How Important Conversion Optimization Is for Small Ecommerce Sites

There are no two ways about it.

If you’re in ecommerce, you’re in business to make money.

Sure, there may be philosophical reasons why you provide your customers with top-notch service.

But ultimately, your goal is to ensure money exchanges hands quicker and more often.

The way to achieve that is through conversion optimization.

This applies to all online businesses.

In the ecommerce space, it’s even more crucial.

In this article, I’ll explain why. I’ll also get into how you can make some adjustments to your site to improve conversions.

First, let’s take it from the top.

What is conversion optimization?

In layman’s terms, conversion optimization is the process of increasing the number of visitors who take a desired action on your site.

Any number of activities can count as a conversion. It depends on your goals.

Signing up to an email list, creating an account, making a purchase, and downloading software are all examples.

Here are some more examples:

The more often these conversions happen, the more revenue your business receives.

In theory, it’s pretty simple.

In practice, it’s a little more complex than just getting more people to take action.

Why so?

You need to get the right people to take the right actions at the right time.

That means there are quite a few pieces that need to be moved to ensure your conversion funnel is working as it should.

Here’s what prioritizing conversions can do for your business.

1. You can have a fighting chance against Goliath competitors

Every time I think of competition, I think of this simple yet profound quote:

The strong eat the weak.

It’s true in life, and it’s true in business.

Ecommerce is extremely competitive. Just look at the increase in sales within the industry over the span of eight years:

New players are entering your space every single day with the sole goal of snatching up your customers.

The only way to combat this is to make your customers so loyal to you that the competition doesn’t matter.

That can’t happen without first moving them through your sales funnel.

There’s one mistake I see small ecommerce businesses make all the time.

They focus on traffic generation without first having the systems in place to:

1.  convert that traffic into leads;
2.  convert leads into loyal customers.

If you already have some traffic coming in, I recommend you spend some time optimizing your conversion funnel.

Because guess what? You may not be able to bring in as much traffic as larger sites. They have more resources, larger teams, and bigger advertising budgets.

You may not even be able to compete on price.

But you can still have a competitive advantage if you make use of conversion optimization.

2. You can get more bang for your advertising dollar

Organic traffic outperforms paid methods, hands down. A ContentMX client saw an 84% increase in organic clicks.

Here’s the thing though.

Driving organic traffic is a difficult feat.

It’s why many ecommerce sites turn to paid advertising.

As more businesses use this strategy, the price goes up.

Now imagine this.

You’re spending thousands every month on paid campaigns.

Your ad copy, landing pages, and other elements at the top of your funnel are not optimized to convert.

Wouldn’t the result be catastrophic?

There’s no way you’d get a solid return on that investment.

Let’s just say your funnel is good enough to produce sales. What if your systems were leaner and more efficient?

You’d get better results out of the same ad spend.

It’s a no-brainer.

Before you launch a paid campaign, map every path your prospect would take after they click on your ads.

Then, improve every touchpoint so that it converts at a higher rate.

3. The CRO process gives you a better understanding of user behavior

The way users interact with your site is everything.

It’s the closest you’ll get to reading your prospects’ minds.

It tells you what they’re looking for, what they respond to best, and what turns them off.

This means you can give users exactly what they want when they get to your site. Conversions would happen much faster because web visitors would have what they need at hand.

But you shouldn’t just glance at your analytics and make changes to your site based on that one analysis.

You need to monitor user behavior over time.

It’s the only way to notice patterns you can capitalize on.

My advice?

Get a solid grasp on how to navigate Google Analytics. It’s one of the most powerful free tools for analyzing user behavior on your site.

Salesforce found that 56% of businesses rely solely on Google Analytics for their web analytics. Only about 11% don’t use it at all.

Here are a few things you can track right now:

• Where are your web visitors coming from? You can target these sources to get more visitors.
• Which channels are driving the most traffic? This will tell you where to focus your time and resources.
• Where on your site are visitors spending the most time? This will tell you where users’ interests lie.
• How “sticky” are your site pages? Check your bounce rates for that info. You want them to be low.

These are just a few ideas. User behavior has many aspects.

How do you get this info?

First, find the behavior reports within your Google Analytics account:

You’ll see several subsections, each with insights on how visitors interact with your site:

Hopefully, you already have Google Analytics fired up.

Go through the reports, and collect all historical data.

Identify what’s yielding the most results, and double down on it. Then, you can pinpoint underperforming areas and improve them.

These insights are crucial not only for conversions but for every aspect of your digital marketing.

Content, social media, and email marketing are all areas that can benefit from analyzing user behavior.

Here’s the other thing about using analytics for conversion optimization: It prevents you from making changes to your site based on a hunch.

You’ll have concrete data to base your decisions on, and that’s how you avoid making costly mistakes.

