When creating a Magento store, you want to make sure that the site is as conversion-ready for your customers as possible. Moreover, you need to pay attention to both desktop and mobile versions of your Magento store. It’s hardly a secret that modern mobile users represent 49% of internet traffic. However, for many businesses, mobile conversions remain far lower than on desktop. While this can be in part attributed to differing browsing behavior and intent on mobile, it is also clear that companies are not doing enough to focus on improving their mobile conversion rates.
Let’s take a look at a few quick and simple steps you can take to optimize Magento conversions.
#1. Reduce load times
If an e-commerce page takes more than 5 seconds to load, more than half of your visitors will immediately leave. That’s more than half of potential customers you don’t even have a chance to convert. Accordingly, the importance of reducing your site’s load times as much as possible cannot be overstated. When optimizing a site or page, start with these basics.
Reduce images sizes
While the resolution of screens is steadily increasing, the size has not, so you still don’t need to load extra high-resolution images in most situations. Simple designs with solid blocks of color allow you to lower the resolution of graphics even further and, generally, look better on all the screens anyway.
Clean up your code
When first building a site, it is easy to leave redundant or inefficient code lying around because you just want to get things up and running. This can cause additional problems besides slow loading. For example, running scripts and plugins across the whole site despite only needing them on a few specific pages increases the likelihood of a compatibility issue occurring between plugins.
Use high-quality extensions
A poorly-written extension or plugin can itself run more slowly than it should in addition to making your site slower. On top of this, they can also reduce the reliability of your site through bugs or lacking compatibility with your other systems.
Google Page Speed Optimizer can boost your speed on mobile and desktop. It allows you to resize images for mobile devices automatically, merge and minimize JS & CSS files, and enable lazy loading.
#2. Simplify your navigation
A key to conversion success is making sure your customers find the products they want quickly and easily. A strong navigation experience is necessary. You need to make sure that your navigation works without bugs but that it is also easy to use. If the navigation is convoluted and full of options, your shoppers may experience choice paralysis.
The questions to ask yourself when reviewing your navigation are:
- Are the items on your navigation clearly labeled?
- Are there too many items in your navigation?
- Are there too many levels in your navigation?
- Does your navigation have any bugs across browsers?
Focus on clear simple layouts that require the minimum number of inputs from users to find and buy what they are looking for. Features like layered navigation and one-step checkouts are a must for creating a smooth shopping experience.
#3. Improve your sorting and filtering options
Similarly to an easy navigation experience, your shoppers also need to be able to find the specific product they need by filtering through size, color, gender, etc. They may then also want to sort by price or popularity to refine their search.
- How many filtering options do you offer?
- Can you filter by price, color, size, gender, function, and type?
- How many sorting options do you have?
- Can you sort by price, popularity, and recommendations?
Simple navigation with a comprehensive sorting and filtering feature is an easy way to improve conversions with a streamlined customer experience.
#4. Display security icons and trust marks
Online shoppers are wary of online stores they have not heard of before, so it is vital to reassure them of your security measures and reliability. This is especially important for mobile users, as they will often be connecting via unsecured public networks such as in cafes or on public transport. Consumers are increasingly aware of the risks associated with public connections, and as a result, are extra security-conscious when using them. The prominent display of security icons and industry trust marks has a clear impact on conversions. It is tempting to minimize or remove these to give your site a cleaner look on mobile, but a lack of security assurance can reduce conversions by up to 63%.
#5. Offer convenient payment options
Mobile transactions need to happen quickly and smoothly to fit in with how consumers use their phones to shop while on the go. They don’t have a lot of time to spare, and fiddling with a small phone screen to enter delivery and payment details is less than ideal.
To accommodate the need for fast and convenient payment, offer a wide range of options, including Amazon and PayPal, as well as mobile wallet platforms such as Apple Pay. Offering at least three payment methods will increase conversions by up to 30%. Auto-fill options to complete delivery and billing forms during account creation also increases conversions by increasing the number of people willing to create an account while on the move.
Allow your customers to pay via a wide range of payment methods with a safe Stripe Payment extension.
- All in one payment solution;
- 3D Secure support;
- Automatic invoicing;
- Numeric keyboard for better user experience on mobile devices;
- Meets the requirements of PSD2 and SCA.
#6. Create an abandoned cart email
It sounds simple, but do you have an abandoned cart email? This is an easy way to capture conversions that just didn’t reach the final stage. But these conversions may be high value and high-quality customers.
When a user browses your site, adds a product to their cart, and begins the checkout process, but abandons (for whatever reason!), they may need re-engaging. They may have abandoned checkout because of an offline distraction, they forgot to complete the process, or they may want to come back once they get more information.
#7. Showcase related products
If your shopper has been browsing your Magento store and hasn’t found the best product for them, showcasing related products based on what they’ve viewed or added to the cart already may be useful. This could be an important element in the shopper’s discovery stage that could trigger a conversion.
Showcase a similar t-shirt in different colors, or showcase a complementary earring on your necklace product page. Your customers may just want to browse and discover.
#8. Add an FAQ page
An uncertain or doubtful shopper can be hard to convert. It’s important to arm them with all of the information they need to make a purchase, whether this is on delivery, returns, materials, origin, ethics, etc.
A FAQ should answer common questions, such as:
- How long will the delivery take?
- Do you deliver internationally?
- How do you return an item?
- Do you source materials ethically?
- Where do you ship from?
- Do you offer free delivery?
- How do I make a complaint?
Adding an FAQ page can make sure they can find this information easily, calm any concerns, and quickly move on to clicking the ‘checkout’ button. Of course, the types of questions will vary by industry, company size, country, and product type.
#9. Expand your communication methods
Converting mobile users is all about convenience, so using a wide range of mobile communication methods to make it easier for customers to contact you is crucial. Email and phone calls are not convenient ways to contact a business while on the move. Social media, instant messaging, and SMS are easy communication methods designed specifically for mobile, which your customers already use.
In addition to handling customer contacts, mobile-first communication methods can greatly increase your conversion rates via marketing and follow up messages. As it is mentioned on TextMagic, sending follow up messages via SMS can increase conversions by more than 300%.
If you also allow users to shop via a mobile app, it is important to remember that your in-app advertising is just as capable of hurting your conversion rates as boosting them. Make sure that all of your marketing is implemented unobtrusively, or it could cause visitors to abandon your app.
#10. Test, optimize, and iterate
E-commerce is still a new and rapidly evolving industry, so it takes persistent magento conversion rate optimization and iteration to build and maintain a high conversion rate and stay ahead of the competition. Regularly review your click-through and conversion rates in addition to user behavior data for each page, and test multiple variations of every change you make via split testing. This ensures every change you make has already proven to increase the conversion rate. Reviewing and testing the site is vital for identifying areas to improve and tailoring the user experience to your audience.
Make your user journey as streamlined as possible
The key to a conversion-ready site is a streamlined user journey. Is it easy to find products? Is it easy to find answers to their questions? Is it easy to buy the product?
However, you should always take into account your brand. Some of these steps will be easier for you to implement than others. Some will have more of an effect than others. Always review against your brand, your objectives, and your conversion pain points.