{"id":5178,"date":"2015-09-16T20:06:48","date_gmt":"2015-09-17T01:06:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.invespcro.com\/blog\/?p=5178"},"modified":"2015-09-16T20:06:48","modified_gmt":"2015-09-17T01:06:48","slug":"the-call-to-search-for-ecommerce-conversion-rate-optimization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.invespcro.com\/blog\/the-call-to-search-for-ecommerce-conversion-rate-optimization\/","title":{"rendered":"The \u201cCall-to-Search\u201d for Ecommerce Conversion Rate Optimization"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 5<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

How\u2019s your ecommerce conversion rate<\/a> doing? Has it improved lately? If you are like the bulk of online retailers, the answers are, in order, \u201cpoorly\u201d and \u201cno\u201d.<\/p>\n

In May of 2012, Invesp reported average online conversion rates of 2.14% in their \u201cShopping Cart Abandonment Rate Statistics\u201d infographic<\/a>. Three years later, Monetate analysed almost 8,500,000,000 (yes, eight and a half billion) shopping sessions and found an average conversion rate of 2.25%. It\u2019s up, but if we claim a victory from a tenth of a point uptick in conversion rates over three years, then no one should wonder why conversion rates absolutely suck.<\/p>\n

To top it off, that rate increase is not consistent. The same Monetate data shows a decrease in conversion rates between Q1 2014 and Q1 2015.<\/p>\n

\"Monetate<\/a><\/p>\n

Conversely, online sales continue to skyrocket as more shoppers turn to mobile and desktop ecommerce sites to make their purchases. According to statista.com<\/a>, online retail sales in the U.S. grew by 104% between Q2 2010 and Q2 2015. That compares to overall retail sales growth of about 28% in the same period.<\/p>\n

So the stunning revelation is that ecommerce sales growth outpaces overall retail sales growth by almost 400% despite measly 2.25% conversion rates – and those rates might be getting measlier.<\/p>\n

Why are Conversion Rates So Low?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s quickly becoming the eternal question of ecommerce. With bricks and mortar conversion rates well into the double digits, online conversion optimizers continue their search for a responsive chord in the customer.<\/p>\n

With years of efforts to improve conversion rates and little to show for it, explanations are difficult to come by. But there are a couple glaring clues:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Digital marketers<\/strong> continue to devote a dizzyingly disproportionate share of their budgets to getting people to visit their sites, versus actually converting those who arrive. The best estimates put it at $1 spent on conversion rate optimization<\/a> (CRO) for every $20 spent on traffic generation.As we pointed out in a recent Invesp post<\/a>, a study conducted by Unbounce discovered that the highest ROI from a digital marketing budget occurs when 30% of it is devoted to CRO.That means we should be spending 600% more on CRO than we do now.<\/li>\n
  2. Customer experience is your unique selling proposition.<\/strong> Online shoppers look for something different in a site before they buy from it. If yours looks the same, has similar prices and works the same as your competition\u2019s, then a shopper has no reason to choose you over them.Online, transparency is at an all-time high. The price, product and service differences between you and your competition are in the palm of your customer’s hand and they increasingly exploit that fact.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    So what are you going to give them that they can\u2019t get elsewhere, something that will make you stand out, and get the customer to click?<\/p>\n

    Give A Better Experience<\/strong><\/p>\n

    The big picture of online customer experience is way too large to cover in this post. In a nutshell, the better you engage your customer, solve their concerns, answer their questions and give them what they seek, the better their experience. The experience of your company, brand and product begins when they first become aware of you and, hopefully, it never ends.<\/p>\n

    Conversion Optimization is Experience Optimization:<\/strong> That\u2019s really how it boils down. When your customers perceive a better experience on your site, they are more likely to convert.<\/p>\n

    Because we can\u2019t cover every point of experience optimization, we\u2019re going to look at one particular element of one particular step. One that is severely neglected.<\/p>\n

    The \u201cCall-to-Search\u201d on Your Homepage<\/strong><\/p>\n

    While you have product pages, landing pages, a blog and many other places for your customer to start their online experience of your brand, your homepage is still the \u201csignature\u201d page of the site. It sets the tone and pace for the rest of the site, regardless of where the customer entered.<\/p>\n

    To compare homepages, we looked around for \u201cbest ecommerce sites\u201d and found one at WeMakewebsites.com titled \u201c60 Best Fashion Ecommerce Sites<\/a>\u201d. While the sites listed are no doubt intended to show off the WeMakeWebsites platform, we were impressed by the variety and creativity of the homepage designs and layouts. There is no hint of a template here.<\/p>\n

    \"60<\/a><\/p>\n

    A scroll through the 60 sites shows each one to have either a unique look, feel, layout, colour scheme, and\/or experience.<\/p>\n

    With one exception. The \u201cCall-to-Search\u201d.<\/p>\n

    Is \u201cSearch\u201d the New \u201cSubmit\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    On all but two of the 60 very distinctive sites, the homepage call-to-search falls into one of the following categories:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Non-existent<\/li>\n
    2. A small magnifying glass icon<\/li>\n
    3. An entry field with the word \u201csearch\u201d in it<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      The two exceptions? The two sites used wording other than simply “Search”, including:<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. \u201cSearch all products\u2026\u201d (really? ALL products? No thanks)<\/li>\n
      2. \u201cSearch entire store here\u2026\u201d (Ditto. No thanks.)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Do you like to be told to \u201cSearch\u201d?<\/strong> Not likely. You might do a bit of searching on your own, but in the absence of help, you will probably bounce if you don\u2019t find your quarry soon.<\/p>\n

        Not one of these highly-designed sites bothers to offer a better or truly different call-to-search. Imagine if just one site thought to say \u201cWhat are you looking for\u2026\u201d or \u201cLet us help you find what you need\u2026\u201d.<\/p>\n

        And the story is no different with the traditional big ecommerce players like Amazon and Ebay.<\/p>\n

        \"amazon<\/a><\/p>\n

        \"ebay<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

        Why We Haven\u2019t Optimized the Call-to-Search<\/strong><\/p>\n

        KissMetrics asked 100 shoppers to describe their online ecommerce search behaviours and found the following:<\/p>\n