One of the most common things I hear from independent brand owners is a frustration with a lack of sales on their website. Why aren’t more sales happening? Well, assuming you have a strong and thoughtful marketing plan and you’re reaching a large enough audience, the issue has to do with your conversion rate, i.e. converting that audience into actual customers.
Let’s get you turning those website visitors that you’re regularly increasing into customers.
The first thing we need to address is check to see what your current conversion rate is.
Set the time frame for the last 30 days (unless you had something unusual happen in the last 30 days such as a big sale or a press mention that sent people to your website. If that’s the case do it for 30 days BEFORE that event.
Do the math to find out your current conversion rate: total number of sales divided by the total number of visitors x 100.
The average ecommerce conversion rate is 1%. So, if you’re not yet at 1%, it’s time to get you there. If you are already at 1%, then make it goal to increase your conversion rate by .5% or 1%.
Then update your marketing plan with this new goal in mind.
Now, there are variety of techniques for increasing your conversion rate, but it’s important to understand that this is not a “do it all at once” situation.
Increasing your conversion rate is based on testing, and if you change too much at once, your testing will be useless because you don’t know what’s actually affecting your rate.
And to build on that, expect to see that some of these things won’t work for you, and that’s OK. It’s actually a great thing to learn that so that you can move on to the next strategy and not waste your time. This is about what strategies work for YOUR brand, and that will not be the same for every business.
When it comes to increasing your online sales conversions, you need to create a shopping experience that will make your community feel delighted and cared for. Browsing without buying and abandoning cart are behaviors you’ll work to change in order to increase your conversion rate.
Easier said than done? Maybe. But there are some key experiences that you can implement in order to help make those sales, see real traction, and grow your fashion business.
Here are 3 Strategies to Test in Order to Increase your Conversion Rate
Include Video on the Product Page
This is nothing new, but it’s still not widely used on the websites of many emerging brands. I get it. It can be a costly addition to your website. But if you’re committed to making eCommerce one of your core streams of revenue (and honestly, who isn’t at this point?), then you need to budget for things like video that will really help sell your styles.
When booking your next photo shoot, ask for the quote to include a 10 second video of a model (in front of a white backdrop) wearing each style and doing a quick turn to show it off. Adding this to your photo carousel can have a great impact on your conversion rate.
Offer Free Shipping
Nothing makes a person abandon cart like a shipping charge. Work free shipping into your business model and it can make a world of difference on your conversions.
Review your costing sheet and work the cost of shipping into the cost of the product so you are not actually the one paying for the shipping. You keep your profit margin and your customer doesn’t feel annoyed about paying for shipping.
Use Live Chat Software
Adding live chat to your website can make a difference to your conversions because of the improved customer service experience. In the moment of shopping, they have questions. Be there to answer those questions.
Your live chat doesn’t have to be open all the time, of course. Use your Google Analytics to learn when your peak traffic is happening and make it available then.
If you find this post helpful, I’m hosting a free webinar on May 23rd, 7pm ET called Know Your Numbers. It’s for brands that have already launched and want to learn more about how to make more money in your fashion business. Register here.