10 Tips for Improving eCommerce Mobile Conversion Rates

A mobile conversion rate is the percent of people who perform a specific action on your mobile website. For retail brands, the most common type of conversion is buying a product. A conversion can also be someone who subscribes to your email list or enrolls in text message alerts.

Mobile optimizations are sometimes pushed to the side, but every brand needs to pay attention to them. Even though many people still use their computers to make purchases, the number of people who use their phones to shop online is increasing. In the US alone, mobile commerce sales hit $2.91 trillion in 2020.

Unfortunately, average mobile conversion rates will always be lower than desktop, but it’s still important to have a mobile conversion rate optimization (CRO) strategy in place. Here are ten tips you can follow to see a conversion rate increase on your mobile site.

10 Tips to Increase Your eCommerce Mobile Conversion Rate

1. Avoid large, text-heavy popups

When done correctly, adding popups to your mobile site can help increase conversions. You can use them to announce limited-time offers, get customers to download your mobile app, or remind customers that they still have items left in their carts.‌

Popups are also a useful lead generation tool, as merchants are able to collect customers’ email addresses or get them to opt-in to text messages. But if you add too many popups or make it too difficult for users to navigate away from them, they'll leave your site altogether out of frustration. Once that happens, it can be difficult to win them back–think about the last time technology was not working in your favor. Likely, your response was to walk away from the device, which is exactly what eCommerce brands want to avoid!

Your popups shouldn't take up the entire screen, and your text should be clear and concise. Keep it to one or two brief sentences and use a catchy call to action (CTA). Be sure there's an easy way to close out of them, whether it's by clicking on text that says "No thanks" or clicking a large "X" button in the top right corner.

2. Increase your site speed

Nothing is more discouraging for site visitors than a page that loads too slowly. Most users will only wait about 6-10 seconds for a page to load before abandoning it. Studies also show that conversion rates drop by 4.42% with each additional second of load time, costing your business a lot of money for adding even just three seconds to your site speed.

There are several ways you can increase mobile site speed, including:

• Making sure all above the fold content loads first

• Using responsive web design

• Removing excess JavaScript and CSS — in other words, avoiding code bloat

• Compressing images before you add them to your site or using a plugin to automatically compress them in your content management system

• Avoiding too many redirects

• Using accelerated mobile pages (AMPs)

‌Google PageSpeed Insights and Pingdom are two tools you can use to monitor your site’s speed on mobile. You can also add the PageSpeed Monitor app to your Shopify site to check the speed on each of your shop’s pages.

3. Use SMS marketing

Text messages are becoming the preferred method of contact among consumers due to the convenience for the text message receiver. SMS marketing has an average open rate of 98%, whereas email marketing only has an average open rate of 20%.

Utilizing SMS marketing is an excellent way to increase your conversion rates by reaching your customers on their preferred communication channel (also known as right into their hands). Attentive is a great platform that makes SMS marketing simple and convenient for you.

But before you start contacting your customers via SMS, they’ll have to opt-in. A few ways to do so are to add an SMS subscribe checkbox on your email signup form or ask them to text a code to a specific number to opt-in.

4. Allow multiple payment methods

To ensure your customers don’t bounce off your mobile site before they finalize a purchase, make it as easy as possible for them to pay. Some of the most popular mobile payment options include:

• Google Pay

• Apple Pay

• Android Pay

• PayPal

• Amazon Pay

• Visa Checkout‌

‌These payment methods are not only convenient, but they’re secure as well. Consumers shopping via their phones are more likely to convert when they know they can trust your site with sensitive information.‌

5. Remove things that don’t make sense

While the mobile version of your site should complement the desktop version, you should keep your eCommerce mobile design simple. The easiest way to do this is to ensure your website utilizes a responsive design‌

A responsive web design will ensure your site renders correctly on various devices, making your site’s user experience more seamless. It also helps simplify your website and makes it more optimal for viewing on a smaller screen.

