![Shopify Conversion Rate Optimization: [2024] Beginner’s Guide](http://pagefly.io/cdn/shop/files/Mother_s_day_e8929c70-79b1-4d91-9fb6-8f009b4b8306_600x.png?v=1713143762)
![Shopify Conversion Rate Optimization: [2024] Beginner’s Guide](http://pagefly.io/cdn/shop/articles/Webp.net-compress-image_af10ef25-0749-4427-99e3-390ec6428dee.jpg?v=1700707911&width=1640)
The concept of Shopify Conversion Rate is one of the things that you need to fully understand if you want to measure if your store is making progress or not.
As you may now know, running an online store is a tricky business. And just like managing a traditional business, you must find a way to make all things measurable. Knowing your conversion rates is a good starting point to see if your marketing efforts are indeed working. Otherwise, you could be wasting time and money on uncertain results.
But things don’t have to end up that way. Because we wrote this article to:
- Shed light on all the mysteries surrounding conversion rates and all the terminologies attached to it
- Spill some long-term tips to amp up your ecommerce game
- Give you the apps that you need to use if you want to increase your ecommerce conversion rate
We’ve got a lot to discuss and we made sure that it’s worth your time. So let’s get started.
Outline
- What Is Conversion Rate In Shopify?
- Why Is Shopify Conversion Rate Optimization Important?
- What Is A Good Conversion Rate On Shopify?
- How To Improve Shopify Conversion Rate?
- Best Apps For Shopify Conversion Rate Optimization
- Conclusion
What Is Conversion Rate In Shopify?
Conversion is essentially that sweet, holy moment when a visitor to your online store finally makes a purchase. That said, you can think of conversion as any activity leading up to that final release, too. This depends on the specific determined key performance indicator (KPI) you set out for your store, such as:
- Online sales
- Visitors adding items to carts
- Visitors adding items to wishlist
- Visitors signing up for newsletters
- And so on
What Affects Conversion Rates?
Conversion rate fluctuates immensely due to a variety of both internal and external factors. This makes Shopify conversion rate optimization all the more challenging. Below is a comprehensive list of a few most common factors affecting Shopify conversion rate:
Site performance and UX/UI design
UX plays a big role in the decision-making of visitors. A slow site will make your Shopify store a lot more unappealing and appear more unreliable, leading to a higher bounce rate.
According to research by Portent, the highest ecommerce conversion rates occur between 1 and 2 seconds. After that, every second it takes for your website to load results in decreased conversions.
Therefore, your website should have a fast load speed. Furthermore, you need to make sure that your website is easy to use and understand. Utilize mega menus to make your products accessible and search bars so your customers can easily find what they are looking for.
So, optimize your site for speed if you want to convert fast!
Personalization
A visitor needs to be presented with what they need most. Algorithms have been developed to facilitate this need, and a lack of them can lead to the desired product being buried on the 20th page of your collection.
As such, you should consider adding a section for product recommendations that your website visitors might like. For that purpose, you can look at the Shopify app store for solutions. The AI-powered app, Wiser - Product Recommendations, is designed to give your customers specific product recommendations while shopping and after shopping (post-purchase recommendation).
Thus, recommendations could contribute a huge portion to your Shopify conversion rate.
Customer service
A cautious buyer can interpret this as a sloppy and unreliable move from the merchant. How can they trust you if you can’t be there for them?
Therefore, one of the things that you need to pay attention to is being “reachable”. By that, we mean giving your online customers a way to conveniently reach you. To do that, you’ll need to use apps such as Chatty: WhatsApp & Chat Buttons.
By adding a visible chat button, your customers can easily send you a message whenever they have an inquiry. You can also use this to help decide on a purchase.
SEO
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, plays an important part in making your Shopify store and its products known. How can you expect to sell if no one knows about your business?
To make your website visible to Google searches, make sure that you are applying the best practices of SEO to your online store. This includes:
- Using the right keywords on your product titles and descriptions
- Using compressed (but high quality) images
- Making your website easy to navigate (where any product can be found in just 2 to 3 clicks from the homepage).
- Ensuring that your website is loading at optimum speed,
- And more
💡 Read more: The Complete SEO Checklist for 2023
Customer type
Someone new to your Shopify store is surely going to take a lot more time considering buying, compared to an existing customer. Visitors from different traffic sources/referrals will also lead to different conversion rates.
