Financially successful e-commerce sites aren’t always the ones that draw the most visitors. Rather, it’s usually the ones that can consistently retain visitors that have the best shot at long-term success. This makes a lot of sense, as longer average visits tend to indicate positive site experiences. Over time, these pleasant online encounters generate trust and goodwill for businesses, boosting the odds of conversions. Regrettably, some newbie e-commerce business owners obsess over raw visitor counts, not realizing that it’s the quality of their leads that actually matters the most for their business.
The thing is, it’s usually easier to draw in site visitors than it is to convince them to stay and browse more. The good news is that building an engaging and lucrative e-commerce operation is doable—provided that you execute the right set of strategies. Let’s look at a few straightforward ways to boost your site’s session durations and conversions:
1. Use a Recognized Platform and Online Payments Gateway
Most online visitors have certain expectations when they visit a website. Providing them with a certain degree of familiarity should help set them at ease and build the trust needed to encourage longer sessions and confident transactions.
If you already use a popular e-commerce technology platform like Shopify, you’ll benefit from its widespread recognition. With a ready-to-use plugin, integrating a well-recognized third-party payment gateway Shopify website owners trust like Maya Checkout can serve to reinforce the trust of new visitors further, encouraging more engagement as well as future purchases.
2. Offer Hassle-free Online Payment Processing
Giving your visitors streamlined internet payment solutions will maximize the benefits that you get from cultivating their trust and engagement. The key is to make sure your online payment processing service is capable of handling the kinds of transactions your customers prefer.
In the Philippine market, e-wallets like Maya, GCash, and GrabPay are now the most popular online payment methods. However, other online payment solutions like traditional and virtual payment cards as well as OR Ph codes also remain popular with a significant chunk of the market. Integrating Maya Checkout into your e-commerce operations will ensure that your site is ready to handle any transaction, regardless of how each customer wants their online payment processed.
3. Encourage But Don’t Force Account Creation for Purchases
Having customers create accounts for your site can vastly simplify the remarketing process, as you’ll have access to their contact details and purchase histories. Unfortunately, the account creation process itself can be a barrier that inhibits initial purchases. For that reason, you’ll want to provide visitors with a guest checkout option so that they can purchase without having to make an account. Just be sure to consistently provide incentives for account creation so that you can better reach your expanding customer base, later on.
4. Offer Speedy Load Times
Optimizing your site for a speedy experience will also help make navigating your site a more pleasurable experience, reducing your bounce rates. Indeed, in markets with limited internet connectivity,positive customer experiences are often less a matter of providing stunning visuals and more about offering faster load times.
5. Implement Wishlists or Similar Features
Visitors exploring your site might discover many things they're interested in, but they may forget about them when they leave. Encourage them to purchase the items they like on their next visit by offering a wishlist or a similar product-saving feature.
6. Retarget Abandoned Carts
An abandoned cart doesn't necessarily mean a lost sale. Implementing automated retargeting messages that encourage customers to complete their purchases can be a powerful way to encourage purchases and remind customers of your website.
7. Be Transparent about Prices
Transparency in pricing is important to e-commerce customers and helps foster trust and loyalty. By ensuring that all charges are clearly communicated upfront, you not only enhance their experience but also build a stronger foundation for lasting relationships with your brand. As such, make sure that your checkout process transparently displays packaging costs, shipping costs, and other charges that your customers are expected to pay.
8. Periodically Optimize Your Site and Checkout Experience
Customer behavior and preferences tend to evolve with time. If you have the resources, make it a point to schedule periodic A-B testing of different site versions and checkout processes to ensure that your visitors always have a positive experience whether they’re making a purchase or simply exploring your site.
9. Offer an Attractive Return Policy
The very presence of a return policy can be the main factor that convinces your customers that you can be trusted. While you do want to protect your business from fraudulent returns, try to offer reasonable return or exchange policies that boost your customers’ confidence and encourage their loyalty.
10. Continuously Invest in Building Your Customers' Trust
It takes a long time to build the kind of trust that encourages online sales. However, it only takes one bad decision to permanently damage your brand and your business’s long-term viability. Fortunately, so long as you keep putting your customers first, great things will surely follow for your site’s engagement and its conversions.
Experience the Philippines’ Best Online Payment Processing Service
In the Philippine market, Maya Business has developed a deserved reputation as the most trusted online payment processing company for businesses of all sizes. Sign up for Maya Business to activate Maya Checkout and accept all online payments.
Signing up for Maya Business grants you access to a Maya Business Deposit account for facilitating settlements through Maya online payment platforms. With an industry-leading 2.5% per annum interest rate, funds in your Maya Business Deposit will grow 20-25x faster than in other competing savings products, earning an extra PHP 25,000 yearly for every PHP 1 million deposit.
Signing up also qualifies you for a Maya Flexi Loan offer valued up to PHP 2 million in just 3 months—perfect for creating a profitable and highly engaging e-commerce website. To get a higher loan offer in the future, just regularly use Maya as your primary processor for all wallet and card payments.
Complete your Maya Business application to start accepting all online payments with Maya Checkout.
