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How AI is the best Conversion Optimisation Tool for Retail

5/11/21
Alan Gormley
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Have you spent hours and boatloads of cash on your eCommerce website but still suffer from low conversion rates?

You’re attracting considerable traffic from Facebook, Google Ads, and retargeting campaigns but still can’t seem to convert them into paying customers. With the average retail conversion rate at about 4%, there’s a massive opportunity for improvement.

Conversion rate optimisation is the best solution to increasing your sales and ROI on your marketing efforts. With the right conversion optimisation tactics, you can attract more customers, decrease bounce rates and even increase average order value.

There can be multiple reasons for low eCommerce conversion, such as landing page optimisation, site speed, CTA placements, guest checkouts, etc. Before you start fixing those, there are some fundamental things wrong with your eCommerce strategy.

‘Your online store does not spark joy.’

We’re not trying to go all Marie Kondo on you, but in a recent article by Retail CX, many shoppers describe their online shopping experience as ‘anxious’ and ‘frustrating’.

Just like an offline store, your website visitors should be able to enjoy shopping. They should explore products, get ideas, view the best deals without endlessly scrolling and tapping.

Keep reading to understand why you can’t increase your eCommerce conversion rate and how AI can support you in achieving the best shopping experience for your customers.

3 Main Barriers to Conversion Rate Optimisation

You’re treating every customer the same.

Every visitor comes from a different source, but you offer the same experience to all your website visitors. You might be using a data-driven recommender, but does your platform take your customers’ entire journey into account? Most recommenders just constantly show suggestions based on other visitors’ shopping history.

You need to offer a tailored experience to every single shopper in your store. Did you know 80% of customers are more likely to convert when shown a unique experience?

You’re only conversion-focused, and it shows.

Don’t get us wrong. You should be sales and conversion-focused. This blog is all about helping you increase conversion, but your problem is that you don’t treat shopping as an experience. At least, that’s what your customers want. They want to explore, learn about new trends and experience the joy of shopping.

After you’ve used all the paid and SEO efforts into bringing traffic to your website, the next step is to provide them with an experience that would interest them to know more about your store in just a few clicks.

You can’t increase conversion if you use all your efforts into getting your visitors in and out of your store.

If you’re not engaging your customers early, showing them ideas, and helping them discover your store deeper, you’ll lose them to a competitor in just a few clicks of landing on your store.

You’re not optimising conversion for mobile.

You need to think about mobile optimisation now if you want to increase conversion.

80% of traffic comes from mobile for most eCommerce stores but accounts for lower conversion rates than Desktop.

The reason for low mobile conversion is a poor shopping experience.

Even though most UK customers prefer their smartphones for online shopping, 90% are not satisfied with their mobile shopping experience.

Keep reading to find how AI can instantly overcome the most significant barriers to increasing your eCommerce Conversion rate.

4 Ways AI can help you overcome the barriers to Conversion Rate Optimisation

Offering a Unique Shopping Experience is the best retail conversion strategy.

Every customer is different, and the way they shop varies.

Each visitor that lands on your website are in a different stage of their shopping journey. Some might be looking for new ideas, some for suggestions, and some for just a little helping hand to guide them to purchase. If you’re not adapting your store’s experience to every visitor in real-time, you’re losing out on potential customers.

To increase your eCommerce sales, you need to provide a unique customer experience to every visitor. Over 70% of customers prefer buying from brands that offer a curated shopping experience based on their ‘living profiles’

Providing relevant and context-aware recommendations is the best eCommerce conversion optimisation tactic.

The good news you can do this automatically with no additional effort. Consider using an AI tool like Shopbox to engage customers early in their Shopping journey by providing a curated shopping experience.

You can’t increase conversion if you don’t make customers feel welcome

A visitor may have landed on your website for research but may not intend to purchase yet. They could be coming from an ad, search, or social and could be at any stage of their shopping journey. Retailers who focus on engaging customers through the journey see every part of the buying cycle, which can be as long as 30 days or more.

If they’re only browsing your store now, don’t expect them to log in or sign up to shortlist products. Asking for personal data is a terrible experience. Instead, use GDPR compliant AI to remember the products they view in your store.

91% of consumers are more likely to buy from companies who recognise and remember them when they return to your store. To increase conversion, you not only need to focus on your shopper’s experience when they’re in your store but also when returning to your store.

With increasing online competition, your eCommerce store should focus on making your website visitors’ shopping journey as easy as possible to help them make fast decisions. So when they return to your store, make sure to show them the products they previously liked automatically.

Using an AI-powered shop assistant can help you boost your online sales by building a personal shelf for all shoppers. By anonymously remembering customers and visitors, your shopper will always return to a store that knows them.

Happy customers = Higher Conversion Rates.

It’s not the destination; it’s the journey.

As we mentioned before in this article, people don’t just shop to procure products.

People love to shop.

We all engage in ‘retail therapy’ from time to time, and a lot has changed post-pandemic. Shopping in-store will never be the same, and as more people intend to shop online, it’s time for eCommerce stores to provide the needed ‘retail therapy’ online.

Did you know 75% of shoppers across Europe believe that most online stores fail to provide an enjoyable shopping experience?

While shopping in-store gives customers new ideas, helps them discover recent trends, and shows them promotional and complementary products, strategically placed by merchandisers, these experiences seem to be online.

Online stores need to move from just ‘Choice and Convenience’ to ‘Curation and Advice’ by delivering an engaging shopping experience. The good news is that you can automate curation and advice with an AI Shop Assistant.

simple-sales-report-infographic

Mobile-first Shopping is the ultimate retail conversion tactic.

With Instagram Shopping and Social media advertising, we’re attracting more traffic than ever to online mobile stores. Apple Wallet and Google Pay are making transactions easy and quick with one-click payment.

But what about the shopping experience within the store? People hate clicking, filtering, going in and out of the menu, and constantly scrolling to find the right products.

You need to take the frustration out of mobile shopping to boost conversion, only achieved with a mobile-first design.

Using an AI Shop Assistant that boasts a mobile-first design can help your customers find the products they’ll love in just a few clicks.

To sum up, increasing conversion in retail means providing an engaging shopping experience from the moment your shopper lands on your site.

With advancements in AI, the Amazon Style Shopping experience is available to stores of any size. Our customers see a 300% conversion uplift and 20% increase in Average Order Value by engaging the website visitors ready to buy and nurturing those in their consideration phase.

simple-sales-report-infographic

Like in a physical store, using Shop Assistants is are one of the best drivers of conversion. A Shop assistant helps you find the right clothes in your size or guides you towards substitutes.

In an online store, providing intelligent curation leads to a better shopping experience and, in turn, help you increase conversion rates. With Shopbox’s AI Assistant, you’ll no longer need to worry about cart abandonment, low bounce rates, upselling and cross-selling.

Shopbox customers typically see a 3X conversion increase than the average eCommerce conversion rate.

We love to talk retail, technology and customer experience - if you do too, please get in touch today.

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