eCommerce optimization for any online store is an ongoing challenge. Whether it's finding the right starting point, tracking, or understanding your end results -- it's overwhelming. So, we’re going to help you out by outlining a few ninja-stealth tactics for a clear path to success: identify the consumer, optimize user experience, design a flow that best suits your consumer and ultimately, increase revenues. Last week we touched on Conversion Optimization for Your eCommerce Store which, focused on actionable insights for increasing eCommerce conversion rates. So now you're thinking: what do I do with all of these insights and what changes do I make first?
Many online retailers believe the best place to start optimizing their eCommerce sites is at their checkout page. Assuming this is where people have the most issues, marketers run a lot of tests on the checkout page trying to ensure that as many people as possible complete their purchases. However, more often than not, this isn’t the best solution.
Testing shows that the best place to start is at the top of the sales funnel, where the majority of visitors arrive and the greatest impact can be achieved. In fact, the very first message a visitor experiences has the greatest impact on your eCommerce conversion rate and revenues.
Research can be conducted by studying the sales funnel closely using heatmaps, analytics, and other tools that help identify and analyze visitor behaviour. In addition to behavioural analysis, consumer psychology and profiling can identify trends within different types of customers.
Behavioural Research:
WallMonkeys recently conducted a behaviour analysis with heat maps, which showed that 97% of their visitors didn’t scroll down to see the bottom part of their homepage, which led them to focus on the top part of the homepage. Using the heatmap WallMonkeys set on the homepage, there were two large areas that they wanted to dig deeper into:
People were clicking on the bullets thinking they were clickable, but they weren’t.
The majority of visitors were using the search bar to start their shopping experience.
Emotional Research:
In addition to their behavioural research, they focused on the emotional targeting methodology.
Analyzing and understanding the emotional reasoning for a customer purchase.
Identifying how a customer should feel during the shopping experience.
Defining the messaging, colours, and images that should be used to create a better, conversion oriented experience.
Results:
The emotional added value for customers was missing on the page.
The messaging focused on products and not on the consumer.
The experience of purchasing, or the end result of a purchase, wasn’t communicated.
Try focusing your messaging around your main audience and make changes based on UI & UX and psychological strategies:
Sliders: Try removing it all together to increase conversions and page functionality. One main image works far better than rotating images.
Images: Test at least two main images. Try two that look completely different from one another, but still share your business messaging.
Search: If your heatmap and analytics research highlight that the majority of your users search for your site, try enhancing and making it the main focal point. Try brighter colours that match your branding messaging, or your logo. By enhancing this, your call to action for search will draw in more visitors.
Colour Themes: Play around with light and dark background colours. Depending on your branding, this has a huge influence on the communication you have with your visitors.
Call to Actions: Add a call to action button. This is a great way to test usability and intent of visitors.
While the majority of marketers focus on A/B testing user behaviour and technical alterations, a more meaningful impact can be achieved when both the behaviour and emotional profile of your customers are taken into account. Remember, it is important to think of how the product ultimately makes the customer feel rather than the function of the product itself. [1]
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For more on eCommerce solutions, contact us or see: Conversion Optimization for Your eCommerce Store
Sources: [1] Conversioner
Graphics: envatomarket