27 Founders/Store Owners Share eCommerce CRO Best Practices

CRO is hard.

With so many variables, it’s hard to know which store feature clinches the deal. 

That’s why we reached out to eCommerce business owners and industry experts - to find WHAT works for them.

We have collected 31 conversion rate optimization best practices from across industries.

But before that:

Why do eCommerce stores need CRO to improve conversions? 

a. Improved Customer Experience 

A well-optimized website provides a seamless and enjoyable experience for users, making it easier for them to navigate, find information, and complete tasks. 

This increases customer satisfaction and fosters loyalty, leading to repeat business and positive word-of-mouth referrals.

b. Increased Revenue 

By optimizing the conversion funnel, businesses can increase the percentage of website visitors who take desired actions, such as making purchases or signing up for services, ultimately leading to higher revenue.

c. Reduced Customer Acquisition Costs 

Acquiring new customers is often more expensive than retaining existing ones. CRO efforts can help businesses retain existing customers by improving overall UX. 

d. Better Data and Insights

CRO involves continuous data tracking, which in turn offers valuable insights into customer preferences, pain points, and areas for improvement. 

From here, more informed decisions on website optimization and marketing strategies can emerge to improve sales. 

e. Increased Efficiency and Productivity 

By identifying and removing bottlenecks in the conversion process, CRO can help businesses streamline their operations, improve efficiency and generate leads with higher intent. 

f. Competitive Advantage 

Consistent CRO initiatives ensure a business is only doing that which shoppers find most relevant for a smoother shopping journey—this is what ensures a brand gains a competitive advantage over others in the category / industry. 

27 CRO Best Practices from eCommerce Experts

1. A/B test website elements 

The eCommerce landscape is constantly evolving, and customer preferences change. 

To take advantage of it, Alec Rose, Founder, Golfible, suggests A/B testing. He says, “Continually test different checkout page designs and processes to find what works best for your audience.”

Illia Mundut, Founder & CEO, Heftyberry elaborated, “Regularly analyze data, run tests, and listen to customer feedback to identify areas of improvement. Stay adaptable and responsive to these insights to ensure your eCommerce store remains competitive and conversion-friendly.”

Caveat: An A/B test typically pays off only when you have a clear goal in mind—for example, one test may have to do with the number of website clicks, while another may consider the total number of form submissions. Without a goal, it’ll be difficult to create a reference for the desired changes. 

Convertcart Pro Tips 

💡Pick the most important elements to A/B test, but one by one - this includes CTAs, the primary navigation, trust logos & badges and product descriptions & labels

💡Alongside your website, A/B test your emails too (while looking at key metrics like clickthrough rate and conversion rate for both)

Further Reading: 153 A/B Testing Ideas for eCommerce (Homepage, PDP, Cart, Checkout)

2. Analyze shopping behavior 

Understanding your target audience and their shopping behavior is key to improving conversion rates. 

But “shopping behavior” is a generic phrase that drills down to crucial areas like:

→ Search behavior (how the search bar is used across desktop & mobile and if at any point, shoppers prefer using a tool like a funnel quiz over the usual search feature)

→ Engagement & micro-conversions (these are the smaller actions that indicate a shopper’s eventual buying interest - right from video clicks to blog views to email signups)

→ Cart page / cart drawer interactions (do they click on recommendations? Or view offers? Or reduce quantity and then add back again?)

→ Product page behavior (till what point do they scroll? Do they click on bundle offers? Do they spend a lot of time poring through the reviews?)

Max Benz, Founder & CEO, BankingGeek says, “Data analysis, such as cohort analysis, can provide a clearer picture of this behavior over time and reveal opportunities for optimization. Addressing issues in the checkout process first, you can effectively reduce shopping cart abandonment and improve conversions.” 

Convertcart Pro Tips 

💡Segment shoppers based on just shopping behavior (are they buying a lot at one go and then never returning? Or buying every now and then only to splurge when there’s a flash sale going on?)

💡Track cross-device behavior for a set period of time (let’s say a month) to decide on who’s generally showing high buying intent and who isn’t

3. Run a checkout UX test

Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. 