Why Is Shopify Conversion Rate Optimization Important?
Shopify conversion rate optimization or CRO is the process of optimizing your store in order to increase your conversion rates. This process typically employs strategies to improve the design of the store, improving the user experience, using Shopify apps, and implementing some promotional campaigns to compel your website visitors to “convert” into customers.
So, why is CRO important?
Short answer
CRO is important because it equips your Shopify store with the necessary elements to make it convert more sales.
Long answer
Conversion rate optimization, or conversion rate tracking specifically, helps you grasp the big picture of your revenue. Constant tracking helps you diagnose your marketing channels’ efficiency. With this information, you can devise better strategies for your eCommerce business, like deciding which products are best-sellers in order to push their promotion, which should be omitted from your store, or which marketing activities you should keep pushing.
For a wider view of the picture, check out these other articles we have provided on conversion rate optimization and conversion tracking.
💡 Read more: Shopify Conversion Rate Tracking 101: A Definitive How-To Guide
Conversion Rate Optimization: 5 Important Things Every Merchant Needs To Know
What Is A Good Conversion Rate On Shopify?
A survey carried out by Littledata found the average Shopify conversion rate is 1.4%. Just in case you are just starting out with your eCommerce endeavor, don’t be discouraged by the tiny percentage, it happens to everyone.
That said, anything more than 3.3% would put you in the best 20% of Shopify store owners, and more than 4.8% would put you in the top 10%.
And you don’t want to have a conversion rate below 0.3%, which would place you in the bottom 20%.
So in short, you are mostly in the clear as long as you maintain a healthy average conversion rate between 0.3% and 3.3%.
How To Calculate Shopify Conversion Rate?
Calculating your average conversion rate is a straightforward process. Here’s the formula
Conversion rate (%) = Conversions / Total visitors * 100
So for example, you have 100 visitors to your Shopify store, 5 of which found something interesting on it and made purchases. This makes your average conversion rate 5%. Here’s how we did the computation:
Conversion rate = (5 complete purchases / 100 visitors) x 100
Of course, you don’t have to calculate your conversion rates manually at all, since Shopify already takes care of that for you.
How To Track Shopify Conversion Rate
There are 4 main types of Shopify conversion rate tracking reports you can choose from. This offers a more diverse view, as well as helps you keep track of which specific channel traffic comes from.
Default Shopify Reports dashboard
Shopify has a built-in “Reports” dashboard that can be easily accessed through Admin > Reports. Because it is built-in, it handles data a lot more accurately than any other third-party tracking app.
You can find 2 types of reports on the dashboard:
- Default report: It is divided into 3 main sections - Sales, Acquisition, and Behavior. It mostly gives you an overview of your Shopify store performance, without offering much detail.
- Custom report: You can create a custom report based on Sales, Payments, Taxes, Visitors, and Customers. You can dig deeper into statistics for a particular section of your Shopify store.
Tracking Meta conversion rates with Pixels
You can add your site’s Facebook Pixel ID through Admin > Online Store > Preferences. Paste your pixel tracking code for your Facebook marketing activities and the deed is done.
To find the right pixel code though, you have to know how to set up conversion tracking on Facebook.
Google Analytics tracking code
Similar to tracking conversion with Facebook, you just need to connect your Shopify store to Google Analytics via the Online store dashboard.
Google Analytics will help you track the total marketing performance across multiple channels, including Facebook, without the ability to audit them of course.
Depending on your online store status you can choose either level of Shopify conversion tracking with Google Analytics: Basic eCommerce tracking and Enhanced eCommerce tracking.
Google Ads conversion tracking tag
Unlike Facebook and Google Analytics, you have to use a brand new Google account to run Adwords ads. Only after you have paid the first Shopify monthly fee, you will receive a few bucks of Adwords credit to begin running ads, as confirmed by Shopify.
For a more in-depth analysis of conversion tracking that covers common problems in the process, or how to fix low conversion rates, check out our article Shopify Conversion Rate Tracking 101: A Definitive How-To Guide.
How To Improve Shopify Conversion Rate?
