Conversions are what helps keep your ecommerce store alive, but what if no one’s buying anything?

The first step is to use WooCommerce, which makes managing an online store easier. The second step is to boost conversions using highly effective WooCommerce tips.

These tips help you take WooCommerce to the next level. If you’re ready to start growing your online store, start implementing these tips today.

Offer Multiple Payment Methods

One of the easiest WooCommerce tips to implement is offering multiple payment methods. You never know what’s more convenient for your customers. Some may only use credit cards while others prefer PayPal. WooCommerce offers numerous payment extensions for free to ensure you always have the perfect way for your customers to pay.

They’re easy to set up and it helps reduce shopping cart abandonment when shoppers find out their preferred payment method isn’t accepted.

Speed Things Up

No matter how many WooCommerce tips you try, a slow loading site still hurts conversions. The problem isn’t your products or checkout process. It’s the fact that shoppers don’t stay on your site long enough to view any products. When pages load too slowly, your shoppers abandon your site for the competition.

A few simple ways to speed things up include:

• Compressing image sizes (high-quality images don’t have to slow your site down)
• Use a WordPress caching plugin
• Run the free Google PageSpeed Insights tool (offers suggestions on ways to improve)

Reduce Cart Abandonment

Shopping cart abandonment is an issue for all ecommerce stores. Boost your conversions by making the checkout process as simple and painless as possible. One of the best places to start is with a WooCommerce cart abandonment plugin, such as:

• Recart
• Abandoned Cart Pro for WooCommerce
• WooCommerce Recover Abandoned Cart
• Optimonk
• Jilt

Even with the right plugin, your shopping cart might still be too intimidating. Ensure consumers aren’t afraid to go through the process by:

• Limiting how much information you ask for
• Offering checkout without creating an account
• Limiting the number of steps during the process
• Making it easy to enter information on any device

WooCommerce also lists shopping cart extensions designed to boost conversions. For instance, add in upsells, offer free shipping, provide special discounts and more.

Use Enhanced eCommerce Tracking

Google Analytics is ideal for helping you better understand your site’s performance. It’s also perfect for increasing conversions with WooCommerce. Google added Enhanced eCommerce Tracking as a new data point to track. The Enhanced Ecommerce Google Analytics plugin allows you to take advantage of this in your WooCommerce store.

Find out where cart abandonment happens, see how many related products shoppers click on and display shopping behaviour reports.

Showcase Your Products Better

One of the harder WooCommerce tips to implement is showcasing your products in their best light. While it’s technically easy, you have so many customisation options that it may seem overwhelming to start with. For instance, should you list your products in a list format or grid? How large should product images be? How long should your product descriptions be?

WooCommerce also offers extensions to improve product listings, such as offering a quick-view option, and merchandising extensions to give customers more options, such as comparing products side-by-side.

It’s also important to provide detailed product descriptions showcase all features and try to answer all questions. Offering multiple images or even a short video of each product helps show consumers more so they’re more likely to buy.

Implement Reviews

No matter what platform you build your ecommerce site on, reviews are important. In fact, 84% of consumers trust online reviews as much as a friend’s personal recommendation. If it’s between your site and a site that includes customer reviews, shoppers prefer the site with reviews.

People want to know that others have tried the product they’re considering. It’s peace of mind before making an investment. This is especially true on higher priced items. Even with the best product images and descriptions, reviews make a difference. This is one of the best WooCommerce tips for seeing an increase in conversions faster.

Is your ecommerce store optimised with the right WooCommerce settings and extensions? Contact StuartMedia today to learn more about using WooCommerce and how to improve your site.

Image: LinkedIn Sales Navigator

Unless you’re just having fun blogging, you likely want your website traffic to convert in some way.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re trying to make more sales or just build your email list, it is possible to turn your website into a lead generating machine. You don’t even have to do any additional marketing.

Your website should work for you. Let it naturally guide visitors to respond to your calls-to-action.

Provide A Special Offer Form

You’ve probably signed up for many of these yourself as you’ve visited different websites. You were happy to provide your email address in exchange for a free ebook or product discount. Special offer forms are a great way to entice visitors to provide their information. Why does it work? People aren’t usually thrilled to just give away their contact details. If you give them something valuable in return, they feel like it’s a win-win situation.

