What is a conversion for an ecommerce website?

A conversion is counted or recorded when a visitor takes a particular action on your website. This maybe, filling in a contact form, booking an appointment or more importantly ordering and making a purchase. The aim with all conversions is to turn more of your traffic into paying customers.

What is an ecommerce conversion rate?

A conversion rate is the measure of how many orders your website received for a certain amount of customer sessions (not unique user visits). It is measured as a percentage % and is worked out as:

ecommerce conversion rate % = number of orders / number of site sessions

e.g: if you received 7 orders for 500 sessions to your store this would be (7/500 = 0.014%)

If you received 15 orders for 1000 visits this would be (15/1000 = 0.015%)

What is a good ecommerce conversion rate for 2024?

This is a tough one as most statistics on this matter will tell you it’s around 2.5-3%. Littledata’s survey of Shopify stores is a good baseline data to benchmark your website. Anything over 3.2% and you’re in the top 20% performing websites online and under 0.2% and your in the lowest performing 20%. For fine jewellery and luxury products however where the price points are much higher we have personally seen conversion rates around the 0.01% - 0.1% rate making good revenue for a business.

For example if your jewellery website is averaging 2000 sessions per month at an average order value of £1500 (for an typical engagement ring) then this would equate to 20 sales at £30,000 per month at 0.01% and 200 sales at £300,000 per month at at 0.1%. So you can see that trying to chase industry standards can lead to some frustration as every business us unique.

Why is your conversion rate low and how to fix it?

If you are receiving good traffic but experiencing low conversion rates despite implementing various strategies, it might be time to dig deeper into more specific and potentially overlooked areas. Here are several tactics and considerations to diagnose and address the issue:

1. Is your traffic low quality or just irrelevant?

This is the one thing which is often overlooked. Chasing more traffic is good for overall growth but if your site visitors are not sticking around or coming through on channels that are not relevant to their search or needs then your conversion rates will look abnormally low.

• Traffic Sources: Examine where your traffic is coming from. High traffic from irrelevant sources might be inflating numbers without contributing to conversions. Focus on high-intent sources and refine your targeting. These might be organic search to education articles, ad traffic, social media or referral links. Check Google Analytics, Google Console or your traffic sources in your admin panel to see where your visitors are coming from. You might be getting a large volume of traffic from countries that don’t buy, or a particular page on your website or link from another website that is misleading or irrelevant to the visitors expectations.

• Internal / Staff traffic: If you have a lot of staff or your websites are bookmarked internally for day to day browsing, the can seriously affect your site analytics. You could be getting a majority of your website visits from staff and friends and family. Consider filtering out internal traffic in Google Analytics for more accurate data.

• Bounce Rates and Engagement: Look at metrics such as bounce rates and time on site for different traffic sources. High bounce rates might indicate mismatched expectations or poor landing page experiences. Make sure all of your high traffic pages, blogs and products are relevant and have the correct titles, meta data, images and information that helps lead a customer to a better buying decision.

✓ Easily fixed? It can be a lengthy and ongoing process but a worthwhile exercise. Continually keep an eye on where your traffic is coming from. Delete old or outdated content that isn’t relevant anymore, and work to increase traffic from high value sources such as Social media, Paid Ads such as Performance Max and Referrals.

2. Is your website trustworthy enough?

For luxury retail and ecommerce, trust is crucial. A trustworthy website assures visitors that their personal and payment information is secure, their privacy is respected, and more importantly products or services offered are authentic and valuable. Key factors include secure payment gateways, clear return policies, visible contact information, certificates of authenticity and even association trade organisations and trade bodies.

The importance of trustworthiness directly impacts conversion rates; the percentage of visitors who make a purchase or take other desired actions. If a website is perceived as untrustworthy, visitors are unlikely to engage or complete transactions, regardless of the product's appeal. Conversely, a trustworthy site enhances customer confidence, leading to higher conversion rates and fostering long-term customer loyalty.

Your premium brand can employ several simple strategies to demonstrate and increase trust within your website. These include:

Ensure Secure Transactions

• SSL Certificates: Use SSL certificates to encrypt data and secure transactions.

• Trusted Payment Gateways: Implement well-known and secure payment methods like PayPal, Stripe, and major credit cards.

Display Transparent Policies

• Clear Return and Refund Policies: Offer detailed, fair return and refund policies to reassure customers.

