4 Steps to a Cracking Conversion Rate this Christmas: Step 2 – Turn Browsers into Buyers

• E-Commerce, Improving Conversions

  
  In this series I'll be showing how to crank up your conversion rate by keeping visitors engaged every step of the way through your fashion retail website. This week’s focus – the browsing pages.
  
  
  
  The window shopper. A perennial tease for high-street retailers. They will ransack and rummage, browse but not buy, and are always but a breath away from their signature catch-phrase, “I don't need help, I'm just browsing"…ugh.
  
  Online however, the window shopper has capacity to frustrate ten times as many people at once, most commonly seen flitting between numerous tabs, joyously humming and hawing over this and that. So it will come as no surprise that product pages are where fashion retailers see the highest level of customer drop-off.
  
  While converting each and every customer who touches down onsite is optimistic to the point of delusion, there are measures you can take to make the customer’s path through your site that much smoother – turning more browsers into buyers.
  
  Search and Filter
  Over the course of various studies and surveys, a lot of time and effort have been spent on how best to direct people around your product pages, and the results are…inconclusive. Some online shoppers prefer a search box, others prefer navigational tools. So the answer is - incorporate both.
  
  A search box that’s complimented by a filtering system will allow customers to best refine their aim, and explore your product range. It’s vital to make sure that both of these functions are strong, to cater for all shoppers. Shop the Look or Trend work very well for the trend-hunters out there, giving them confidence to build the outfit and choose their key pieces.
  
  Most importantly, avoid the “No Results Found” message at all costs. Appropriately tagging your products will help banish those three nasty words from your site for good. For instance it’s all well and good describing a dress onsite as a Florence Colour Block Dress in Cashmere, but if you don’t also tag it as Grey Dress then it will go unnoticed by the search function, hiding it from many of your less au fait users.
  
  Pictures with Personality
  Shopping is a tactile business and the inability to feel and play with the garments is a big drawback in shopping online. Fluid voluminous shapes enhanced with glittering embellishments, mosaic prints or metallic jacquard fabrics would all undoubtedly look great in your store, yet will such items of such personality be as fabulous online?
  
  They can, but not with a static jpeg.
  
  Images should be interactive, allowing customers to rotate and zoom in on the products as they please. This will give customers a more detailed look for sure, but in terms of judging how a piece sits and flows, there is no competing with video. ASOS are one of the industry benchmarks is this regard.
  
  Although they can’t fully replicate actually trying the garments on in store, having interactive images and a strong video display will take much of the risk out of the buying decision for the customer - making your product pages more engaging, which will always lead to more sales.
  
  Precise Placement
  Placing recommendations on product pages is a useful way to keep people on site. They remove the dead ends in the user’s journey while shining a broader light on your product range. But don’t use recommendations that will confuse the customer, or products that have limited sizes. Think about what has most likely drawn the customer to the garment in the first place (the hem-line, the neck-line, the colour etc) and select the accompanying pieces accordingly.
  
  Dressipi offer incredibly detailed personalization and recommend according to a customer’s finger print. Place product recommendations on newsletters and email marketing – not just on product pages.  Additionally you can help buyers complete the look by displaying supplementary products, not similar ones. Always point customers towards the upsell.
  
  Critique Chic
  Customer uncertainty is a very destructive force in the buying process, as most individuals enjoy justification before settling on an item - and that’s why product reviews are so valuable in ecommerce.
  
  ‘Social proof’ is the concept that people will conform to the actions of others under the assumption that those actions represent the right way to act. In other words - other people are doing it, I trust those people, so that's validation that I should also be doing it. Simplistic and borderline degrading for the human race, but in many cases true.
  
  Third-party validation is a very powerful motivator, and reviews will give your products an endorsement that’s beyond even your marketing team’s best campaign.
                                       
                                       ===============================
  
  
  Storage Options Scroll Plus 7" Tablet PC Android 4.1 Jelly Bean 8GB WiFi
  

  

  BRAND NEW / BOXED - £85   + FREE P&P

  
  

  ---