How to Increase Online Store Conversions

What does a higher conversion rate actually mean?

Conversion is the share of visitors who complete the desired action. For an online store, this is usually a completed order, but it can also be a checkout that was started, a quote request that was submitted or a call booking.

Before you optimize, decide which metric matters to the business. More add-to-carts are not a success if payments are not completed. More orders are not enough either if they come from low-margin products or if advertising costs consume the profit.

Do not compare your store with some arbitrary “average conversion rate”. A store selling low-cost consumables, a furniture store and a B2B catalogue with quote requests have different buying cycles. Compare your own categories, devices, advertising channels and periods.

Where are orders most often lost?

Start with the funnel in Google Analytics 4 or another analytics system. Check, in sequence, visits to a product page, add-to-cart events, started checkouts, delivery selection, payment selection and completed orders.

• A lot of visits and few add-to-carts usually point to an unclear offer, unsuitable traffic, missing information or weak product detail.
• A lot of add-to-carts and few started orders often mean an unexpected delivery price, an unclear delivery time or a lack of trust.
• A lot of started orders and few completed payments may result from a problem with the form, courier, payment method, mobile interface or a technical error.
• Good conversion from advertising but weak revenue may indicate a low average order value, the wrong audience or sales of low-margin products.

Break down the data by mobile and desktop devices, traffic source, and new and returning customers. The overall figure often hides a problem that is visible only on phones or only in traffic from Google Ads. Also check whether purchases in the analytics system match the actual orders in the admin panel.

How do you create a checkout that does not stop the customer?

The checkout should answer three questions before the customer enters their details: how much they will pay, when they will receive the order and what will happen if they change their mind. Hidden costs are more dangerous than a lack of animations and decorative elements.

• Allow customers to check out as guests. After the order, you can offer them the option to create an account.
• Show the final total, delivery cost and expected delivery time before payment. Do not leave the courier fee until the final screen.
• Limit the fields to those that are necessary. For a standard order, name, phone number, email, delivery method and address or pickup office are usually enough.
• Offer a choice between card payment, cash on delivery and bank transfer when these methods are suitable for your business and your team can support them.
• Show a clear error next to the field that needs to be corrected. A message such as “Invalid value” does not help the customer.
• Show the return, invoicing and claims terms close to the purchase decision, not only at the bottom of the site.

When customers choose a pickup office or delivery to an address, connect the store to the API of Econt or Speedy. This reduces incorrect addresses and manual data entry. For a more complex store, the connection between the website, ERP system, payment provider and courier should be tested with real scenarios: successful order, declined payment, out-of-stock item, cancellation and reshipment.

A technical error can look like weak marketing. A failed payment, a duplicate order or a missing waybill cannot be fixed with a new banner. To connect your store to external systems, see what is included in API integration and software connectivity.

What should a product page include?

The product page should help the customer make a decision. A photo and a button are not enough when the customer has a question about compatibility, size, availability or delivery.

• A title that clearly says what the product is.
• Price, availability and delivery time in a prominent place.
• Photos from multiple angles, scale and important details.
• Dimensions, compatibility, technical specifications and documents for complex products.
• A clear “Add to cart” or “Request a quote” button, depending on how the product is sold.
• Delivery, returns, warranty and invoicing terms, without making the customer search for them.
• Genuine reviews with a clear origin. Fake ratings destroy trust.
• Related products and consumables that help customers choose without distracting from the main action.

For a B2B store, conversion does not always mean a direct purchase. Some customers want a quote, a contract-specific quantity or a compatibility check. In that case, the enquiry form, stock availability and response time are part of the sales process, not secondary elements.

When searching for car parts, customers may not know the product code. VIN search, make and model filters, and clear courier information remove uncertainty more effectively than changing the button colour.

How can you improve mobile shopping?

Test the store on a real phone, over a slow mobile connection and with one hand. Customers should be able to open the menu, use the search, select a variant, view delivery details and complete payment without zooming in.

• Keep the search and main categories easily accessible.
• Make fields and buttons easy to tap.
• Do not open pop-ups over the order form.
• Show the selected variant, quantity and final total before confirmation.
• Test card payments and digital wallets on real devices.
• Compress images and load below-the-fold content when needed.

Do not pursue a high PageSpeed Insights score for its own sake. Speed matters, but it cannot compensate for an unclear price, missing stock information or an inconvenient checkout. A high technical score does not prove that customers can easily complete their order.

What should you test, and what should you not assume?

An A/B test compares two versions with a similar audience. You can test a short and a detailed checkout, visible delivery information, a different product page structure or the text on the primary button.

Before the test, record the primary metric, period, audience and the condition under which you will accept the change. Do not stop the test after the first few orders. Seasonality, a promotion, the day of the week and an advertising campaign can distort the result.

With a low order volume, start with a technical audit, an analysis of searches with no results, session recordings and customer conversations. Questions asked by customer support and the reasons for abandoned orders often provide more reliable direction than testing a small sample.

How much does CRO optimisation for an online store cost?

The cost depends on whether you need a diagnosis, changes to an existing store or a new checkout with integrations. The ranges shown are for planning purposes. Within those ranges, the cost varies according to the platform, catalogue, number of payment and courier methods, access to data and the condition of the existing code.

The cheapest change is not always the most cost-effective. If the problem is incorrect purchase tracking, you will first pay for design and still not know whether your advertising is generating sales. Start with measurement and the biggest drop-off in the funnel.

What is the practical improvement process?

1. 01
   Check your tracking

   Make sure purchases, revenue, add-to-cart events, checkout starts and failed payments are tracked correctly. Compare the data with the orders in the admin panel.

2. 02
   Break the problem down by segment

   Compare mobile and desktop devices, Google Ads, organic search, social media, new customers and returning customers.

3. 03
   Fix the obvious barriers

   Remove mandatory registration, hidden shipping costs, unclear delivery times, broken filters and payment issues. This is usually more important than a cosmetic redesign.

4. 04
   Test one hypothesis

   Describe what you are changing, why you are changing it and which metric should improve. Do not change your advertising campaigns at the same time if you want to understand the impact.

5. 05
   Review the results by revenue

   Check completed orders, margin, average order value and advertising spend. Do not make a decision based on a single intermediate metric.

When does it make more sense to build a new store?

Optimisation makes sense when the platform can support the required payment methods, couriers, inventory and tracking. If every change requires a workaround, the store loses orders because of its technical foundation.

A new store makes more sense when the checkout is unstable, the mobile version cannot be fixed without compromises, the catalogue is difficult to manage, or there is no reliable connection to the warehouse and ERP system. With online store development, these solutions are planned together with the catalogue, payments, cash on delivery and waybills.

If you already have traffic from Google Ads, do not stop your campaigns without a plan for redirecting users and comparing the data. During a redesign, keep important URLs or set up proper redirects so you do not lose the search visibility you have built up. Advertising makes sense when it leads to a page with a clear offer and a working ordering process; for the campaigns themselves, see Google advertising.