[:en]4 Ideas to Test to Drive More E-Commerce Sales[:]

[:en]“The great ones always do all the little things right.”

Have you ever heard announcers say this about your favorite athletes? And if you’ve watched any sport for many years, you know it’s true. The stars always seem to know every little detail to focus on so they continue to excel and lead their sport.

It’s no different with online retail. Your website, or any e-commerce website for that matter, has dozens of little things you can test, change, and optimize.

Every website differs at least a little. There’s no definitive answer that fits everyone. You have to test changes and see how your visitors react.

Where do you start? Here’s some ideas for big wins:

• Reduce Choices in Your Left-Hand Menu’s Filters
  Once customers start browsing your products, they’ll have the opportunity to narrow down what they’re looking for by checking boxes in the left menu of your website. They may also be able to do this at the top of your web page.
  In either case, try reducing the number of choices they have to see how that affects your sales. One well-known paradox in e-commerce is that the more choices customers have, the fewer decisions they make.
• Hide Your Navigation Once Your Customers Begin Checking Out
  Amazon isn’t perfect, but they do many things you can learn from. One such thing is how they take away your ability to click on anything else once you begin the checkout process. However yours looks, simply make sure the first step after adding the item to the cart results in the disappearance of your main navigation.
  Fewer distractions usually mean more sales.
• Keep “Add to Cart” Visible at All Times Prior to Checkout
  Does your “Add to Cart” button follow your customers as they scroll down the page and read more about the product? Or, does it disappear because it stays in place?
  This could lead to more sales especially on your mobile devices. Scrolling takes work, and the more work your visitors have to do, the less likely they are to buy. Make sure your button is present the moment they’re ready to act.
• Try An Exit Pop-Up
  Those who subscribe to your list are always your best long-term customers. They only give you their email address when they really love you.
  So, rather than letting your customers leave your website never to return, offer an exit-popup so you can stay in touch and build the relationship. Offer 10% off their next purchase in exchange for their email address.
  Test the call-to-action, text, image, timing, and offer in many different ways. Find some websites you admire, study their offers, and then create your own version. It’s easy to find a huge increase in conversions after repeated testing of an exit pop-up.

That’s Just The Beginning

Do you have a dedicated specialist, or even team, to test everything on your website to see how it affects sales? Do you work with a service vendor who does this if you aren’t ready to hire your own team?

Ongoing conversion testing keeps your sales high, and is essential to your survival.[:]