The conversion rate is one of the fundamental metrics when it comes to e-commerce.

It is a very important indicator that It helps to make the store's state of health objective.

In this article we are going to see:

• What is the conversion rate
• How do you calculate
• the Italian benchmark in terms of CR (Conversion Rate)
• two in-depth analyses
• and finally, 7 practical strategies that you can implement right away to improve it.

What is the conversion rate

The conversion rate is an indicator that expresses the relationship between the number of visitors who perform an action, namely the conversion, and the number of total visitors:

For example, if a store has a volume of 1,500 orders in a month with 150,000 visitors in the store, the conversion rate is (1,500/150,000) *100 = 1.5%

The conversion rate is therefore an indicator of the health of an e-commerce and is a very important metric also for advertising activities because if the store is not optimized and does not convert well, the conversion rate will be low and consequently there is the risk of having a much higher cost per order.

On average, a good conversion rate in Italy is 1.5% (even if it depends on the sector).

What is the average conversion rate in Italy?

According to the report E-commerce in Italy in 2022 According to Casaleggio Associati in 2022, the average conversion rate in Italy ranges from 0.90% to 2.2%.

It depends a lot on the sector and the type of products but on average it is 1.5%

I recommend that you use this data as a mere statistical parameter because, as we will see, the conversion rate depends on many factors.

For example, it is not very useful to compare the CR of a new store with the CR of a store that has already started because the branding factor could have a significant impact on the final value.

It is therefore better not to focus too much on heterogeneous averages and focus on the actions necessary to improve the conversion rate.

How to increase the conversion rate? Operational Strategies and Tactics

After defining what the conversion rate is and how it is calculated, the time has come to see some marketing strategies and operational tactics to increase it.

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is precisely the discipline that deals with optimizing the conversion rate of a web page.

As mentioned earlier, the conversion rate depends on a number of factors.

For this reason, at Naniza we have developed a framework for analyzing all the most important parameters that affect the final conversion rate.

The OTM framework consists of analyzing the 3 factors directly linked to the Conversion Rate and offers different solutions and ideas to increase it.

In practice, the OTM framework is based on analysis and optimization:

1. On Site
2. Traffic Channel
3. Marketing Strategy & Communication

You can optimize and increase the Conversion Rate of your store by intervening on each of these three points.

Now let's see, for each individual point, the various strategies that you could use.

How to increase the conversion rate on the site

I recommend that you start this optimization work by directly analyzing the site's performance.

A non-optimized website is the root cause of a very low conversion rate.

In this regard, I recommend 3 simple strategies to get a diagnostic overview and how you can optimize the results:

• Consider streamlining the checkout process.

From Universal Analytics, you can analyze your store's checkout performance (if Analytics is installed correctly).

By selecting: Conversions → E-commerce → Purchasing behavior you can find a dashboard that shows you the various partial conversion rates for each step of the check out.

This info can be very useful to you in identifying any anomalies that are lowering your average store conversion rate.

For example, if you see that compared to the number of 'sessions with payment process' only a few people then buy (maybe only 20%) it means that there is a 'problem' right in the last step.

At that point, all you have to do is analyze in detail what may be the elements that create this reduction.

In the case of the 'session with payment process' page, it may be due to:

• to the payment method (maybe there is no important payment method, such as PayPal)
• to the shipping costs that the user discovers exist only now (in the Shopify checkout they appear right at this point).

You could consider these factors and do individual A/B to see if you've identified the cause and your conversion rate increases.

This logic of experimentation is called CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization) and, as we will see in the next few points, it aims to optimize various points of the marketing strategy.

I recommend that you start with the optimization of the Checkout because a small optimization of the final process of the customer journey also directly increases sales, being the last step in the buying process.

• Analyze the conversion rate for Device and Usability Test

In addition to Checkout, it is important to analyze the conversion rate on the various devices.

In 2022, purchases from Mobile are increasingly important, all the more so if we consider the entire customer journey during the purchase decision process.

I therefore recommend that you check the optimization of e-commerce, which must necessarily be mobile first.

Also for this purpose, Google Analytics can be very helpful to you!

For example, on Analytics, if you select “Audience” → “Technology” → “Browser and Operating System” you can compare conversion rates.

A very interesting method, in addition to the quantitative analysis of performance with Analytics, is the Usability test.

The usability test is a method that analyzes the use of an e-commerce by a user (in full autonomy). The ultimate goal is to evaluate the experience and any navigational difficulties that could hinder the final purchase.

The goal is to be able to answer without hesitation the question: “Are my users able to use my e-commerce in the best way without experiencing obstacles?”

There are several software solutions (some a bit onerous) that allow you to do this.

In the next point, I recommend a freemium software to do an indirect analysis.

It is not a real Usability Test as it is conceived as in its original definition, but it can help you obtain very valuable insights to increase the conversion rate.