• Shipping Information: Provide clear, transparent shipping information, including tracking options and delivery times.

Curate Authentic & Independent Customer Reviews

• Showcase Testimonials: Feature authentic, verified customer reviews and testimonials prominently.

• Third-Party Reviews: Highlight reviews from reputable, third-party platforms to add credibility. Independent reviews are far more valuable that a page with reviews written by the website team.

Build a Strong Brand Story and Values

• Brand Story: Share the brand’s history, mission, and values to create an emotional connection with customers.

• Sustainability and Ethics: Highlight any sustainability efforts or ethical practices to appeal to conscientious consumers.

• Your People and Team: Who is behind the brand, what are their skills and expertise. What do they bring to the brand. This can be important for some people to connect with the products and services being provided.

Provide Exceptional Customer Service

• Live Chat Support: Offer live chat support for real-time assistance.

• Responsive Communication: Ensure quick, helpful responses to customer inquiries via email, phone, or social media.

• Provide a positive experience: Leave customers with a sense of satisfaction. Did you go above and beyond?, can you surprise them and provide a WOW factor that will push them to leave great reviews and tell others? Customer referrals are a powerful way of increasing sales across your website.

Showcase Trust Seals and Certifications

• Trust Badges: Display trust seals from reputable organisations such as Trust Pilot.

• Industry Certifications: Highlight any relevant industry certifications or awards.

• Trade Bodies: Do you belong to any trade bodies such as buying groups or member organisations? These can enhance you reputation and provide credibility to your business.

Social Proof and Influencer Endorsements

• Celebrity and Influencer Partnerships: Showcase endorsements from respected figures and influencers within the industry.

• Social Media Integration: Integrate social media feeds and links to demonstrate a strong, engaged community.

Consistent Branding Across Channels

• Omni-Channel Consistency: Ensure consistent branding, messaging, and quality across all platforms, including social media, email newsletters, and physical stores.

• Update to date information:Make sure your blog, contact information, logo’s and interior/exterior shots are all up to date and high quality.

✓ Easily fixed? By implementing these strategies, all luxury brands can effectively enhance the trustworthiness of their website, thereby increasing customer confidence and boost sales. None of these are quick fixes but they can all be implemented with a consistent, considered approach.

About Lionsorbet

Lionsorbet is a digital design agency, founded by Steve Irvine in 2007. His passion and expertise in design, technology, and the luxury goods market over the last 20 years have steered the business into the position of a leading Shopify website design agency.

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3. Do your products stand out?

This is an area that is neglected the most, but gives huge opportunities to gain customer trust, confidence and increase the chance of a customer purchase. We see too many retailers, relying on manufacturer images or low quality assets and lack of information. Draw the customer in, tell them a story, give them a reason to want to buy. What can you do to create Detailed Product Information:

• High-Quality Images and Videos: Use high-resolution images and videos to showcase products from multiple angles. Use a combination of lifestyle photography, high quality edited product shots and fast, candid phone driven images that can be used across social media media.

• Comprehensive Descriptions: Provide detailed product descriptions, including materials, dimensions, and care instructions. Specifications, sizes, weights

• Create unique design assets: Build your own asset library of your products. Video, images and graphics that can only be found on your site. Reverse image search is a great way to lose customers to other websites that have the same product images and a lower price or higher value.

• Create a story or a hook: A story in product descriptions is highly important for ecommerce sales because it engages customers emotionally. It makes products more relatable and desirable while differentiating them from competitors. It highlights unique aspects and reinforces brand identity. Authentic narratives build trust and credibility, increasing transparency and fostering a sense of craftsmanship and attention to detail, which is especially crucial for luxury brands. By weaving elements like origin, inspiration, customer experiences, and brand mission into product descriptions, businesses can create a more compelling and memorable shopping experience that drives sales.

• Add consumer finance options: Adding the ability to split payments or delay payment for customers of high value products can not only increase conversation rates but can also increase the profitability of retailers. Companies such as Klarna for instance have removed the lengthy roadblocks that existing in ecommerce and made spreading payments a lot easier.

✓ Easily fixed? Easier for small product ranges but harder for large inventories. Our advice is to add simple updates that apply to all products so it’s a single change and then work consistently across small batches of products to enhance their details. Do not wait for all of your products to be updated at once. Publish each product as it is updates to gain instant value.

4: Are you using Targeted Marketing and Retargeting?

