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9 Reasons Why Your E-store Visitors Don’t Convert & What You Can Do About It

First things first. Do you know what drove us to write about e-commerce conversion killers (aka this blog)? Bella, our super adorable resident cat. It so happened that we ran out of her favorite food, which obviously made her angry! To calm things down and for the sake of convenience, we reached a consensus and ordered cat food online. We searched the depths of heaven and hell (don’t roll your eyes…we ain’t exaggerating!) only to discover that it left our eyes and hearts sore.

So we thought it’s time we raise the red flags for e-stores, from the consumer point of view, of course. It’s time you e-store owners recognize these to uncover opportunities for growth. As it is, the average conversion rate in the e-commerce industry is between 2% and 3%. That means most visitors bail out on you either because you evoked negative emotions like fear, uncertainty, and doubt or because they were window shoppers.

Whatever the reason, we hope that by the end of this blog, you will learn how to run your store successfully.

#1 Mandatory Registration During Checkout

If you force a visitor to register at the time of checkout (when they are least willing to) then you’re likely to lose them. According to a survey by eConsultancy, 25% of shoppers abandon their purchases because they are forced to create an account. Unfortunately, a lot of brands are so sold to the membership model that they completely ruin the chances of converting a visitor to a customer!

E-commerce conversion killers

If you really want to improve conversions, it is important to simplify the checkout process and make registration optional just like eBay does. In fact, a company increased its site’s revenue by $300 million doing exactly that! Why don’t you follow suit or at least start A/B testing?

E-commerce conversion killers

#2 Lack of or Not Enough Social Proof

Your products may be incomparable and of top-notch quality but no one will risk buying them if they don’t read real people’s experience of having used them. And it is only natural because online shoppers are most comfortable buying stuff that others have bought too. Now, one way of overcoming this lack of trust problem is to publish product reviews. They work as social proof and convince buyers that they are investing in the right product. As it is, 84 percent trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation.

E-commerce conversion killers

Another kind of social proof that works on Stacy Adams’ website is how many people have recommended a product.

E-commerce conversion killers

#3 Shipping isn’t Free

Any customer will sulk upon seeing shipping charges. It’s really no big news. But, the moment they come to know there’s no shipping cost involved, 93% of shoppers will end up making a purchase. E-commerce businesses should already know this but unfortunately, some don’t realize how much it can impact their conversions.

Now, we do know bearing shipping charges can affect your margin but there are ways you can make it profitable too.

  1. Start by including the shipping cost in your product cost.
  2. Create a threshold and encourage your customers to buy more to avail of free shipping. Apparently, 58% of consumers add more items to cart to qualify for free shipping! So, there goes another conversion rate optimization strategy!
  3. Make free shipping exclusive to members only. For example, Amazon makes shipping free for its Amazon Prime members.
  4. Give them the option to pick up from the store.

E-commerce conversion killers

If you can’t absolutely afford to ship for free then be upfront about it on the product description page, and consider including a prominent sell sheet with shipping cost details. Don’t surprise them on the checkout page thinking if they have come so far in their buyer’s journey they will end up buying from you!

E-commerce conversion killers

#4 Not Optimized for Mobiles

30% of mobile shoppers abandon a transaction if the experience is not optimized for mobiles. It makes one thing very clear: your shoppers want a seamless and intuitive mobile experience when they are browsing your website. If you don’t have a mobile-optimized website, now is the time to make one. If it helps put things in perspective, 63% of people are expected to do more shopping on mobile devices in the coming years. Time to buckle up!

What’s more? According to Google, 53% of users will abandon a page that takes more than 3 seconds to load! That’s way too much pressure on you, right? Like it or not, there’s no escaping it. You should amp up your mobile optimization strategy and give mobile users the same or an even better experience they are used to on their desktops and on some top-performing mobile websites like Amazon!

E-commerce conversion killersMobile Page Load Benchmarks from 2,000 Top E-commerce Websites

#5 Insufficient, Weak Product Details

This is pure blasphemy! How do you imagine someone buying from you when you don’t have a compelling, detailed product description? Forget that. We have seen some shoddy websites that think it’s alright to avoid putting up quality photos. Did they forget that shopping online is as it is an impersonal activity? That the only way to lure a buyer to buy is through words and impressive photographs!