How many steps till you make a purchase? 

Is the checkout process confusing? 

Why is there an error message—is it clear how one needs to solve it?

After all, 65% of transactions that have been initiated are abandoned before the payment is made—which makes it absolutely essential for a business to move through its own checkout flow. 

Christy Pyrz, CMO, Paradigm Peptides, says, “You want to make the checkout process as simple and seamless as possible. Make sure if a shopper adds to cart on their laptop, but wants to complete the order on their phone, the experience is seamless and friction-free.”

Convertcart Pro Tips 

💡Pay special attention to broken forms as this can make it necessary for shoppers to key in information multiple times 

💡For certain crucial info like phone number or extra dollars for a donation, use microcopy to state why it’s needed (this creates less friction for the shopper who’s rushing at this stage)

4. Build trust across the funnel

When customers trust you, they're more likely to make a purchase. 

But more realistically: All you’ve got is 8 seconds to capture a shopper’s attention, assure them you’re a brand worth engaging with and buying from - and yes that’s a big, big deal. 

And this is why your CRO marketing strategy needs to prioritize creating trust across the entire conversion funnel—whether you’re appealing to first-time visitors on the homepage or high-intent paid traffic through landing pages. 

“An eCommerce site that looks professional, has secure payment options, offers excellent customer service, and provides transparent information will inherently build trust with visitors,” says Graham Grieve, Marketing Expert, A1SEO.

Convertcart Pro Tips 

💡Don’t just trigger pop-ups within seconds of someone entering your store—look specifically for behaviors like exit intent, moving on to other pages etc. 

💡Reduce response time across channels—but more so where reputation management can easily go for a toss (this includes comments on your socials and questions shoppers leave on your live chat function)

Further Reading: 30 Ways to Build Trust FAST (On Your eCommerce Store)

5. Explore tools for insight-backed CRO

Monitor competitor pricing and devise a valuable pricing strategy as part of your CRO plan. 

Steve Pogson, Founder, First Pier, suggests, “Use Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool to check your site’s loading speed and get actionable recommendations for improvement.” 

David Rubie-Todd, Founder and Marketing Director, Sticker It, elaborated, “Shopify offers a variety of plugins designed to mitigate abandonment. Like the automated email system that notifies customers when they have left items in their cart.”

David Rubie-Todd adds, “Through heat mapping, we discovered that our customers were struggling to find the 'Next' button due to its placement on the page. We promptly adjusted the layout, which consequently reduced our abandonment rate.”

Convertcart Pro Tips 

💡Explore a tool that helps you track everything from funnel analytics to click performance, while simplifying product discovery and offering more intuitive UI

💡Consider your business’ maturity with respect to CRO when you’re considering onboarding related tools—while less mature businesses can start by tracking analytics, more mature ones may need a tool that can offer a number of roadmaps as well as multiple dedicated teams offering support

6. Simplify the shopping journey

Make it easy and convenient to complete a purchase on your eCommerce site. 

Because here’s what's worrying: Going by research, 91% of shoppers who’ve faced poor UX will just leave—contrary to many eCommerce businesses thinking they’ll offer feedback and then go. 

Michael Wall, Founder, Codefixer, suggests, “Use a checkout progress bar to update customers on their order status. As a result, you’re less likely to abandon your shopping cart out of fear.”

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Draven McConville, CEO & Founder, Klipboard, further elaborates, “Integrate product thumbnails at various points during the checkout process to serve as visual reminders for customers of the things they have selected.”

Convertcart Pro Tips 

💡Focus on reducing the number of steps needed to take an action - for instance, instead of only updating the cart icon with a number for product additions, ensure the CTA says “Added ✔” as well

💡 Reduce choice paralysis at every step - whether it’s to do with the number of recommendations, the number of quantity options or even the number of payment methods

7. Improve store security  

Cybersecurity threats are a prevalent issue. 

In 2023, in the US alone, eCommerce payment fraud contributed to the loss of $48 billion. 

From OTP bypasses to user account takeovers, a number of factors contribute to low eCommerce store security. 

