If you are a website owner or even thinking of starting an e-commerce store, you need to know that there are 2.14 billion digital buyers online.

You have an ocean full of opportunities, all you need is high brand visibility.

Photo by Shopify Partners from Burst

E-commerce optimization helps you to increase your visibility and rank higher on any search engine. It is known that websites ranking #1 on Google has high CTR, which can be about 30%. These rates drop evidently with a lower ranking. 

You need to strategically plan the optimization of your e-commerce store. Every visitor landing on your website is a prospect lead. Troubleshooting common errors and adding value to your online store would increase conversion rates. 

In the stats below, you’ll notice that a large number of companies pay attention to e-commerce optimization. 

Source: Hubspot

Ready to make your e-commerce optimization checklist? Here is a critical guide for you, with a step-by-step process showing how to optimize your e-commerce website.

1. Start With Optimizing Your Product Page

The product page is the essential unit of your eCommerce store. So there is no doubt that it should be optimized for high user engagement. 

• Write an in-depth description for the product: A detailed product description with FAQs increases the chance of purchase. Understand buyer’s intent and explain all there is to know about the product. 

• Include Customer Reviews and Ratings: Customer reviews can inform buyers a lot about your products. According to a study, 61% of the customers rely on online reviews to make a purchase. Incorporate user reviews for people to make an informed decision. 

For a high user engagement make sure your home page and blogs related to the products are optimized. For that, you need to be thorough with keyword research. These pages must include the most relevant keywords. 

Make use of long-tail keywords, as usually, searches include more than three words. This will increase the visibility of the page.

• Optimize Pricing: Setting prices can be a major task. It plays a major role in any product’s purchase. You need to understand the psychology of buyers for the prices to be appealing enough that they make a purchase. 

For instance, the number ‘9’ strategy, or “left-digit effect” attracts more consumers. Take a look at the image below, 

Source: optimizely

2. Use Personalization

Know your customers and give them what they want. Giving relevant content and offers works really well for eCommerce. No buyer would want to see content they don’t want. Irrelevant content could frustrate users and they might leave your site.

91% of consumers say they are more likely to shop with brands that provide offers and recommendations that are relevant to them. 

So highlight relevant products with types of online personalizations shown below:

• “You might also like” was first revolutionized by Amazon and it has still been working well for high conversions. 
• “Visitors who viewed this also viewed it”, inform people about 
• others' choices and could be a great way of selling more products. 
• “Customers also bought” again tells about general choices of customers, and might be a great way of improving conversion rates. 

Personalized email marketing can also be very helpful for your eCommerce store. Inform your leads about relevant products. You can also send “price-drop alerts” for the items they recently viewed. 

3. Improve Mobile Experience

Mobile users have significantly increased in the past few years. Improving mobile experience is inevitable. A high percentage of product research is also done through mobile devices. A study by Statistica has predicted that the use of mobile devices by 2021 will boost to 72.9%.

To provide a good user experience, keep in mind:

• Improve page loading speed to retain customers. 
• Pay attention to the theme of your website. Choose responsive themes which study and adapt according to the user’s behavior.
• Use high-quality photos to raise consumer appeal and in turn high conversion rate. 

4. Organize Web Design

When people visit your e-commerce store, they would want easy navigation through your website. If the design of your website is confusing it compels the visitor to leave your page. 

User experience and easy navigation are key factors in deciding user engagement. Especially when a consumer is using their mobile device, there is a higher probability that they might get lost with multiple links and buttons. As mobile is smaller than the desktop, it is a task to optimize your website for easy use. But it is crucial for traffic growth and conversion rates. 

5. Resolve Cart Abandonment Issues

It is not rare when visitors add products to their shopping carts and leave without buying. It is an issue faced by all online stores commonly. But there are ways to resolve this problem:

• Target your leads with remarketing and remind them what they are missing out on. 
• Consider free shipping if feasible.
• Don’t add any surprise costs at the time of shipping. 
• Improve the loading speed of the page. 
• Use exit-intent popups. For instance, look at the image below,

Source: optinmonster.com

6. Conduct Regular SEO Audits

To keep up with Google algorithms you need to conduct regular SEO audits. It will maintain the health of your eCommerce store and keep it SEO-friendly. It is also a great way of fixing errors and maintaining the relevance of your content. 

Conclusion

With a raging online competition, you need to make sure that your eCommerce website is optimized for search engines. Otherwise, you’ll lose potential leads to your competitors. 

Several e-commerce optimization services will help to add value to your online store and build the trust of customers.