Advanced & Practical ways to increase Conversions?

‘Conversion’ is an important metrics for any internet consumer space organization. Usually conversion is measured – Platform wise & Product wise e.g. one will measure the conversion of shoes on app or conversion of hotels on desktop & so on. For each platform the strategies are different & unique.

We all know that the product assortment & it’s pricing are very important for conversion but if a brand is selling quality product with best pricing, then how we can increase the conversion?

Ways to increase the conversion on both app & desktop (overlapping & common strategies for both platforms)

1) Design & flow (basically UI & UX)

Conversion is no doubt a tech & marketing metrics. Both Marketing & Tech/Product teams are measuring it. A simple & intuitive design with less clutter & a simple flow (not too lengthy) increases the conversion as chances of drop off gets reduced

2) Robust architecture for better load time

While opening the app/desktop, if the pages/screens are taking a hell lots of time, you will lose the customer. Make sure the screens’ loading time is optimum without making customers pissed off.

Note:- If you are into a business where you fetch results from backend on real time and it takes time to load (e.g. flights is loaded on real time every time due to dynamic pricing), always engage the customers by showing some important information & give them a tentative wait time also (e.g. while the flights listing screen is loading, you can tell the customer about the wait time as 3 mins and show some interesting facts about the history of flights)

3) All payment options & good payment gateway

Maximum time, customer gets dropped off from payment page/screen. Reasons are numerous like very limited payment options are available, lack of trust in customer while doing online payment etc. Things to remember

a) Make sure all payment options are available including COD

b) The design should be native and inculcate the trust in customer by showing some strong marketing sentences like ‘Your money is saved with us. Don’t worry and go ahead’. Show PCI-DSS logo & other important certification logos if you are certified.

c) Use a good payment gateway which has a good success rate & better customer experience

d) Make sure you flash your customer care number as this builds trust more

4) Simple login & sign up options

Brands fall into temptations & ask a huge form while signing up. This is highly detrimental for a brand. Make a simple phone + OTP login. Or make a guest login feature also.

Remember the lesser the better. For app, do use truecaller API to auto-fill the form and make sure you read the OTP automatically without manually putting in. Give multiple sign up options like google, facebook or linkedin etc.

5) Pricing issues

Many a times brands increase the pricing on the payments page & add many other charges. This again creates a sense of distrust & feeling of cheat inside the customers’ mind. It is seen that if you show the pricing upfront, the changes of conversion gets increased.

6) Un-necessary recommendations & pop ups

While up-sell & increase in AOV (avg order value) is the need for every brand, don’t overdo this. Do in a subtle and classy way and don’t bombard it. Never do this on payments page.

7) Multiple delivery options

Brands should allow customers to choose their preferred slots & time of delivery.

8) Add more to the existing order in case a customer forgets

9) Offers, discounts as pre applied

Offers are liked by everyone irrespective of the genre of the brand. But applying offers through a coupon code is tedious and cumbersome. In this one has to remember the code and then apply.

Brands should change the mindset & become more generous in giving offers by automatically pre-applied. This may reduce the GMV but it creates a positive word of mouth and hence a fabulous long term strategy

9) Integration of chatbot, Whatsapp channel

Plz note that every customer is not a veteran in online ordering and they get stuck somewhere. While every brand makes the flow simple and lucid, but still it takes time for a customer to get accustomed of online ordering. If a AI based (smart) chatbot or Whatsapp channel can help the customer then & there itself, the conversion will go up.

9) Personalize, Personalize & Personalize

Most important way to increase the conversion for any brand is personalize the experience. If customer see the home page as per his taste and need, he will feel ‘WOW’ and convert easily. e.g. if a customer has bought a phone, and he is sure to order it’s accessories also.

Look for softwares for delivering dynamic content that allow brands to present tailored content, offers, and product recommendations to your customers based on factors such as their demographic and geo, their on-site behavior etc.

App specific ways

1) Deeplinking from push notifications & SMS

2) Smart links in emailers (these link behave differently on desktop & on app. On app it open the relevant page on app and on desktop it opens the relevant page on desktop)

3) App specific flash sales/discounts (this creates urgency and hence conversion gets bumped up)

Summary

First of all a brand should pay attention to have quality products, best pricing among all competition & quality services. Once all these are in place, a brand should pay attention to UI, UX, payment options, trust building, pricing issues & personalization. These are the core for any brand to increase the conversions.

Let me know your thoughts over this. If you have any questions/suggestion plz shout at me on priyangagarwal@gmail.com