Max Benz, Founder & CEO, BankingGeek, says, “I implemented robust security measures such as two-factor authentication and one-time password methods alongside regularly updating our eCommerce security plugins. Another challenge was high shipping costs which were discouraging customers from completing their purchases.”

Convertcart Pro Tips 

💡Nudge shoppers to create strong passwords at crucial junctures like account creation (use error message to show what a strong password is like to improve UX)

💡Ask for data that’s needed for the purchase and nothing more (to improve assurance, even mention this as the shopper moves closer to checking out)

8. Enable try-ons

Research says that at least 70% of shoppers admit that an immersive experience will increase the chances of them buying a product. 

An immersive experience is anything that lets the shopper come closer to “experiencing” the product without the presence of the traditional touch-and-feel in-store component. 

“Use generative AI to help customers imagine a piece of furniture in their home. This will engage the customer and become one of the main elements of the shopping experience that gets them to buy,” says, Sean Coffey, Marketing Manager, Regency Fire

Convertcart Pro Tips 

💡Feature experiences that will add to the shopping journey (we don’t recommend spin-the-wheels for example, because they’re often found to be irritating by shoppers versus a simple discount presented to them - on the contrary, when you feature an unboxing video on a product page, it takes conversions up by a few notches)

💡Don’t hide shoppable videos within product pages (instead bring them up on your homepage, because this is where most shoppers are likely to spend maximum time before deciding to go deeper into your site)

9. Automate your email marketing

Sneak peek: Automated email campaigns are supposed to bring in 320% more revenue than non-automated email campaigns. 

What automated emails do differently is leverage user behavior more closely and close gaps that may have remained open if a business were to send emails only manually. 

From reminding shoppers about what’s been left behind in the cart to sending them recommendations close to what they’ve been considering, automated emails personalize at scale.                         

“Set up automated emails that triggered 30 minutes after a user abandoned their cart. These emails achieved an impressive open rate, resulting in a noticeable increase in completed purchases,” says Magee Clegg, CEO and Founder, Cleartail Marketing.

Priyanka Swamy, CEO and Founder, Perfect Locks, suggests, “Send out cart abandonment emails that remind customers about the items they haven't bought yet. Also, provide real-time support via chat to resolve any problems they may have while checking out.”

Convertcart Pro Tips 

💡Reduce customer acquisition costs by creating a post-purchase email strategy that offer delivery updates, how-to-guides and other value-add content that you wouldn’t have shared had the shopper not bought from you

💡Ask for reviews from those who’ve bought from you (and incentivize these through a next purchase discount or early access to a new sale)

10. Be transparent about policies 

Use the right nudges to put buyers at ease and encourage them to complete the purchase. 

After all, online stores don’t have a direct touch-and-feel experience, which puts them at a disadvantage compared to brick-and-mortar stores—while the former experience an average return rate of 17.6%, the latter sees only 10.02%. 

“Throughout the entire checkout procedure, use appealing language to publish clear and understandable information about shipping and returns,” elaborates Michael Wall, Founder, Codefixer

Convertcart Pro Tips 

💡Use easily spottable microcopy carrying the link to your returns & shipping as part of your CRO eCommerce tactics

💡Highlight a phrase like “Extended 60 day returns only till (mention date)” during peak season around the website - but especially above or below the product page CTA

11. Upgrade your customer support

Use chatbots to start conversations when visitors spend a lot of time on a page or seem stuck during checkout—and make self-help the rule in your CRO marketing strategy.

David Godlewski, CEO, Intelliverse, commented, “Apply smart chatbots that predict customers' needs based on browsing and purchase history to offer personalized assistance. Just monitor how your chat support is performing and make adjustments as needed to keep improving.”

Embrace the power of personalization to engage and keep customers interested. 

Jim Cook, Owner, Avid Brio, recommends, “Craft tailored experiences that resonate with each shopper, fostering a deeper connection with your brand. Prioritize exceptional customer support as a cornerstone of your eCommerce strategy.”

Take a leaf out of: The way hair and skincare brand Prose offers support—take the example of their funnel quiz, which targets return customers / email subscribers separately so that they don’t have to repeat filling in details - similarly they feature a “why we ask” section for every question they ask so that shoppers don’t hesitate answering!

