5 tips to increase your e-commerce conversion rate

Conversion rate is one of the most important metrics in e-commerce. After all, it is not enough to have a high traffic of visits on an e-commerce platform. Results depend on how many of those visitors actually buy.

According to the Growcode E-commerce 2021 survey, published this year, the average market conversion rate is 2.7%. With the increasing growth of e-commerce in the country – in the first quarter of 2022 alone, the revenue was almost R$ 40 billion – the willingness of the public to buy online is increasing and retailers must find strategies to keep their conversion rates within the expected range.

“Conversion rate is an important indicator for evaluating what kind of experience e-commerce offers. When it is not in line with the desired, it is necessary to eliminate the obstacles that stop the consumer on the way and make him abandon the purchase”, explains Rodrigo Schiavini, business director of SmartHint, an intelligent search and recommendation system for e-commerce.

With this in mind, the expert offers five basic tips to help marketers increase their conversion rate:

1. Optimize virtual storefronts

Just like in a physical store, where the windows are designed to get the customer to walk in, e-commerce is no different. A good virtual storefront increases the chances that a customer will continue to browse your platform and eventually buy.

It is possible to use artificial intelligence resources to make virtual storefronts strategic, with products intelligently organized according to user browsing behavior.

“This makes it easier to search for what the consumer wants and also exposes items that may be of interest to them. It is also possible to increase the visibility of what is convenient for the retailer to highlight, such as promotions, launches and best-selling items,” the CEO points out.

2. Create complete product descriptions

Unlike physical stores, where customers have the opportunity to try products and evaluate their quality, this does not happen in e-commerce. Therefore, all information about the product must be detailed in the descriptions.

Descriptive texts must be accompanied by photos and videos, allowing the consumer to feel more confident when buying and evaluating the product he wants to buy.

3. Improve your delivery options

Another point that deserves attention and can be a reason to avoid the customer is the terms of delivery. High price or long duration can be decisive for the consumer to abandon the purchase.

It is necessary to look for favorable partnerships with carriers and offer benefits, such as free shipping on the first purchase and purchases of a certain value or number of items. It can even be a sales strategy.

4. Offer reasons why the customer stays

Among the features that can contribute to this are pop-ups, which are those alerts that are triggered on the screens every time the user intends to close the e-commerce window.

Exclusive discounts and last minute offers are some examples that can serve as a conversion strategy.

5. Invest in an intelligent search and recommendation system

An AI-powered search and recommendation system makes the consumer journey easier and more satisfying, increasing the chances of conversion.

In SmartHint’s system, for example, voice search capabilities are available to users, one of the main features offered that contribute to a better end-to-end user experience.

With the solution, it is possible to recognize speech automatically and in real time and transcribe it into written text. For this, the user needs to click on the microphone button and say what he is looking for. Everything is done in a simple, practical and intuitive way.

“Making the shopping experience easier is a strategy to stay competitive and retain customers. When expectations are met, the customer returns, but when the store doesn’t facilitate that journey, it ends up discrediting and not enthralling. A good search and recommendation system can be decisive in conversion,” concludes Schiavini.