Get your eCommerce ready for Q4

In my opinion, the Internet is full of inefficient and ineffective e-stores.

This phenomenon can be due to a variety of reasons, such as lack of a proper marketing strategy, lack of understanding of users' needs and expectations, or technical complexities of the platform. And while everyone strives for perfection, in this world we will never fully achieve it.... but we can get closer to it, if only through optimization.

E-commerce optimization involves hypothesis testing, A/B testing and making minor adjustments to increase the efficiency of your store, which, by the way, will translate into increased Conversion Rate, or revenue.

Among the key advantages of optimization are:

• Increase conversions: Optimization helps convert more visitors into purchasing customers.
• Revenue growth: With better optimization, the site generates more revenue without getting new visitors.
• Improving user experience: Optimization makes the site more user-friendly and attracts more satisfied customers.
• Fewer abandoned shopping carts: Improvements in the shopping process minimize the number of abandoned shopping carts.
• Greater visibility: SEO optimization increases a site's visibility in search results.
• Increased competitiveness: Through optimization, the site stands out in the competitive e-commerce market.

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We at Tigers recently conducted a technical audit for a Home & Decor client in the Netherlands. The challenge, among others, was the high number of abandoned shopping carts. After implementing about 60% of our recommendations, CR increased from 1.2% to 2.6% in 2 weeks. The number of abandoned shopping carts decreased by about 35%. This result was realized only with the help of minor technical improvements to the store. Thus, I would like to emphasize the importance of technical optimization of the site / store.

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Metrics and benchmarks

For someone who manages eCommerce, metrics and abbreviations such as CR (Conversion Rate), ROMI (Returm on Marketing Investments) and ROAS (Return on Ads Spent) are not unfamiliar, and eCommerce Managers and Performance Specialists use them every day. 

Is this really the case?

I met several entrepreneurs who were moving their business to digital this year. Out of frugality, they did not hire a person specializing in e-commerce, and thus decided to act in the dark, explaining that first the store should show a positive trend of earning, and when it achieves this, only then will it be the moment to recruit. This decision is not effective and certainly does not bring tangible positive results. Therefore, it is worthwhile for us to at least pause for a moment to systematize our knowledge in measuring the effectiveness of our store.

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As a reminder, we can do an exercise and calculate some useful metrics for your online store:

• Conversion Rate (CR): Number of transactions / Number of total unique users on the site * 100%‍.

The conversion rate expresses the percentage ratio of successful transactions (e.g., purchases) to the total number of unique users visiting a website or e-commerce store. It expresses how effectively a site converts viewing users into purchasing customers.

What is a good Conversion Rate for a website? This is quite dependent on the industry. According to the analytics platform Ruler, CR ranges from 1.8% to 4.6%

Other studies show approximate but slightly different numbers, which is due to the data sample. On the other hand, averaging the available studies from different sources, we can conclude that a conversion rate above 2% - 2.5% is good for e-commerce that sells in the B2C sector.

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• ROMI (Return on Marketing Investment): (Net profit / Marketing investment) * 100%.

ROMI evaluates the effectiveness of money spent on marketing activities. It is an indicator showing how much profit is generated for every zloty spent on promotional activities. A score above 100% means that marketing activities were profitable, a score below 100% signals their less beneficial nature.

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• ROI (Return on Investment): (Net profit / Investment) * 100%

ROI is a general measure of investment efficiency, not necessarily limited to marketing activities. It includes the ratio of the net profit generated from an investment to the cost of that investment. It is a universal indicator for evaluating profitability, which allows one to understand how much profit was generated relative to the costs incurred.

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Monitoring these designated metrics is key to effectively assessing whether our efforts are producing the desired results for our store. Even the smallest improvement in optimization can really take your e-commerce to the next level.

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How to approach e-commerce optimization?

I have prepared some tips for you to use before (but also during) the upcoming holiday season - the magical Q4.

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#1. start with a simple (self) audit

You don't have to be a programmer with years of experience to test your website/online store for technical challenges like page load speed, code compression or the use of next-generation graphics. You just need to reach for a few tools that will show you at a basic level what you should address as a priority:

• Page Speed Insight by Google - a tool that analyzes page loading speed and provides optimization recommendations for both the mobile and desktop versions of a website.
• GTmetrix - tool offers a detailed analysis of loading speeds, identifying specific areas for optimization, such as images, scripts and styles.
• Pingdom Website Speed Test - allows you to measure page load times, analyze page elements and make suggestions for optimization.
• WebPageTest - tool allows you to test page loading speeds from different locations and on different devices, providing detailed results.

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#2. page load speed - Top priority!

A fast-loading e-commerce site is already a certain standard and is crucial to the success of your store. Many studies have shown that the rejection rate increases depending on the loading speed of the site.

According to Google, a one-second improvement in website speed can potentially increase conversions by 27% for mobile users.

Therefore, it is important to choose an e-commerce hosting provider that can optimize the speed of your site. A reliable hosting provider can offer server optimization, content delivery networks and caching systems to ensure that your website loads quickly and efficiently.

