The virtual sales sector is one of the fastest-growing areas characterized by high competition. In the global pandemic conditions, it is important to timely adjust to the new ways of doing business and use the most effective tools to increase conversion and encourage growth.
Low sales are the key reason why so many businesses fail to survive in modern conditions. To avoid this, they must be prepared to invest time and effort in improving their conversion rates.
There are many articles on how to influence the conversion rate, but not all the material can be applied in practice. Some things are too difficult to implement, while others may be not suitable for your niche or have a small effect. Discover some effective ways you can use to increase your business conversion.
What Is A Conversion Rate And Why It Is Important
If you have a website and regularly invest capital in its advertising, but it does not bring enough sales – it is clear that one can hardly speak of any business growth under such conditions. You need to start by determining the conversion rate on the site. Perhaps, it is a key problem you have to solve first.
Conversion rate (CR) is one of the most important indicators in Internet marketing, as it shows the percentage of positive results in any process relative to the overall indicator.
It is expressed in percentage and shows the share of the total number of website visitors who converted into customers. You can calculate it using the formula:
Why is it important to work on CR?
The answer is quite simple:
- It contributes to higher sales rates;
- It eliminates the need for increasing advertising costs;
- You can have five times more sales investing the same capital.
How Do You Increase Virtual Sales?
Each business has its peculiarities. Nevertheless, there are some universal recommendations enabling the possibility to increase the conversion rate for almost any site.
Provide multiple channels for communication
A phone call, including a virtual phone number and e-mailing, are classic means of communication. Nonetheless, modern people prefer to communicate through messenger (Viber, Telegram, Skype, Facebook Messenger) to be less distracted and get an answer faster.
Simplify ordering procedure
To make sales, you need to make sure that the purchasing procedure is simple and pleasant for a customer. It should not be complex and time-consuming.
Useful tips:
- Remove “obligatory” registration (i.e. so that the customer can buy without registration);
- Leave only the most necessary fields in the application form;
- Add a “callback” button;
- Experiment with the “Buy in 1 click” button;
Specify prices, delivery, possibility to exchange or return the product
The website should necessarily specify either a price or a price range. As for delivery, exchange, and return – these features are also important, especially if the goods are expensive. Give clear answers regarding:
- Shipping services that can be used;
- Delivery cost;
- Conditions under which goods can be returned or exchanged;
- How long it will take to return/exchange a product.
Launch a mobile version
These days, many people purchase from stores using smartphones. Mobile traffic now ranges from 30% to 50% of total attendance. Thus, one should take care of the adaptive design for gadgets to cover this audience.
Eliminate tech-related issues and improve load speed
If the load speed of the website is low, the chances are that a customer will leave your virtual shop. Furthermore, regular breakdowns may lead to losing customers interested in purchasing a certain product. It is important to timely detect and fix all problems.
Make sales educational
Infusing educational material in the sales materials is a good way to get your customers interested in the product’s application, use, functions diversity, availability of sets, their differences and similarities, etc.
Provide customers with the possibility to upload products description or requests for sending the materials via e-mail. They will appreciate the effort and opportunity to look through them a little more. Writing good educational content is not easy. Therefore, you can check out online writing services to get help with writing reviews of goods or services.
Use low-frequency requests
Many people move to websites using low-frequency keywords (e.g., perfume escada desire me reviews, English courses on weekends, etc.). The pages optimized under such requests are easier to move to the top of the search, and they will have a higher conversion rate.
Use pictures, videos, written content
When accessing a website, a customer cannot “touch” the item with his hands. Considering that virtual sales deals with a written and visual description of the product, on the reviews page, one must write about the product and provide detailed, high-quality photos, making it possible for the customer to see the thing in detail and from different angles.
If one sells services, it is important to show the results of your work using videos with a storyline. The use of video/photo comparisons “before–after” in the form of a story making use of an online movie maker is an effective tool to impress customers.
Provide social proof
When it comes to virtual sales, trust means a lot. Over 70% of customers look for product/service reviews left by other customers before purchasing anything. Getting a reviews page with written proof is one of the best ways to set contact with potential clients. Getting reviews at the very beginning is not easy. Nevertheless, by encouraging clients to leave feedback, one can significantly increase the number of sales. Also, one can offer small bonuses and discounts in exchange for feedback, which motivates customers to get back in the future.
Offer multiple payment methods
These days, people use different payment methods (e.g., PayPal, Visa Checkout, Payoneer, Apple Pay). Customers appreciate choice and comfort.
The work on optimizing conversion is not something super complex and does not cost a lot of money. In most cases, the costs will be minimal or even completely limited only to your time.
Frank Hamilton is a blogger and translator from Manchester. He is a professional writing expert in such topics as blogging, digital marketing and self-education. He also loves traveling and speaks Spanish, French, German and English. Meet him on Facebook and Twitter.