Current ecommerce conversion rates range from 1% to 4%, leaving many online business owners wondering how to improve them. With conversion rates this low, you might think that consumers don’t like shopping online.
But it turns out that consumers love online shopping. When asked what exactly they like, frequently mentioned buyers convenience is important to them (87%), as well as coupons and discounts (38%), fast payment process (29.7%), and free delivery (49.7%). Which consumers don’t do it love is a lack of product expertise. Recent data shows that 10% of well-known e-commerce giants miss the mark when it comes to providing detailed product descriptions. More and more studies point out that some of consumers’ biggest frustrations involve a lack of competence on the part of the company.
The good news is that ecommerce conversion rate optimization is as simple as communicating your product expertise with exceptional product pages and descriptions. Here are three ways to use your product expertise to increase your ecommerce conversions.
Method 1: Develop a customer-centric journey, one that communicates product expertise.
The customer journey is becoming an increasingly important element of online shopping. Brick-and-mortar retailers strive to inspire consumer trust and position their business as an expert on the products they sell. But it requires a bit of work on your site and product pages to achieve that same goal. If done right, there are areas where you can handle this even better than a physical experience.
One way brick-and-mortar brands communicate their product expertise is through their sales staff. From clothing to automobiles, it’s easier to instill a perception of brand competence in consumers with a knowledgeable salesperson who knows the product well and can help customers find the best solution.
But even this personal experience falls far short of the client’s ideal. Have you ever gone to a store where you wanted to ask a question about a product and (1) you might have trouble finding someone to answer and (2) the person you find doesn’t have extensive knowledge on this specific product? For online merchants, this is an opportunity.
E-commerce allows merchants to post great product information that is well communicated, edited and updated before being published. Once this content is published, it never takes a lunch break, has no bad day, and is never an entry-level worker who is “in training”: it remains the same great information communicated effectively, regardless of the person who enters the store. , and can serve an infinite number of customers with a consistently exceptional experience.
Amazon has largely understood this. Jeff Bezos credits Amazon’s enormous success 74% conversion rate to a single-minded and obsessive focus on the customer. Shopping on Amazon is almost like being waited on by a salesperson who knows everything in the store.
In the same way that an expert seller can help a customer find the right product by exploring their problem from all angles, Amazon allows online shoppers to explore products from multiple angles, such as written product information, product questions and answers, videos, photos and reviews.
Your goal should be to perform this same service. Make sure you have detailed product information that is easily accessible and suitable for customers of all learning styles and preferences. This means a quality product description, photos, videos and other formats of product information, as well as recommendations for other complementary products. Make sure your product pages are informative and useful, and you’ll start to see an increase in your conversion rates.
Method 2: Use customer questions to share your expertise and optimize conversions.
Sometimes a teacher learns more from his students than the students learn from himself. Questions can help a teacher dig deeper into a specific topic and surface the expertise most relevant to their audience of students. Many students have the same questions, but not everyone raises their hand to ask them. This is true in the field of education, and it is also true if you are looking to increase ecommerce conversions.
Amazon is a perfect example of this principle at work. Although there is no chat feature on Amazon product pages, there is a significant customer engagement feature that allows customers to ask questions about products.
This product Q&A feature will redirect them to a product Q&A section, where the most frequently asked questions have already been answered. If not, the customer can ask the question for other buyers or suppliers to answer. And you can be sure that proactive suppliers will answer these questions.
These are the questions that can help suppliers highlight the most relevant information related to their product and show their expertise by providing excellent answers. One of the easiest ways to systematize these questions and leverage them to better display your product knowledge is to use a product Q&A software solution – a real boon to your business. ecommerce conversion rate optimization.
Such solutions allow you to create an extensive knowledge base or relevant product expertise that helps convert customers on the spot and saves them the need to turn to Google and other merchants in search of answers.
As an added bonus to improving product expertise on your page, you can use this Q&A engagement to recognize what information is most requested, then use that data to improve your product descriptions, create new videos, and more. All of this creates a cycle of product expertise optimization that continues to increase your conversion rates.
Method 3: Use customer reviews to back up your expertise.
Consumers invest a lot of time researching products, and much of that research is participatory. Around 93% of consumers Read online reviews before making a purchase. Even if they buy something in a physical store, 82% of them will go online to learn more about the product, even if it’s right in front of them. As much as 72% of consumers say that positive online reviews make them trust a company more, and that having and communicating product expertise is a critical part of ensuring the majority of your reviews are positive.
You won’t be able to completely eliminate bad reviews, but you can view them as an opportunity to communicate your product expertise. If consumers post about a particular challenge or negative experience, you can competently and professionally address their issue in a public forum. How you handle negative experiences can be more revealing than just a 5-star review: it’s an opportunity to show the world how you’ll work to ensure they’re taken care of in every situation.
Learn from the best in ecommerce conversion optimization.
If you need an example of these concepts at work, look no further than Amazon. We’ve already mentioned Amazon several times…but have we mentioned their $538 billion annual income?
One of the key tools Amazon uses to prevent buyers from going elsewhere is communicating product expertise. They do this by creating exceptional, customer-focused product pages that are packed with information, allow customers to ask questions, and offer the best chance of getting great customer reviews. Their strategy is to communicate as much product expertise as possible, as clearly as possible.
So remember: conversion rate optimization is no mystery. With simple solutions like creating a customer-centric journey, curating and showcasing reviews, and leveraging a Q&A solution to fill in the gaps on your product pages, you’ll be on your way. right path to increasing ecommerce conversions for your business.