Now that we have gone over the general concepts, it is time for execution. The next section of the article will include a lot of applicable tips to help you drive Shopify conversion rate and *get that shmoney*!
01. Web design tips
Optimize your website for mobile
Almost everyone on Earth has a smartphone now and did you know that 80% of shoppers (source: OuterBox) have used their mobile phone inside of a physical store to look up reviews, compare prices, or find alternative store locations? Just imagine if they are online shopping.
To put the cherry on top, 6 out of 10 shoppers (source: Oberlo) say the ability to shop via mobile plays an important part in brand selection.
A responsive eCommerce platform that is optimized for mobile will make the purchase process a lot more tolerable for shoppers, increasing the chance for a conversion significantly.
Good visual appeal
Images, color schemes, layouts, and so on, all vastly contribute to your marketing strategies. As eCommerce grows in popularity, shoppers are presented with an endless stream of options, so you cannot expect to make a sale without standing out in the first place!
Whether you are promoting your physical stores or selling directly on your Shopify stores, you need to have a wow factor if you want to capture shoppers’ attention.
The simplest advice is to use a lot of images. Invest in bespoke studio photos, it will pay off in the long run!
VIBE Shoppable Instagram Feed app helps you create beautiful shoppable Instagram feeds for your Shopify store to increase store visual and boost conversion rate. You can tag products in your photos and reels and let your customers shop directly from your Instagram content. Get started with the Free plan and unlock the selling power of your Instagram feeds.
User-friendly navigation
As mentioned above, UX is a major deciding factor. You will need a reasonable categorization system to make it easier for customers to browse your store. A navigation system that’s too complicated will just put them off from exploring your site right away.
And use a sticky navigation menu that doesn’t move when you scroll down the page, please. By the way, here are some items you should put on that menu:
- Shop (and subheadings)
- Collections
- Best-sellers
- Blog (if you have one)
- FAQs and customer support
- Contact information
Trust
No one wants to see a huge mess as they set foot in a retail store. You need to make a good first impression (as well as good impressions throughout) if you want shoppers to stick with your store.
When designing a website, every merchant should include four essential trust indicators:
- Contact information: Include an email address and a phone number at the least. Customers want to know where they can come to with issues.
- Shipping and return policies: Even if there is nothing wrong with your products, this is just a “just in case” token to help shoppers feel at ease before adding an item to their carts.
Source: Cowboy
- Technical certifications: You can start off by adding basic payment methods, for example, it’s a good idea to include Shopify Payments. You’ll gain access to additional features and payment services, as well as the latest security technology for your customers’ information.
- Reviews and testimonials from other customers: Social proof will never lose its power in increasing trust. It’s best you choose a Shopify theme that lets you feature testimonials from loyal customers right on the homepage.
💡 Read more: Ecommerce Website Design: Everything A Store Owner Needs To Know
02. Customer journey mapping
A customer journey typically contains 3 stages: Awareness - Consideration - Decision. To match these 3 stages, you need to take action accordingly: Attract - Engage - Delight.
When you have mastered the journey and its steps, it’s time to learn about how to motivate shoppers to complete that journey. So here are a few elements you should feature on your Shopify store to incentivize a visitor to carry on.
💡 Read more: How to Create an Effective Customer Journey Map [Examples + Template]
Call-to-action
“Buy now”, “Free install”, “Sign up”, etc. You’ve seen it at least a few times during your stay on the Internet. Remember to include it on your landing page. And keep the color in mind, the CTA button’s color has a real effect on human psychology.
Reciprocity
“Quid pro quo” is deeply ingrained in our nature. The mutually beneficial exchange between humans comes naturally to us. For eCommerce, it manifests as offering a free gift in exchange for an act you want your site visitors to do.
With that said, you need to figure out what you want your visitors to do. It could be something as simple as leaving a review, registering for an account, or your newsletter, sharing a product link on social media, and so on.
And it’s incredibly simple to apply this principle, you just need to offer them one of, or all of the following:
- Free gifts: E-books, coupons, vouchers, free shipping, etc.
- Value content: If you have a blog on your site, consider saving some exclusive posts just for special customers. For example, if you run an online fashion store, consider gifting customers fashion guides related to the products they bought.
