8 common mistakes to avoid in eCommerce Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

Conversion rate optimization - or 'CRO' - will set your eCommerce business on a fast track to increasing revenue, acquiring customers, and outperforming your competitors.

Investing in the process of raising your conversion rate is likely to generate a considerable return. Unfortunately, many retailers make common mistakes that end up driving their customers away.

In this post, we'll discuss eight CRO errors to avoid, chased down with some advice on getting things right.

No time to waste – let's get into it.

#1 Not having clear and concise product descriptions

Your visitors should be able to quickly and easily understand what your products are, what they do, and why they should buy them.

Sometimes, retailers will pack their product pages with extra information to give their visitors assurance over what they're buying.

And here, we have mistake number one.

If your product descriptions are too long or convoluted, your potential customers might get confused, lose interest, and leave without making a purchase.

Yes, your descriptions should be informative, but they should also be clear and concise. That means keeping the key information brief and using expandable sections for everything else.

See how fashion retailer keeps all details on this t-shirt available at the customer's request? The result is an uncluttered and compact page.

#2 Bad deployment of user-generated content

Head to any homeware retailer product page and you might find real pictures of the item in someone's house. This is an example of user-generated content, which is highly effective at building trust in potential customers and providing a 'true' version of product appearances.

Studies show that 90% of shoppers believe UGC influences their purchasing decisions. With that said, there are wrong ways to implement it.

One major mistake is displaying images too small or in a format that doesn't allow them to be enlarged. By not allowing the customer to see the image clearly, it cannot serve its purpose.

Our advice would be to vet each picture carefully and avoid automated tools that circumvent this process. You wouldn't let a customer write your product description without supervision, so be prepared to step in as a brand guardian.

#3 Bad deployment of social proofing

The same advice applies to social proofing: a powerful motivator for online shoppers.

Positive reviews and customer testimonials can help build credibility around your brand. However, even the biggest retailers receive feedback that is best left to their team meetings, rather than their websites.

Running reviews through an automated feed is a risky business. Instead, consider sharing a few positive remarks alongside an average score. For instance, 'Customers rated this product 4.80/5.00'.

#4 Complicated checkout process

With 56% of shoppers agreeing that an easy checkout process is the most important element of an eCommerce experience, it makes sense that a complicated one is a major conversion killer.

The three things customers are likely to hate about your checkout process are:

1. It takes too long to complete

2. It contains errors

3. It requires too many steps (e.g. account creation, recommendations, payment, all on different pages)

The key learnings are to prioritize speed when creating your checkout process, to test everything thoroughly, and spot opportunities to condense your information.

Consider gaining customer feedback to ensure you've covered all the bases with these three points.

#5 Hiding shipping information until the end

This CRO blunder is a little complicated to explain but is backed by some pretty solid logic.

Coming up with a slick way of sharing your shipping costs by using your customer's location at the end of your checkout process might seem like a CRO hack. In theory, the customer is so far down the line with their purchase that they're unlikely to turn back.

However, according to research, 78% of shoppers view expensive shipping costs as the top reason for abandoning their purchase.

Let's say a customer does view your shipping costs as expensive. If that's the case, they might abandon their purchase at the checkout, feeling very unsatisfied with your decision to hide the costs until the last possible moment.

Had you shared a rough estimate at the start of their journey, they might have created a bigger order to get more value from the cost of making a purchase.

Customers certainly accept to pay something to have their goods shipped. Your CRO mistake could be sharing these at an inconvenient point.

#6 Too many product recommendations

Many retailers now use product recommendations to push extra purchases and alternatives to something the customer is currently viewing. See how consumer electronics brand Hewlett-Packard does this beneath an item that's just been added to the cart.

While it might seem counterintuitive, offering too many choices can actually hurt your conversion rates. When presented with too many options, shoppers can become overwhelmed and suffer from 'choice paralysis'.

The key is to provide enough options to satisfy different preferences and needs, but not so many that visitors are overwhelmed and unable to make a decision.

#7 Ignoring site speed

An attractive page design might seem like a no-brainer when it comes to grabbing a customer's attention. Still, you cannot ignore how crucial website speed is to boosting your eCommerce conversion rate.

If your website is slow to load, visitors will quickly become frustrated with your flashy display and leave.

Google states that 53% of mobile users will abandon a site that doesn't load within three seconds. Optimize your website’s speed by avoiding large images, using caching, and minimizing HTTP requests.

#8 Failing to run experiments with a control group

If you think of a significant improvement to your site, remember to test it on a small group of customers before rolling it out.

The last thing you need is a change that looks and feels great but doesn't have the desired effect on your conversions.

By testing first, you can validate its conversion-boosting ability before investing time and money in the implementation process.

Conclusion

By avoiding these eight common mistakes, you can give yourself the best shot at boosting your CVR through CRO.

Keep in mind that optimizing your website is an ongoing process that requires constant testing, measuring, and tweaking. With the right strategies and tools in place, you can achieve sustainable growth and success for your business.