4. The weak elements of your ecommerce site design will be revealed

Design has a lot to do with how well your site converts.

You should have a simple, easy-to-navigate layout.

Conversion optimization almost always includes a site redesign to ensure these factors are at play.

You’ll pinpoint the weak spots, and your site will evolve to have a cleaner layout.

Here are some things you may consider.

Product Images

People underestimate the importance of images to boost conversions. This is the most life-like representation of your product.

Images should be high-resolution, large, and varied. This way customers can view your product from multiple angles.

It makes the product more tangible, which positively influences conversions.

Navigation

Users should be able to browse through your products quickly and conduct searches without fuss.

That’s where a prominently-placed search box comes in: 30% of site visitors use search on an ecommerce store.

The quicker you can get customers what they want, the quicker you make the conversion.

That’s the point of navigation.

As such, it should be simple and distraction-free.

Add-to-cart buttons and checkout signs must be clearly visible.

CTA

I’ll admit. The right-colored CTA button won’t make your sales funnel.

But it can certainly hurt you.

Don’t think this is a major problem?

These statistics show the many ways businesses neglect their CTAs:

If you don’t have a color that stands out and compels visitors to click through, it can take away from the user experience.

This is where color psychology can come into play. Make sure you choose the right colors for your ecommerce site, and your CTAs will perform as they should.

It’s not just about color though.

The words you use have far more impact. I recommend using words like “now” and “today” that convey urgency.

These are just a few elements.

Here’s a good rule of thumb for deciding how your web pages should be designed.

Step #1: Decide the primary goal of the page. Zone in on one thing.

Step #2: Decide on the secondary goals of the page. These should be related to your primary goal.

For instance, let’s look at product pages.

The goal is to get users to add products to their carts, right?

Your secondary goal can be a catalyst to get your primary goal moving along. For example, you may decide you want more persuasive product descriptions, more social proof, etc.

These will help advance your primary goal.

Makes sense?

Step #3: Make your primary call to action the most prominent element. This way you’re deciding for the user which action they should take.

Step #4: Include your secondary calls to action and nothing else. You don’t want to have anything on your page that doesn’t lead web visitors to your primary and secondary calls to action.

For creative elements, I always recommend split tests.

This is how you’ll know for sure which version of your site provides the smoothest user experience.

And that’s it!

5. Conversion optimization is a profit maximizer

Put simply, more conversions lead to bigger profits.

But know this: you need to tighten every aspect of your sales process.

There’s no point in optimizing for conversions at the top of your funnel if you can’t keep momentum as web visitors move through the funnel.

The best way to capitalize on all customer touch points is first to map your customer journey.

This is a map that illustrates the path your customers go through when they interact with your business.

Once you have that figured out, deciding what to optimize at each stage should be obvious.

Here’s an example of a customer journey map:

6. Your customer acquisition cost will be lowered

Conversion optimization is the silver bullet for reducing your customer acquisition costs (CAC).

Here’s the textbook definition of CAC:

In short, it’s the price you pay for acquiring a customer.

This one metric can make or break your business.

If it costs too much to convert a customer, your profit margins will be restricted.

Larger profit margins, on the other hand, give you more flexibility in your market. You’ll be able to serve your customers with more value and secure a spot as a dominant player in your space.

What does conversion optimization have to do with all this?

Here’s a scenario.

Let’s say you’ve decided to optimize your site for more conversions.

With a few strategic changes, you see a 3% bump in conversions.

The amount of traffic to your site hasn’t changed. Your ad spend is still the same. The only variable is what you’ve done to optimize your site.

The 3% increase in conversions means you’ll be acquiring more customers, resulting in more revenue, without employing more resources.

Granted, it may cost you to make changes to your site. However, the result is still the same.

Your CAC will decrease while your ROI increases.

Now, that’s a sweet deal.

7. You will have a more targeted customer base

When you optimize for conversions, everything about your marketing becomes sharper.

Your messaging and positioning will be hyper-focused.

This means you’ll attract the right kind of customers and repel those who aren’t your target audience.

The result?

You’ll be better able to serve your customers’ needs. This is bound to improve your customer lifetime value.

Here’s the other thing.

Businesses that master their markets, audiences, and positioning command more authority.

That’s ideal for the optics and even better for business.

Your perceived value will increase, which will no doubt give you the influence to land bigger profits.

Conclusion

If there’s one thing you choose to do for your ecommerce site today, let it be conversion optimization.

It’s an especially powerful tactic for small businesses.

Why?

Because you can get better results by using the same resources you have.

That’s golden.

It means you can start to scale your business and make headway on your competitors without outspending them.

I’ll say this though: conversion optimization is not about making a few tweaks to your site and watching conversions go through the roof.

It doesn’t happen that way.

