Selling anything online requires dedication. While a few customers may find your products without your help, the truth is that most of them won’t. The result is likely to be a low conversion rate and minimal sales, two things that lead a lot of new sellers to give up before they really get started.
The good news is that you have the power to increase your conversion rate and make more sales than you ever thought possible. All you need is some information and a little guidance. With that in mind, we’ve created this guide to help you increase your conversion rate and skyrocket your sales.
What Is a Conversion Rate?
Your conversion rate is a number that explains how many people who visit your shop or website, or click your ad, convert into paying customers. Most online shops receive a number of visitors that is far higher than the number of sales they make.
In the world of printables, for example, a good conversion rate is between 2% and 6%. That would mean that for every 100 visitors who visit your online shop, you’ll make somewhere between two and six sales. You can calculate your conversion rate by taking the number of sales you make in a given period and dividing that number by the total number of visitors for the same period.
When you increase your conversion rate, you’ll be making more sales for every 100 visitors who come to your shop or website. As a result, your profits will increase, and you’ll earn more money.
Tips for Increasing Your Conversion Rate
After you have calculated your conversion rate, there are many things you can do to increase it and make more sales.
Optimize Product Descriptions
Whether you’re selling digital products on your own website or using a site such as Etsy or The Hungry JPEG, optimizing your product listings is one of the best ways to attract qualified traffic to your store. By qualified, we mean an audience of people who are looking for products like yours and ready to buy them, as opposed to people who are casual browsers.
You should use your most important keywords in your product names and descriptions. On Etsy, for example, you can use up to 13 keyword tags for each product you sell. Using all of them will make it easy for people to find your products. You should also use keywords in your alt and image tags.
Optimize Landing Pages
If you are selling your products on a website you own, then there are few optimization strategies more important than creating compelling, optimized landing pages for your ads and promotions. Any landing page you create should be optimized for long-tail keywords that describe your product specifically and match whatever it is you featured in your ad.
Some of the most essential features of a high-converting landing page include these.
- A clear and compelling headline. Your headline should deliver on the promise of your ad and highlight the most important selling points of your product.
- High-quality images. The images on your landing page should show your product to its best advantage. Ideally, you should include a combination of close-ups and full view images with high resolution.
- Persuasive copy. Any copy on your landing page should be concise and to the point while also being deeply persuasive. You should use your copy to communicate the value and benefits of your product.
- An irresistible CTA. Your call to action should be both prominent and visually appealing. Use strong verbs to communicate what visitors should do.
A landing page with these characteristics can do a lot to increase your conversion rate.
Enhance the User Experience
The experience users have when they visit your shop or website has a lot to do with whether they buy your products or navigate away to find one of your competitors. Here are some of the areas where you may be able to improve the user’s experience and make more sales.
- Optimize your page’s loading speed. Most people will navigate away if a page takes more than three seconds to load.
- Choose a mobile-responsive design. Your page should look just as good on a smartphone or tablet as it does on a computer.
- Make navigation intuitive. You’ll need easy-to-find menus, a logical site structure, and a working search function.
- Streamline forms and purchasing. You don’t want people to get frustrated when making a purchase, so keep the process as simple and quick as possible.
Focusing on how visitors experience your site will minimize the risk that they’ll hit the dreaded back button and find somewhere else to get what they need.
Encourage and Manage Reviews
Online reviews serve as a form of social proof. Research shows that online shoppers trust reviews from strangers as much as they would trust a personal recommendation from a friend, so that means you can’t afford to ignore reviews and ratings as a way of increasing your conversions.
One of the best ways to get more reviews is simply to ask your customers to review your products and remind them to do so. You should respond to all reviews, even if it’s only a quick thank you for a positive review. Keep in mind that maintaining an average rating of 4.8 stars or more is one of the requirements to achieve Star Seller status on Etsy.
Test and Track Your Promotions
A/B testing is a way to measure the effectiveness of your marketing and make incremental improvements to increase your sales and profits. You should only test one element of your ad or landing page at a time. For example, you might test two different ad headlines to see which one is most effective. Then, you would use the most effective headline and test another element, such as your image or call to action.
You may only see a small improvement with each element, but continuous testing can help you get to the best possible version of your ad or landing page and make a significant difference in your conversion rate over time.
Offer Bonuses and Bundles
Visitors to your shop are most likely to buy from you when they feel they’re getting a bargain. You don’t necessarily need to lower your prices to increase the value of what you’re selling. Here are two options.
- Product bundling involves putting two or more products together to make a single product. Most commonly, bundles include related items. For example, you might bundle a gardening planner with some printable plant labels and printable stickers.
- Product bonuses involve offering a free item with the purchase of an item. Bonuses may be related or unrelated to the main product. You should offer the bonus as a separate download, so it doesn’t seem like you’re trying to pass off an included item as a bonus.
Giving potential customers a good deal or a little freebie can go a long way toward convincing them to buy your products. It’s also effective at turning one-time customers into regular buyers!
Increase Your Conversion Rate to Increase Your Profits
If you have wonderful products, it’s not difficult to improve your conversion rate. Following this guide can help you attract eager customers to your shop and convert them into satisfied customers who’ll buy from you again and again.
Are you ready to earn extra money selling educational printables? Click here to get my EDU Décor Made Easy guide, where you’ll learn how to create and sell classroom décor!
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