As you go through your store’s website data, you’ll notice that some visitors leave when they get to certain pages. While you may have put in place some elements to help you convert more, it’s possible to forget about others doing the opposite. A lot of what drives potential customers away is what they see.
To gain full control over your visuals, you need a great theme as your foundation. With a highly customizable ecommerce theme like Debutify, you can use the dashboard to make quick design changes.
Download Debutify, the highest-convertin free Shopify theme! Let’s go through some e-commerce conversion-killing elements on your Shopify store:
1. Absence Of A Clear Headline
Think of the most outstanding line of text on the page. It should be something brief that lets the shopper know what that page is all about. You want this part to be bold, stylish, and captivating. Place the headline where it’s clearly visible.
Let it not compete with the other elements on the page, especially other lines of text. Try to be a bit descriptive. Don’t make it too much of a slogan-type phrase.
For example, “Latest Additions” sounds way more clear than, “Be at the forefront”. So does “Try something new”. f a headline is clear, a visitor might stick around to learn more even if it wasn’t originally what they were looking for.
2. Over-Shortened Click Journey To The Product
It’s common to hear that the fewer the number of clicks to reach a product, the better. This isn’t always true though. Another important factor is the quality of the clicks or their outcomes. Try not to over-limit these clicks.
Some shoppers may feel like they still have to do more looking around to find what they really want. If each click takes the shopper to an area of interest, the better.
As they narrow it down to the category they want and other attributes like ratings, they get more confident in the result. Don’t have every page screaming “Buy Now”.
3. Difficult Phrases
Pick the words you use to describe products and other offers carefully. If you are describing a product, you may want those you’re targeting to see that know what you’re saying. In many cases, you’ll have to use a few technical terms.
But as you get a wider audience, make sure most people can easily understand you. Simplify explanations where possible. Offer a more detailed breakdown in another section of the page. Supplement with how-to images.
4. Unsuitable Margins
Here, it’s more of a balancing act. Smaller margins tend to produce faster reading while larger ones make things easier to understand. Identify the different text elements for each page. Group them into two categories.
One can be a fast-reading type like product summaries. This may also include brief reviews and testimonials. The other may be the more complex information like full product descriptions and benefits.
Apply the fitting margin settings for each piece. Load the page and see how easy it is to read each section and understand it in one go. With a powerful theme like Debutify, you can go into deeper detail with the typography settings and display copy that helps you convert.
Download Debutify here today – it’s completely free - and balance the margins on your Shopify store pages.
5. Overload Of Options
Don’t pack your pages with too many options. If you have to use product sections like alternative, related, or frequently bought together, keep them lean. Sum up some of the options by putting them on a separate page. Place anchor text on one page to lead to another instead of cramming everything together. If you have a product on the page, make some of the other elements loosely related, rather than actual substitutes.
For example, if you have a page with a printer, you can have ink cartridges nearby. This means the customer can focus on the printer while knowing that its accessories are also available.
Instead of displaying smaller pictures of many other printers, you can just use a small call-to-action (CTA) that isn’t too pronounced, saying “See more printers?”.
The fewer distractions available, the more likely the shopper is to study the product more and eventually buy.
6. Uncommon Icons
Much as icons help you save space and have a neat look, they should be selected cautiously. Where it’s a common action or item with a widely known icon like printing, you can use the icon. If it’s something a bit rare, it might be better to label it with text.
When shoppers spend a lot of time trying to figure out which icon represents what they’re looking for, they get frustrated. This makes them more likely to leave or get delayed. Also, make sure that the icons you use are large enough.
They should have contrasting colors and be easily noticeable.
7. Crowded Top Of Page
Keep only the important elements above the fold. On a product page, for example, have the product image, name, “Add to Cart” button, and price. When you pack a lot in this space, it becomes hard for the viewer to focus on anything in particular.
Many page visitors will likely scroll down the page so consider putting any secondary information lower on the page. In some cases, you can have a bit of this information (a line or two) above the fold to draw someone in.
8. Poorly Automated Videos & Pop-Ups
Create a good system for how you display resources and other CTAs on your website. Don’t set videos to autoplay. Some people don’t want to be surprised by someone’s voice or music while the page is still loading what they actually want to see.
The other element is the pop-up windows. Tie them to user behavior that indicates a certain level of interest. This could be several clicks or hovering over icons and images. It may also just be the amount of time spent on the page, or an attempt to leave.
Some of these tell you that the customer found something interesting. If your pages instantly play video, display pop-ups, and other corner ads all at once, you may overwhelm the customer.
Especially if they make it hard to access other areas of the page until they’ve been attended to. In some cases, offer a one-click step like “View Demo” or “Sign me up”.
That way, a shopper can choose to go through with the action willingly rather than feeling forced.
9. Compulsory Registration
With companies like Fast offering one-click checkout, plus innovations like Pinterest’s buyable pins, more shoppers want faster shopping. Do away with mandatory account opening on your site.
Where you need it as part of lead generation, don’t be too pushy with the prompt. Give the process its own signup button that is a little less pronounced.
List all the benefits that are exclusive to those with accounts. If possible, offer some rewards for the sign-up. It could be access to certain features for a limited time only or some bonus points.
10. Unnecessarily Lengthy Forms
Even when visitors have opted to open accounts, the process should be as smooth and short as possible. A common mistake is to try and use registration forms to gather vast research about users. Always remain aware of the primary goal of a form.
If it’s for checkout, keep it lean and ask only for details relevant to payment. If you have other details you want to find out, keep them for surveys and other question-based CTAs.
Go to the settings in your themes back end and make some information fields in your forms optional.
