14 Ways Online Jewelry Stores Can Boost Conversions

In 2022, when the global online jewelry market was pinned to a worth of $57.4 billion, the forecast also said that the online market would reach a valuation of $117 billion by 2027. 

So you see, post pandemic and market contractions, the jewelry space still holds promise – which can grow further with the right optimization tactics. 

ConvertCart has been working with online jewelry brands across the globe. And we’ve consistently found certain practices to be effective gamechangers for jewelry businesses. 

Here's a list of conversion tips that we’ve seen work consistently for online jewelry brands.

14 ways online jewelry stores can get more conversions

1. Pay special attention to technicalities & specifications

It’s a known fact that jewelry connoisseurs prefer certain pieces over others because the former has certain specific characteristics. 

The preference could be about the material, the engraving, the sourcing or even the many ways a piece of jewelry can be worn. 

Specifications can also include:

- SKU or product number

- Any disclaimers around available or applicable coupons

- If the piece is so limited that coupons can’t be applied 

- Any possible differences between the product photo & every unique piece

Since jewelry naturally demands that people spend more than they do on other kinds of products, transparency around technicalities and specifications ensure shoppers’ trust. 

Stone and Strand is a jewelry brand that throws a lot of light on several aspects like make, sourcing, diamond cut and markups in their product page copy. 

2. Offer proof of authenticity through certifications

For eCommerce jewelry brands that either create original pieces or promote multiple designers under the same brand, proof of authenticity is crucial. 

Typically known as a letter of authenticity, this kind of paperwork increases the trust a shopper is likely to experience in a brand. 

Even established brands like Bvlgari ensure they issue digital authenticity cards that are activated either through the brand directly or through an associated retailer. 

An authenticity card or letter typically carries the following information:

• A guarantee of the purchase date
• A guarantee of when the piece was produced & aligned SKU number
• Warranty window in case of manufacturing defects
• A confirmation from the designer or jewelry company about the veracity of the piece
• A thorough verification & elaboration of the materials used 
• Details about where the materials & stones have been sourced from
• A high definition photo (ideally the photo corresponds exactly to the piece the customer is buying)

The clearer the authenticity of a product is, the easier a shopper may find it to appraise it and insure it later. 

Some brands like Aurate create separate sections on their website to talk about materials, their sourcing & manufacturing standards as well as fair pricing practices. 

Here's a valuable read: Promote your online store in the USA - 15 unique ideas

3. Think up varied ways to bring in customization

Jewelry lovers are ready to place a premium on rare materials, original work by designers and even limited edition collections. 

However, this does not take away from what customization still means to many of them – whether it’s fashion jewelry or fine jewelry, shoppers see more value in putting in their money when the jewelry is customizable. 

This is why a brand like Jennifer Zeuner ensures they have an exclusive line of customizable jewelry. 

As an eCommerce jewelry brand, here are a few ways to bring in customization to increase the chances of shoppers converting:

- Pendant sets (with a single message divided between two pendants, can make an ideal gift between lovers or best friends)

- Allow customization for different parts of the same piece of jewlery (for example, if it’s a necklace, let shoppers bring together the chain, the pendant and even the overall look of the piece)

Jewelry brand Foundrae has created a short three-step customization quiz to make it easy for shoppers to “build your story”. 

- Initials on pendants, rings or drop earrings

- Names of individuals, cities or even pets on pendants

- Customize through an on-call or in-person appointment (this works well for fine jewelry, which requires considerable investment as well as design precision)

4. Bring in the functionality of gift finding & gifting

Sometime ago, a JewelStreet research found out that 58% women like to be gifted jewelry. 

Similarly a 2022 survey by National Retail Federation concluded that 41% were likely to gift jewelry on Mother’s Day. 

What either of these numbers points to is the fact that jewelry makes for popular and well-loved gifts.

And this further means that as an eCommerce jewelry brand, you’ll have to bring in the functionality of gifting and gift-finding to your storefront. 

Here are a few functional ways in which you can make gifting & gift-finding on your eCommerce store easy:

- Make “gifting” a category on your primary homepage navigation (and ensure sub-categories look at seasonal gifts, bestsellers and even sale items!)

- Categorize gift options based on pricing (use segmentation to arrive at the prices each customer group prefers and is willing to stretch to – )

- Offer the option of personalizing within your gifting category (like David Yurman does, with a featured image to go with it.) 

• Offer last minute gifting options (to attract shoppers, you may want to label them as “ready to ship” under the appropriate category)
• Introduce gift cards of different valuations (offering a spectrum like $25, $50, $75 and upwards till about $500 can ensure more shoppers from your TG segments can consider buying)

Got a conversion problem at hand? Read: Why is your conversion rate dropping (& 36 ways to fix it)

5. Ensure sizing information is always accessible

Average eCommerce returns hover anywhere between 20% and 30% and one of the top reasons cited is size issues. 

