4 bottlenecks impacting your eCommerce sales [+15 tips on how to improve eCommerce conversion rates]

All merchants and retailers have always dreamt of is a fast-growing and successful eCommerce business. But, it is easier said than done. There are so many things to consider from inventory management, shipping costs, taxes and delivery management to customer expectations- the list is endless. Attaining high eCommerce sales is a game that requires continuous eCommerce website refurbishing and management along with an eagle’s eye on how to improve eCommerce conversion rate and decrease cart abandonment rates.

Several factors go into running a successful and profit-garnering global eCommerce brand and bad eCommerce practices like complicated checkout process, lack of preferred payment methods, and conventional eCommerce customer experiences can be detrimental for your international eCommerce websites. Therefore, it is important to run regular diagnostics on your eCommerce website to identify what is dropping your eCommerce conversion rate numbers and how to boost your eCommerce sales.

Time and again, our experts have helped several iconic brands improve the performance of their eCommerce store, better their eCommerce sales funnel, improve their customer’s experiences, and remove all the bottlenecks that hamper the profits you could be making. And this article unveils 4 common issues that hamper your eCommerce conversion rate and ways to increase eCommerce sales.

So, without further ado, let’s begin.

Bottleneck #1: Is your mobile eCommerce checkout flow frictionless?

Undoubtedly, today’s customers want consistent and personalized eCommerce experiences. But there is something else they want more than that. It is a frictionless shopping experience with an easy and simple eCommerce checkout flow, especially when they’re shopping on their mobiles.

Over 79% of smartphone users have made an online purchase in the last six months. Moreover, over 60% of online traffic is derived from mobile devices, accumulating $3.56 trillion in global mobile eCommerce sales by the end of 2021. But if you’re not making enough mobile purchases, it is because of the friction in your mobile experience. Here are some eCommerce checkout best practices to improve your consumer’s mobile shopping experience.

Tip 1: Test your mobile sites for positive and negative buyer behaviors

Test for mobile sites for revenue per visitor (RPV), eCommerce conversion rate, cart abandonment rate, and page conversion rate. Optimize your mobile eCommerce sites across every device and screen. This will give you an insight into what works for a buyer and what doesn’t, ultimately improving buyer experiences and eCommerce sales.

Tip 2: Reduce the number of steps in your checkout process

No customer likes to complete several steps to buy a product. eA convoluted eCommerce checkout flow is not only confusing but frustrating. One of the eCommerce checkout best practices is simplifying the checkout experience. The fewer the clicks or steps in an eCommerce checkout process, the more likely customers are to complete it. One-page eCommerce checkout flow is the best. Auto-filling location, automatically adding soon-to-be-collapsing coupons, showing cart total in the header, and adding floating add-to-cart buttons are some ways on how to boost your eCommerce sales.

Tip 3: Offer alternative payment methods

Buy now pay later solutions are becoming increasingly popular with eCommerce consumers and implementing them to your eCommerce store will speed up the checkout process. Moreover, adding other alternative international eCommerce transactions methods like PayPal can have a big impact on your eCommerce sales, delivering 46% higher eCommerce conversion rates versus other payment routes in the global eCommerce marketplace.

Tip 4: Optimize your eCommerce site for mobile devices

A dynamic and responsive mobile eCommerce website that adapts to several screens and devices intrigues every consumer. Design a website with compact fields, less scrolling, and relevant content to better eCommerce consumer experiences.

Tip 5: Offer guest checkouts

eCommerce sales are always more important than logins. So, eliminate friction with guest buyers by not forcing customers to create an account in advance to optimize eCommerce sales funnel.

Bottleneck #2: Does your checkout page offer a smooth and seamless payment process?

Lack of preferred payment options, flexible one-touch payments, or pay over-time solutions are significant drivers to consumer satisfaction, eCommerce conversion rate, eCommerce sales and reduced cart abandonment rates. The following are some ways to increase eCommerce sales via optimizing the payment process.

Tip 1: Offer popular payment solutions as per your audiences

If you run a global eCommerce business, then you need to cater to target audiences in a localized and personalized manner. Therefore, implementing local payment solutions with location-specific tax tariffs will play a critical role in how to boost your eCommerce sales. Research the popular international eCommerce transaction routes in a geography, region, or country and integrate those payment providers to your global eCommerce site.

Tip 2: Automate the payment processing

Automated payments can simplify the eCommerce checkout flow, reduce cart abandonment rates by giving customers a speedy way to buy products across any device, and improve ecommerce conversion rates, closing more eCommerce sales.

