We can safely say that e-commerce has taken over the world with retail giants like Amazon leading the way.

An e-commerce site is the lifeblood of any e-commerce business. There is nothing as frustrating as having an attractive e-commerce site with high-quality product images that doesn’t convert. Perhaps you even have increased website traffic, but your website visitors simply won’t make a purchase.

Interestingly, research reveals that only an average of 1.94% of online visitors on an e-commerce site converts to a purchase. While this figure may vary depending on the industry, there are lots of missed opportunities for e-commerce businesses. Some of which is attributed to website-related problems. If your website visitors aren’t converting, it can affect sales and lower online business revenue. 

So the question is, why is your e-commerce site not converting? While there isn’t a clear-cut answer, there are many factors that could contribute to crippling your conversion rates, causing a drop in your online business revenue. 

To turn your website traffic into sales, we must first address major problems that could contribute to the lack of conversions on your ecommerce website. 

Read on to find out 3 major reasons your e-commerce website is not converting. Additionally, we will suggest ways you can deal with these shortcomings and increase your online business revenue.  

Here are 3 reasons your e-commerce site is not converting: 

1. Your e-commerce site is not mobile-friendly 
2. Your on-site search tool is not effective 
3. Your content is not SEO optimized 

Your e-commerce site is not mobile-friendly

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If you want to run a successful e-commerce site that equally converts, you want to make sure you cater to mobile users. 

If your website is not mobile-friendly, you could miss out on a sizeable chunk of customers who would otherwise convert. 

With about 79% of internet users shopping with their mobile phones, making your site mobile-friendly should be one of the most important online marketing strategies for increasing sales and revenue. 

A responsive mobile website design gives your customers a seamless user experience and increases your chances of conversion. 

So how do you improve mobile-friendliness on your e-commerce site? Here are a few tips to make your e-commerce site mobile friendly and increase your conversion rate:

• Optimize your site for speed: Nothing frustrates customers like a slow website page load. Slow page loads contribute to poor user experience, increasing bounce rates and killing your conversions. A faster site will keep visitors on your page and encourage them to purchase more products. An ideal website load time is said to be between two to three seconds. The loading speed of your website also influences search engine rankings. According to Google, conversion rates went up by 8.4% for retail stores that improved their mobile site speed. By monitoring bounce rates and website load speed, you can optimize your site to better serve your website visitors. 

• Payment options: When payment options are limited, customers can become strained. This can increase the rate of abandoned carts. By adding various secure payment options to your mobile site, customers are assured of a more convenient and safe payment experience. Also, instead of customers inputting their card details every time they need to make a purchase, customers can store their card details in a digital wallet. For example, Amazon endorses digital wallets like Apple Pay, Visa Checkout, and Masterpass. 

• Reduce pop-ups: Pop-Ups might sometimes appear intrusive to your website visitors. You want to make sure pop-ups are reduced to the minimum and are easy to close. 

• Minimize the use of texts: A majorly text-based site can cause eye fatigue and leave your website visitors disinterested. Replace texts with visuals that are relevant and engaging. 

Your on-site search tool is not effective 

Your on-site search tool may have more impact on your conversion rates than you know. 

When customers land on your website, they are automatically drawn to the search tool in search of a product.

An effective search tool can help your website visitors navigate through your products and content easily. This is especially crucial if you offer multiple products. 

More than navigation, an effective search tool should be optimised to meet the relevant categories customers might be in search of. 

The goal of a well-performing on-site search tool is to ease navigation and make your products easy to find. 

Here are a few tips to help you create a well-performing search tool that improves user experience and increases your conversion rates. 

• Make sure the search tool is easy to find: Since your customers would most likely look for the search tool first, you want to make sure that it is noticeable. Preferably, consider putting your search tool at the top of the page. 
• Use autocomplete: Your customer might not have your products all spelled out in full. Your site should offer relevant suggestions even if a product name is misspelled. Using autocomplete will make their search much easier and increase your chances of conversion. 
• Add filtering options: Some customers might be interested in looking at some specifics. Perhaps the lowest prices, varying sizes, or the best reviews. Configure your site to meet the needs of these customers as quickly as possible by inserting a filtering option following features like size, colour, price, etc. 

Your content is not SEO optimised 

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If your e-commerce site is not converting, you might want to take a look at your content. 

Search Engine Optimization involves optimizing content to appear on search engine results when customers search for anything related to your product.

Google works to provide the most relevant content when people search. You want to make sure your content is optimized to meet the needs of your customers. If customers search for content that they need and don’t find on your website, they will immediately leave your site. 

Here are a few tips to help you create SEO friendly content that gets your website seen by potential customers 

• Use the right keywords: Choose keywords that match the user's intent. This means picking out keywords that are relevant to your customer’s needs. If customers don't find the type of content they want, you could lose customers instantly and kill your conversion rates.  
• Headlines & Call to Action: Use engaging headlines, subheadings, and a call to action that persuades visitors to take a buying decision
• Use easy-to-read, simple language: You want to avoid using industry jargon that your customers won't understand. 
• Create engaging content: You want to make sure you put out content that educates them and builds the trust needed for them to make a purchase. 

What is a good conversion rate? 

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Your conversion rate determines your success when running an e-commerce business. The higher your conversion rate, the higher your chance to increase online business revenue. Conversion can be determined by varying factors like signing up for a newsletter, adding a product to a shopping cart, or making a purchase. 

To increase revenue, the most important conversion metric to consider is a purchase. An e-commerce conversion rate can simply be expressed as a percentage of website visitors converted. It simply means that a certain percentage of website visitors took the desired action like purchasing your product. 

A good conversion rate is estimated at an average of 3.32% for most retail companies. For Amazon, the largest e-commerce site in the world, conversion rates go as high as 13% for Amazon sellers without an Amazon Prime membership. For sellers with an Amazon Prime membership, conversion rates go as high as a massive 74%. 

If you want to increase sales on Amazon, identify revenue opportunities and expand your online business revenue exponentially, you can contact us on ePlaybooks.