What to do when you have traffic but no sales on Shopify

Are you getting significant traffic to your Shopify store but still not making sales? This can be a frustrating problem for eCommerce sellers. Fortunately, there are many simple and easy things you can do to improve your website and increase your conversion rate.

Read on to learn some top actionable tips that can help you turn those site visitors into customers.

5 Actionable Strategies To Increase Sales

• Understand user behavior
• Optimize your product listings
• Harness social proof to establish visitor confidence
• Bolster the credibility of your Shopify store with unified branding
• Minimize cart abandonment and streamline the checkout procedure
• Bonus tips

1. Understand User Behavior

There are many reasons that you might not be making as many sales as you want, so the first step is finding out why. You can do this by gaining an understanding of consumer behavior on your website.

Examine how users are interacting with your online store so you can pinpoint exactly where you might be losing potential customers. Essentially, your primary focus should be on ensuring your online store is easy to navigate and user-friendly.

One effective way to gain an understanding of your users is to connect your Shopify store with Google Analytics.

This useful tool, available for free, allows you to monitor user activities, such as:

• The duration of time spent on your website
• The number of pages visited per session

It’s like having a behind-the-scenes tour of your user’s journey, helping you identify areas for improvement.

For instance, if you find that the majority of visitors are exiting your store shortly after they arrive, or they’re not venturing past the first few pages, that’s a strong signal indicating the need to improve the user-friendliness of your site.

Improve your online store

To enhance the user experience and keep potential customers engaged, there are three key strategies to consider:

• Streamline navigation: Think of your website navigation as a roadmap guiding your customers. It should be so easy and intuitive that customers can quickly locate the products they desire, add them to their cart, and proceed to checkout.
• Speed up page load time: In the digital world, speed is key. The longer your page takes to load, the more likely users are to abandon your store out of frustration.
• Embrace a mobile-responsive design: The surge of mobile commerce, also known as mCommerce, has made mobile optimization a necessity. Given that smartphones accounted for approximately 74% of retail site traffic worldwide and generated 63% of online shopping orders in the first quarter of 2023, it’s vital that your site is optimized for mobile users.

2. Optimize Your Product Listings

Crafting high-quality, engaging product listings serves as a powerful tool that not only wins your customers’ trust but also keeps them engaged.

Achieving this involves focusing on the following elements:

• High-quality images: Customers want to know what they’re buying. Providing clear, high-quality images of your products helps them feel more confident in their decision. So, consider investing in product photography or learning how to take good product photos yourself.
• Persuasive titles: The product title is often the first thing a customer sees, so make it count. Your title should be concise yet informative, effectively summarizing what the product is while also piquing the customer’s interest.
• Detailed descriptions: Descriptions are your chance to ‘sell’ your product to the customer. They should be detailed, highlighting the product’s features, benefits, and potential uses. At the same time, they should be easy to read and understand. Remember, your goal is to inform the customer, not overwhelm them.
• Clear USPs: Highlighting unique selling points (USPs) or standout features helps differentiate your product from competitors.

In addition to these key elements, you should also address any questions or concerns a customer might have about the product.

This includes details about sizing, materials, care instructions, warranty information, and more. By providing this information up front, you can help build trust with your customers and potentially reduce the number of returns or complaints.

3. Leverage Social Proof to Build Credibility

Social proof refers to the psychological phenomenon where people conform to the actions of others, assuming they reflect the correct behavior.

Here’s how you can put this into action for your Shopify store:

• Encourage reviews and ratings: Actively invite your customers to share their experiences with your products. This can be done through follow-up emails or messages asking customers to rate their purchase or write a brief review. Displaying product ratings on your site not only provides your potential customers with feedback on your products but also shows transparency and trustworthiness.
• Highlight testimonials: Make the most of the positive reviews by featuring them prominently on your website. This could be in a dedicated ‘Testimonials’ section, within product pages, or as part of your homepage design.
• Create a sense of urgency and FOMO: FOMO, or fear of missing out, is a powerful motivator. It can convince consumers to quickly make a purchase to avoid missing out on a great deal. You can create a sense of urgency by offering sales for a limited time only or displaying that there is only a limited quantity of an item still available.

4. Build a Strong and Consistent Brand Image

A strong and consistent brand image creates a unified, professional appearance that reassures customers about your business’s reliability and legitimacy.

Here’s how to weave consistency into your branding strategy:

• Create a cohesive site design: This means using uniform colors, fonts, and styles across all pages. Your logo, arguably the cornerstone of your brand identity, should be prominently displayed and consistently used.
• Deliver superior customer support: By offering various contact methods—such as phone, email, live chat, and even a physical address—you demonstrate your commitment to customers’ needs and concerns.
• Actively engage on social media: Regularly updated social platforms signal an active and engaged business and provide additional channels for customers to explore your products and promotions. Additionally, social media offers a lively platform for direct interaction with your audience, allowing you to build a sense of community around your brand.

Remember, consistent branding doesn’t just enhance your credibility; it helps forge a strong emotional connection between your brand and your customers.

5. Reduce Cart Abandonment & Streamline the Checkout Experience

Shopping cart abandonment is a common challenge that many eCommerce businesses face. A study by the Baymard Institute highlighted that the average cart abandonment rate is a staggering 69.82%. Cart abandonment results in lost sales and revenue.

Needless to say, it’s wise to optimize your checkout process to minimize cart abandonment. Here’s how you can tackle this:

• Provide multiple payment options: Ensure that your checkout process accommodates various payment options, including credit and debit cards, mobile payment, and more. This diversity in choices reduces the likelihood of customers abandoning their carts due to a lack of their preferred payment methods.
• Maintain cost transparency: Unexpected costs, such as shipping fees and taxes, are a major reason for cart abandonment. Maintain transparency about all costs from the get-go, and ensure these are communicated clearly before the final checkout stage.
• Leverage cart recovery emails: According to Klaviyo, cart recovery emails can help win back 3-14% of lost sales. A timely, personalized email can nudge customers to return and complete their abandoned purchases. These cart recovery emails can include a recap of the items left behind, answers to potential queries or concerns about the purchase, and even a special discount to incentivize checkout completion.
• Utilize retargeting campaigns: Retargeting campaigns, whether through paid social media or email, can serve as gentle reminders to customers about the items they left in their cart. A well-executed retargeting campaign can reengage customers, drawing them back to complete their purchase, and maybe even explore more of what your store has to offer.

Remember, every step in the customer’s shopping journey, including the checkout process, impacts their overall impression of your brand.

Bonus Tips

While the strategies we’ve discussed are key to turning site visits into sales, here are some additional factors for you to consider to boost your Shopify store’s sales.

• Pricing strategy: If the price seems too high without a clear value justification, it may deter potential buyers. Conversely, if the price is too low, it may raise doubts about the product’s quality.
• Clear Calls-To-Action (CTAs): A well-placed, compelling CTA can guide your website visitors through the buying journey and encourage them to take the desired action, whether it’s making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or downloading a product guide.
• Relatable marketing copy: Your marketing copy should resonate with your target audience and effectively communicate your product’s unique value proposition. It needs to strike a balance between providing necessary information and creating an emotional connection with potential buyers.
• Avoiding stockouts: An often overlooked issue impacting sales is stockouts. Frequent stockouts of popular products can significantly damage your store’s credibility and sales. At 8fig, we can help you avoid stockouts with a personalized funding plan that optimizes your cash flow. This is achieved using our proprietary and unique AI CFO technology. Sign up today to find out how 8fig can help you achieve your growth goals.

Making sales all about understanding your customers’ needs, expectations, and behaviors, and providing them with a seamless, satisfying shopping experience.