The Top Ecommerce Challenge of 2023

When we ran our poll of e-commerce operations in January, the top concern identified from 2023 was converting traffic. This is a good problem to have, but it’s also frustrating to see such a large chunk of your web traffic leaving your site without converting!

I’ve got good news! I’ve seen our clients use two strategies to successfully lift conversion rates. The first is a program of regularly testing content. The second is aggressively working to lower page load speeds. This second strategy also has the secondary benefit of improving SEO.

Solution #1: Testing

Testing is a proven solution that often gets neglected. The application is simple:

1. Find your higher-traffic pages with lower conversion rates

2. Make a change to the content

3. Track the results and keep changes that improve conversion

4. Repeat

So why isn’t everyone doing this all the time? Usually, because the work involved in step 2 is either too great, or it happens…but very slowly. The big culprit in both cases is your platform.

Solution #2: Page speed

You may be scratching your head at this strategy, but there is plenty of data proving it does improve not only conversions but also SEO. Studies have shown a roughly 2% improvement in conversion rates for every second of page speed improvements. There are several ways to improve page speed:

1. Optimize images

2. Use a CDN

3. Use light, fast front-end code

So why doesn’t everyone have a lightning-fast site? Just like in Solution #1, a big culprit is your platform. 

Quickest fix: Turbocharge your platform

No, you usually don’t have to get rid of your existing platform. You can, however, take steps to power up your existing e-commerce platform. This is how I know these two strategies work! I’ve seen our clients add a headless CMS to their existing tech stack and be able to implement both strategies above to improve conversions for the long term. 

Want help mapping out the ROI of a headless CMS for e-commerce? Schedule a call with our team!