This is why my focus in this article is on the areas of your business that can benefit if you prioritize conversions.

The way you go about achieving that depends on your business and your customers.

What objections do they have to your product? What prevents them from taking critical actions?

Consider these questions, use the insights in this article, and your ecommerce business will be better for it.

How did your business benefit from conversion optimization?

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August Business Report: Selling a Niche Business and Launching a New Software Product

Well, here we are at the beginning of another month!  As usual, I'm going to share my report for the previous month, but I'm trying something a bit different this time.

For the most part this year, I've been sharing detailed income reports where I reveal the exact numbers of my business.  However, I'm no longer going to do that.

I have 2 reasons.  First, I've mentioned a few times that its a little awkward revealing income numbers when you have family and friends reading.  I have some more interaction based on my income reports recently with family and friends and well, it's still awkward.

Second, I think many people are DE-motivated by income reports.  That's right it depresses them more than inspires them.  This realization came last month when I was reading Pat Flynn's income report.  He had a great month (as usual), but I found it totally depressing to read because I compared my income to his. (I know we shouldn't compare ourselves to others…)

Sure, I have some businesses doing pretty good, but when Pat post's numbers of $320,000 in one month it definitely didn't inspire me.  All I noticed was a huge gap from where I was and where he was. (And by the way, Matt Paulson wrote a great article this week about why he stopped trying to be the next Pat Flynn).

Even though I'm miles away from $320,000 a month, I don't want my income numbers to demotivate anyone reading them.  Sure, it's fun to see income reports of people making a couple thousand a month or a little more.  But $10,000 or $20,000 a month can seem so far away for some people that it makes them feel like everything they are doing is completely useless.

I don't want people to feel that way after reading my reports.  Coupled with the fact that sometimes I have awkward interactions with people I know about my income reports, I will simply forgo the actual income numbers.

The main reason I want to still do an overall monthly report (without income revealed) is to share with you the lessons I've learned in the previous month and hopefully provide you with something you can take away and apply to your own business.

The secondary reason is that reflecting on the previous month is good for me to keep me on track and helps me plan for improvements.

So, with that really long introduction…I'd like to move on…

The Monthly Selfie

Even though I won't be revealing my income numbers, I still will be revealing my pearly whites each month.  In fact, I have something special that is brand new this month…a video!

That's right, I'm doing a short video of myself each month from now on; in addition to the picture.

Here's the rules:

• I only get one take on the video.
• I have to take a picture of myself (my monthly selfie) while I'm recording the video.
• I'll briefly share what the latest news is for my business.
• Video length less than 3 mins.

Now that you know the rules, here's the video:

And the “selfie” that I took while recording that video is on display below.

Overall, I'm excited to share a couple of big updates to my business; including selling one business and starting a new software business.

Selling My “Home Goods Brand”

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about weighing the pros and cons of selling a business.  As you may have read in that post, I've decided to sell my Niche Site + Amazon FBA business.

In fact, I'm happy to report that I'm working with EmpireFlippers.com to sell my business.  You can see the listing for my business right here.

If you are interested in buying the business, please go through the normal Empire Flippers process (rather than contacting me privately).

This is the business that I've been documenting on and off for quite some time here and here.  I started this business basically on a whim in 2015 to see what I could do in the Amazon FBA space.  I quickly saw that my first couple of products were doing well, so I built up a niche site to support that brand.

Now that niche site ranks in Google for hundreds of long tail keywords.  And when the visitor lands on my niche site, I very often end up sending them to my Amazon FBA listings to buy my products.

So, not only do I get lots of natural sales on Amazon.com, but I've built up a completely separate traffic source from my own website that helps stabilize the business.

This entire Niche Site combined with an Amazon FBA business is really a killer strategy.  It's worked well for me and I know Jon Haver does something similar as well.

Because it's worked so well for me, I already have another Niche Site + Amazon FBA business that is showing some real traction.  (This is my “Fitness Brand” that I've referred to in previous income reports).

Overall, selling this business will allow me to cash in (obviously) but also free up some of my focus to pursue my next big venture…which is software!

Starting a New Software Business!

I sold Long Tail Pro about a year and a half ago.  When I sold the business, I promised myself that I would wait at least a year before launching another software product. I just wanted to take some time off and really think things through before I jumped into something new.  

However, the time has finally come to share what I've been working on behind the scenes for a few months!

My new software tool will help you create beautiful product comparison charts for Amazon Associates in just a few minutes.

I know this is something that I've wanted for a very long time, and I've just never been satisfied with the time intensive options like Table Press or even Thrive Themes.  So, I finally took the step of hiring a developer to built out my idea and it's finally come to fruition!

I don't have much else to say about the product at this point; however, I will let you see an example.  Below is a chart that I created in less than 5 minutes from start to finish (4 mins and 28 secs to be exact).