Using a responsive design is important for SEO as well. Over the past few years, Google has started using the mobile version of web pages to rank and index websites. And if your site doesn’t show up in organic search results, users won’t be able to find it.

When optimizing your website for mobile, you should also consider having a simple navigation menu and removing any unnecessary pages. This helps declutter your mobile site and makes it easier for customers to find products they're searching for on a smaller screen. Use customer data to see which pages get less traffic on mobile, and make your choices from there. 

6. Include lots of visuals to provide an “in-app” experience

You should already know the importance of high-quality images on the desktop version of your site. Visuals are equally as important on mobile, especially if you’re using less text to describe the details of a product.

Use images to show how a product looks from different angles and how people can wear or use an item. You can also add 360° views so customers can swipe to get a more thorough look at the product. With the popularity of photo and video sharing apps, it’s beneficial to recreate that as much as possible in your mobile site. 

7. Make sure your search box has an autocomplete function

Ever try to type a word on your phone and accidentally make a typo, and then try to fix it but add another typo instead? Us too. In a phrase, typing on a mobile device can be difficult. If users can’t easily type in a word to find what they’re searching for, they’ll be more likely to leave your site and turn to a competitor instead.

Autocomplete functionality removes a lot of the headaches that come along with typing via a cell phone. By showing suggested results based on the first few letters of text, you eliminate the need for customers to type an entire search query.

Adding an autocomplete function to your mobile website helps guide your users on the correct path towards making a purchase. It also helps correct typos, reassures the customer that the product they’re looking for is available on your site, and helps the customer find alternative products they may not have originally considered. Lastly, it’s helpful for accessibility reasons, because not all users are able to see or type easily on such a small device.

8. Show recommended products like you would on desktop

Including product recommendations on your mobile site is an excellent way to boost sales and improve your site’s user experience. Customers can easily see new products or find items like ones they’ve already viewed. You can also use product recommendations to bring more awareness to items that aren’t selling as much as you’d like.

Product recommendations make it easier for customers to add more items to their shopping carts on mobile because they don't have to spend much time searching for additional products. There are several ways to add product recommendations to your product pages, including:

• Showing customers how they can complete an outfit — for example, showing jewelry or accessories that go well with a dress

• Showing trending or popular items, which adds a touch of social proof to your site

• Including “Customers also viewed” or “Frequently bought together” sections on each of your product pages

9. Use sticky buttons where you can

Sticky buttons remain visible at the top, bottom, or sides of a website when a user scrolls through the page. They’re a convenient way for users to complete an action on your site. Sticky buttons work especially well on mobile when you have limited screen space, and it’s more cumbersome to scroll through a lengthy product page.‌

Sticky buttons should be large enough to be easily clickable but not so large that they take up the entire screen on mobile. The ideal button size on mobile is 1cm x 1cm, or 0.4in x 0.4in.‌

You can use sticky buttons that allow users to add items to their carts, proceed to checkout, or sign up for your newsletter. However, you should only use sticky buttons with one CTA per page. Having more than that sends conflicting messages to the customer and can lower your conversion rate.

10. Add scarcity copy to low-stock products

Adding copy that creates a sense of urgency to products that aren’t selling is an effective eCommerce copywriting technique. It’s a way to increase the attractiveness of a particular product by making it seem like the item will soon become unavailable.

While you should shorten the copy on your mobile site so the most relevant information remains above the fold, it’s worth it to keep scarcity copy on your product listing pages (PLPs) and product detail pages (PDPs). It makes customers feel as if they’ll miss out on something if they don’t buy it right away. This reduces the likelihood of them waiting until they're at a computer to make a purchase. 

Boost sales and retain more customers by improving your mobile conversion rate

It's common to see a higher conversion rate on the desktop version of your site, but that doesn’t mean you should neglect your mobile presence. With more and more consumers using their phones to shop online, mobile conversion rate optimizations are more important than ever before.

You should also keep in mind that not every CRO strategy will work for every website. By monitoring the performance of your mobile site and A/B testing as much as possible, you’ll be able to discover which optimization techniques work best for you and make more sales.‌