Manage Marketing | Friday, July 28, 2023
By implementing AI chatbots, free shipping, third-party payments, and brand apps, e-commerce websites can improve conversions.
FREMONT, CA: Post-pandemic, online shopping behavior is rapidly changing, and modern e-commerce businesses must adapt.
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There are some significant major emerging conversion optimization trends that online businesses should implement to increase their online conversion rates and boost their revenue, and that are noted below:
Options for third-party payments: PayPal and Google Pay are popular third-party payment options for online shoppers. In 2023, a different kind of third-party payment option is gaining traction: buy-now-pay-later.
In the review of eCommerce sites, 40 percent offered a "pay over time" option. It may seem like a small percentage, but considering that Gen Z shoppers are much less likely to use traditional credit and that their spending with BNPL arrangements grew 330 percent.
E-commerce brands should consider adding these non-traditional credit options to their sites to increase conversion rates, especially among this growing demographic.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) Chatbots: Machine learning tools like ChatGPT aren't too far behind, as 50 percent of studied sites display some form of automated chatbot to shoppers. They can anticipate and answer customers' most frequently asked questions, talk with brand tone and style, and remove barriers to purchase when used and trained correctly.
Building a chatbot that can handle less demanding questions from customers and that knows when to refer them to a real, human customer service representative is suggested.
Shipping is free with or without a threshold: Online shoppers now expect free and fast shipping from online stores as a result of the proliferation of Amazon Prime.
The majority of the study sites (90 percent) offer free shipping, but most of those (60 percent) impose a minimum order threshold.
Some e-commerce stores can't afford to offer free shipping on all orders - but this threshold approach is a great compromise to meet shoppers' expectations.
Identifying the threshold that makes sense for the shoppers, usually a little higher than the average order value, then deploying the new offering visibly across the site to reap the benefits is suggested.
Apps for brands: While none of the studied sites promote their apps on their desktop sites, 70 percent still offer an iOS or Android app.
It is usually only worth it to spend time and money creating and marketing an app if the business boasts a high rate of repeat shoppers and loyal customers. As customers sign up for the app, businesses can easily remarket to them with new promotions, sales, and other personalized offers in a way that goes beyond their usual email marketing.
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