Tip 3: Integrate your store with mobile payment apps

When brainstorming how to boost your eCommerce sales, don’t forget integrating your store with mobile payment apps. Several alternative payment solutions like Apple Pay and Amazon Pay are gaining huge popularity due to their frictionless experience on mobile devices, resulting in more eCommerce sales. So, integrate your mobile eCommerce site with popular mobile payment apps to avoid any redirects, account sign-up, interest or late fee, and no credit checks.

Tip 4: Make payment strategy an integral part of your overall marketing strategy

Your eCommerce payment strategy is  part of your overarching marketing strategy. To complete the circle and increase your eCommerce sales numbers and return on ad spend (ROAS), feature alternative payment methods in social media campaigns, emails, and retargeting programs.

Bottleneck #3: Do you have a robust international eCommerce strategy in place?

International eCommerce business expansion requires careful consideration. A poorly implemented global eCommerce strategy can easily eat away your profits and decrease eCommerce sales. Narrow profit margins combined with high fulfillment costs, shipping costs and cart abandonment rates can be taxing for your eCommerce sales funnel. When planning to go global, understanding a region’s customer buying behavior, sales tax, language preferences, etc. are paramount. All countries have different local nuances and preferences and making note of it is the secret to cross-border eCommerce success. Employ these tips on how to boost your eCommerce sales numbers for cross-border selling:

Tip 1: Tailor eCommerce checkout flow experiences to suit local preferences

One of the eCommerce checkout best practices is to customize your eCommerce checkout process to multiple languages, active payment methods and currencies, and related content to deliver impeccable localized experiences to each and every customer. It helps your brand expand its global name, swiftly enter the consumer market, maximize your brand acceptance and improve eCommerce conversion rate.

Tip 2: Study the legal entities in the new country

Warehousing costs, operational time, restrictions, and other legal entity options differ from one region to the other. So, consult an expert in the target country about the tax laws and regulations to determine the right international business expansion strategy.

Tip 3: Optimize your checkout experiences for global revenue strategies

Checkout the popular payment methods in different countries to encourage more eCommerce conversions. For example, Stripe is popular in Singapore, iPay88 in Malaysia, AliPay and WeChat in Asia, and Xendit & Midtrans in Indonesia. Offering relevant international eCommerce transactions methods is the best way to improve eCommerce conversion rates and elevate eCommerce sales numbers.

Bottleneck #4: Is your offline and online customer experience siloed?

Consumers today expect personalized and omnichannel eCommerce consumer experiences across all devices, platforms, and channels. This includes both online and offline shopping expeditions. If your online and offline eCommerce customer experience is disjointed, then you cannot offer BOPIS solutions (buy online/pick-up in store), quite popular amongst today’s Gen Z and Millennial buyers, in turn, impacting your eCommerce conversion rates. Use these tips on how to boost your eCommerce sales figures:

Tip 1: Profile your omnichannel customer data

Picturize your customers to enhance your eCommerce sales funnel. Your customer profiles must include their name, address, phone number, email address, buying behaviors (both online and offline), recommended products, preferences and demands. This will give you a 360-degree view of your customers when they’re shopping online or at in-store channels. When you know more about your customers, you can quickly create personalized, omnichannel experiences for them and improve eCommerce conversion rate.

Tip 2: Sync inventory data across all sales channels- offline and online

The biggest challenge you face when delivering personalized omnichannel experiences is unsynchronized inventory data across all the eCommerce sales channels. A strong inventory management system effectively manages all the entries from offline, social, webstore, or mobile store. Remove all the discrepancies in your inventory data for transparent product availability details.

Tip 3: Consolidate your online and in-store payments providers

One of the best ways to increase eCommerce sales is to unify your online payment solutions and point-of-sale systems. Choose a payment processor and a POS system that gives you a holistic and data-driven view of your customers, eCommerce sales conducted and ROIs.

Ready to boost your eCommerce sales?

Change is the only constant and this stays true to the digital commerce ecosystem as well. Today’s unprecedented market environment requires merchants and retailers to identify the existing bottlenecks, explore opportunities and ways to increase eCommerce sales and adopt innovative eCommerce strategies to improve eCommerce conversion rates.

We’re sure our expert-suggested tips will come in handy in solving your existing eCommerce bottlenecks and increase your profit margins. For any other assistance, our dedicated experts can help you launch, manage, and maintain your global eCommerce stores at peak performance. Request our free consultation today.