High-Converting Design Tips for Ecommerce SEO
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Imagine the following scenario: your ecommerce SEO strategy seems solid, and your brand is successfully driving more traffic to your online storefront than it was a few months ago...yet purchase volumes are mostly flat. What’s the deal?
Getting interested buyers to your product pages through search marketing efforts is step one, but sealing the deal with a conversion is an essential part of growing your sales revenue. If users are successfully landing on your product pages but clicking away before making a purchase, your web design could be to blame.
An effective web design for ecommerce SEO captures user attention, keeps them on the page, and converts them to a paying customer. Especially during the high-volume holiday season, it’s important for brands to prioritize ecommerce conversion rate optimization—you can be sure that your competitors are!
Below, we’ll explore high-converting web design tips specifically geared towards ecommerce SEO. Learn what makes a product page enticing to online shoppers, as well as the key components of designing an ecommerce website that urges visitors to convert below.
SEO-Friendly Category Page Design
Category pages often function as organic landing pages on ecommerce websites. However, there are challenges to optimizing the design of these pages. In order for a category page to rank, it requires unique keyword-targeted content. Ideally this text would be located high on the page so search engines know that the content is important.
Here’s the catch: converting site visitors into paying customers generally requires placing products (rather than text) high on the page. Web users typically spend 80% of their time viewing content “above the fold,” i.e. the visible content that fills the screen without having to scroll down. Positioning your products below a long wall of content is a good way to ensure that customers get frustrated and click away before viewing any of your products.
Striking a balance between SEO-optimized category page content and showcasing products above the fold is the best way to both rank and convert. For instance, display a small amount of optimized content (a small paragraph) above your product listings, with longer keyword-targeted content below the products.
Best Practice Product Page Design
Product pages don’t have the space for nearly as much content as category pages, which is why it’s important to achieve the most bang for your buck using ecommerce conversion optimization strategies. For starters, your product descriptions should always describe the product in detail and in an enticing way, to help swing purchase decisions in the right direction. This is a great opportunity to sneak in target keywords for SEO value too.
Use high resolution images from multiple angles to make sure the user knows exactly what they’re ordering. These product images should be tagged with SEO-optimized image names and alt text for added search value. If possible, add a product video for interactive content.
Lastly, make sure user reviews are present on your product pages. Ideally these should be located close to the “Add to Cart” button, as they can convince users to pull the trigger.
Cross-Sells and Upsells
What is better than high-converting ecommerce design that earns a sale? High-converting ecommerce design that earns multiple sales from one user! Encourage cross-sales on your site by utilizing software or plugins that display products that are complementary to the one users are currently browsing. Examples include the “Customers Also Bought” snippet on Amazon, or the “Frequently Bought Together” message on many other sites.
Upselling is a similar ecommerce tactic that encourages the buyer to spend more by either upgrading to a premium version of the product they’re browsing, or selecting optional add-ons that increase the value of the item. Cross-selling and upselling create opportunities for more sales revenue while also improving the user experience by making it easier for them to shop.
Add to Cart Button
It may seem like a minor detail, but the “Add to Cart” button on your category and product pages is one of the most important elements in terms of ecommerce conversion optimization. This button needs to be easy to locate and click—if it isn’t, interested buyers will click away.
There has been a lot of research to determine the best color for “Add to Cart” buttons, and while the answer depends on your site color scheme, there are a few general rules to follow in order to boost your conversion rate optimization. First, the CTA button should pop against the background color, ideally by using a color different from your main color scheme. That said, it should still be on-brand; the contrast shouldn’t be so great that the button looks out of place.
You may want to consider the psychology behind certain color choices: green is associated with action and momentum, making it a highly popular choice for CTA buttons. Blue conveys trustworthiness; additionally, users are already very familiar with clicking on blue hyperlinks. Black suggests luxury and sophistication, which is why many fashion retailers prefer black “Add to Cart” buttons. Meanwhile, red is an eye-catching and high-performing choice.
How to Convert After the Sale
A truly great ecommerce conversion optimization strategy doesn’t end after the customer makes a purchase—now, you have an exciting opportunity to get that customer to convert again. Not only are repeat customers 9 times more likely to convert than a first time shopper, they also generate higher revenue per visit.
Email marketing is one of the best tactics for driving repeat conversions, since it puts your best products directly in the user’s inbox. And because customers input their email addresses when making a purchase, marketing to recent customers via email is a natural next step.
If you are still building out your email marketing strategy, take the time to experiment with sending emails on different days and at different times to see what yields the most opens and clicks. Once you have identified the schedule that works for you, stick to it.
A welcome drip campaign can be a great strategy for onboarding new customers and getting them used to seeing your brand in their inbox. Sending an incentive (such as a discount code) after a user’s first purchase can boost your chances of driving repeat conversions.
Optimize Your Ecommerce Site
At Whitecap SEO, we see a lot of ecommerce businesses neglecting the task of optimizing their category and product pages for conversions. By implementing these ecommerce optimization tips, you can ensure your website is firing on all cylinders for both SEO and conversions going into this year’s holiday season and beyond.
Ready to experience the benefits of high-converting design for ecommerce SEO? Contact the experts at Whitecap SEO for more information and a free quote.