Almost every single effort on the part of an eCommerce business owner is a step toward optimizing their conversion rate. You can be purchasing ads across the web and pulling tons of traffic. However, if none of those prospects convert, your hard-earned money is wasted.

Beyond website design and creating a transparent line of communication with consumers, there are some additional site performance-related issues that can negatively affect your lead page performance, as well as how many of your visitors turn into actual buyers.

Some of those factors include SEO, website speed, and security, all of which help others find your store and use it with ease and make a purchase.

So, once you create an online store, the next task should be finding ways to continue optimizing it in order to cater to a consumer’s desire for quick and easy browsing and purchasing.

Leverage Overlooked Touchpoints

#1: Write Meta Tags and Descriptions

Meta descriptions and title tags are often the initial branded contact you have with your potential clients. They serve as an entry point from Google to your new site.

Therefore, you need to learn how to craft meta tags that increase your click-through rate. You can use Google Webmaster Tools to check the click-through rate of your keywords so that you can make adjustments as required. Usually, if the average position of a specific keyword is within the top 10 but has a low click-through rate, the meta tag of that particular page needs your attention.

#2: Offer An Exchange or Return Policy and Display It

An exchange and return policy can either make or break online sales. Roughly 95% of consumers will likely purchase again once they have experienced a “positive return.”

Therefore, even though it may seem costly to a small business, having a comprehensive policy and upholding your exchange and return policy instills confidence in your business and products.

The more a consumer trusts your eCommerce store, the more likely they will buy from you. After all, 63% of shoppers abandon websites because they did not trust them. So, don’t let your website be one of them.

#3: Offer a Solid Shipping Policy and Showcase It

The way you manage your shipping and returns of your product plays a vital role in deciding the conversion rate of your eCommerce business.

If you’re able to offer free shipping, which is ideal to most digital shoppers, or even provide free shipping over a specific threshold (e.g., “all orders over $50 get free shipping”), you can increase your average order value and balance out the overall loss to your business.

Make sure your shipping set up is displayed clearly throughout your site, especially during checkout. Let’s be honest; nobody likes surprise costs.

#4: Spruce Up the 404 Pages

Normally, you’d set up 301 redirects for web pages that no longer exist on your website, so they direct to a new page. Having said that, there are often instances where a 404 page needs to exist.

If that’s the case with you, consider including an error message, contact information, a search box, or even a few link options to bypass the 404 pages.

#5: Implement Automation

eCommerce automation is the process of using tools that complete various tasks for you, rather than having to do them yourself—this saves both time and energy.

While some aspects of a business will still require human input, a great number of eCommerce tasks can be automated quite efficiently. Automation works best for repetitive daily tasks (small or big) that are always performed consistently.

So, if you want to spend less time on your marketing campaigns, consider using a marketing automation software that can handle your repeated tasks. It’s the key to growing your eCommerce store.

Improve Page Load Speed

#6: Run Your Web Pages Through Pingdom

Pingdom is an excellent place to begin as an alternative to Google’s Tools. Simply enter a URL to test the load time of that particular page, analyze it, and identify bottlenecks.

#7: Use Appropriate Image Sizes

Any online image requires to be no more than a thousand pixels to display perfectly. Anything above that range is nothing but a waste of valuable rendering time. You can update your one-off instance or compress the images using websites like JPEGOptimizer or TinyPNG.

#8: Utilize Multi-CDN

Content Delivery Networks (CDN) are distributed servers that help companies improve access to different types of website, application, and platform content.

Typically, a CDN allows you to copy all your images and other files from your eCommerce store to different data centers across the world. This way, your files aren’t loaded from main data centers only. Instead, they’re loaded from the data center closest to where your shoppers are located.

That said, there are tons of benefits of multi-cloud network. For instance, if you have a single CDN, but you need one capable of delivering videos, chances are you’re paying a premium cost for your non-video content as well.

With multiple CDNs, on the other hand, you reduce the overall content delivery expenses as you have granular control of delivery costs. Companies often make commitments at various price points. When you reach the commitment at any of your CDN partners, you shift traffic between others CDNs, so you avoid additional excessive fees.

Streamline Your Checkout Page

#9: Display Security Seals

Let visitors know that your site is secure and their privacy won’t be compromised. You can place this at the bottom of your website. Just make sure it’s clearly displayed throughout the checkout process to enhance customer trust and finalize the sale.

#10: Set Expectations

Be transparent with your pricing and make sure the tax is calculating properly. In addition, you will want to display the shipping details and explain the carrier, cost, order fulfillment, and delivery timelines.

It’s important you do this throughout your entire store. Most eCommerce sites link to this information in the header and footer navigation. Some even list this on their product pages, especially if there’s a production timeline that’ll delay the product shipping.

#11: Offer Multiple Payment Methods

It’s great to have as many popular checkout options as you can on your website. Usually, allowing for checkout with PayPal, along with other major credit card companies will cover all the bases.

Improve Mobile Experience

#12: Responsive Design

A responsive website design ensures your site displays correctly across all devices. According to the Google mobile path study, 74% of mobile users opt to use Google with the intention of buying, and 85% of them intend to buy within 24 hours.

Both your website and checkout process need to be mobile-optimized for both browsing clients and those who are ready to convert fully.

#13: Provide Easy Ways to Pay

Consider offering checkout options that allow your clients to check out within seconds.

Remember, convenience and speed helps to push consumers through the checkout process. If a step requires time and effort, it will likely be abandoned. 1-click checkout options can solve this pain point.

Wrapping Up

A huge traffic surge or a rush of sales and transactions can be lethal—both to your eCommerce website performance and page load speed. Not to mention the brand image. However, you can prepare for it.

If you don’t optimize your site for speed, you will lose to a faster competitor’s website. The bounce rate of a site gets worse every second it takes for a web page to load, according to Google’s mobile page speed study.

The stakes are higher for eCommerce stores than ever. Thus, we put together this comprehensive guide for you.

We hope you found this article helpful.