Are you frustrated by low add-to-cart rates? If the answer is a resounding, “Yes!” then you’re not alone.
Research shows that ecommerce “add-to-basket” rates hover around 10% of all site traffic. At Growcode, we’ve found that figure to be slightly lower, usually around the 5% to 7% mark. Those might seem like reasonable numbers. But when you also consider that 43.8% of sessions include a product page view, there’s clearly room for improvement.
There are a handful of common ecommerce development mistakes that can seriously dent product page conversions. Ensuring you avoid them, even if you don’t have a fully-fledged conversion optimization strategy, will likely immediately boost your add-to-cart conversions.
And while many of the tips may seem simple, we’ve found they can often have a significant effect on results. Let’s dive in.
Growcode also recommends this eBook:
Ecommerce Optimization Checklist of a 7+ Figure Online Store
Let’s dive in.
Have you ever clicked on an eye-catching, enticing ad, Facebook post or email offer only to end up on a page that looks completely unrelated? If you have, then you know the frustration that comes from mismatched ads and landing pages.
If your shopping ads don’t fit with your products pages, you could be inadvertently knocking up ecommerce bounce rates. Make sure you cover the following bases:
Zulily advertises a pair of Goby shoes on their Facebook page. After clicking through, however, visitors are taken to a category page without a link to the product advertised. It would be far better to link directly to the product page and include a link to the category page.
Urgency building is one of the most effective ways to increase add-to-cart conversions on your product pages. We believe in the strategy so much we published an in-depth post about product page urgency.
It’s very easy to include features on your pages that will quickly build urgency, prompting visitors to add products to their cart. At Growcode, we’ve found the following to be most effective:
On Booking.com, visitors are alerted to recent purchases and notified about the number of people viewing a product page. Both these features build a sense of scarcity.
Research shows that online shoppers are growing increasingly distrustful of brands. While this sounds like bad news for ecommerce retailers on the surface, there’s also an opportunity. By including trust-building elements on your product pages (and on mobile product detail pages) and your site-wide store areas (like headers and sidebars), you’ll give yourself a key advantage over your competitors. You should know how to dispel fears, uncertainties and doubts on product pages.
Include the following elements on your pages wherever appropriate:
Walmart includes an average star rating and a link to in-depth reviews at the top of the page, just underneath the product title.
Cluttered product pages are one of the biggest add-to-cart conversion killers in the game (as well as cluttered shopping cart design).
Your product page should meet one of two goals: get a visitor to add a product to their shopping cart or take them to another product page if they’re not interested. Anything else and you’ve failed.
Answer the following questions to gauge where you might be going wrong:
Cotton On offers related product suggestions in one dedicated area and at the bottom of the page.
Your CTA is one of the most important elements of your product page. If it’s not clear, easy-to-click and attention-grabbing, then you need to make some changes. Pronto.
The web is full of case-studies claiming huge increases in conversions with a few simple tweaks to CTAs. And while these examples are the rarity, little modifications like a color change can have a significant impact.
Here are a few questions you should ask about your CTA (Call To Action) to ensure that it’s conversion-ready:
Amazon’s CTA on mobile is the full width of the page, in a contrasting color and the text is imperative.
It’s almost impossible to understate the importance of product page copy, which encompasses your headlines, descriptions and images.
If you have poor copy – low-quality images, boring headlines, and descriptions with missing information – you’re shooting yourself in the foot before you’ve even begun the race.
Answering the following questions will put you on the right track with your copy:
The goal with your images should be to highlight all the best features while allowing visitors access to all product details. People buy with their eyes, and great pictures recreate the experience shoppers feel when they see or hold a physical product in a store, thinking, “I’ve got to have that!”
If you find that some products are underperforming in terms of add-to-cart conversion rates, try uploading higher-quality or different photos. It can work wonders!
Amazon has mastered the copy game. Note how the headline, images and product description are informative but don’t include any superfluous details. The images are high-resolution and can be enlarged to examine specific features.
Slow-loading pages are among the biggest conversion killers in the game! They’re also the most unnecessary. In most cases, the job of modifying slow-loading pages is quick and easy.
There are a handful of tweaks – including compressing images, eliminating redirects and opting for dedicated hosting – that a developer should be able to implement immediately.
Use Google to test your page speed to gauge whether or not you have a problem. It’s also important to remember that page-speed has ramifications beyond conversions, particularly when it comes to search engine rankings. This one is a low-hanging fruit, so if you do have issues get in touch with your developer straight away.
Kohl’s has a good, but not brilliant, page speed result. Google also recommends changes that can be implemented to make improvements.
If you’re running promotions, or if you offer sweeteners like free shipping, include that information on your product pages.
Many of your site’s visitors will land directly on product pages, not having seen advertisements about promotions in other areas of your site. Including information about sales and offers also has the added benefit of building urgency.
Ask the following questions to ensure promotions and offers are clearly visible to customers:
Notice how Forever 21 makes it clear that the product above is part of a “Final Sale”, qualifies for 10% off and will be shipped free of charge if it’s part of a purchase over $50.
According to Statista, mobile will account for 53.9% of all ecommerce sales by 2021.
According to Statista, mobile will account for 53.9% of all ecommerce sales by 2021. #ecommerce #optimization #productpage #cart Click To TweetMobile is a huge ecommerce channel and you could be leaving a hefty chunk of sales on the table with poorly-designed mobile pages.
Most websites nowadays are automatically mobile responsive. If you use a popular platform like BigCommerce or WooCommerce, that functionality is built in. But well-designed mobile responsive sites are a different matter.
Make sure your mobile pages have the following features:
Compare the Apple mobile site to the one designed by Parker. One is minimal, clear and enticing while the other isn’t even designed to be mobile responsive!
The mistakes above are the ones we’ve encountered most often, after having worked with hundreds of online retailers. Ensuring you avoid them will likely lead to an immediate increase in add-to-cart conversions and sales.
But it’s worth emphasizing that the real key to boosting conversion rates over the long-term is testing. While all of the tweaks outlined here are very useful, they’re no substitute for a comprehensive optimization campaign. And the best approach to product page optimization (and overall ecommerce optimization) is one that involves making constant and consistent changes and that’s based on testing and re-testing.
So, time to go and see your developer.
They are listed in our free ebook: get the Ultimate Review of ALL 2022 Ecommerce Trends to know them all. 2022 is already here – better get your copy ASAP!