For luxury retailers who have good traffic but struggle with sales, targeted marketing and retargeting can make a big difference. These strategies help you connect with the right customers by sending them personalised messages at the right time. By understanding your audience, creating tailored email and social media campaigns, and using retargeting techniques, you can re-engage visitors and encourage them to complete their purchases.

• Email Marketing: Send personalised emails with product recommendations, special offers, and abandoned cart reminders to re-engage potential customers.

• Use Automated Emails: Create emails that are sent out when specific things happen. e.g a ‘customer win back’ email to those that haven’t ordered in over 60 days, A series of emails once a customer has purchased with personalised recommendations, matching products, request a review, or referral offer if they tell their friends. Setting up automated emails accelerates your customer contact leaving you free to manage other parts of the business.

• Retargeting Ads: Use retargeting campaigns to bring back visitors who have shown interest in products but haven’t completed their purchase. This can feel like your products are following customers around the internet but it is an effective strategy to remind customers what they were thinking about buying.

• Limited-Time Offers and Discounts: Create urgency with limited-time discounts and special promotions to encourage immediate purchases. Alternatively create invites for exclusive shopping events, or promotions with limited tickets.

✓ Easily fixed? We think consistency is key here. Setting up a good email and customer capture process and ensuring offers and updates are sent consistently is a difficult to manage for busy companies. Commit yourself or an employee to this task for 6-12 months and measure the results. This will give you data driven results that can impact business decisions later on.

5: Is your website designed effectively?

This sounds simple but many websites are managed and controlled by individuals that have no experience in user interface design and therefore make creative decisions that can cause serious impacts on sales. We often see websites website updated by internal staff with no website design or creative ability that renders the site less than useless and can have reduced visability in Google search, and have an impact on customer satisfaction and experience.

• Maintain a High-Quality Website Design: Ensure your website is design and maintained by professional designers with proven track experience in ecommerce design. Designing a website yourself or using internal staff may save you some cost up front, but what is the impact on sales over the next 12 months or longer?

• Professional Aesthetics: Ensure the website has a sleek, sophisticated design that reflects the luxury brand’s identity. Use high quality photography, graphics and video.

• User-Friendly Navigation: Create an intuitive, easy-to-navigate interface to provide a seamless shopping experience. Simple menus, visual queues to drive decisions, and obvious CTA’s (call to action buttons) that drive traffic to the correct products and information.

• Simple Search: Ensure you have a well designed, simple search built in that you have tested to ensure products are easy to find without having to click on menus. This can have a a big impact on products being found and purchases being made.

✓ Easily fixed? Get your staff, friends and family and also select customers to give you feedback on your website. What they like, what they don’t like and where improvements can be made. A simple option is to ask customers to individuals you know to undertake some small tasks e.g find and go to baset with a specific product. Ask them to record their experience and outline any issues they had and what they would do better. This information is like gold dust. If a customer has a bad experience finding something then take it seriously and look to improve the user journey through the website.

Conclusion: How do I fix “low conversion rate” for luxury products?

• Conduct an Audit: Assess what's working and what's not to develop effective strategies.

• Optimise Website Design: Ensure it's visually appealing, easy to navigate, and mobile-responsive.

• Analyse Traffic and User Behaviour: Use analytics to identify patterns like high bounce rates and low engagement. Is there content you can improve to increase engagement?

• Improve Product Pages: Use detailed descriptions and high-quality images. Consider virtual try-on features and video. Simple walkthrough or showcase videos can make a huge difference.

• Refine Product Offerings: Add new products and remove underperforming ones to keep your inventory fresh.

• Competitive Pricing: Ensure pricing is competitive and aligned with customer expectations.

• Enhance Customer Support: Provide convenient support through WhatsApp or live chat.

• Simplify Checkout Process: Offer social logins and one-click checkout options to streamline the process.

• Clear Return Policies: Communicate return policies clearly to reduce purchase anxiety.

• Engage Customers: Create interactive quizzes, competitions, and allow wishlist features.

• Encourage Referrals: Incentivise referrals with discounts or exclusive benefits.

• Create brand ambassadors: Acknowledge and praise loyal customers. Give free products, exclusive events, priority bookings or early access. Cultivate your best customers to keep them on board.

Want to speak with us to discuss your Website Design and SEO plan for Shopify? Book a call and discover how we can improve your conversion rates.

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