• Observe the On Site behavior of your Users with Hotjar

We have just seen how important it is to analyze not only the quantitative metrics but also the actual user-friendly and mobile friendly navigation of your e-commerce.

Understanding how users behave on your site, what they need and what possible obstacles they are experiencing that are holding them back from proceeding is essential to increase the conversion rate and increase sales volumes.

Hotjar is a very effective tool for understanding how users actually use your e-commerce.

Hotjar is a freemium tool that allows you to analyze the behavior of your users in your store through:

1. Heatmaps and heatmaps to see what content on your page is read (and in what percentage of the total) and the interaction with your store (click and scroll)

2. Screen Recording: watch users navigate your e-commerce to discover opportunities to improve the on-site experience.
   
   The traffic navigation recordings within your store allow you to see the entire session. In particular:
   

• How do they navigate a particular page
• At what points do they stop and pay the most attention
• The dedicated time
• any critical navigation points where they get stuck
  
  And many other more advanced analyses. Here's an example:

In addition, again with Hotjar, additional features are available such as Polls and feedback very useful for taking surveys even with open answers and obtaining suggestions and insights directly from visitors.

I recommend that you do not limit yourself only to the data available on Analytics because even qualitative analyses, as we will see with other examples in a moment, can significantly increase the number of insights and information to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your store.

How to monitor and increase the conversion rate per advertising channel

In addition to the UX performance of your site, another important aspect for improving the conversion rate concerns traffic and its quality.

A store, however optimized, cannot work miracles if campaigns bring non-target visitors.

It's a very trivial thing, but all too often it's underestimated.

In fact, in many cases, the conversion rate is negatively affected by ineffective advertising campaigns.

For this reason, it is important to analyze the performance of advertising campaigns, also considering the conversion rate per individual channel.

You can always find out from Google Analytics:

‍Advanced tips for your campaigns.

This analysis can be conducted in a much more advanced way, both by single channel and by device used, also with a view to Scaling.

For example, we want to analyze Google Ads campaigns to further scale the budget. It's definitely interesting to consider:

• the e-commerce conversion rate for each campaign
• the number of transactions generated
• Filter everything by device used

You can do all this on Google Analytics, in the “Acquisition” → “Google Ads” → “Campaigns” section and by selecting “Device Category” as a secondary dimension you can get a complete report of the performance of the various campaigns and their conversion rate also by device (desktop, mobile, tablet).

As you see here in the screenshot below:

The conversion rate by device type could be a very useful insight for isolating the best performance and further scaling campaigns.

‍How to increase your conversion rate with CRO and marketing communication

Now is the time to focus on how important communication and the visual aspect are in your marketing strategy to increase the conversion rate.

In particular, I recommend that you analyze the product page in detail and check if there are these fundamental elements:

• A specific offer
• A clear description of the product and its Unique Selling Proposition
• Photos and videos that illustrate in detail the product and its use
• Testimonials and social proof
• Elements that convey confidence in the purchase, such as a guarantee

The Misen product page, for example, communicates all of these elements very effectively:

Designing a Conversion Rate Optimization strategy is very useful for identifying the essential elements and information for your potential customers, thus knowing how to prioritize A/B Tests for what can have a more significant impact on your company at the stage in which it is.

AB testing is very effective for testing new variations and obtaining insights and data quickly on the conversion rate (clearly having a constant source of traffic, the greater the volumes and the faster conclusions can be drawn).

Potentially the number of tests is infinite:)

I recommend that you start with the 5 elements above because they are essential in an e-commerce.

Finally, I wanted to conclude this article with two very simple but at the same time effective strategies.

1. Don't underestimate customer care

A simple live chat on the site allows you to support your visitors and greatly increase performance.

Effective customer care can significantly increase the conversion rate of an e-commerce because it allows you to answer the questions and doubts that a user may have before buying.

It is also very useful for collecting information that you can then enter on the product page as next A/B tests.

I recommend that you try the tool Tolstoy to take advantage of live chat as a tool for interacting with videos. For example, you could create:

• A section with short videos to answer the most frequently asked questions
• A quiz that explains and recommends which products to buy according to your wishes

and many other solutions and possibilities to promote your products.

2. Take care of the relationship with the customer after purchase.

The CRO doesn't stop at the pre-purchase analysis.

Who better than your customers can help you further improve your conversion rate?

In the post-purchase phase, you can collect a lot of qualitative data on the shopping experience of your customers.

You can't miss a post-purchase email with a short survey in which you ask your customers:

• How did they know you (given the increasing difficulties of attribution)
• What difficulties did they have during the ordering phase
• What doubts did they have before buying
• what made them buy.

As you can imagine, the information you could obtain is very valuable, especially in terms of CRO!

To summarize, the conversion rate is one of the most important metrics for your e-commerce.

Increasing a Conversion Rate Optimization strategy allows you to increase the conversion rate and also the economic metrics.

Don't just focus on quantitative data, qualitative insights are also just as important for improving your site's usability and user experience.

Good A/B Tests!