Top Ten tips to Increase Conversion and Decrease Dropout Rates

May 18, 2010 - PRLog -- In a perfect world retailers would experience dropout rates of zero, customers would always complete their orders and there would be a simple plan to ensure customer satisfaction.

In reality dropout rates range from 40% to 90%; a wide range due to the fact that different ecommerce sites measure different KPIs, such as times of basket conversion, first time buyers and repeat buyers and shopping list makers.

Knowing that there will always be dropout rates is no reason not to offer your customer the best experience; let them enjoy the journey and not tap their keys with anger.

Improving this experience by even a few percent will generate a big impact on bottom line. However, before retailers sign up to receive reports or orders stats packages for their site, they need to consider the market sector, what functionality is on offer and customer behaviour.
Without these considerations a company could re-brand and make their site look amazing but if the site is still slow or does not meet the needs of their customer then they could be throwing away money.
Understanding the situations, motivations and expectations of the customer is imperative, as is re-designing from the bottom up to decrease dropout rates. Creative Jar offers these top ten tips to increase conversion:

1)   User testing. By watching people go through the process, retailers can get a better insight into the customer journey.

2)   Think about the practicalities. Mention delivery charges and how things work; set users expectations. Thank the customer and keep them informed of their orders progress.

3)   Easy sign posting. Simplify the process, make sure signs and buttons are clear. Ensure mandatory fields, such as address verification, works automatically.

4)   Time is everything. Your customers time is valuable, make sure they can get to where they need to in a few clicks, don’t force them to register unless necessary and let them save the information and come back later.

5)   Simple searching. Spelling mistakes and using model numbers are common, offer a wide range of search choices.

6)   Sell sell sell. Product copy should be clear, with no spelling mistakes, and unambiguous. The more pictures the better, but make sure they are not stock images.

7)   Review and recommend. Give users the chance to review and comment, make sure you live up to your expectations and you will receive free advertising through brand advocates.

8)   Keep users interested. Offer a newsletter that has relevant discounts and special offers.

9)   Redesign and retest. To maximise profit make sure the pages flow and it is easy for users to get to the checkout.

10)   Under promise and over-deliver. Pull out the stops for your customer and they will become loyal.

Trust and integrity is important for any customer, by making your retail site look good you are already on the first step. By giving a site the right functionality you will have a loyal customer base, which will reduce dropout rates and improve ROI.

For further information or to discover how your site can be improved call Creative Jar and speak to an Account Manager.

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Creative Jar is a full service digital design agency. We work across all media channels from enterprise ecommerce to engaging viral marketing campaigns and search. We're ideas led, passionate and driven by making your business a success.