You’re getting the traffic. We’ll make it count.

In eCommerce, conversion rate optimization refers to the store strategies which will get you more sales.

You can convince browsers to turn into buyers through certain changes. Some examples of these CRO changes include:

• showing different copies to returning visitors,
• featuring social proof to establish trust,
• offering product bundles to improve AOV,
• displaying price anchoring as a visual cue for discounts,
• personalizing experience based on location or browsing history, and
• enabling interactive quizzes for customer-centric product recommendations.

To understand how these CRO changes impacted sales, segment your audience and test variations of every feature.

As an eCommerce business owner, discussing CRO might already be part of your daily meetings.

However, if you’re trying to convince your team on why to focus on CRO strategies, here are 7 fact-backed reasons you can use.

Through effective CRO, stores can:

• Improve the quality and speed of experiments
• Understand a customer’s shopping behavior
• Build lasting relationships with customers
• Make your store and brand stand out
• Turn current traffic into customers
• Make customers return for more
• Spend less on acquisition costs

To understand how these CRO changes impacted sales, segment your audience and test variations of every feature.

The eCommerce conversion rate formula only considers two metrics, which are the number of conversions and the total number of visitors.

Here are some additional metrics that can help stores can focus on and boost overall conversion rates:

• Page Visits and Completion Rate
• New Visitor Conversion Rate
• Returning Visitor Conversion Rate
• Average Revenue per Buyer
• Average Order Value
• Checkout Abandonment Rate
• Customer Acquisition Cost
• Average Time on Site
• Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
• Refund and Return Rates
• Bounce Rate

Many online stores often get confused between SEO and CRO strategies.

In the simplest terms, SEO strategies focus on increasing the number of visitors to the website; CRO aims to improve the conversion rate once those visitors have reached the store.

Most conversion rate optimization good practices include advice such as changing the color of the CTA button or displaying testimonials.

Does this all work? It’s always 50/50.

Blindly applying such best practices can make stores waste time, money, and resources.

Here, at Convertcart, we recommend delving into your visitor’s behavior, then consistently testing what works and what doesn’t.

This is what will help your store grow in the long term.

Here are 7 underrated CRO best practices you should consider:

• Recommend just 3 products to avoid choice paralysis.
• Count micro-conversion wins (for example, newsletter sign-ups) for a long-term sales funnel.
• Always offer more than 1 delivery option (such as in-store pickup or curb-side pick-ups)
• Encourage returns purchases with product replenishment
• Use clever messaging to make a sale, even with out-of-stock products
• Instead of intrusive pop-ups, display a preview button that expands when clicked.
• Fix ZERO search results by recommending products based on search history to redirect and continue their shopping route.

With too many CRO-related articles on the internet, it’s become more of a buzzword than an effective strategy.

Here are some common CRO mistakes you should avoid:

• Presume what works for one website will work for all
• Assume CRO is ONLY A/B testing
• Think failed tests are not worth anything
• Track only a limited number of metrics
• Experiment with every feature
• Think CRO is only about increasing traffic
• Fail to take feedback from ‘real’ users
• Skip documenting the CRO implementation process

After working with 500+ brands, here’s our list of primary elements of any conversion rate optimization strategy:

• Value proposition (what sets you apart from the competition)
• Call to action (customer-centric or brand-specific)
• Content (address how products can solve a shopper’s problem)
• Urgency (time-limited offer or stock-related alerts)
• Responsiveness (customer service through the buyer journey)

While most conversion rate optimization strategies work, it’s essential to tailor them for your store.

For instance, marketers will often advise using strong colors for the CTA button.

However, CTA button colors won’t convince shoppers to purchase.

Instead, copy such as ‘Get free shipping on this product’ or ‘Easy 30-day returns’ will compel potential shoppers to buy the product.

Here are some more conversion rate strategies to consider for your store:

• Test which navigation menu option works best for product discovery
• Feature a sticky CTA on product pages for easier access
• Display a product quiz to personalize product recommendations
• Test whether product demos appeal to shoppers
• Feature a free shipping progress bar to encourage a better AOV
• Try an open discount field on the checkout page along with a list of “featured offers”
• Highlight savings where you feature the old (slashed) & new prices