My Favorite Business Books That I've Read Recently

 

Yes, my Amazon associates code is automatically inserted so whether you click on the image, title, or buy button I will get credit for the sale (should you buy).

Yes, everything including images and price is pulled in via the Amazon API so it's 100% compliant and updates automatically.

Yes, I can quickly and easily change the way the chart looks and rearrange columns or rows in an easy to use web-based platform.

Anyway, there is a ton more that I could talk about here.  But just know that I'm VERY excited about it!

In fact, Jake and I have been using it on some of our websites for the past few weeks and are seeing significant increases in earnings because we are able to quickly add these charts to pages that we never added charts too before (it was too time consuming).

I'll share more details in the next couple of weeks.

Overall, what do you think of the idea and how it looks?

A Quick Update on My Brands

Even though I'm no longer sharing specific numbers for my brands, I do want to share any brief highlights or lessons that I may have learned throughout the month.

NichePursuits.com

I'll keep this brief.  

Niche Pursuits Insider is still going strong.  I've decided to open the doors in an “evergreen” way (doors always open) and focus on driving traffic through FB ads mostly; rather than emailing my list a bunch of times.  We'll see how that strategy goes over the next couple of months.

Other than that, Jason is helping out with content here on the site and making sure we have a good content plan in place.

Home Goods Brand

This business had a growth month for August and September is looking solid.  However, I may not have this business much longer since I'm selling it on Empire Flippers here.

Fitness Brand

This Niche Site + Amazon FBA business I think will be my next big business.  This brand grew by 55% in August.

I could and probably should write an entire blog post about this brand.  We tried a Kickstarter campaign and it did not go well.  I feel like we did a lot of things right; however, at the end of the day I just don't think the product was a good fit to be launched on Kickstarter.

We have since launched the product on Amazon and its doing MUCH better.  We are still very early on with sales, but right now it's already ranking on the first page of Amazon for one its targeted keywords (thanks to some promotions we've been running this week).  If this product can stick on the first page, it will be a great product.

I also have a second product that just went live under this brand as well (physical product on Amazon).  We've made some initial sales and got a solid first review.  However, we've yet to employ the same “launch” strategies via discounts like we have on the first product.

I think with a little bit of promotion on Amazon, we can turn this second new product into a solid earner as well.  The category is competitive with lots of sales (top earners doing $30k+ per month).  However, we have a unique feature that helps us stand out a bit from the competition.  Hopefully this will help us attract some sales long term.

Finally, some of our “older” existing products are picking up in this category.  I don't know if it's just seasonal or what, but sales have definitely picked up the last few weeks for some of our existing products.

Overall, I'm very excited about where this brand is going.

Amazon FBA Incubator

These products as a whole (about 14 products) decreased by 14% in August. I've decided to look at some of the older products and see if we can improve the listings, do some promotions, and improve sales.  When we launched these products, many of them were done in a very MVP fashion.

The pictures were taken with mobile phones and we just put the listings up to see what kind of sales we could get.  Believe it or not, this has been good enough to do fairly well.

However, the time has come for me to finally go back and do a complete listings audit to figure out how we can get better pictures and make our listings stand out.  I've created a complete listings audit checklist that Jake is helping me go through with each product.

Once our listings are optimized, I plan to do some promotions via discounts to generate sales and hopefully a few more positive reviews.  I feel like we have a few products that are good, but the listings need to be “dusted off” a bit and re-launched.

I'm hoping to see a nice bump in sales by the end of the year.

Music Brand

After having our first booth at a tradeshow in July, I was hoping to see big growth numbers during August.  Unfortunately, that hasn't quite worked out.

Some of our Facebook ads haven't been performing as well, and we didn't receive as many retail orders as we had hoped.

Part of the reason for slow retail orders is because we have been hesitant about pushing this avenue too hard since we are low on inventory.  We don't want to have a bunch of orders come in when we aren't ready to fulfill those.

However, we are in the process getting new inventory in stock and should be able to hit our retail sales process much harder in September.  (Our process involves contacting those we met at the tradeshow and reaching our via email to retail stores across the country).

Overall, I'm still enthusiastic about this brand and expect continued growth.

Thoughts?

Overall, I hope you don't mind that I've changed up my business report a bit.  Hopefully as I continue to share what I'm working on I can still help you stay motivated in your own business as I share what's working for me.

This is also a huge month for me since I just listed a significant business for sale and I'm about ready to start what I hope will be a significant software business.

Want to hear more?  Let me know in the comments below.  Thanks!

 

 

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How to Create the World’s Easiest Mobile Checkout Experience

User experience can make or break your business.

The checkout process is the most crucial element to consider in that regard.

Even more important is the context of that experience.

What’s appropriate for the desktop will not be suitable for the mobile interface.