And while this is true for fashion, it also applies to jewelry – why would people want to buy pieces that won’t fit them at all (unless it doesn’t matter if it’s free size)?

Here are a few to-dos to make sizing information easily accessible on your jewelry product pages:

- Feature the sizes that are in stock (you can either make them clickable or place them inside buttons which when the shopper chooses, changes color – when clickable a prompt can appear about whether the particular size has a low stock)

- Feature a link with a sizing guide (make the guide inclusive by featuring international size standards as well as sizes in different measurement metrics – it’s even better if you can feature some sizing tips for shoppers to figure measurements more precisely)

- Offer additional information on gem & jewelry sizes (best done within the specifications sub-section)

6. Focus on how well you highlight the materials used

When you’re attempting to have your shoppers convert on your jewelry eCommerce store, it becomes essential to think about what they’d like to know about what goes into a certain piece of jewelry. 

Here are a few to-dos you may want to strongly consider if you want your TG to become more aware as well as convinced about buying a piece of jewelry:

- Use a descriptive style to evoke heightened imagination (when you tell shoppers what the materials and gems together can do to elevate their look, they will likely be more convinced – that’s how Catbird does it)

- Intersperse your brand voice with informational transparency (remember that competing brands could be using the same or similar materials to come up with their own distinctive creations – which then makes it important for you to tell shoppers how your brand is doing it differently – Aurate shows us how calling it a “story” and giving it a distinctive brand spin can help)

Here's some food for thought: How to write product descriptions for mobile: 27 proven ideas (with examples)

7. Pay attention to photography across the storefront

It’s been proven that almost 93% shoppers give predominance to visuals before they even arrive at a purchase decision. 

This attitude heightens even more when it comes to fashion and jewelry – which is why it’s not sufficient that you feature great photos only on your jewelry product pages. 

High intent pages on a jewelry eCommerce site typically include the homepage, the category pages, landing pages (aligned with paid ads) and the about us page that elaborates on the brand or business. 

To make the images across the storefront captivating, make sure you:

- Combine use-context images with product-specific ones

- Create mood-based shots 

- Feature photographs that alternately highlight the model and a piece of jewelry 

- Bring in labeled images for intricate products (for example, for a stackable ring set or for a set of ear studs)

Mejuri does this especially if they’re creating content around a less-understood aspect – in our example, it’s to do with cartilage piercings. 

- Feature multiple age groups, genders and skin colors based on the kind of TG your business caters to

8. Make homepage navigation a top priority

Whether you sell fashion jewelry or fine jewelry, the chances of increasing your AOV improve only when you pay more attention to homepage navigation. 

Baymard’s research has shown that 50% of sites perform poorly especially in the homepage and category sub-areas. 

Since, by default, this is the page that’s most likely to appear for much of your audience, you need to ensure navigation here is accessible and self-explanatory. 

Here are a few ways to ensure your jewelry storefront homepage supports exploration and discoverability:

- Make sure the primary navigation menu has all the major categories (with visual cues for shoppers to explore sub-categories)

- Feature your top categories in a horizontal layout

- Highlight categories preferred by your TG in separate blocks

- Ensure your bestsellers across categories aren’t hidden

One jewelry brand that focuses on making homepage navigation easy and inspiring is Adina Eden. 

Homepage on your mind? Dive deeper with: 9 Critical eCommerce Homepage mistakes (and Creative solutions)

9. Highlight what you do differently over competition

The online jewelry space has become increasingly crowded over the last few years. 

And with it, the challenge of meeting customers exactly where they are, has grown too. 

More brands are coming up with better reasons for shoppers to shop with them:

Some are catching up with the trend of curbside pickups. 

Some offer more options on the international version of their site. 

Some ensure their values are clearly known based on their investors’ voice. 

Vrai, a sustainable fine jewelry brand, for example, offers a call-out of how actor-activist Leonardo Di Caprio is an investor in their business. 

It immediately increases the value shoppers associate with the brand. 

10. Make filtering & sorting a cakewalk

As exciting your collections and categories of jewelry might be, most shoppers arrive at your storefront with something distinctive in mind. 

Even if they’re just exploring, they want the discovery process to be aided by the back-end so that they can flit between choices easily. 

Vrai, for example, ensures all their category pages feature a section on popular sub-categories as well as offer filtering & sorting options separately:

11. Get your customer service to focus on CLV

Given that 86% of shoppers are willing to pay more if they receive great customer service, it’s a sureshot way for jewelry brands to capture those conversions. 