11. Inadequate Support Features
This is common with chatbots and help/support pages. For the chat feature, automated answers that are spewed out when a keyword is detected can kill conversions. If a customer feels that you’re just making assumptions about the issue they are having rather than understanding it, they may leave.
When it comes to helping pages, some stores take a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) approach. This isn’t entirely bad. However, when a customer is submitting a query and they are limited to selecting particular questions/topics, it becomes a problem. Always have the option to just receive a detailed message from the customer.
Another blunder to avoid is positioning links to “About Us”, “Policy” and “Contact Us” pages in hard-to-find spots. With these, it’s important to study your customer behavior data in depth.
Find out which products usually trigger a reach-out to customer care. It could be very expensive ones or those with complex features and functionality. This may also be common with clothes and shoes, especially regarding the size.
Place a CTA button or anchor text nearby. This could be an email, chat, or phone call button. It may also be a request to view a return policy. If a customer can’t quickly find a line to you for help, you may lose a conversion.
12. Mishandled Social Proof And Trust Badges
The first part is not knowing where and how to position each type of information. Testimonials should be a bit large, preferably with the person’s picture clear. They also do well on some landing pages.
Here’s more on how to position eCommerce testimonials. With star ratings, reduce their size and place them in a row not too far below the product name. Offer more context with the number of participants or questions answered.
Resize your standard seals and badges so that they are easily recognizable. Any details within or accompanying them must be easy to read. Steer clear of using mere phrases like “secure checkout”, “FDA approved” or “EMI compliant”.
13. Unresponsive Design
When you design your pages, have every type of device in mind. Desktops, tablets, and mobile phones. If your website doesn’t easily adjust to the device screen where it’s being displayed, you could lose conversions. Make sure there’s minimal scrolling and zooming necessary. Use shortcuts that quickly take someone to the top or bottom of a page. You can even have them for every unique section of the page.
Resize CTA buttons like the “Add to Cart” to feel most of the screen’s width. This makes it easier for a shopper to tap or click on them. Consider having lighter pages with smaller images and some information excluded, for mobile phones.
You can offer the extras on a sideways page slide. A great theme with powerful add-ons that tune up your product pages will be of massive help.
Download the free Debutify theme today to build the high-converting product pages you need.
14. Over-Generalized Experience
This applies to several elements of your store. If you cater to a large and mixed audience, website elements of a communicative nature should be diverse. For example, lack of or difficulty accessing language options can be negative. It may also make product search even tougher. Another issue is displaying prices in unsuitable currencies.
Shoppers don’t want to have to first do conversions to know the price in their native currency. These price adjustments have to be made while considering any difference in additional costs relating to the region, like shipping and tax.
Here’s more on how to go about displaying international pricing. This issue cuts across other areas like the page copy you use, and even the additional props in product photography. While it may not be so crucial in these other areas, it is still worth keeping in mind.
For example, if you’re selling wallets and cardholders to an Australian audience, consider using pictures that have Australian currency notes and bank cards. These small things if neglected in several areas may make the customer feel like the site is for people from a particular region only.
It is also important when selling beauty products and such. Use images that make it clear the range of hair types and skin complexions catered to. Don’t always be misled by data on frequent buyers. Some elements are easy to offer without high extra costs while creating a more inclusive experience.
15. Poor Typography And Color Choices
Make sure you research the most easily readable fonts. Keep it simple and stay away from cursive and other fancy styles. Create contrast between background colors and text colors.
The same goes for button colors. Be careful when using random colors way out of your signature scheme or brand colors. Just because they stand out, doesn’t mean they do so in the right attractive way.
Learn more about the effect of color contrasting on conversions and more details about each color. These design choices also extend to other page elements relating to product display. A crucial area is category pages. Be clear about your goal when choosing between circular and square image previews.
You may alternate them for different stages like categories and sub-categories but some may affect the detail in pictures. Remember your sidebar lists.
A customer should always be able to easily see what sub-category they are currently on. They shouldn’t always have to scroll up and down or back to the page header. Use grids for product thumbnails or previews where possible.
These tend to keep things simple. Here’s more on why the grid approach works well in many design scenarios.
A Few Other Elements To Avoid
Grammatical errors – These create the feeling that you don’t value what you do enough to make an effort to be correct in your expression. Outdated designs – Unnecessary font styles, underlining and embossing, clip art, etc. These show that you lack a specific voice since you throw in whatever feels extra.
They also show that you don’t move well with the times. Difficult Navigation Features – If you have a long list in drop-down menus, try having rows side by side instead of one long vertical row. Reduce the number of click steps by making the menu expand to show sub-categories and items under them.
In Conclusion
Here are a few rules to keep close when it comes to the relationship between eCommerce conversions and website elements. First, less is more. Not everything has to appear on the page or appear in full.
Sometimes, you have to let the shopper look for certain details, just don’t make them too hard to find. Secondly, clarity is key. More than sounding fancy, cool, and stylish, you need to be understood. Slang and jargon that isn’t widely popular should be left out. The same goes for any icons or symbols that aren’t commonly used. Stay as close as possible to what people already know.
The third is consistency and continuity. Whatever rules you go by, use them for every page where they apply. One attractive page isn’t enough to save you from 50 other disorganized ones. Perform tests on your website with tools like ClickHeat, Usability Hub, or User Report, and others.
These will show you which areas get people’s attention the most. Revisit your site and make changes accordingly. To do this properly and repeatedly, you need a theme that easily integrates with these other tools.
Download Debutify, the top converting free Shopify theme, and combine these tools to create webpages that convert more.