For the most part, businesses understand this. It’s why there has been a widespread preoccupation with mobile friendliness.

Here’s the thing though.

People often neglect the checkout process.

Your customers make their final purchasing decisions before they get to checkout.

So why bother, right?

That’s being incredibly short-sighted.

Shopping cart abandonment is a real problem for ecommerce stores.

Customers expect their mobile shopping experience to be seamless, easy, and without friction.

If your checkout process does not meet these expectations, your conversion rates will dive, and your revenue will head south.

Considering that more than 50% of ecommerce traffic is mobile, you shouldn’t take it lightly.

In this article, I’ll give you some tested strategies for making your mobile checkout experience as easy as possible.

This way, your customers won’t be impeded by any friction when reaching for their wallets.

Your conversion rates will be higher, and shopping cart abandonment won’t be a dire issue for you.

Let’s start.

1. Enable guest checkout

If I’m mandated to create a user account before I check out, it’s an immediate turn-off.

I don’t know about you, but that’s the consensus.

Sure, you may take the time to create an account when you’re on a desktop.

Otherwise, it’s a hassle, and customers hate it.

Need proof? This is the second most common reason for shopping cart abandonment:

It’s likely that mobile shoppers are using this interface because they’re pressed for time. That’s why it’s important to have an option to check out as a guest.

Here’s an example:

I understand there are many benefits to increasing your user base.

You’ll have:

• more demographic data to tailor your marketing to your customers;
• a better chance of increasing your customer lifetime value because subsequent purchases will be easier;
• the means to cultivate a strong bond with your customers, leading to more customer advocates.

The advantages are undeniable.

And there is an easy solution.

Provide incentives for shoppers to create an account.

You can reward them with a coupon code or credit towards their next purchase:

Guess what? Most people will jump on that offer.

That’s a much more effective approach than forcing them to create an account.

The encouraging news is, many businesses are catching up to this. Most offer both options.

2. Make it easy to add items to cart and check out

Here’s the deal.

Many people who shop on their mobiles have likely visited your desktop store.

They already know what they want to buy.

They know where on your website it’s located.

The easier it is to find this item, add it to the cart, and locate the checkout, the faster you make the sale.

It’s as simple as that.

Having a “quick view” option right within navigation is an excellent way to put this into practice.

Here’s an example from Lulus:

If I click on “quick view,” I will not be redirected to a separate page for that particular product.

Instead, a window pops up with an obvious the “add to bag” option.

I’m met by another pop up that allows me to check out easily.

All this happens without me having to leave the page I was browsing.

Convenient, right?

3. Eliminate unnecessary form fields

The less information customers have to fill out during checkout, the faster they get through the process.

It also means they’ll have less resistance.

I highly recommend to include as few form fields as possible to complete the transaction—only the ones you actually need.

Checkout pages usually have both requied and optional fields:

If your checkout process doesn’t suffer without the optional fields, get rid of them.

It’s why many businesses opt for a one-page checkout.

However, I don’t recommend just one page for mobile.

Why?

For one, you have little screen real estate.

It means shoppers have to scroll endlessly to fill out their information. They also have to move back and forth to verify they have no errors.

It’s not the most optimal experience.

A paginated checkout allows you to break the process into bite-sized steps.

This, combined with a progress bar, will make it easier for your customers to compelete the checkout.

Here’s what I mean:

In the image above, it’s easy to see there are four steps to the checkout process.

Customers know what to expect and remain aware of their progress throughout.

4. Have a mobile-friendly version of your desktop storefront

You may be thinking this is obvious, but let me explain.

There are multiple elements to mobile-friendliness.

I’ve seen mobile storefronts that are vastly different from their desktop versions.

If there’s no alignment between the two interfaces, shoppers will think they’re in the wrong place.

The result? They bounce.

As we’ve seen before, most people first go to the desktop site to browse, get reviews, and make their decisions.

Ensure your mobile store is familiar to those who’ve gone through that process.

The other element of a mobile-friendly checkout is speed.

Shoppers of all kinds—mobile or not—want instant gratification.

They’re not as concerned with buying your product as much as they are with owning it.

If you take that away from them, whether by having a slow site or asking for much information, they’ll walk away.

The desire to own the product doesn’t go away. Your customers will simply go to your competitor. That’s bad for business.

Another important consideration is browsing behavior.

Mobile browsing is unique in many ways.

Here’s how you can optimize the mobile checkout process with user behavior in mind:

• To navigate, users use their fingers, not a mouse: This means you should place all key elements on your page within reach of the thumb.
• Typing and clicking are trickier on mobile: You need to have bigger and wider easy-to-click buttons. A larger font size also helps with improving accuracy of text input.
• Fingers are less precise than a mouse, so the process is more error-prone: It’s crucial you make it easy to detect and correct errors.

