Just browsing: why your online store's traffic isn’t converting into sales

Attracting visitors to your site is half the battle. If you’re getting a steady stream of traffic, this is something to be proud of. Of course, online traffic doesn’t pay the bills - you need these visitors to convert into customers.

There are a few possible reasons as to why your traffic isn’t converting into sales. Below are some of the most common reasons and how to address them.

Slow loading speeds

Some web users aren’t very patient and can be easily put off by a slow loading page.

The longer a webpage takes to load, the more visitors are likely to abandon it. 13% of visitors leave after three seconds, 22.2% leave after five seconds and 32.3% leave after seven seconds (almost a third!).

Try visiting your website to see how long it takes to load. If pages take longer than five seconds to load, it could be worth optimising them to help them run faster.

Tricks like optimising images, reducing code and migrating to a faster web host can help to increase the speed of your site. This page offers a few tips on how to make a web page load faster.

Poor navigation

You should consider how easy it is to navigate your site. If customers cannot reach the products they want easily, they’re likely to give up.

You also need to make sure that once a product has been put in the shopping cart, the checkout process is easy to navigate - you don’t want to lose customers at the last hurdle.

A few handy navigation features to consider adding to your site include a search bar, drop down menus and sorting options. These are particularly important if you have a large inventory of products.

When it comes to the checkout process, consider having no more than three checkout pages and use a progress bar. A website design agency will be able to help you implement further navigation tricks - how you configure your site could depend a lot on the type and quantity of products that you offer. 

Limited product info

It’s useful to offer a lot of product information so that customers know exactly what they’re buying. If product information is too limited, visitors may be hesitant about buying your products in case they’re not suitable.

While some customers may ring you up, email you or use online chat features to find more information, not all customers will be willing to do this. 

Try to offer detailed descriptions of each product, including key information like materials/ingredients, measurements and delivery options.

By using bullet points and sections, you can make this information easy to read.

Make sure that photographs are good quality so that visitors can easily make out the product. 3D photos and videos can provide even more information. This guide offers more tips when it comes to providing product descriptions. 

Misleading SEO

SEO (search engine optimisation) affects how pages rank on search engines like Google and Bing.

A major part of SEO is using keywords. If a page uses misleading keywords, it’s possible that you could be attracting the wrong types of visitors - they may then arrive at your site disappointed.

Make sure that you know exactly what terms your customers are searching for so that you can focus on these. Meanwhile, avoid using misleading keywords.

For example, a keyword like ‘pool cleaner’ could be attracting visitors looking for pool cleaner robots or pool cleaner services as opposed to pool cleaning chemicals.

While you can still use ‘pool cleaner’ on your page, you may also want to focus on terms like ‘pool chemicals’ and ‘pool cleaning chemicals’. 

Trust issues

It’s important that your online store promotes trust. If visitors don’t trust your site, they’re less likely to buy your products.

Most online customers are much more wary when using a smaller site and will be constantly looking out for red flags - it’s important that your site doesn’t contain any of these red flags.

There are so many things that can affect customer trust. The first is basic design - your website needs to look professional, which includes using professional graphics and professional images.

You should then consider your payment gateway - is it a trusted payment gateway and do you accept credit cards?

Other essential features that can make your site look more trustworthy include a privacy statement, contact details, trust badges, reviews and an SSL certificate. If your site is lacking any of these features, consider adding them right away to make your site more credible.