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#3. optimizing your site for mobile devices

This point connects to the previous observations, but at the same time it is a separate, extremely important aspect in the process of preparing a site to achieve its goals, such as increasing sales, acquiring contacts or providing information within the conversion funnel. Here are some key arguments for optimizing your website or online store for traffic from mobile devices:

• The dominance of traffic from mobile devices. The State of mobile 2022 report provides two fascinating figures: the average user spends just over 4.5 hours a day on a mobile device, and in Poland alone we have as many as 26 million users using mobile devices. Is your customer among this huge number of people? This question is rather rhetorical.
• User Experience. Mobile users have different needs and expectations than desktop users. Mobile-optimized sites provide a better user experience by presenting content in a form that is easy to navigate and readable on smaller screens. This improves user satisfaction and encourages longer visits to the site.
• Competitive advantage. Many of your competitors are likely investing in mobile optimization, but interestingly enough, quite a few companies are not. A well-optimized mobile site can give you a competitive advantage by attracting mobile users who are actively searching for products, services or information related to your business during the holiday season. According to a study by Google Poland and e-point - 57% of companies that did not implement any mobile UX optimization recommendations scored declines in conversions in the mobile vs. desktop channel.

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And what can you do about it yourself? At least a few simple things:

1. Check mobile compatibility. Check the compatibility of your site's content and graphics with mobile devices using Google's Mobile Friendly Test tool or mobile device emulator mobiletest.me 
2. Load Speed Optimization. Analyze the loading speed of your site using Google's PageSpeed Insights tool. If your images need compression, you can use tools such as TinyPNG or Compressor.io to reduce the size of image files and thus speed up page loading.
3. Simplify navigation. Rethink which sections and links are most important, and which can be hidden or put in a "hamburger" menu (three horizontal lines). Make sure the navigation is clear and easy to understand.

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#4 Introducing the "Zero Friction" model

Zero-friction model created by Meta (ex. Facebook) back in 2018, is based on the principle of eliminating all barriers and resistance in the process of using and interacting with the platform. The main goal of this model is to make the user experience as smooth, intuitive and seamless as possible, leading to increased engagement and efficiency.

Under the zero-friction model, Facebook aims to minimize the difficulties and limitations that may deter users from using its services. This includes reducing the number of steps in the registration, login and transaction processes, eliminating unnecessary forms and fields to fill out, and creating consistent and intuitive interfaces. Read more about ZFM: HERE

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#5 - Streamline (simplify) the transaction process

Optimizing the order fulfillment process is also very important. You need to make sure that there are no obstacles from the moment a user places an order to the moment they intend to make payment. This is the perfect place to implement the "Less is more!" rule. and keep it simple.

As many as 43% of surveyed consumers in the US prefer to make transactions without registration. The situation is similar in the UK, where the preference reaches up to 56% of online consumers.

If you don't offer the option to order as a guest in your store, you lose.
Research clearly indicates that the expectation of customers is to be able to make purchases without creating an account. Such functionality is becoming standard in today's e-commerce and is crucial to improving cart abandonment rates. No one wants to get all the way to the order finalization page, only to find that they have to create an account before they can finalize their purchase.

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#6 Really rethink your Christmas offer‍.

A point less on the technical side, but more on the strategic side. As long as you want to beat the average conversion rate in your industry you need to prepare well for the magical season of discounts and plan well what, how and when you will offer.

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1. For good measure, I remind you of the Omnibus directive, which applies to all promotional prices of stating the lowest price for the last 30 days. In 2023, this will be the first Q4 where texts in small print will be paid attention to, not only by potential customers.
2. Thoughtful pricing. Now is the last call to still have time to plan how we want to approach the price list in our store. Focus on attractive discounts, price reductions, and product bundling that will attract customers.
3. Real promotions. Make sure your promotions are based on real savings. Avoid pre-promotion price manipulation and be transparent in your communications with customers.
4. Smart upsell. Usually the upsell module in online stores has no logic, the proposed products are unsegmented, and a customer who decides to buy an expensive product gets suggestions to buy an even more expensive product, not complementary add-ons or accessories. Setting upsell rules alone on the side of the store management system will result in an upward buying trend (not only during seasonal sales).
5. Personalization of promotions. Take advantage of the most trivial possibilities of personalization and divide communications by gender by selecting different creatives and copy. If you have a customer base and have more information - try to reach them with a personalized message by analyzing their previous orders and offering them real value.
6. Finally, I recommend regular monitoring of reports and analyses that will point you in the right direction. Reports such as Gemius' "E-Commerce in Poland 2022" study can provide valuable insights, including information about the average spending of Poles in online stores. This can be an important clue for your store to optimize its strategy and align it with actual customer preferences.

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If you need:

• support in connection with the topics covered in this article,
• For us to prepare an audit of your e-store for you,
• Have conducted e-commerce optimization with you,

contact us. We are confident that together we can develop the right strategies to help you achieve your business goals 🐅