Ever made an error when filling out a form and had to enter every single bit of information over again?

It happens all the time, and it’s a significant pain.

5. Have several payment options

If you’ve shopped at a store that only offered one payment option, you know how frustrating this can be.

This is another common reason for cart abandonment. It’s clear your customers want choices, especially when payment is concerned.

According to research, 54% of people feel having a variety of payment options is important when checking out online:

That’s not to say you have to give them every possible payment choice, but two or three is the best practice.

Like this:

The ideal options will depend on your target audience.

For instance, some people loathe PayPal and would never use it.

Others think it’s the most convenient option out there.

I recommend surveying your audience to find out what they prefer.

Note:

There’s a fine line between providing enough payment options and too many.

Having more than three options can get overwhelming, quickly.

It can lead to decision fatigue. And when that happens, users are more comfortable taking no action at all.

You don’t want that.

There is an easy solution to combat decision fatigue when providing several options.

Offer one of the options as the recommended choice and the others as alternatives.

This way, you’ve decided for your customers, but you’re still providing options in case they need them.

6. Set up default billing/shipping address for returning customers

Most people hate filling out this information.

It’s time-consuming and repetitive, especially if you’re a returning customer.

This is necessary info, so people will do it anyway.

But there’s a lot of resistance.

What can you do?

In addition to eliminating unnecessary form fields, you can set up the form so that it auto-fills the information for returning customers.

Email address, name, billing address, and shipping address—all this information can be saved for future purchases.

Some stores use a tool that looks up addresses based on a postal code and auto-fills that info.

Here’s how it works.

You type in a zip code:

You’re prompted with a window like this:

You’re given address options based on your zip code so you don’t have to fill this yourself:

There’s also an address validation tool similar to this one.

When a shopper types in their address, they get asked if it’s the right one and are given other options.

This is useful for a few reasons.

First, it auto-fills with more accurate information.

Secondly, it reassures customers they have the right shipping info. This way, they’re not anxious about missing their shipment due to error.

There’s one thing you need to note.

Address validators aren’t always correct. It means customers should have the option to reject the suggestions and fill in their info themselves.

7. Make navigation easy and distraction-free

Navigation on a mobile device should be as simple as possible.

You know that three-lined navigation button that signifies a menu on a mobile device?

That’s called nested navigation, and it makes things super simple. It makes for a cleaner page and no distractions.

But that alone is not enough.

Here are more tips for simplifying your navigation:

• have only as many options as you need to avoid decision fatigue and distraction;
• have short and descriptive labels in your navigation;
• include a prominently placed search bar;
• use endless scroll instead of pagination for browsing through products;
• make it easy to return to the homepage.

These tips are for your mobile ecommerce store.

On checkout pages, there shouldn’t be any navigational elements.

You can include links to resources that shoppers may need to complete the checkout process. For instance, a call or email button is useful if they need help.

Apart from that, I recommend eliminating navigation.

Don’t include advertisements, links, or buttons that do nothing to move the checkout process along.

8. Allow customers to see what’s in their carts as they shop

The whole shopping cart concept is a bit strange.

Think about it.

You browse through products and funnel different items to a page you don’t actually see.

It’s not until the end of the browsing process that you go to your cart to view your items.

Most ecommerce stores do nothing to improve this aspect.

It’s not uncommon for people to forget what they placed in their carts and be surprised by the total price.

Incidentally, these are also common reasons for shopping cart abandonment:

Based on the responses in the graphic above, here are some suggestions for improving the shopping cart experience:

• show customers what’s already in their carts every time they add new items;
• communicate the total price of their items every step of the way;
• have a “save to cart” feature for those who are not ready to check out;
• have your own comparison charts against competitors within product pages;
• list shipping costs as early as possible in the checkout process.

Conclusion

Mobile commerce has improved by many factors over the years.

Despite the progress, you can still do a lot to improve the experience for customers.

The easier and quicker the process is, the higher your conversion rates will be.

That’s a given.

It’s worth noting that every strategy won’t yield the same results for all ecommerce stores.

You need to test the elements of your checkout process to see what works best. That’s the best way to ensure you’re not losing customers where it matters most.

Start with the strategies in this article. Put them to the test, and see what difference they make for your business.

Do you have any other tips for simplifying the mobile checkout experience?

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How to Incorporate Social Proof on Every Page of Your Website

Every online marketer knows that the Internet is an insanely skeptical place.

It’s with good reason.

Let’s be honest.

Our space is littered with faux gurus and hyped up promises.

You’ve seen them:

“Make $500 000 with your first online course launch.”

“Give me 15 minutes, and I’ll give you a profit generating machine!”

Okay, I’m exaggerating a bit, but you get the drift. Your prospects don’t know you well, and they don’t trust you yet.

Social proof can change that.

