How To Increase Conversion Rates on Shopify Websites (2023)

All online business owners build their online stores in the hopes of conducting good business and making sales, but sometimes, Shopify stores aren’t designed according to the best Conversion Rate Optimization (CR)) practices.

In a previous article, we talked about how to improve website traffic, but while increasing website traffic is valuable, converting existing visitors into paying customers is equally important.

For instance, let’s say you have great online traffic going because of paid social media marketing. However, your website is not user-friendly, full of pitfalls and friction that prompts users to end the customer journey before they can even complete a desired action, like completing a purchase or signing up to your mailing list— this simply means that your website is not optimized for conversion and something has to change.

Throughout your Shopify website and along the customers' buying journeys, there are opportunities for you to simplify and enhance their experiences. By conducting systematic changes, you can refine your website to guide visitors toward making purchases.

This practice is known as Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO). In this article, we go over our top ten tips on how to increase conversion rates on your Shopify website in 2023 and beyond. Let’s get started.

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1. Conduct a Conversion Rate Optimization Audit

A very straightforward and practical method to improving your site's conversion rates is to first identify points of weakness in your site by conducting a Conversion Rate Optimization Audit, also known as a CRO audit. CRO audits are a comprehensive evaluation of your website and the consumer experience as they go through the sales funnel.

The main reason why Shopify store owners turn to CRO audits is that it helps you uncover the less obvious obstacles that prevent your site visitors from converting into paying customers. By using your site’s data, CRO auditors can identify barriers, and make highly targeted and effective changes that remove friction and increase conversion rates, ultimately optimizing your online store, and making it far more profitable.

The approach taken after a CRO audit is always data-driven, and this data is used to help you maximize the value of your existing site traffic to enhance your Shopify store’s profitability moving forward.

While CRO audits are paid services, you can always check our free checklist template:

Download our FREE Website Audit Checklist Template by Ecommerce Pro.

2. Clear and Intuitive Website Navigation

Having customers wind up lost on your website is going to be a surefire way to get them to click off your site and give up on making a purchase altogether. That’s why clear and simple website navigation is essential.

Clear navigation on your Shopify website involves designing a user-friendly menu with well-organized categories and subcategories. A responsive search bar with auto-suggestions is also a major plus. Moreover, header and footer menus should also display important shop features like the homepage, about page, cart, and contact details.

These clear-cut navigation elements create a seamless shopping experience, helping your site visitors find the products that they need and want effortlessly while encouraging exploration and purchases.

3. Streamline the Checkout Process

Another top tip that is a must for any Shopify online store is having a streamlined checkout process without any hangups and pitfalls. To achieve a streamlined checkout, it's essential to minimize the number of steps customers have to take to complete the purchase. You can start by eliminating unnecessary fields like asking customers to sign up for an account and start offering Guest Checkout.

For returning shoppers, save their essential information, such as shipping addresses and payment details, to speed the checkout process further. This also makes shopping feel personalized because your site already remembers their details.

The last place you want to hassle customers is at checkout. A hassle-free checkout experience reduces friction, increasing the likelihood that customers will complete their purchases, and ultimately boosts your conversion rates.

4. Offer Responsive Customer Support

Being available and accessible is important to your customers and can help increase conversion rates.

Responsive customer support involves offering customers various channels of communication, including live chat, email, phone support, and even being active on your social media brand accounts to cater to potential customers who are reaching out with questions. It's important to provide customers with a multichannel approach to getting in touch with your brand so that customers can engage with your support team in their preferred way, making it easier for them to get the help they need.

Equally important is your responsiveness and the responsiveness of your team to customer questions and issues. Customers are far more likely to complete their purchases when they know that they can quickly resolve any concerns they might encounter. By providing excellent and readily available customer support, you not only enhance the overall shopping experience but also demonstrate your commitment to customers and their overall satisfaction.

Another tip is for your store to have an FAQ page or Frequently Asked Questions page that customers can consult to get answers to questions your brand gets asked the most.

5. Leverage Reviews & Testimonials

If you have customer reviews and testimonials, you’re sitting on a goldmine. User reviews and social proof are some of the most powerful assets your Shopify website can have and that’s because customer reviews and testimonials serve as genuine endorsements by verified users of your products.