Convertcart Pro Tips 

💡Mention steps on how your customize or personalize products or the whole experience (putting this on your homepage can be one of your conversion rate optimization best practices)

💡If round-the-clock human help isn’t available through your chatbot, consider creating a comprehensive FAQ page that covers some of the most pressing concerns like policies, orders, international purchases, applicable discounts & coupon info etc. 

12. Fix technical issues

Technical difficulties during checkout can cause major reductions in cart abandonment rates. 

Similarly, you may find that your eCommerce website / app does not gel with third party integrations easily (and this can be a big one especially if you’re trying to improve data & payment security through them.)

“We ensured our website was optimized for different browsers and devices to solve this issue.” says, David Zhang, CEO, Kate Backdrop.

Convertcart Pro Tips 

💡Audit technical performance at key decision-making points (is the primary CTA working on the product page? Are privacy and return policies loading properly? What message do shoppers see during a website downtime phase?)‍

💡 Feature a separate feedback button on your website & across emails to look at real-time gaps in customer experience 

13. Feature a post-checkout account setup

No matter how convincing a hook you offer alongside an account creation nudge, here’s what you need to understand: at checkout, people don’t like any delay while they pay and go!

Employ subtle, persuasive methods to encourage account setup after the sale to improve your online store CRO. 

In fact though it’s thought cognitive dissonance occurs many times right after an impulse buy, we’ve seen this can be spun around to make the shopper think about the next purchase - and this is where a gentle nudge to create an account can come in handy. 

Riya Jeane May, PR/Media Coordinator, Nadrich & Cohen, commented, “You can offer perks like a one-time discount, personalized recommendations, or simplified returns as part of the post-purchase account setup process. Not only does this respect the customer's initial choice, but it also adds value to the long-term relationship.”

Convertcart Pro Tips 

💡Next purchase discounts for subscription-based products work especially well for post checkout account setup

💡Promise “faster checkout next time” as a hook for account creation at this stage - since they’re fresh out of the experience, this’ll land w/o you having to push it!

You should also check out: Hiring a CRO agency: 12 *Key* Considerations (and Expert Advice)

14. Improve website page load time

Imagine you're a customer visiting your site. 

If the website loads slowly, you are bound to get frustrated, leave and perhaps even get on to a competitor’s website!

The numbers prove that: The conversion rate for a page that loads at 2.4 seconds is 1.9%, but if speed slows down to 3.3 seconds, CR drops to 1.4%. 

But here’s what’s interesting—though Google recommends a page load speed of 3 seconds or less on mobile, most US retail sites load at a much lower speed (6.3 seconds). 

Marc Bishop, Director of Business Growth, Wytlabs SEO Marketing Agency says, “Consider optimizing images, using content delivery networks (CDNs), and leveraging browser caching to make sure your site loads quickly and efficiently.”

Convertcart Pro Tips 

💡Always use server-side rendering to ensure your pages load correctly (this also ensures search engine crawlers find it easy to scan your content)

💡Minify files and combine them wherever possible

For in-depth advice, read: Smart Ways To Speed Up Your eCommerce Store (Top 5 Platforms Covered)

15. Offer free resources

When it comes to CRO best practices, it’s essential to give something before you ask shoppers to buy.  

This is classic reciprocity at play, where shoppers realize you’re going to add some value to your interactions with them and not just pester them to buy. 

Gregory Rozdeba, President, Dundas Life, says, “We offer free ebooks or webinars to warm up leads before they hit the purchase button, which has reduced cart abandonment rates by 15%."

Convertcart Pro Tips 

💡Consider offering a short risk-free trial for a few of your best selling products if you’re into products that shoppers either haven’t been accustomed to or have to pay for more compared to your competition

💡Feature an exclusive discount only for first time visitors (when you don’t push them to sign up for emails, this becomes even more effective)

16. Make costs clear

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Unclear shipping costs at checkout are cited as the number #1 reason why most shoppers are hesitant to buy. 

