Introduction
As an ecommerce store owner or manager, you’ve most likely seen a high web traffic to your site but remained puzzled on how to convert this into significant sales. You’re not alone.
Growing web traffic is a fundamental goal for any ecommerce store owner. However, high traffic volumes don’t inherently translate to thriving business performance. What’s crucial is leveraging that online traffic into actual sales through a high conversion rate - and that’s where your product pages come into play.
Your product pages are the critical linchpins that turn browsing visitors into paying customers. If you’re driving a substantial amount of traffic, yet seeing lacklustre conversion rates, it’s time to revamp those pages to better captivate your potential shoppers. To help you make the most of this untapped resource, we’ve curated a complete list of tips and optimisations that can significantly enhance the efficacy of your product pages and transform them into potent conversion engines. Read on to find out how to optimise your ecommerce site and improve your turnover.
Leverage social proof to build trust and credibility
The Power of Social Proof
Trust is paramount in the online shopping realm. Customers aren’t able to meet you in-person or physically interact with your products as they would in a brick-and-mortar store. So, how can you reassure them, make them feel secure, and make their purchasing decision easier? The answer is simple: leverage social proof.
Social proof is an incredibly effective tool because it capitalises on our innate human tendency to follow the crowd. If we see others investing in something or acknowledging its value, we are more likely to do the same. Now let’s dig into how you can make the most out of it.
Gathering and Displaying Customer Reviews and Testimonials
One of the most common forms of social proof is customer reviews and testimonials. Trust in your product can be significantly boosted when prospective customers see positive feedback from those that have already bought the product. It’s a classic case of ‘seeing is believing’.
Encourage your customers to leave feedback about their purchases. Make this as easy as possible for them by incorporating a review function directly onto your product pages. Moreover, ensure that these reviews are prominently visible to customers browsing your site. Potentially, you could highlight some of the best ones near your products or even on the homepage.
Highlighting User-Generated Content
User-generated content (UGC) is a potent form of social proof and essentially a free endorsement of your product. This could take the form of customer photos, videos, blog posts, or tweets about your products. Showcasing UGC on your product pages gives an authentic snapshot of how your product is used in a real-world context, encouraging others to follow suit.
For instance, if you’re an online clothing store, consider featuring images from social media of real customers wearing your products. It’s not only a powerful way of promoting your products but also allows customers to visualise how they might look when wearing the items.
Showcase Professional Endorsements
If your products are recommended by experts, influencers, or celebrities in your field, ensure to highlight this on your product pages. Such endorsements can have a substantial impact on potential customers’ decisions, primarily if your products belong to a niche where potential customers look up to these figures.
Professional endorsements establish authority and reliability for your products, bridging the trust gap and making customers feel more confident in their purchases.
Include Trust Seals and Certificates
Trust seals and certificates denote that your online store meets particular standards set by third-party organisations. This might be related to secure payment processing, data privacy and protection, or product quality. Displaying these seals on your product pages helps to build trust with customers, assuring them their transactions will be secure and that your business operates on integrity.
Track Success Indicators
Another strategy in leveraging social proof is to exhibit your brand’s successes - it can be the number of products sold, customers served, or positive reviews collected. This shows that many others have invested trust in your brand and can encourage potential customers to do the same.
In sum, leveraging social proof is crucial in building trust and credibility for your ecommerce store. It converts the uncertainty of first-time customers into confidence, making them more likely to hit the ‘BUY’ button.