Commitment and consistency
The principle of commitment and consistency dictates that people will go to great lengths to appear consistent in their words and actions - even to the extent of doing things that are basically irrational.
So when a visitor makes a commitment to your brand, they are more likely to eventually make a purchase. To incite a little commitment, try these tactics out:
- Email/Member signup: This is the most common form - making visitors sign up for a newsletter, or to be a member on your brand’s site. It’s all the more effective when you successfully create a community where customers can exchange user generated content and brand themselves with a newfound identity.
- Trial program: When shoppers get a product in their hand, even if there is no incentive to actually buy it, they are more likely to purchase it because they have familiarized themselves with it. This was the principle behind famous Warby Parker’s Free Home Try-On Program
Scarcity
Everyone likes rare things. Something marketed as a “limited time offer” or “limited edition” will easily instill a sense of urgency to be bought. So here are some ideas you can apply to your online store.
- Countdown timers
- Seasonal or limited edition products
- Impending out-of-stock announcements
03. A/B Testing
You can never know for sure if something works wonders or is a waste of time and money unless you put it to the test. But you can’t just publish your new site and expect it to make a roaring first impression, it might just be an epic fail that will put many shoppers off for good.
So you need to A/B test as many aspects of your Shopify stores as possible.
Here are a few things you should test run to make sure they work best for your Shopify conversion rate.
A/B test demographics from core traffic sources
Testing paid traffic sources will help you segment the target audience better, and you can grasp a view of which source has the highest bounce rate/conversion rate, so you can retarget your ads to the most fitting demographics.
A simple test would be to change one of the age or behavioral demographics of an ad that doesn’t overlap too much with your existing settings. Run the campaign for a few days around your marketing budget. After that, you can more clearly assess the performance of each core traffic source to see what adjustments need to be made.
A/B test product page design changes
Use an A/B testing tool (we will get to them in a bit) to assess the impact a change in design has on your store.
Of course, just in case you are super experimental with your redesigning, it’s wise to duplicate your Shopify store template and A/B test on the spare version. You can analyze the data in Google Analytics.
We recommend a minimum of 1000 sessions per test.
Best Apps For Shopify Conversion Rate Optimization
Contrary to what other people say, Shopify apps are not unnecessary expenses that only eat up your profit. Instead, these are tools that could help you achieve your goals for your business.
As such, you should consider using these apps to optimize your conversion rates.
There will be a handful of app niches to cover here, so we will pick out the best of each bunch for you.
01. Web Design App- PageFly Landing Page Builder
Rating: 4.9 out of 5
Pricing: Free plan available. Starts at $24 per month
You might call us biased for this plug but we are just so proud of the work that we have done here at PageFly. Our app is an all-in-one online store builder that can edit the entire website, even if the “Landing page” in the name might not say it.
The PageFly team has been a Shopify partner since 2016 and now serves over 120,000+ Shopify merchants, and we got a 4.9 / 5 rating from over 8000 satisfied users on the Shopify App Store.
The site editor is simple and intuitive. You will be presented with an almost endless armada of drag-and-drop elements that is designed around the consumer behavior. You can expect to find the likes of many beautiful animations, slideshows, countdown clocks, compare-at-price, low-in-stock statuses, etc. With PageFly Landing Page Builder, you can rest assured that your Shopify store will always be low in stock due to massive demand from shoppers.
Key features:
- Start with page and section templates for all page types.
- Create SEO-friendly pages without slowing down your store.
- Flexible drag and drop editor combines with advanced lead-gen element library.
- Responsive for mobile, tablet display. Customize every screen size individually.
- Compatible with all themes. Work smoothly with default theme styles.
02. Social Proof App - Judge.me Product Reviews
apps.shopify.com/judgeme
Rating: 5 out of 5
Pricing: Free plan available. Flat rate at $15 per month
Judge.me helps you collect and display ratings and reviews about your Shopify store and its products.
Best thing about Judge.me? Free photo and video reviews!
Judge.me provides you with review widgets and emails available in 34 languages, along with a handful of templates and elements you can incorporate your reviews into. Plus, you and shoppers can even share products and reviews on social media.
Just in case you are a dropshipper, Judge.me is integrated with AliExpress Review Importer.