Think about the last time you bought a product without looking at the reviews first or without a recommendation from someone you know.

Never happened, right?

That should give you an idea of how integral social proof is to easing the minds of your customers.

There is one question I get asked a lot.

People want to know where on their websites they should display proof elements.

The answer?

Everywhere.

Social proof should be splattered across your website.

The key is to have the right kind of proof on the right pages.

In this post, I’ll describe different types of social proof you can use and where on your website you can display them for maximum effect.

Sound good? Let’s start.

What is social proof?

Do you know what the herd mentality is?

It describes the way people are influenced by their peers to behave in a certain manner.

That’s the basis of social proof.

You see a bunch of people doing the same thing. You assume it’s the right thing to do. You do it too.

Now, it’s way more comforting to believe we are all independent thinkers and we take actions on our own volition.

Not true.

Of course, the pack mentality doesn’t apply to every area of life.

In business, however, you can bet it’s always at play.

And that’s good news.

It means you have the methods to ease your prospects’ anxieties and push them to make that final purchase decision.

Best of all, social proof makes your customers feel confident about their decisions.

Here’s the thing though.

Not all proof elements are created equal.

Some are more persuasive and impactful than others. Even the placement of that proof can have an impact.

I’ll give you the most compelling types and ways you can incorporate them so you have proof elements on every single page.

1. Case studies

This is by far one of the most powerful types of social proof.

Why?

It tells a complete story (if done well).

And as you know, a success story is the best kind of story in this case.

With case studies, you get a holistic view of your customer’s journey. You get to learn:

• what their life was like before they invested in you
• what prompted the purchase decision
• the obstacles they had on their way to a better outcome
• how you helped them overcome these obstacles
• the exact moment they experienced transformation
• what life looks like in the aftermath of this transformation.

Does your case study need all these elements?

Yes.

It’s way more effective than simply having a customer say

I had a great experience working with Jane, and I highly recommend her.

There is a place for that kind of proof, and I’ll talk about that later.

Where should you display case studies?

They’re so powerful they can stand on their own. I always recommend having a separate page to feature your success stories.

Like this:

Here’s another example:

Ramit Sethi executes this kind of social proof perfectly in his GrowthLab:

While you can have these on a separate page, you should also include product- or service-specific case studies on your sales pages.

You can do it in a number of ways:

• strategically embed video case studies into your sales page;
• use case studies as a response to questions on your FAQ page;
• condense the success story into a testimonial and have a “read more” link so prospects can access the full case study from your sales page.

These are just a few ideas.

2. Customer testimonials

These are much easier to put together than case studies.

Simply ask people with whom you’ve worked (and have had success) to write you a testimonial.

Like this:

Unlike with case studies, I don’t recommend you hoard all your testimonials on one page.

Why?

A testimonial doesn’t tell a whole story.

That means it won’t have much impact standing on its own. It needs to be backed by something else.

Here are some ideas for placement:

• next to a contact form
• next to a call-to-action button
• on an order form
• on a sales page, right after you’ve given the benefits of your product/service
• on a newsletter opt-in form. This is excellent for those who don’t have a large number of subscribers to use as social proof.
• on your About page.

I recently stumbled upon a site that places testimonials in a sidebar. This way, they appear on every website page.

It’s genius!

3. Strength in numbers

You’ve likely seen this one used a lot.

It works.

The most common use of this type of social proof is to have social sharing buttons on your blog posts.

It tells people this is a quality blog post that should be read.

It has the same effect as comments.

Check out this post by Brian Dean:

It has 871 comments! Now, that’s social proof.

Here’s the thing though.

Be aware of negative social proof.

If you have zero comments and zero social shares on a post, you may want to keep it to yourself.

Most social sharing tools allow you to shut off displaying the share count if it doesn’t clear a certain threshold.

Some other ways you can show strength in numbers:

• number of users
• number of downloads for software, tools, or resources
• number of subscribers

Displaying subscriber count is powerful proof.

Considering how important list-building is in business, if you have the right numbers, make use of them.

4. Endorsements from influencers

Influencers are people with massive authority in your niche.

Everyone knows them, likes them, and trusts their opinions.

Imagine getting an endorsement from one of the big players in your space. It can make your business.

How do you land such an endorsement?

1. Zone in on an influencer.
2. Get on their radar by engaging with their content.
3. Make contact via email.
4. Do something spectacular for them.
5. Ask for an endorsement.

I know, it’s easier said than done. But that’s the general path you need to take.

Don’t want to take this route?

You can also pay to play.

In other words, you can hire influencers to endorse your brand or products.

If you have the funds, it can be quite profitable.

It’s reported that for every $1 businesses spend on influencer marketing, they get $6.50 back. Those in the top 13% get $20 back.

Now, that’s what I call rock solid ROI.