Include Multiple Contact Methods

It’s hard for your site to be a lead generating machine without contact information. While your default might be to offer a phone number or contact form, it’s best to offer multiple contact methods to appeal to everyone. A few options to include on your site are:

• Phone number
• Email address
• Contact form
• Live Chat – 90% of consumers consider live chat extremely helpful
• Chatbot – for answering common questions when live chat is unavailable

It’s also important to provide response times for each contact method. For instance, if someone wants to call, what time frame should they call to reach a person versus voicemail.

Keep Contact Forms Simple

If you have contact forms on your site, but they’re not converting, it could be because they’re too complicated. Limit how much information you ask for. For instance, if you want to build your email list, all you need to ask for is the email address. Optionally, ask how often or what types of email the subscriber wants. The more text boxes a visitor has to fill in, the more likely they are to abandon the process completely. Keep it as simple as possible to boost conversions on your site.

Place A CTA On Every Page (And Above The Fold)

While experts argue on the best placement for your CTA, they all agree that it should always be easily accessible. Ensure there is a CTA on every page. For instance, many websites place their main CTA on their homepage or landing page and then include it in the footer so it’s always there. No matter what, ensure your main CTA is above the fold. This makes it more noticeable and more likely to turn your site into a lead generating machine.

Make Your CTA Button Stand Out

Your CTA should draw visitors to it. A large, bold, colorful CTA button is instantly noticeable and draws your visitors’ eyes directly to your CTA copy. No matter how great your copy is, no one will notice it if it doesn’t stand out from the rest of your site. Use WordStream’s guide for far more effective CTA buttons.

Create Compelling Content

Why should someone provide their email address or make a purchase? What draws visitors to your website in the first place? It all comes down to compelling content. High quality, informative content boosts your search rank and brings in more organic traffic. Now that visitors are on your site, explain to them why they should convert.

Consider adding video as part of your content strategy. Simply adding video to a landing page increases conversions by as much as 80%.

Offer Proof

Testimonials, videos and reviews all provide proof to your visitors. Humans are social creatures and they want to know that someone else has experienced your product or service already. This is why reviews are so important to product sales on sites like Amazon. Offer some type of proof that makes visitors more comfortable and you’ve created a lead generating machine.

Use Interstitials Sparingly

A popular lead generation technique over the past few years has been interstitials. These are pop-ups and full screen pages that appear to encourage email signups or provide a special offer. While some websites have found them effective, Google could punish sites that use this technique, especially on mobile devices.

Create Your Own Lead Generating Machine

Don’t just let your website sit there. Use it as a lead generating machine to build your email list or boost sales while you sleep. Don’t forget to keep an eye on your analytics data to see how well your conversion techniques are working.

Ready to create a lead generating website? Contact Darren today to see how to get started.

Image: Brooke Cagle

It’s the goal of any ecommerce site – increasing online sales, but it’s not always as easy as it sounds.

You’ve probably tried different marketing methods and offered discounts. The results still aren’t as impressive as you would like.

While it might sound like a simple solution, WordPress plugins could be the solution to your sales problem. The right plugin makes your site easier to manage and better for your customers.

Why Your Sales Are Down

Before diving into which plugins to use, let’s take a look at why your sales are down. You have great products, but visitors aren’t converting into customers.

One of the problems might be that visitors forget about your site. Most visitors won’t make a purchase immediately, but instead, they’ll do a little research first. If you offer a limited time discount in exchange for their email address, you’re able to contact visitors long after they’ve left your site and remind them to come back.

Another issue stems from complicated or unsecured checkout processes. The easier it is for a visitor to make a purchase, the more likely they are to follow through instead of abandoning their carts.

Finally, your site may not be showcasing your products in the best light. Videos, images and engaging descriptions are what persuade customers to buy something. Think about it like this. Would you be more likely to buy clothing online with multiple images from different angles or a single small image? You’d want to see multiple images before making a choice.

Three Changes To Make Right Now

The first big change you need to make is offering a way for visitors to sign up for emails. This is how you stay in contact with visitors and continue to make sales. Opt-in forms that are easy to exit work best. TemplateMonster increased signups by 600% after adding an easy exit signup form. Of course, you also need to offer value in your emails, such as discounts and items related to what they’ve viewed on your site.