Many prospective customers rely on the experiences of others to influence their buying decisions, often pouring over reviews before deciding whether to complete a purchase or not, with positive product reviews swaying them in your favor. When your website visitors see that others have had positive experiences with your brand, they’re more likely to feel confident about making a purchase and increasing your conversion rates in turn. Keep your reviews and testimonials updated and even curate these testimonials and social proof elements to maintain their relevance and effectiveness in influencing potential buyers.

The Shopify App Store has many apps that help you capture reviews that you can integrate into your store.

Read about the 10 Best Shopify Apps to Help Your Ecommerce Store Grow

6. Display Trust & Security Badges

One of the ways to boost conversions on your Shopify online store is by earning customer trust. Aside from displaying customer reviews and testimonials to earn trust, you can display trust badges and earn security certifications that you can display for all to see on your website. When you build trust with customers, they’ll be far more likely to stay on your site longer, complete a purchase, and become repeat buyers.

The reason why it's important to build trust is because customers often feel anxiety while shopping online and trust budges are intended to help customers overcome their concerns.

Where can you get trust badges? You can also check out the Shopify App Store for apps like TrustedSite which can help address visitors' concerns about malware, viruses, and phishing attempts. Aside from TrustedSite, there are many more highly popular trust and security badge apps that may be a better fit for your brand on the app store.

7. High-Quality Photos

Having both high-quality photos and descriptions is fundamental to online stores and it all has to do with the limited nature of online shopping. With physical shopping, customers can experience your product and brand up close and personal, whereas with online shopping you need to convey as much detail as necessary through image and text alone.

In the age where we are all about sharing images and high-quality videos, clear and detailed product photography makes your products look more attractive and appealing to customers.

Because of this, you need to opt for high-resolution images that vividly showcase your products. These images show off a product’s design, texture, and color. You need to display multiple images and show off products through various angles, and contexts to provide a comprehensive view that helps customers make that purchasing decision.

8. High-Quality Product Description

Another strategy for increasing conversion rate that goes hand-in-hand with great product photos is high-quality product descriptions. This is because descriptions also help customers learn more details about your products that will influence their purchase decision, so don’t sleep on the importance of high-quality product descriptions.

Having detailed product descriptions that highlight key features, benefits, and use cases of your product offers valuable information to your customers. It's like having a digital salesperson who helps inform, engage, and persuade customers to hit the “add to cart” button.

With high-quality product descriptions that highlight features, benefits, use cases, and unique selling points of your products, you help shoppers understand how the product can solve their problems or enhance their lives, ultimately helping visitors make confident purchase decisions, making descriptions a powerful tool for improving conversion rates.

9. Use Call to Action (CTA)

Call to action or CTA guides your site visitors down the sales funnel, and that’s why they are so integral to every Shopify online store. Your site’s CTA buttons serve as clear instructions to guide visitors on the next steps to take, whether that's to "Buy Now," "Add to Cart," or “Sign Up."

By providing a clear path and powerful text that encourages action, CTAs reduce decision-making hesitancy and friction, leading customers to a more streamlined and efficient user experience. Effective CTAs increase user engagement while also inspiring users to take action. They efficiently nudge customers in the right direction, whether it's making a purchase, subscribing to a newsletter, or beginning a free trial, by drawing attention to conversion points. So, take CTAs into heavy consideration and begin to strategically use them as an asset to the conversion process. When your CTA buttons are more optimized at every stage of the sales funnel, you’ll be increasing the possibility that site visitors will turn into paying customers.

10. Go For Clean Website Designs

Clean website designs are a key aspect for Shopify stores that want to convert more of their online traffic into customers. That’s because a simple and clean design simplifies the user experience and allows visitors to put their attention on what matters—your products and how to get to the checkout page.

If you have a cluttered and overwhelming website, you’ll only confuse and frustrate customers, leading them to click off your site and abandon their shopping endeavors altogether. In contrast, a minimalist design streamlines the path to purchase, so only include what is necessary across your essential web pages—especially on your homepage, product page, and checkout page.

Thankfully, Shopify’s Theme Store offers plenty of modern and professional themes that are optimized for ecommerce.

Read about the 5 Best Shopify 2.0 Themes for Your Online Store in 2023.

Conclusion

In this article, we’ve given you ten of our top tips on how to convert your traffic into paying customers. By focusing on Conversion Rate Optimization or CRO, you can fine-tune your Shopify website to be optimized for high profitability by creating a great shopping experience for your customers. By following our tips, you can increase conversion rates on your Shopify online store and create a more successful online business in 2023 and the years to come.