However, because jewelry can often be a high-investment bargain, customer service has to do more than just answer immediate questions – it ideally should focus on building a customer’s lifetime value. 

Here are a few considerations that seem to pay off when jewelry stores ate attempting to build CLV through customer service:

- Make the omnichannel experience seamless (for example, if a shopper has declined to take offers over a particular channel, make sure you don’t send them to the same shopper across other channels)

- Ensure your customer support staff are well-versed (not just in how your brand is represented but also in how they can field questions on products, collections & technicalities)

- Offer more self-help options (be it through featuring FAQ in your live chat or strengthening your blog by creating topics that are in fact questions or curiosities expressed by shoppers)

Here's a read worth exploring: How to go Omnichannel on a Budget (Strategies + Case Studies)

12. Finetune your social commerce strategy

An enhanced social commerce strategy can ensure a jewelry brand is able to establish more organic engagement with shoppers. 

Be it about shares from close friends or relatives or commenting directly on product images, social commerce enables shoppers to directly engage with their favorite jewelry brand. 

Here are a few quick to-dos that can instantly refine the way your social commerce has been helping you convert:

- Pay attention to the way images are laid out in your feed (the more brand congruence between the images, for example, on your Instagram feed, the smoother the visual discovery process is for the shopper)

- Reduce form fields for when shoppers checkout through social (the good thing is that using analytics you can seek permission to autofill crucial details like name, address etc. – and keep only the most important fields to be manually filled out)

- Incorporate the permanent cart feature (so that shoppers, when using the same credentials across social channels to log in, don’t have to deal with a changing cart every time – some businesses use a time window to feature the cart contents, within which if the shopper returns they’ll be able to access the items in the cart)

- Monitor your communication channels consistently (quick responses across the most active channels would mean lesser likelihood of shoppers being distracted by offerings & discounts by other brands)

Keep reading for more ideas: 15 Underutilized Social Media Ideas For eCommerce Brands

13. Make your limited-time deals super attractive

Every shopper will vouch for the fact that they love a good deal – and jewelry connoisseurs will vouch for it a little more. 

Placing limited-time deals and offers on high-end, high worth jewelry can bring in the conversions if you can:

- Drive a sense of aspiration (for example, if you’re launching a product line at a discounted offer, it makes sense to call it a “24 hour exclusive launch price” versus “20% off only for today”)

- Use urgency to draw attention (bring in a super-short flash sale, let’s say, that lasts for three hours only – feature this on your storefront and ensure to reach out to warm leads two days prior and send reminder emails as well)

- Create teasers for soon-to-be launched deals (this way you can offer them more control over making time to access the limited-time deal – CTAs like “set a reminder” and “block off time” can work well)

It just gets better with this read.

14. Offer a detailed self-design tool to enhance personalization

If you run a high-worth jewelry store or are planning to feature more expensive products on your website, featuring a detailed self-deisgn tool can bring in more conversions. 

The idea is to offer more control and uncompromising decision-making to the shopper who is already willing to spend – but without having to get on long-winded virtual calls. 

Brilliant Earth, for example, features an in-depth “lab” where discerning shoppers can create their own rings, earrings and necklaces. 

Alongside the choice of picking the desired stone, cut of stone and picking a desired price, the website offers a catalog of all available stones. 

FAQ on online jewelry conversions

1. What is the conversion rate for eCommerce jewelry stores?

The average conversion rate for luxury and jewelry stores is typically around 1.46% – however, if research is to be believed, the conversion rate for jewelry businesses have actually increased by a little over 32%. 

2. Is eCommerce jewelry a profitable business?

The online jewelry industry has seen a steady rise for the last few years, especially through the COVID-19 pandemic, and forecasts claim that it will be $645 billion by 2035. 

The average profit margin for jewelry is typically anywhere between 25% and 75%. 

3. How do I start an online jewelry brand?

In order to start your own online jewelry brand, the following are a few significant steps you’ll have to consider:

- Consider market opportunities and find a niche

- Identify your target audience clearly 

- Define the jewelry you’d like to make, sell or both

- Figure out a trustworthy jewelry manufacturer 

- Start developing a brand image and voice 

- Strategize on a price point (based on audience & the profit margin you’d like to make)

- Begin to market your brand (align with the channels you’d like to use most for sales)

Need your jewelry store to shine more in 2023?

Most high-value precious jewelry eCommerce stores struggle to move beyond a conversion rate of 1%. 

Why: user experience issues that cause friction for visitors. 

And this is the problem ConvertCart solves. 

We've helped 500+ eCommerce stores (in the US) improve user experience—and 2X their conversions. 

How we can help you: 

Our conversion experts can audit your site—identify UX issues, and suggest changes to improve conversions. And we won’t charge for this one. 

<Get a free UX audit today>

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