If you too haven’t been working on product copies then please do so right away! Perhaps learn from this stunning product page on Bellroy’s website. From photos from every angle, a video, and testimonial to shipping and delivery charges, they have everything sorted! A visitor has all the information they need. What more could one ask?

E-commerce conversion killers

#6 Lack of Multiple Payment Options

Yet another dealbreaker for your customers. According to a YouGov survey, 40% of online customers felt more comfortable purchasing from an online shop with multiple payment methods available. So if you plan to avoid an imminent leak in your funnel, reassure visitors by adding digital wallets like PayPal, Amazon Pay, Apple Pay that they trust and use most often. Besides, it also makes the checkout process faster.

E-commerce conversion killers

Furthermore, to gain a competitive edge, it is a good idea to add access to new markets add local, preferred payment options. For instance, in Russia e-wallets like Yandex.Money, WebMoney, PayPal, Qiwi, Robokassa are popular.

Besides, DO NOT forget that even after adding multiple payment options people won’t shell out money if they don’t see secure payment badges. A survey by Econsultancy/Toluna confirmed the same. About 48% of respondents said that seeing trust seals assure them at the checkout stage.

E-commerce conversion killers

Resource: 5 “Trust Badges” That Can Increase Your Conversion Rate

#7 Horrible User Experience on the Checkout Page

Alright, we spoke about mandatory registration before purchase earlier but there’s more that can go wrong when the user is about to purchase. For instance, competing or almost invisible CTAs, no thumbnails of items added to cart, inability to edit cart items, manual filling of the discount coupon (which should ideally be automatic!) or dysfunctional discount codes etc. That’s quite a bunch, eh? The only way to rectify these, reduce bounce rate and show checkout hospitality is to test as much and as often as possible.

#8 No LIVE Chat Support

Boohoo! You can not have the LIVE chat support feature on your website for the exact same reason that you cannot run a physical store without salespeople! As it is, the online shopping experience is quite impersonal. The only way you can assure they stay and that no visitor query goes unanswered is to have real people guide them. Apparently, according to a research by Internet Retailer, live chat is the most favorite way to interact with a merchant.

E-commerce conversion killers

In fact, we recommend that you have this feature even on the checkout page just so you are able to help at the last minute!

E-commerce conversion killers

It will also help you learn about customer pain points and issues on your website that you may not be aware of. Let’s say, you don’t have a ‘save for later’ or ‘wishlist’ functionality or that your ‘search’ isn’t effective. Most online shoppers are used to these so if they point out, it’s for your good. The point is that you should note them down and repair them before the absence of important features damages your website’s credibility and conversion rates.

#9 You Don’t Believe in Discounts or Promotions

What’s holding you back from giving your store visitors a discount? It’s an effective purchase incentive that everyone loves! Of course, we know it can kill your profit margins but who says you have to discount every available item or run flash sale campaigns every other day? Besides, you don’t want to inadvertently change people’s perception of your brand!

What you can perhaps do is play intelligently and do the following.

  1. Think about bundling and amping up the average value of products. It is a smart move because it increases the perceived value of products. Hence, reducing the likelihood of them shopping elsewhere! However, do remember to give people an option to bundle products of their choice.
  2. Send limited-time discounts to those who left your store without buying or with items stored in the cart and wishlist.
  3. Recover your profit percentage by luring visitors with a ‘buy more, save more’ offer.
  4. If you don’t want to give any discount perhaps gift them something of utility. For instance, if you are selling computer hardware, send them a downloadable PDF installation guide.
  5. Justify your undiscounted products by giving them premium services like free shipping, free returns, etc. After all, discounts don’t need to be of one kind only.
  6. Target first-time visitors and entice them with custom discounts just the way you incentivize your regular customers.

E-commerce conversion killers

There you go. Eliminate these e-commerce conversion killers or barriers between your customer’s wallet and your products and notice your conversion rates skyrocket!

Ready to give rectify these issues and increase your revenue?

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