Ask a good CRO expert and they’ll tell you, hidden costs play with buyer experience even in the international commerce scenario—this means if you don’t optimize this aspect, you stand to lose the trust of younger shoppers (less than 55 years old). 

To counter this problem, Zach Dannett, Co-founder, Tumble Living says, “We began showing shipping estimators earlier in the buyer’s journey. This led to a significant reduction in cart abandonment.”

Convertcart Pro Tips 

💡 See if you can bring in the shipping calculator on the product page itself—this kind of transparency early on makes a shopper less resistant in trusting your business

💡 Don’t auto-apply protection deals & packages without consent—this can insidiously increase prices and shoppers can experience frustration 

17. Show social proof that establishes authority

Benjamin Beck, Marketing, Tortuga Backpacks, says, “We showed off the awards our travel backpacks have won alongside user-generated videos from social media, significantly reducing our abandoned cart rates.” 

Over 99.9% of customers read reviews when they shop online and  96% look for negative reviews specifically.

On the other hand, those shoppers who’re not specifically going through reviews still want to be confident that others like them would consider the brand - so they look for visual cues around what’s quickly selling, what’s low on stock etc. 

“Whether it's through reviews, direct feedback, or their behavior on your site, your customers will tell you where the pain points are. Addressing these will naturally lead to better conversions,” says Jeremy, Owners, Value Land Buyers.

Convertcart Pro Tips 

💡Accompany product recommendations with review snippets (especially crucial on high intent pages like the homepage)

💡Increase real-time urgency across your category & product pages by stating something like “35 people are viewing this product” (and keep it dynamic to drive both belief and urgency)

18. Apply more payment options

If the store offers limited payment options, customers who prefer alternative methods may abandon their carts. 

For instance, it’s anticipated that by 2026, 54% of global eCommerce payments will come from digital wallets. 

But think about it: If you own a store that sells high-priced items, the most modern payment methods still won’t encourage purchases from shoppers looking to buy w/o financial risk, the ones who’d prefer BNPL payments. 

Illia Mundut, CEO and Founder, Heftyberry, says, “Expand the range of payment options to cater to different customer preferences.”

Convertcart Pro Tips 

💡Scan your direct competitor sites to see what options they’re offering - this will help you replicate

💡Consider announcing discounts on certain applicable payments - and consider auto-applying them alongside a label / message

19. Prioritize mobile optimization 

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Without a seamless mobile shopping experience, you risk losing a substantial number of potential sales.

After all, 35% of US shoppers generally buy using their mobile phones—and the rest? You can count on the fact that they’re browsing and comparison shopping across their mobile devices. 

Chris Cho, Founder, DroneSourced says, “We observed that a significant portion of our traffic came from mobile devices. It's essential to ensure that your site is responsive, loads quickly, and is easy to navigate on mobile devices.” 

Convertcart Pro Tips 

💡Focus on cross-device syncing to ensure those who suddenly drop off don’t necessarily abandon cart - so if they added to cart on mobile, they should still be able to see the items on their desktop and on your app if there’s one

💡In your mobile conversion rate optimization UX, prioritize tapability above all other hand gestures - design your CTA buttons, search field and form fields accordingly

You'll love reading: 30 Mobile Optimization Tips For eCommerce (+ Examples)

20. Switch to one-page checkout 

Multi-page checkout presents customers with varied challenges: a sense of waiting while they’re experiencing urgency to pay & leave, confusion about what steps to fill next (especially when UX indicators are absent) etc. 

A one-page checkout comprehensively brings all necessary sections in one place, and can contribute to up to 20% improved conversions as a result. 

Jin Young Woo, CEO, Like Dreams says, “One-page checkout processes can reduce friction and quickly lead clients to the point of sale. Additionally, gain a buyer’s confidence by embracing openness in shipping prices. A flawless shopping experience in eCommerce results in increased customer loyalty and revenue.”

Convertcart Pro Tips 

💡To reduce scroll length, adopt a horizontal flow of form filling - maintain up to three large sections including order review, shipping / delivery and payment

💡If you do intend to take a vertical flow, ensure the sections that haven’t been addressed are collapsed so that shoppers can quickly view them in a quick glance - maintain dropdown arrows to indicate that these sections can be opened up 

21. Use nudges to increase AOV

If prospective customers don’t see what they are searching for literally right in front of their eyes and readily available, there’s a high possibility of cart abandonment. 

But there’s more to it: As a business, it’s your responsibility to put them in a frame of mind that makes the purchase look immediately needed as well as appealing enough - you’re right, this is where we enter the terrain of nudge marketing. 

Erin Banta, Co-founder, Pepper Home recommends, “Add features like ‘suggested items’ or ‘recently viewed items’ will help to streamline the customer experience."

Convertcart Pro Tips 

💡Set up a browse abandonment flow as part of your nudge strategy - this way you’ll be targeting those who keep checking out some products repeatedly but don’t buy (don’t forget to mention similar products in the emails)

💡Prioritize showing the AOV increasing nudges in some *crucial* parts of your online store - like notification bars and hero headers

22. Opt for contextual visuals

Baymard’s study has revealed that 56% of shoppers do the same thing after arriving on a product page: they go straight to the image gallery to swipe or click next. 

This reveals the crucial need in shoppers to be visually sure about what they’re considering to buy. 

“For example, we learned product detail pages lacked lifestyle images demonstrating rugs in home settings. Adding warmer visual context increased time on site and purchases. There is no greater conversion tool than a delighted customer,” says Zach Dannett, Co-founder, Tumble Living 

Convertcart Pro Tips 

💡Focus on offering an easy-to-use zoom function for both desktop & mobile versions of your store (the study mentioned above also found that 25% of stores don’t offer this and it makes conversions suffer)

💡Choose the right images to show - for example, if you run a sports apparel brand, the lifestyle shots might mostly work well but for a furniture store, shoppers will also be looking for textural images to figure out fabric quality, make etc. 

Do check out: eCommerce image carousels: The good, the bad, and the ugly

23. Optimize your navigation menu

Test your navigation menu to identify the optimal navigation structure and help users discover products. 

When you run A/B tests to incrementally improve your navigation, you can find out how many categories to feature at the topmost layer, which categories to highlight (based on season, dynamic content etc.) and how your sitewide search bar is being used (are people clicking on trending searches even without typing? are shoppers scrolling through the search results more generally?)

Shaunak Amin, Co-founder & CEO, Swagmagic mentions, “Perhaps reordering menu items according to user priorities increases engagement. Or use clear and concise labels to reduce confusion. Or dropdown menus might make it more user-friendly.” 

Convertcart Pro Tips 

💡 We recommend maintaining a “Your Favorites” within the menu as a separate option for returning customers to view past browsed & bought products in one go - also increases personalization instantly

💡Make it easier to browse for products thematically (“concern,” look,” “age” are examples) - this comes in handy when you’re using CRO eCommerce tactics to improve the mobile experience

24. Build urgency 

The FOMO (fear of missing out) effect is one of the most well-known CRO best practices. 

It’s a way to make products appear more desirable than they may actually be by making the value either be about exclusivity or scarcity. Both of these impact the online shopper in different ways - the first creating a feeling of being special and the second generating a feeling of loss. 

While you’re improving CRO for eCommerce, applying FOMO will especially be effective if your target audience comprises a fair amount of millennials (almost 70% of shoppers in this age range have admitted to feeling this way.)

“Using phrases like ‘limited time offer’ or ‘act now’ can create a sense of urgency and motivate clients to make a purchase,” says Michael Wall, Founder, Codefixer.

Convertcart Pro Tips 

💡Make checking out urgent by introducing a “we’ll reserve your cart for__” message in the cart drawer and pairing it with a countdown timer

💡Feature a “Ships within (date) when you book in the next__hours / minutes” message right beneath the primary CTA on the product page

25. Enable ‘save for later’

A 'Save for Later' option allows customers to temporarily set aside products they're unsure about or when items are not in stock. 

Nikhil Jogia, Managing Director, Jogia Diamonds, says, “There is an art in nudging an indecisive customer. Our CRO remedy was adding a wishlist feature. This simple add-on lets users save and contemplate their selections, easing them toward conversion over time.”

Since a wishlist lets shoppers “work” on their desire while delaying action, it’s a great in-between for those who have a high intent to buy but are just not ready. 

David Godlewski, CEO, Intelliverse, says, “This strategy offers valuable insights into customer preferences, as you can analyze which items are frequently saved. This enhances the overall shopping experience and keeps potential sales in the pipeline, all contributing to a reduction in cart and checkout abandonment rates.”   

Convertcart Pro Tips 

💡Let non-registered shoppers create separate wishlists—and to make it more impactful that if they wish to save these “forever,” they’ll need to log in

💡Make your wishlist section feature updated price / discounts / bundles as they dynamically change so that high intent buyers can come back to click on them and buy

26. Trigger pop-ups at the right time

Popups are a great way to prevent cart abandonment. 

They’re also valuable if you’re trying to grow your email list or gather feedback. 

David Zhang, CEO, Kate Backdrop, says, “Use a popup to offer them a special discount or free shipping if they complete their purchase within a specific timeframe. This has proven an effective way to retain customers and improve our checkout rate.”

Convertcart Pro Tips 

💡Time your pop-ups in a way that they add to the shopper’s journey (if they’re still adding to cart when you trigger a cart abandonment pop-up, that’ll land as desperate)

💡Personalize by name or referral source (so if they’ve come through Instagram, offer up to three other narrowed down recommendations in the cart abandonment pop-up saying “Loved on Instagram”)

27. Show discounts in the first fold

Offering discounts is not enough—make sure they're instantly visible. 

After all, 70% of shoppers express a desire to buy from a brand that’ll offer them discounts. 

Similarly, shoppers armed with coupons spend almost 24% more on an average than those who aren’t. 

“When we added a discount on the second screen of the landing page, it shockingly didn't affect the conversion rate at all. Digging deeper, we found most viewers missed it completely. Shifting the discount to the top of the page, right beside the product name, resulted in a staggering +19% increase in conversions.”, says David Owen, Founder, Dozy.

Convertcart Pro Tips 

💡Leverage your hero header for the most important ongoing discount (ditch that carousel that talks about some discount on every swipe - these just add to shoppers’ choice paralysis)

💡If you want a sitewide discount to take-off, you’d want to auto-apply it at checkout (and no matter what source the shopper enters your site through, they should see an “discount auto-applied” at checkout message)

Here's why you need a CRO audit:

98% of visitors who visit an eCommerce site—drop off without buying anything.

Why: user experience issues that cause friction for visitors.

And this is the problem Convertcart solves.

We've helped 500+ eCommerce stores (in the US) improve user experience—and 2X their conversions.

Our conversion experts can audit your site—identify UX issues, and suggest changes to improve conversions.

What elements should I test for CRO? 

A/B testing is a useful tool for small businesses because it helps pinpoint specific areas that need to be changed without needing large amounts of website traffic in order to produce results.

Here are the elements to test for Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO):

On homepage:

• Sticky navigation menu vs non-sticky menu
• Feature a rotating carousel vs feature a single hero image
• Copy against the image vs hero space divided into image & solid background for copy
• Feature only one CTA on the hero banner vs feature multiple CTAs 
• Feature an email sign-up prompt in the hero header vs feature a seasonal sale discount

On category page:

• Sub-categories appear as plain vs sub-categories are highlighted through buttons 
• Feature an above-the-fold banner that shows a sale/discount vs feature a banner that just talks about the category
• Offer a “quick view” option vs introduce the “quick add” option directly
• Total number of page results is mentioned at the top vs the number of results split by sub-category

On product page:

• Feature a short product description above the primary CTA vs feature key features
• Ingredients are listed in a block of text vs a link is provided to a separate page 
• Try a variant with a static hero product photo with a next button to display other images vs. another where the images are laid out in tiles
• Place a GIF in the photo gallery vs place a video right beneath the first fold
• Try a variant with a 360-degree view vs. another where all parts of the product are labeled within a single image.

Related reading

23 Ways to Boost eCommerce Homepage Conversions

eCommerce Conversion Rate by Industry (2024 Update)

11 Brilliant Ways to Get More Micro-Conversions