Problem: An apparel brand has a very poor conversion rate on Shopify. The conversion rate is from 0.2-0.5% which is below industry standards of 1.5% for an apparel store. Their add-to-cart rate was between 1.44% to 1.9%. By doing some changes, we were able to increase their add to cart to 4-5% 

Step 1: Identify and Fix Issues 

The first step to improving any funnel or journey is to identify the issues in the customer journey. These issues can be easily identified by going through the journey as a user would. Common issues in these journeys are as follows 

Negative or No Customer Reviews on the product page 

Having negative reviews has an adverse effect on customer trust which having no reviews makes the customer doubtful about their purchase. This is why one must ensure to build a good customer review system to keep on getting positive reviews. For this apparel brand, we downloaded the app called Judge Me and imported 20-30 reviews on each of its products. 

Lack of information to make a purchase on the product page 

A user would need all relevant information available to them easily on the landing page to make the purchase decision. The relevant information usually includes price, images, reviews and other details of the product like uses, consumption, size, colour, etc. Apart from this, the availability of other good-to-have details can boost the conversion rate. These good-to-have details include lifestyle images, trust badges, return policy details, shipping time, etc.  

Higher pricing than competitors on the product page 

Usually, for generic products or for new brands which are not well established in the market, a user would check for the same product on a couple of different websites to make a decision on which brand would be better for them. In this case, pricing can play a very important role. If your pricing on the product is below or at par with your competition then add to cart won’t be affected. However, even if you give a huge discount at the cart or during checkout but if your first pricing on the product page is higher than the competition, then the add-to-cart rate will drop.  

Slow Loading of Product Page 

This is a given for any online entity. If one has a slow product page, which is slower than five seconds then it will lead to a huge bounce rate. This is a tool by google which can help you identify your page score and how you can optimise your loading speed. 

Add to cart button not working 

At times, especially when the online store has a lot of customisations, it can lead to a lot of things breaking down. These could be one of the reasons add to cart button is not working at all. In any roll out it is best to check the entire customer journey to ensure the crucial aspects of businesses are not affected. 

Product Not in Stock 

When products or popular variants are not in stock – people will not add them to cart. Here the seller must instead add a opt in form for a back in stock reminder to make the most of the lost opportunity. 

Above the Fold Page Not Optimised 

At times, businesses do not realise that their customers are not using a desktop but a mobile phone. One usually creates and edits their shop on desktops and hence it might be easy to forget where most of their traffic comes from. In this scenario, a store owner must know which device is the user using to browse their store. If most of the users are using mobile, then the seller needs to edit and optimise the above the fold, the page that loads first without the customer scrolling. Crucial elements for an e-commerce store are reviews, title, images, price and the buy now button. 

Step 2: Learn from Industry Leaders 

Why reinvent the wheel? Top businesses today have already been there and done that. It is best to take lessons from them and be inspired by them. Here a few things which we have come across and learned from industry leaders like amazon. 

Countdown Deals 

Deals are a great way to create urgency and excitement for the users. This can tremendously increase add to cart rates. 

Savings 

Show savings to the users. This creates a sense of assurance in their minds and helps users justify their purchases. 

Trust Badges 

Today Amazon’s Prime badge itself has turned into a trust badge. Users find credibility in sellers who have amazon prime badge or other trust badges on their listings. 

Many more things 

Other things like product suggestions at the cart page, the delivery time displayed, “amazon’s choice” and many more such things can be taken into consideration as well.