Key features:
- Unlimited email review requests with photo and video, and in-email review forms
- Display star ratings, store and product reviews, trust badges, reviews carousel
- Share reviews on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, rich snippets and Google Shopping
- Engage your reviewers with Q&A, coupons, and email marketing integrations
- Syndicate product reviews automatically with the Shop app, Facebook & Instagram
03. Popups & Emails App - Privy
apps.shopify.com/privy
Rating: 4.6 out of 5
Pricing: Free plan available. Starts at $30 per month
Privy is a customizable, mobile-friendly suite of conversion that displays a handful of elements aimed at collecting customers’ information, such as popups, spin-to-win wheels, banners, flyouts, and so on.
To tackle the problem of cart abandonment, Privy helps Shopify store owners send out emails to customers who bounce in order to salvage the cart left behind. Even for customers who have fulfilled orders, with Privy, you can also send follow-up emails to repeat sales in the future.
Of course, it cannot be complete without A/B tests and real-time monitoring for better marketing results. Last but not least, Privy lets you run cross-sell modals with add-to-cart buttons, but since this function is rather suppressed in this app, let’s move on to the next one.
Key features:
- Easy-to-use drag and drop email editor. Choose from tons of pre-built templates.
- Get started with SMS marketing. Send after-signup and cart saver texts.
- Dozens of popup display options to grow your email & SMS marketing lists.
- Email & SMS automations that work around the clock so you don’t have to.
- Expert onboarding, support, and 1:1 coaching no matter where you start.
04. Upsell & Cross-Sell App - Frequently Bought Together
apps.shopify.com/frequently-bought-together
Rating: 4.9 out of 9
Pricing: Free plan available. The flat rate at $9.99 per month
The name is pretty self-explanatory, Frequently Bought Together lets merchants group items for better up-selling and cross-selling. This tactic presents shoppers with better deals, and creates a big enough sense of FOMO to push a sale.
The developers have developed multiple recommendation algorithms to bring the most fitting bundles to the table. Customers will always see what might suit them best, so you never have to worry about out-of-place suggestions.
Key features:
- Use proven and smart AI-driven product recommendations for optimal results
- Fine-tune recommendations for each product to create your own product bundles
- Add four different types of bundle discounts for increased conversion rates
- Get out-of-the-box styles for your theme and change anything you want easily
- See how the app deals smoothly with any number of products, orders or traffic
05. Product Bundles App - PickyStory
apps.shopify.com/product-kits-bundles-pickystory
Rating: 4.8 out of 5
Pricing: Free plan available. Starting at $49.50 per month
PickyStory helps e-commerce brands to increase their revenue from every store visit by creating rich sales experiences. With the most advanced solution for product deals, discounts engine, and storefront API, PickyStory enables brands to dramatically increase their average order value (AOV) and return on investment (ROI).
PickyStory is a unique app on Shopify for creating product bundles. Unlike other apps, it syncs inventory automatically with the merchant’s Shopify admin for each individual SKU sold as part of a bundle. PickyStory also offers an AI-based algorithm for generating product recommendations and suggestions.
Its discount engine gives merchants flexibility in the types of deals offered, such as tiered discounts, percentage-based discounts, or fixed price bundles. PickyStory’s Deal Designer allows merchants to fully customize their bundle offers on the storefront, with API access available for premium customers.
Key features:
- Sell bundles as single products, offer bundle builders and shop the look
- Upsell & Cross-Sell: One-click upsell bundles, BOGO, kits, and mix & match
- Intelligent Cart: Offer free shipping, free gift, discounts with progress bar
- Post Purchase Upsell: Boost AOV with one click upsell offer in post-checkout
- Customize offers with no coding, no wait. Get 24/6 live chat support when needed
06. Abandoned Cart Recovery - Care Cart
apps.shopify.com/care-cart
Rating: 4.8 out of 5
Pricing: Free plan available. Starts at $14.99 per month
Care Cart is a Shopify app that lets you recover lost potential sales through their automated cart recovery system.
Care Cart provides a simple solution to a serious problem in your Shopify store – abandoned carts. This app tracks all carts and checkouts to monitor the ones that are abandoned. It then re targets customers customers who did not finalize their sales by sending them automated email reminders and push notifications.
Key features:
- Abandoned Cart Email Recovery - Start tracking & targeting all carts in minutes.