The second change is simplifying and securing the checkout process. You need a few simple steps and a valid SSL certificate to encrypt customer data. Your checkout process also needs to offer multiple ways to pay, such as credit card or online payments, such as PayPal.

The final change is to optimise your product pages. Better descriptions, 360 degree videos or images of products and zoomable images help boost sales.

Increase Sales With WordPress Plugins

Increasing online sales might sound complicated, but WordPress plugins make it easy. For best results, use an all-in-one ecommerce plugin that also works with other services, such as email newsletters. These plugins help take care of all the major problems listed above.

The most popular by far is WooCommerce. It currently powers 39% of all ecommerce stores. The plugin makes it easy to manage your store, offer secure checkouts, accept various payment types, and it integrates with other services.

WP eCommerce is the second most popular ecommerce plugin. While it’s not quite as feature rich as WooCommerce, it works well for simple ecommerce stores.

If your ecommerce site only offers digital downloads, Easy Digital Downloads may work best for you. It offers powerful reporting, easy integration with other services and makes it easy for customers to make and receive their purchases.

Among these three, most stores still choose WooCommerce since it’s already compatible with a variety of other services, such as PayPal and MailChimp. Think of a WordPress plugin as your secret weapon to increasing sales online. When it’s easier to manage your store and easier for customers to interact with your store, sales increase.

Boost Your Sales Now

It doesn’t matter what type of marketing you use if your online store isn’t powered by a reliable WordPress plugin. When you want to make a great impression on visitors and keep them coming back for more, you need a store that offers everything a visitor wants, such as smooth checkouts, easy email signups and great ways to views products. You could do it all manually or rely on a plugin to do the heavy lifting for you.

Ready to implement a WordPress plugin to improve your ecommerce store? Contact StuartMedia today to see how to get started. 

Image: Crew

Email marketing might sound like an outdated strategy, but it could be the best way to drive new connections.

Regular visitors are the lifeblood of any website, but how do you keep them coming back? You remind them, of course.

If you’re not already using email marketing as part of your strategy, now is the time to learn how this technique can help boost traffic and loyal visitors. It’s actually easier than you might think.

Does Email Marketing Actually Work

First of all, it’s time to dispel the myth that email marketing no longer works. Despite the rise of texting and messaging apps, email is still king. Take a look at the long list (over 200) of popular email marketing tools, for instance. Marketers keep coming back to email because it’s cost effective and delivers better ROI than other marketing methods.

One study shows that 54% of marketers prefer email because it not only works, but it’s easy to execute. A surprising 89% say email is their best tool for lead generation.

It’s easy to see that email marketing isn’t a dying trend. It’s still one of the best ways to reach your site’s visitors. After all, email is opt-in and if someone is signing up, they’re interested in staying in contact with you.

Using Email Marketing To Your Advantage

Email marketing is a tool that takes little work, but works to your advantage. Imagine being able to send personalised messages to different segments of your email list. You might send a special offer to those who haven’t clicked through on a message in a few months or a special thank you to those who’ve been subscribers for a year.

Some of the benefits that are often overlooked when it comes to email marketing include:

• Learning more about your visitors, such as what devices they use or what types of messages different demographics respond to best
• Interacting quickly with visitors
• Staying in contact to keep visitors coming back
• Offering personalised messages, which consumers love
• Target customers based on interactions with messages and your site

One of the reasons people don’t mind email is because it is something they’ve asked to receive. It’s a simple, yet effective way to keep driving people back to your site.

Driving New Connections

Now the big question – how does email marketing drive new connections? You’ve already discovered the benefits of using this marketing strategy. Email marketing not only keeps your site on visitors’ minds, but emails are something that are easy to share. Offering tips, discounts, or free downloads get your visitors excited and get them sharing your messages with their friends.

If you want to get the most from your emails, check out some of these incredible marketing campaigns and consider the following tips:

• Offer something useful, such as information or a free download
• Use friendly, descriptive headlines
• Keep messages brief
• Use clear calls-to-action
• Personalise as much as possible
• Learn from the competition
• Use images to grab attention

Incorporating Into WordPress

Obviously, you need a way to encourage people to sign up for your emails to before your site benefits. There are three things you need to think about:

• Signup placement
• Signup forms
• Email marketing tool or service

First, you’ll need to choose an email marketing / newsletter service, such as AWeber or MailChimp. These services allow you to create triggers for sending messages, offer tools for managing your email list and help you create newsletters and messages.

Next, you’ll need a plugin to link your WordPress site and your email marketing tool. SearchEngineLand provides a detailed list of plugins to get you started. These usually provide customisable opt-in forms as well.

The final step is the most crucial – placement. If no one notices your signup form, they won’t subscribe. Use these tips to get more email subscribers:

• Use a noticeable submit button
• Add the form to the sidebar, footer and as a link within blog posts
• Make it easy to enter an email address
• Use a different color and font for your signup form
• Only ask for email addresses and a first name at most
• Offer something special to new subscribers

Test different placement areas to see which yields the most subscribers.

Gain Loyal Visitors

Email marketing is key to gaining loyal visitors. It’s why the majority of websites try to persuade you to sign up for their newsletters. If you’re not already using email on your WordPress site, now is the time to implement it and start driving new connections and creating loyal visitors.

Ready to implement email marketing on your own site? Contact StuartMedia today to add a signup form and plugin to your site.

Image: Dai KE

It’s the dream of every business owner to reach their customers quicker and boost conversions.

Your website gives you multiple opportunities to reach your customers quicker. It’s why focusing on site performance and design is so important, especially for online businesses.

A few simple steps give you the power to bring more customers to your site and increase sales, newsletter sign-ups or any other type of conversion. Let your website work for you and increase profits and efficiency.

Optimise Your Site For Search

Many of your customers are likely searching for a keyword related to your business or even your business name. If your site’s not optimised, it might not show up in search results. WordPress already has some built-in optimisation, but you can make it even better. A few things to consider are:

• Using a responsive design to meet Google’s mobile requirements and the 1.5 billion mobile Internet users
• Using natural sounding keywords throughout content
• Developing a site with clean code
• Using alt tags for images
• Creating a clear site structure
• Using SEO plugins

These are just a few ways to optimise your site. When Google and other search engines are bringing visitors to you, you’re able to reach customers faster without as much marketing.

A/B Test Elements For Better Conversions

You’ve placed a sign-up form on the left side of your site, but what if it worked better on the right? The placement, font size and even colour of elements on your page affect how visitors engage with them. This is where A/B testing comes into play. You’re able to test the results of different strategies to see which works best for your audience. This approach works well for all aspects of marketing, such as email open rates, social media campaigns, content types and element placement on your site.

Showcase Feedback

Obviously, this works best if the majority of the feedback is positive. The idea is once visitors are on your site, you want to encourage them to complete an action, such as making a purchase. Just like you, customers like to know what previous customers think. Displaying real reviews from customers alongside a product helps customers make a decision faster without leaving your site to do research (and possibly find a competitor).

For instance, WikiJob tested conversions using real versus overly enthusiastic testimonials. The site saw a 34% increase in conversions with this one simple change.

Take Advantage Of Plugins

WordPress is highly customisable with thousands of free and paid plugins. Developers even create custom plugins to better meet a site’s needs. These plugins are designed to boost site performance, help you master SEO techniques, provide more control over a page’s layout post-design, integrate with social media and much more. Don’t be afraid to use them.

Utilise Analytics

Do you know where your visitors are coming from? What if you’re spending all your time marketing on Facebook, but your target audience is on Twitter? Analytics help you figure out who your target audience is, where they’re at online and what they like best. For instance, if you’re running social media and email campaigns, analytics software shows you which one is most effective.

The more you learn about your customers, the easier it is to tweak your approach to reach them faster and easier. Of course, the more customers you reach, the higher your conversions will be. Luckily, there are quite a few analytics plugins to help you out.

Engage With Your Customers

Your customers want to interact with you. This means being active on social media, providing a feedback/contact form on your site and providing useful content. Talking to your customers helps build a strong brand reputation, which increases social recommendations. Adding useful content to your site on regular basis gives your customers something to talk about and it also brings new customers to your site through organic searches. The more you interact, easier it is to reach your customers and boost conversions.

Conclusion

Realising your dream of bringing in customers quicker is possible. All it takes is a few tweaks to your site and how you interact with your potential and existing customers. Make these improvements and you could finally see your conversion rate increase.

Need help changing your site for better performance? Let StuartMedia help you through the changes to give your business the boost it needs. 

Image: Marc Levin