So, let’s say you go into a store, and you’re greeted with a scowling shop assistant. The atmosphere feels somber and everything looks disorganized.
What will you do? You leave, of course.
The same thing goes for an online store. If customers will have a bad impression with your online store, they’ll bounce.
On average, e-commerce bounce rates are about 45.68%. But you want conversions from the get-go, right? The last thing that you want to happen is for customers to bounce.
Your homepage is like your storefront. It should have an excellent design, easy to navigate, and should show what the customer is looking for.
The following are eleven top strategies that will make this happen.
1. Keep your design simple
If you bombard your audience with a lot of information, they’ll simply bounce without buying anything.
In fact, 84.6 percent feel that having a crowded looking design is one of the most common mistakes a lot of marketers make. That’s why it’s best to just keep your homepage simple.
If you have too many images, products, and calls-to-action (CTAs) on your homepage, it will eventually distract users. It’s also a bit difficult for them to pick where to go next.
2. Make your search bar stand out
Having a prominent search bar is extremely handy and helps promote your business. Also, shoppers that utilize your search bar are 3x more likely to make a purchase.
When you come to think about it, it does makes sense. You can find precisely what you’re looking for in an instant, straight from the homepage. After all, you want your customers to find the product that they’re searching for.
You can use an autocomplete feature to give your clients an extra hand in making your searches more accurate.
Also, note that your search bar should be present in all your web pages and not just on your homepage. If your search bar stands out, it will push users in the right direction, which leads to more completed purchases.
3. Organize your navigation bar
One of the most common behaviors a lot of online buyers do is leaving your site because of poor navigation.
That’s why you have to ensure that visitors can easily find their way through your site by putting your navigation bar at the most reasonable and standard positions. Usually, vertical to the left, and horizontal on top.
4. Add excellent category images
The visitors on your homepage wants to see the kinds of products you’re selling. That will help them get a better understanding of your brand, which encourages them to explore further.
Utilizing excellent category images are helpful in this aspect.
Place excellent, high-quality images that will represent each type of category. For each of your primary categories, you can also utilize thumbnail images. Adding even small, helpful things like this can encourage your customers to go further along the sales funnel.
5. Offer daily sale deals
The advantage of having an online shop is that you can offer daily deals on any product that you want.
Deals are one of the most commonly used tools in marketing. So one way of turning those deals into lead magnets is to make them more enticing. That way, visitors are more willing to give their contact information and receive updates from those deals.
6. Have an eye-catching sale selection
According to a survey in the US by Statista, approximately 64% of online shoppers wait until a product goes on sale. So, why not give these discount seekers a favor to purchase something from you?
Place all your discounted products on your homepage. If you can, line them up on a separate section.
7. Declare free shipping
High shipping fees are one of the main reasons a lot of shoppers abandon their cart.
Offering free shipping gave some e-commerce businesses significant advantages from those who didn’t. If you run a dropshipping business, check out this extensive guide to drop shipping fulfillment.
However, offering free shipping alone isn’t enough. Web-users also care about the speed of the shipment. That’s why Amazon is now giving users the option of having the products that they’ve purchased ship in just a day.
8. Display customer product reviews
Product reviews are another crucial factor because a lot of users trust product reviews more than they do with a product description.
They’ll listen more to other online customers that they would with a business. Why? Because the ones who gave the reviews already bought something from them.
Having positive reviews helps boost your business in the long run. The more positive reviews you have, the more people will get to trust you.
9. Have a persistent shopping cart
At its core, persistent shopping carts are carts that help keep track of any non-purchased or abandoned items. It usually saves up the information the next time a customer visits.
Some would opt to utilize ‘add to cart” as a wishlist. But this behavior is undesirable over time because it leads to product subtraction on the inventory of your online shop.
While some retailers prefer not to use the persistent shopping cart, a significant number of businesses still utilize it.
10. Offer Live Chat
Choosing to invest in live chat software helps you address any consumer doubts and confusions instantly. Also, calling your support over and over is the last thing any online shopper would want.
So if you want to boost the efficiency in your business’ customer service, utilize live chat. That will help solve the problem of any reluctant visitor when you initiate a live chat session.
11. Display your contact details
The thing is, a lot of web users are still apprehensive and suspicious when purchasing from websites. That’s why making your physical location and board line number visible will help foster trust from your customers, proving to them that you’re not a crook.
Over to You
The moment a web visitor reaches your homepage, there are things that they need and expect to see. That’s why you have to follow the best practices mentioned above. Provide them with a positive user experience and they’re more likely to make a purchase.
