an item, they won’t be able to buy it.

So what’s the solution?

The Fix:  Is your site design outdated? It’s time for a site re-design. 

Consider changing your home page from time to time and changing left-hand navigation elements. These actions will keep visitors interested in your site. 

#2: Site Isn’t Optimized

If your site has poor conversions, consider Search Engine Optimization. SEO helps visitors find your site on the search engine results pages (SERPs). This process when people search for keywords related to your products. 

Poor optimization also causes ads to drive the wrong people to your site. If visitors don’t find what they expect when they get to your site, you’ll have low conversion rates.

High-quality visuals are essential for ecommerce stores. Poor visuals will cause low conversions. 

Why? Customers won’t buy items that don’t look attractive or that they aren’t sure of. 

So what’s the solution?

The Fix: Use relevant keywords on your website for SEO purposes. This will ensure you attract the right traffic. 

Also, consider using tools that have visual configurators. This will encourage your site visitors to buy more. 

#3: Ignoring Mobile Users

You can no longer ignore mobile users. 

The majority of now people use their smartphones to research products online.

What’s more? 

The internet is now taking a mobile-first approach. M-commerce is expected to experience a 29.84% CAGR by 2025 as global smartphone adoption and mobile payment usage continues to grow.  Between January 2019 and January 2020, mobile share of total online traffic steadily surpassed desktop by 7.3%. 

See Also
B2B CPQs for Ecommerce

Locate reasons for your low ecommerce conversion rates.
Chart by MerchantSavvy.co.uk

Search engine giant Google executed changes in their indexing process. Google will now index a site’s mobile content before the desktop version.  

Sites that aren’t optimized for mobile result in a poor customer experience. 

Pop-ups that aren’t easy to exit and “accept Cookies” notifications may cause immediate site abandonment. 

So what’s the solution? 

The Fix: Use responsive web design(RWD). Responsive Web design allows web pages to render well on a variety of devices and screen sizes. This makes it easy for your site visitors to use mobile devices. 

#4: Poor Search Tools

Search has become a critical part of digital optimization that can make or break your conversion rates. 

Your site visitors typically don’t have a high attention span. They need to find what they want—quickly. Irrelevant search results or zero search results repel your site’s visitors. That means lower conversion rates.

For example, your site’s lack of a chat function is likely to affect conversion rates. 

Moreover, customers who struggle to find solutions or products they’re looking for can generate costly support tickets and calls.

So what’s the solution? 

The Fix: Use AI-powered search tools such as always available chat with omnichannel support. Site search plays a vital role in providing your site visitors with the most relevant content and information for their experience. 

#5: Poor Personalization Tactics

Personalization tactics may be too broad and focused on remarketing. 

Remarketing is an essential part of any ecommerce conversion process. It’s a way to get the attention of people who come to your site and leave without completing a purchase. However, remarketing has to be personalized based on real-time engagement on a site. 

So what’s the solution? 

The Fix: AI-powered tools that allow you to create and deliver dynamic content. 

These tools allow you to present tailored content, offers, and product recommendations to your visitors. 

These recommendations consider factors such as demographic and geographic data,  on-site behavior, and history with your brand.

Reach for Success

Every investment you make should have decent returns. 

Spending time and money on your website while having low eCommerce conversion rates can be confusing. 

It’s frustrating. The truth is you can do something about it.  

Partner with Zoovu for robust AI solutions. 

You won’t regret it.