Did you know that the average e-commerce conversion rate is as low as 2% - 3%? This means that approximately 97% – 98% of visitors to an e-commerce site leave without purchasing anything. This amount is extremely high and it shows that there are some big issues that cause customers to abandon instead of converting.

This post will focus on some of the biggest reasons your e-commerce site might not convert visitors into buyers. It will also provide practical advice on how to identify and solve these conversion rate killers. Enhancing your website for better conversions can translate into huge sales and revenue increases.

Here's what we'll cover:

• Getting targeted, buyer-intent traffic

• Improving website design

• Streamlining the checkout process

• Building trust and social proof

• Creating a compelling value proposition

• Speeding up page load times

• Adding clear calls-to-action

Let's dive in and start uncovering gaps in your conversion funnel!

Reason #1 - Not Getting the Right Traffic

One of the major causes behind low e-commerce conversion rates is getting the wrong traffic towards your website. Many visitors who don’t want to purchase any product from you won’t change their minds at all. Therefore, sending untargeted traffic to your site is just a waste of marketing effort and ad spending.

Non-targeted visitors with no intention of purchasing have much lower conversion rates than those who are targeted and actively searching for your products ready to buy them. Driving the right traffic demands more work: identify your ideal customer first then put all your marketing efforts where they frequent online platforms.

To increase conversions, shift your strategy to attract high buyer-intent visitors. Here are some tips:

• Leverage SEO keywords and content focused on commercial intent rather than just informational searches.

• Create dedicated landing pages for your promotions and campaigns.

• Run paid ads on Google Shopping and social platforms targeting interests aligned with your products.

• Marketing on platforms your audience uses like Instagram and TikTok.

• Focus on driving recurring visitors like email subscribers who are already familiar with your brand.

Pay close attention to analytics for traffic source and conversion rate by source. Eliminate sources providing little value. Double down on channels providing qualified visitors ready to buy.

Reason #2 - Poor Website Design

It can significantly affect your conversion rates if your e-commerce site has a poorly designed user interface. If the website design makes the shopping experience difficult, then the buyers will struggle to find products, navigate your site, and complete purchases.

Some examples of bad design elements that can deter visitors from converting include:

• Cluttered and disorganized layouts - Too many elements crammed together make it hard to focus.

• Overly complex navigation menus - Nesting menu items too deep or unclear IA leads to frustration.

• Tiny hard-to-read text - Make sure font sizes are readable on all devices.

• Lack of white space - Not enough breathing room strains the eyes.

• Slow-loading images - Large uncompressed images ruin site speed.

• Lack of clear CTAs - No obvious buttons or links showing users what to do next.

To boost conversions, make sure your design follows best practices like:

• Clean, minimalist interface - Remove clutter and overwhelm.

• Intuitive navigation - Make it effortless to find products and checkout.

• Prominent CTAs - Use buttons, contrast, and color to guide users.

• Quality product imagery - Showcase goods attractively.

• Mobile optimization - Design for small screens and touch.

• Consistent branding - Reinforce the brand throughout the site.

By identifying and fixing bad design elements hurting the user experience, you can significantly increase conversion rates.

Reason #3 - Overly Complicated Checkout

High cart abandonment rates are mainly due to too complex checkout processes. According to Baymard Institute, about 70% of online shoppers abandon their carts on average. This implies that 7 out of every 10 people who add items to their virtual baskets leave them there without making payments.

There are a few key ways to streamline your checkout process and reduce friction:

• Limit the number of checkout steps - Try to complete checkout in 3 steps or less

• Reduce the number of form fields - Only ask for essential user details

• Offer guest checkout - Don't require customer accounts for purchases

• Pre-fill forms with user info - Reduce data entry where possible

• Offer multiple payment methods - Provide popular options like PayPal

• Highlight security and policies - Build trust and confidence

• Make mobile checkout easy - Optimize for smaller screens

Conversion rates from cart to completed sale can be highly enhanced through simplification of your checkout process. Check your site analytics to identify and remove points of friction during checkout. More sales result from smoother easier checkouts.

Reason #4 - Lack of Trust and Social Proof

Converting visitors into customers necessitates building trust. In a study, 88% of online shoppers admit they feel anxious to buy from websites they do not consider trustworthy. In fact, distrust is stated as the main reason for cart abandonment by 67% of the respondents.