After you’ve got your endorsements, you can display them on your website.

The Home page and About page are prime real estate for this kind of proof:

It tells website visitors you’re a big deal, and you’re worth listening to.

That’s what you want, right?

If someone prominent has praised you, show it off.

5. Media mentions

Have you ever seen logos of different publications splattered across some websites?

I’m sure you have. It’s commonly used.

Here’s an example:

It doesn’t have to be a formal media establishment like NBC News. It can be a popular website in your niche.

If you’ve ever been featured there (guest post, interview, etc.), you can place the logo on your website as a form of proof.

This is almost always displayed on the Home page.

Here’s a pro tip for landing media mentions.

Go to a site called HARO.

It’s a platform that connects reporters with sources. If you have expertise in an area, you can easily become a source.

On the website, click on “I’m a source.”

Here’s how it works.

And that’s it!

You have a means of connecting with reporters and getting those much-coveted media mentions.

6. Trust seals and certifications

Trust icons help customers feel safe about working with you.

Certifications have the same effect.

Sure, we no longer live in a world where credentials matter as much as results.

But many people still rely on these signals so they can feel reassured in their decisions.

Certifications that demonstrate your expertise can give potential clients a push in the right direction.

This works best for service pages.

Just look at the number of badges Kristi Hines has on her freelance website:

I bet if someone is looking into her services, it may be enough to get them over the edge.

Now, let’s talk about trust seals.

These are especially crucial for order forms.

Here are some examples of trust seals:

• SSL certificates
• privacy badges or statements
• money back guarantee
• credit card logos

These are the most common ones.

No order form or sales page should come without at least a few trust icons.

This is where money is exchanged. Your customers need to know their information is safe.

Sometimes all it takes is to have credit card iconography, like this:

ConversionXL tested a few popular trust seals to see how they fared with customers.

PayPal was the most trusted, and Visa-Mastercard was the most familiar brand.

7. Expert opinions

I get asked this question all the time:

“How can I display social proof on my website if I’m new to business and have no clients?”

That’s an excellent question.

I recognize many people may not have access to all these proof elements.

Endorsements, case studies, and testimonials are not always easy to acquire.

The simple solution?

Expert opinions.

Here’s how this works.

Let’s say you’re starting a blog on consumer psychology.

You haven’t worked in this space before, and you have no credentials.

While you work towards getting the necessary proof elements, you can feature quotes from experts in the consumer psychology field.

It tells people your topic is valid and there’s a track record of success in the industry.

It doesn’t have to be a personal testimony, and this expert doesn’t have to be connected to you.

As long as you credit them as the source of your quote, you’re good to go.

8. Popular posts and products

This is another way to have proof elements on your website when you don’t have many choices.

I assure you, it works.

You can display popular posts in your sidebar as I do:

You can also place them in your footer, like Blogging Wizard does:

Again, be mindful of negative social proof.

If your numbers are low, turn off the count feature in your popular post widget.

If you run an ecommerce store, you can display popular products, a.k.a. best sellers.

It has the same effect:

9. Reviews and ratings

This one is a no-brainer.

I bet you’ve never purchased a product on Amazon or any other online store without reading multiple reviews.

If it doesn’t have at least a four-star rating, you’d be even more skeptical and cautious.

The perfect placement for reviews and ratings?

On product pages.

This is more applicable to ecommerce stores.

Some people find it useful to incentivize customers to provide reviews. They give a freebie or credit toward another purchase.

While that’s a solid strategy, I prefer a more organic way of generating positive reviews.

I’m a big fan of customer advocacy.

This is where you deliver such a spectacular customer experience that your customers are compelled to sing you praises.

They’ll recommend you to their friends, use their social media assets to promote your business, and be your most loyal customers.

The best part?

They do it for free (no incentives or payment required).

Mobilize customer advocates, and you’ll have an organic system for generating the kind of reviews that will inspire others.

10. Client or customer list

A creative way to display social proof is to feature a client list.

It helps if your clients are recognizable names in your industry. This is even more impactful than a verbal endorsement from an influencer.

Here’s an example from Sleeknote:

Service-based businesses can do this as well:

Smart, right?

Conclusion

The premise of social proof is simple.

When you call on other people to tell your prospects how awesome you are, the message hits home more powerfully.

And when you do decide to toot your own horn, at least you’ve got the testimony of dozens of people to back you up.

Social proof isn’t something that’s just useful. It is critical.

Your customers want to see these proof elements because they want to feel confident investing in you.

You have no shortage of options.

I’ve given you ten of the most impactful ones and the best placements for them on your website.

Both service- and product-based businesses can use these elements. So can new and veteran entrepreneurs alike.

Put these proof elements to work. Engagement on your content will go through the roof, and conversion rates will improve.

What kind of social proof works best for you?

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