Every eCommerce store’s main goal would be increasing sales. That should be common knowledge. But, when we talk about eCommerce sales strategy, it’s so much more than setting up your store and investing in paid advertising.
In an increasingly competitive digital buying world, there is a powerful tactic (yet often overlooked) that can skyrocket your conversion rate in no time: examining your shipping options.
That being said, examining eCommerce shipping options might be tricky, though. Offering affordable or even free shipping will improve your conversion rate — for sure. But, if you’re not careful, it will also kill your profit margins. And that’s every eCommerce business owner’s nightmare.
So, how can you make shipping options more profitable for your eCommerce business so that you can boost your conversion rate?
How Shipping Impacts Conversion Rates
Before we get into the nitty-gritty, it’s important to understand how shipping impacts your eCommerce conversion rates in the first place.
Shopping cart abandonment is a common issue for most eCommerce owners to increase their conversion rates. Do you know one of the main reasons why potential customers don’t complete their purchase and choose to abandon their chart instead? It’s because of the shipping options.
They drop off when they see the shipping costs that might be too expensive, the estimated time of delivery might be too slow, or they simply don’t meet their expectations somehow. That’s where you just lost a customer and a chance to increase the conversion rate.
At this point, you understand that logistics is the bread and butter of eCommerce businesses. It means that having poorly-examined shipping options and policy can be the last nail in the coffin.
4 Ways to Supercharge Conversion Rates With Shipping
Your shipping strategy can play such a significant role in skyrocketing your eCommerce conversion rate. Here are some essential ways you should consider doing to get more conversions seamlessly through your shipping strategy.
Lower Shipping Costs or Offer Free Shipping
Who doesn’t love free shipping? The stats say that more than 73% of potential customers are more likely to complete their purchase if it includes free shipping. Another report also reveals that at least 86% of potential customers abandon their shopping cart because the cost of shipping is way too high for them.
But, as we mentioned slightly earlier, in the beginning, lower shipping costs or even free shipping isn’t a walk in the park. The risk here is that it would hurt your profit margins — so it would be more hindering to your eCommerce business rather than profiting.
In this case, you need to work with your vendors. If you work and negotiate with them, they’ll most likely offer you discounts (especially for larger purchases). With those discounts, you can save extra budgets and pass those savings to your potential customers by charging them less for the shipping cost.
Another strategy is that you can increase the product price to lower the shipping cost. It will give the illusion of a more affordable shipping cost when in fact, you just ‘move’ the shipping cost to the product price.
Make Everything Clear & Easy to Understand
Another reason why your potential customers leave your eCommerce site is that your shipping details and information is just too complicated to understand.
Long paragraphs and clunky text of descriptions of your shipping options just won’t get you anywhere. Reading all of them might seem more like a chore for your potential customers. Also, who has time to do that?
You can make the details of your shipping options more readable and much easier on the eyes by creating a simple image and only include crucial information, such as how you calculate the cost, vendor options you offer, estimated delivery time. It will help prevent any unwanted surprises at checkout.
You might also need to create simple and straightforward explainer videos to explain your shipping methods briefly and add them to your FAQ pages. This way, you can instill trust and help your potential customers feel they won’t be wasting their time.
Offer a Shipping Threshold
Promotions around shipping are excellent ways to encourage shoppers to buy more, helping you increase your order value and boost the conversion rate.
You can offer more upgraded shipping options to potential customers if they decide to buy more products from your eCommerce store. For instance, if they buy more than three items, you offer a lower shipping cost or a faster, speedy delivery time.
This will encourage potential customers to add more products to their cart in a single order and get to the checkout process in the first place. After all, potential customers are more likely to spend more if they get a good deal. Therefore, a great way to do this is by offering upsells, memberships, and bundles.
Market Your Shipping Offerings
If you think you offer the best shipping options, why not let all the people know about it? You can promote your shipping offerings beyond your eCommerce store and even make it a unique selling point.
In other words, don’t wait for customers to discover your best shipping offerings all the way to the end of the checkout process. Spread the word all over social media platforms and any digital channels to attract more new customers and give them a reason why they need to purchase from your store instead of your competitors.
You can also let your email subscribers know about the offering through newsletters. Thus, creating a catchy pop-up or banner for your eCommerce website is also a smart way to inform your best shipping offerings.
When a customer feels satisfied with your shipping offerings, chances are they will tell others about it — which is a great way to boost your conversion rates without spending a fortune.
Final Thoughts
The eCommerce industry is taking center stage, and customers have endless options. You need a strategy that gives them a reason to choose your store over others. In this case, revamping and examining your shipping strategy is paramount.
Having the right shipping strategy in place can result in increased conversion rates for your eCommerce business. By implementing those easy shipping fixes mentioned above, you will not only increase your conversion rates but also create life-long, happy customers.
Author
Andre Oentoro is the founder of Breadnbeyond, an award-winning explainer video company. He helps businesses increase conversion rates, close more sales, and get positive ROI from explainer videos (in that order).