There are different effective ways to make your e-commerce site credible and trustworthy:

• Display trust badges and seals from reputable third parties like Norton, BBB, or TRUSTe. This reassures visitors your site is secure and legitimate.

• Feature positive customer testimonials and reviews. According to a study by OptinMonster, displaying reviews can increase conversions by 34%.

• Showcase case studies and customer success stories to demonstrate your results.

• Highlight notable brands or publications you've been featured in.

• Display trust symbols like padlocks and assurances of security.

• Add social proof like "5,000+ happy customers" or real-time notifications when someone purchases.

Implementing effective trust-building and social proof elements makes visitors more confident in your business, leading to higher conversion rates.

Reason #5 - Weak Value Proposition

It is hard for people to convert if the value proposition is very weak or if it does not sound convincing enough. The users will simply walk out on you in case they have no idea whom your products or services are meant for and why they should buy them.

Some examples of unclear value propositions:

• "We sell organic beauty products"

• "The best widgets in the industry"

• "High-quality online courses"

These are too generic and do not differentiate the business or address customer needs. A clear value proposition that is easy to understand is said to be able to lure 64% of clients from one brand/company to another.

To create a compelling unique value proposition (UVP):

• Identify your ideal target customer and their underserved needs

• Emphasize the key benefit you provide this customer

• Explain why you're different than competitors

• Keep it concise - aim for a single sentence or short paragraph

For example, Mailchimp's value proposition is "Send better email. Sell more stuff. Mailchimp helps small businesses do big things." This quickly communicates who it's for and the core benefit.

Testing different value proposition variations can help determine which resonates most with your audience. The ideal UVP should be memorable, convincing, and actionable.

Reason #6 - Slow Page Speeds

Conversion rates depend heavily on how fast the site loads. For example, Walmart discovered through Cloudflare that every second rise in page load time made their conversion rates up by 2%.

Bidnamic also found that for every second a site loads faster, the conversion rate improves by 17%. Faster page speeds lead to better user experience and higher conversions.

Here are some tips for improving your site speed:

• Optimize images - compress and resize images

• Minify CSS, JavaScript, and HTML

• Enable browser caching

• Defer non-critical JS

• Optimize web fonts

• Reduce redirects

• Choose fast web hosting

Improving your page load times should be a priority. Faster speeds allow visitors to seamlessly engage with your site and convert.

Reason #7 - No Clear CTAs

If your website lacks clear calls-to-action (CTAs) instructing visitors what next steps they should take, you will not increase conversions. Weak CTAs can be ambiguous, and impersonal and leave visitors wondering what action you want them to take. Here’s an example of ineffective CTA’s and tips on improving them:

• "Learn more" - Too vague, what more do you want them to learn?

• "Go" - Where are they going?

• "Submit" - Submit what exactly?

• "Send" - Send what? To whom?

According to HubSpot, CTAs should follow best practices like:

• Using actionable language like "Add to cart" or "Download now"

• Keeping copy short and sweet

• Aligning with your value proposition

CTAs are more effective when they clearly tell visitors the next step to take. Test different verb phrases to find what converts best for your business.

Reason #8 - Poor Mobile Experience

Any website that does not optimize for mobile can destroy your conversions since over fifty percent of all mobile devices are now e-commerce traffic.

Mobile commerce sales could hit $712bn in 2025, or 45% of total online sales, according to Insider Intelligence.

And by 2025, the number of active mobile buyers in the United States will exceed 183 million.

Here are some tips on how to make your site mobile-friendly for better commerce:

• Use a responsive design that adapts to fit any screen size

• Simplify navigation menus for easy tapping on mobile

• Ensure pages load quickly - keep page sizes small

• Make tap targets large enough for fingers

• Optimize checkout for mobile - reduce fields

• Test your site on various devices to identify issues

You can improve your returns from m-commerce if you ensure that users have a great experience with their smartphones and tablets because it is growing very fast.

Conclusion

Identify those issues affecting conversion rates on-site and address them gradually so as to optimize your online sales. Some of the major ways to improve conversions include attracting high-intent visitors, streamlining checkout, developing trust via social proofs, explaining value proposition clearly, accelerating load times, introducing attention-grabbing CTAs, and ensuring seamless mobile experience.

So, start conversion rate optimization efforts for your e-commerce site today. Audit your site for these common issues and create a plan to test and iterate improvements over time. With ongoing optimization, you can turn more of your site traffic into paying customers.