- Email pop up for Subscriptions - Collect email subscriptions with email popups.
- Recover Abandoned Orders - Deliver BFCM discount code & Spin to win.
07. AB Testing - Intelligems
apps.shopify.com/intelligems
Rating: 4.9 out of 5
Pricing: Free plan available. Starts at $99 per month
Intelligems is a useful tool to AB test any changes that you make on your Shopify store.
AB testing allows you to get the most optimal results in any change that you implement on your online store – be it something as minor as a simple button, to major changes such as overhauling your website design.
By using Intelligems, you make sure that you are always in the right direction. It offers easy-to-implement testing and detailed analytics to ensure that you always get the best results.
Key features:
- AB test themes, imagery, copy, content, or landing pages to supercharge revenue
- Split AB test product prices across your catalog to find profit opportunities
- AB Test different shipping rates or free shipping thresholds to bump up margins
- Experiment with & personalize offers and discount to measure incremental impact
- Track 100+ metrics, export raw data, and measure stat sig using our dashboard
08. Checkout Customizer - Qikify
apps.shopify.com/qikify-checkout-plus
Rating: 5 out of 5
Pricing: Free for all Basic, Shopify, and Advanced Shopify Plans. Flat rate at $99 per month for Shopify Plus users
Having a customized checkout for the easier process is something that your customers will surely appreciate.
Qikify is a checkout customizer that allows you to personalize the checkout experience of your Shopify store so that it still follows your branding identity.
Furthermore, it allows you to add additional elements that could increase your sales conversions such as upsells, cross-sells, reward bards, custom banners, and more.
Additionally, if you are a new Shopify user or if you are a non-Shopify Plus user, you should definitely have this one installed as it's entirely free with no withheld features. Thus, it comes at no cost and zero risk on your part.
Key features:
- FREE Customize checkout payment & delivery methods (Work for all Shopify plans)
- Custom checkout fields: Various templates & conditions to provide more services
- Product offers: Checkout upsell, cross-sell with auto discount in checkout page
- Custom cart: Update item options; or checkout upsell with quantity discount
- Custom checkout branding (FREE); Create Banner, Timer, Reward bar, Testimonials
09. Best Free Shipping Upsell App - Essential Free Shipping Upsell
Essential Free Shipping Upsell is your key to boosting conversion rates & unlocking increased sales. By integrating a 'Free Shipping' progress bar, you stop giving away free shipping and, instead, watch as customers are enticed to spend more to reach the desired offer, inspired by: "You're only $10 away from Free Shipping!"
Establish a cart value goal, reward customers upon achievement, and boost your earnings with appealing incentives like free shipping or exclusive discount codes. Activate the app's full potential with a simple 'Install,' seamlessly integrating upselling into your strategy.
Revitalize your Shopify store into a thriving revenue generator. Download Essential Free Shipping Upsell now, experiencing the transformative impact on both your sales strategy and overall customer experience.
10. Best Sale Countdown Timer - Essential Countdown Timer Bar
We've tried a whole lot of countdown timers, but the one that has stuck out the most, the one that makes boosting conversion rate a breeze is Essential Countdown Timer.
To be honest, it's arguably the greatest Shopify countdown timer app available right now. And its raving 4.9 star rating proves it. It's simple to use, highly adaptable, and reliable.
Essential Countdown Timer is fully customizable and offers 20+ beautiful pre-made templates. But if you want, you can design your own countdown timer bar yourself!
We like how you can add an endless number of countdown timer bars to any and every page of your store and how well the timer integrates with the Shopify themes. All in all, it's a great and affordable option if you want to up your Shopify game.
Conclusion
The ecommerce space is continuously evolving. At the same time, your competitors are becoming more competitive. As such, you should keep up with the time to make sure that your Shopify store is competitive.
What works now might no longer work a few years from now. Therefore, always keep yourself updated with the latest changes in ecommerce practices.
For the year 2024, these are some of the best pieces of advice you’ll find online if you want to prime your online store for success. That’s why it is important that after reading this article, examine your online store and see where it is lacking. With a few tweaks and some apps, you’ll be geared up for the boost in conversion rates that you have always wished for.
Check out our exclusive guides for Shopify CRO here:
