Welcome back fashionista! If you’re reading this blog, it’s because you’re struggling to increase your boutique’s conversion rate. You feel like you’re doing everything right but seeing no results. No worries! Today, I’m taking you under my wing to share the top eCommerce website strategies to improve your store’s conversion rate past the industry average of 2.8%.

Increasing your conversion rate to 2.86%+ would increase your revenue by more than 55%!

Did you know that by the end of 2022, worldwide ecommerce sales will exceed $5 trillion for the first time!? This number accounts for more than a fifth of overall retail sales. It’s estimated that total spending on online retail sites will be past $7 trillion by 2025. So fashionista, now is the time to increase your online boutique’s conversion rate! You want to make sure your brand can receive as much of those consumer coins as possible. And…yes it is possible with these tips!

First, are you an inspiring boutique owner struggling to scale or launch your online boutique?

I’m here to help! Take this quiz to determine the exact steps you need to take today to get you one step closer to launching your online boutique or scaling your boutique.

What is conversion rate optimization?

First, let’s define what CRO means (conversion rate optimization). CRO is

A is for Analytics | Where to start

A prescription without a diagnosis is considered malpractice. So, why are you trying to increase your boutique’s conversion rate with every strategy under the sun without knowing where the real problem lies? Many online retail owners are obsessed with getting more website traffic thinking it will equate to sales. News flash, more website traffic does not mean more sales, directly anyways.

Here’s where your store’s analytics come into importance. Analytics are the cheat sheet to your conversion success because numbers don’t lie. Think of it like a blueprint of how visitors are interacting with pages and products on your site.  Simply put, your analytics are the story of how well you’re doing, so you can create strategies to improve and optimize your CROs. It’s important to focus on the visitor’s purchase process, from the time they enter your site, to your product pages and then to the checkout page.

Here are the metrics you need to be analyzing when it comes to understanding how to increase your boutique’s conversion rate

• Site speed
• Bounce Rate
• Time spent on site
• New vs Returning site visitors
• CTR (click-through rate)
• Cost per conversion
• Device used (yes, this is very important!)
• Cart abandonment rate
• Drop off points (where they enter and where they exit)

Once you really evaluate all of these metrics, only then are you in the perfect condition to start creating CRO strategies to increase your boutique’s conversion rate.

Get to the point | Streamline Your Navigation Process

Ok fashionista, I want you to think about how you shop on other retailer’s site. If you’re searching for a particular item, you usually look to the navigation menu if you have a specific category or product in mind. If it’s too difficult to find what you’re looking for, you’re most likely to leave that site.

How can you make sales if visitors can’t find what they are looking for? If your online boutique’s navigation is too complex, it will cost you sales and customers. Furthermore, HubSpot did a recent case study where they found that simplifying your navigation resulted in a 16-18% conversion rate.

At the end of the day, your navigation will differ based on your products or retail industry. There’s no perfect navigation structure. However, here are a few tips to easily streamline your navigation process for increasing your boutique’s conversion rate.

• Display categories on every page
• Use heatmaps to understand where and how users click
• Eliminate using too many drop down menus (especially for mobile users)
• Navigation structure and labeling should be clear and concise across all pages
• A/B test different menu structures to see how your visitors react using your heatmap!

Tell Visitors What Else They NEED | Provide Recommended Products

This brings me back to the good old retail days where upselling at the register (or on the floor) was crucial. The same strategy applies online! Upselling with product recommendations can increase your boutique’s conversion through guiding their purchasing decision! It’s been studied that when a visitor clicks on a recommended product, they are 4.5x more likely to add those items to their cart and complete a purchase.

Here’s some tips on the best ways to recommend more products to website visitors:

• Add a “Frequently Bought Together” prompt under products
• Use social proof from social media. As in, showcase a customer who tagged your product in their photo and see if you have any other relevant products you can recommend based on how the customer uses/wears the product.

You can also try adding product recommendations in these 3 places on your eCommerce site:

• At the purchase stage (above the shopping cart)
• In the confirmation email or transaction complete page
• Within relevant blog posts

Be The Boutique Fairy God Mother | Create A Wish List For Visitors

Did you know that 40% of online shoppers say their shopping experience would be better if offered a wish list? Think of this strategy like window shopping or layaway. When visitors create a wish list, they usually have to create an account (get that email!). They will be more intrigued to log back in and continue shopping from their wish list when they are ready to purchase.

The best part about adding a wish list to your CRO strategy is that you can identify retail/seasonal trend activities to improve demand forecasting and targeting for ads!

Here’s another secret website conversion tip! Add the Pinterest plug-in “Pin It button” to your site. This will allow visitors with Pinterest accounts to save your store’s item to a Pinterest board. Thus, exposing your product to whoever else follows that person’s board. It’s FREE reach!

The Proof is in the Pudding | Add BETTER Social Proof

Visitors want to see REAL people using, talking about, or wearing your boutique’s products. Social proof is a powerful CRO tool that’s free! Adding social proof elements, like testimonials or customer images, to your site increases consumer trust in potential buyers. This may be the last mental step they take that moves them forward with completing a purchase.

Here’s a few ways on how to increase your boutique’s social proof:

• Collaborating with influencers for unboxing videos, tutorials, guides and more social content.
• Simply asking customers to review after they receive their product (make the process simple and easy)
• Including social media icons on your product pages that link to your profiles

Photography is Key | Make Your Product Pages Stand Out

I believe this one is self explanatory. Visual elements on your site could be a huge factor in a visitor’s decision making process. Your product pages should be high in quality. It’s important to keep in mind that your store is online. Meaning, your visitors can’t touch and feel your products! So, make sure the media you use on each product page builds their trust/confidence with your products.

Here are some tips for product pages to make sure they stand out and convert

• Use clear and concise language in product descriptions
• Highlight the unique features and benefits of your products
• Include information such as size, color, and fabric type
• Consider using demo/explainer videos to show your products in action
• Use models to show how the items look on various body types
• Have images be supported by a zoom feature to show texture and details

Collect Your Coins, Fast | Streamline the Checkout Process

Almost 70% of carts are abandoned at checkout. That’s a high percentage and there could be multiple reasons on why. However, I can tell you confidently that one of the reasons is that your site makes it difficult to actually purchase. For example, if you don’t have shipping information easy to find, it could deter the process of someone ready to buy. This is because they’re spending so much time trying to find your shipping information before they buy, that they may just abandon there cart altogether.

Having a guest checkout option also can help boost your online boutique’s conversion rate. Sometimes, visitor’s don’t want to put all their information in (for different reasons). If you require so much information just to purchase, it can decrease your conversion rate.

Having useful payment methods available is important. Payment installment providers like Afterpay, Sezzle or, Klarna can also increase your store’s conversion rate!

Here are some other tips to streamline the checkout process:

• Have an SSL certificate to let your visitors know your site is safe and so is their information
• Automated billing and shipping information
• Offer a shipping calculator, especially for international visitors
• Speaking of international, offer different currency checkout options to make visitors feel more comfortable
• Reduce the amount of clicks to complete a purchase, 2-3 at best

Ready to finally increase your boutique’s conversion rate?

Alright fashionista! I hope you wrote down some notes. Now, take what you learned in this post and put it to action. Remember, don’t diagnose anything without checking your analytics first. From there, see where you can improve your customer’s purchasing journey. Comment below your favorite CRO strategy for your store!

Cheers to more sales!

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Are you struggling to launch your online boutique or find it hard to actually scale? Take this two-minute quiz to find out the exact steps you need to take in order to take to launch or scale your boutique business!