Online conversion rate measures the percentage of e-commerce visitors who perform a specified action—such as making a purchase, signing up for emails, adding a product to cart, wishlisting a product,  sharing on social media, or any other action desired by the e-commerce company.

Optimizing the conversion rate is a key focus of e-commerce marketing, which refers to taking actions that will drive visitors to become paying customers (i.e., buy something) or perform any other predefined action.

According to industry experts, an online store that has achieved a steady conversion rate of about 2% is said to be doing well—with scope to do better. If your e-store is struggling to increase sales, here are seven tips that will help you achieve the initial goal of 2%.

Improve the quality of product images

Nothing puts off online shoppers like low-quality images. Using high-quality professionally done images on your site can drastically improve the user experience. Another important factor to consider is the number of photos uploaded for each product—anyone who buys online will tell you how important it is for them to view a product from all angles before deciding to buy it.

The world’s leading e-commerce brands know the power of great photos in driving sales, and if you haven’t done it so far, upgrade the quality of photos on your store as soon as possible.

Offer express delivery and free shipping

Online shoppers have a plethora of options to choose from, and they would usually opt for the product they can get at the earliest. With patience running thin and lives getting busier, offering express delivery is a great way to get more people to buy from your site.

As for free shipping, you need not offer it for each and every sale. Find a way to build in free delivery into the process based on purchase value, delivery area, and so forth. You could ask customers to sign up for express/free delivery by paying a small membership fee (on the lines of Amazon Prime).

Offer discount coupons

Offer special coupons and discount deals to your returning customers or those purchasing over and above a minimum amount. You can also send limited-period discount coupons via email to get potential customers to visit your store and make a purchase.

Take cart abandonment seriously

If visitors are leaving your site without buying things they placed in the cart, do an in-depth analysis of why this is happening. Integrate cart abandonment software into your e-commerce store, which reminds users via email that they did not complete a purchase and offers support with any issues faced during the checkout process.

According to this article from Stray Digital, optimizing your e-commerce funnel can have a dramatic boost in your conversion rate. And ironing out cart abandonment issues is an important part of the process.

Improve your product filters

Take cues from successful e-commerce brands—not those necessarily in your niche—and build intuitive filter options into each product category and subcategory. For instance, if you sell bed linen, offer an option that filters products by thread count, which is important to linen buyers but is rarely found on lifestyle stores.

Think from the ideal customer’s point of view for each product category and set up refining options accordingly. This alone would greatly enhance the buying experience for discerning online customers who value such minute details.

Don’t be old school about login and passwords

E-commerce stores worldwide have learned the hard way how mandatory login or registration affects online sales. Probably that’s when someone thought of introducing the “checkout as guest” option. By allowing an interested visitor to buy a product as a guest not only makes the process a lot easier for them, it also brings an element of instant delight—and relief—when they realize they don’t have to register or furnish a password or go through the drudgery of “forgot the password.”

So allow visitors to buy without having to register—you’ll have their email anyway when they check out.

Ensure that your checkout process is simple, quick and easy

Most online buyers abandon a sale at the time of check out. If this is a reason for your e-store’s abysmal sales, test and retest the checkout process to find and fix the pain points that could be leading visitors to leave without buying.

Generally, a single-page checkout is said to work well for e-commerce stores, provided the page offers customers all the information they need before making a payment.