[New Era] Bundles AI: Auto-generate & sell the best performing bundles 🤖

Watch now
pickystory
Start free

Why your Mobile Conversion Rate is Important and 5 Ways to Improve it

  • 5 minutes

Mobile conversion rate: Getting users to visit your e-commerce site is only half the story. The other half involves closing the deal. Indeed, driving traffic to your online store is crucial to your e-commerce site’s success. It’s even more important to transform that traffic into paying customers. To measure your online store’s current success, you must analyze your site’s conversion rate.

In this article, we will closely look at what a conversion rate is, and specifically what your mobile conversion rate should be. We will also analyze five ways how to increase your conversion rate so you can drive profitability and boost your e-commerce site’s bottom line.

What is a conversion rate?

The term “conversion rate” refers to the ratio between the number of users or visitors to your site and the number of sales within a specific period. Please note that your e-commerce site’s conversion rate helps you measure your site’s effectiveness at generating sales. After all, it’s great to have high-volume traffic, but traffic doesn’t do much for your bottom line if you cannot convert those visitors into customers.

Let’s consider the following situation:

A fashion brand receives 100 visitors per hour on its main website. The site makes 25 sales per hour. The ratio between visitors and sales is 25% (25 divided by 100). Let’s take a look at Google’s Definition of conversion rates:

“Conversion rates are calculated by simply taking the number of conversions and dividing that by the number of total ad interactions that can be tracked to a conversion during the same time period. For example, if you had 50 conversions from 1,000 interactions, your conversion rate would be 5%, since 50 ÷ 1,000 = 5%.”

Now, there’s a catch to this assumption. We must be able to differentiate unique conversions from returning conversions.

Why is this important?

Let’s think about that for a moment. Unique conversions mean that you’re bringing in new customers. In contrast, returning customers means you aren’t truly expanding your customer base. Your revenue may increase, but your customer base remains the same. Boosting unique conversion rates, therefore, is the best way to measure your site’s ability to attract new customers.

Grow your sales with high-performing deals.

Get PickyStory

What are the main types of conversion rates?

There are three main types of conversion rates:

  • Total conversion rate: Number of total visitors / number of total sales
  • Unique conversion rate: Number of unique visitors / number of total new customer sales
  • Customer conversion rate: Number of returning customers / number of total returning customer sales

These conversion rates help identify where the bulk of your sales come from. Ideally, boosting your online store’s unique conversion rate is highly significant.

How so?

Boosting unique customers means your e-commerce is adding new customers. Therefore, it’s important for your company to focus on how to increase conversion rates to drive sales and generate more revenue.

These scenarios apply to both desktop and mobile conversion rates. 

What is the average conversion rate?

In 2019, the average global conversion rate stood at 2.58% across the e-commerce industry. Roughly two and a half visitors purchased for every one hundred. It seems like a considerably low ratio. Nevertheless, it highlights the competitive nature of the e-commerce industry. As for the United States, its overall conversion rate stood at 2.7%.

The overall conversion rate spiked significantly in 2020. The data for Q4 2020 showed an increase to 3.1% in the United States. Since then, the overall conversion rate has settled back down to 2.8% in Q2 2021. These figures highlight how e-commerce has fluctuated along with the needs of individual customers. Indeed, there is no question that online retail will continue to maintain its place among consumers’ preferences.

What is a good conversion rate?

Based on the earlier information, a good conversion rate is around 2.5% to 3.5%. A conversion rate exceeding 4% or even 5% is phenomenal. In contrast, a poor conversion rate would be anything around 1%.

The lesson is to ensure your e-commerce gets as close to 5% as possible. If you’re already there, congratulations! Let’s keep it up and boost it further. If not, there are several ways you can boost it to a significantly higher level.

Where do mobile conversion rates fit in?

Undoubtedly, mobile devices have taken over our lives in many ways. Using them for online shopping is just one of them. Therefore, it’s crucial to differentiate just how important mobile conversion rates are. In 2019, mobile device retail traffic accounted for 56.2% compared to 34.5% for desktop devices. In 2020, mobile retail traffic jumped to roughly 64% before settling back down to 59% in 2021.

However, mobile conversion rates tell a different story.

In 2019, mobile conversion rates accounted for 2.25% of total conversion, whereas desktop conversion rates accounted for 4.81%. This stark difference continues to be the norm. In 2021, mobile conversion rates remained at 2.2%, while desktop conversion rates dipped to 3.7%.

What does this mean?

Customers browse far more on mobile devices but somehow seem to prefer completing purchases on desktop devices, according to the lower mobile conversion rate data. 

Why are mobile conversion rates typically lower than desktop?

So, the question is: why do customers prefer to complete their online purchases on a desktop device and not a mobile one?

The answer to this question is quite straightforward. Users have a much better overall experience on desktop devices than on mobile ones. There are three main factors that highlight customers’ improved experience on a desktop device than a mobile one:

Ease of use: Generally speaking, it’s easier to navigate on a desktop than on a mobile device. Layouts, applications, and the user interface seem to flow better on a desktop layout than on a mobile one.

Improved visual quality: Images, videos, and slideshows often flow better on a desktop device than a mobile one. In particular, desktop layouts offer an enhanced image layout compared to mobile devices.

Checkout experience:  Even when layouts, images, and navigation work well on mobile devices, the checkout experience may leave customers wishing for an easier experience. Suppose the checkout experience is tougher on a mobile device. In that case, customers will prefer to use a desktop device to follow through on their purchases.

Based on these ideas, we must then ask ourselves: how do we increase the mobile conversion rate?

How can you increase your mobile conversion rates?

This is the million-dollar question. Improving mobile conversion rates is about providing customers with an easy experience on a mobile device. This experience includes seamless navigation throughout the site, high-quality graphics, appealing visuals, and a superb checkout experience.

Here are five things you can do today to boost your mobile conversion rates:

#1 Use a highly responsive site design

The name of the game is responsiveness when it comes to boosting mobile conversion rates. In short, your online store must deliver a similar shopping experience on both mobile and desktop devices. In doing so, customers will feel compelled to follow through on their purchases.

Also, focusing on mobile-first site designs can greatly enhance customers’ experience. A good rule of thumb is to build e-commerce sites thinking about mobile devices first, then desktops. Traditionally, site designers think of desktop and then mobile. However, the data shows that most folks are on mobile devices nowadays. So, it makes sense to focus on mobile before desktop.

#2 Integrate auto-fill options for forms or contact details

A significant factor keeping mobile e-commerce conversion rates is needing to type in the information. Inputting information on mobile devices is noticeably more difficult on mobile devices. Thus, filling in information on a desktop is a much easier proposition.

The antidote to this input situation is to integrate auto-fill options whenever possible. Auto-fill eliminates the need to type information every time a purchase is completed. However, the downside to storing information on your site is security. Your e-commerce site must, therefore, ensure absolute security for customer information. Fortunately, there are many ways in which you can achieve this.

By integrating auto-fill options for forms or contact details, you can greatly facilitate checkout leading to increased mobile e-commerce conversion rates.

#3 Make CTA buttons larger

One of the most frustrating experiences on a mobile device is to struggle with small buttons. Suppose customers find themselves enlarging their screens to hit the right button. In that case, they may prefer to switch over to a desktop device, if you’re lucky.

The perfect antidote to this issue is to make call to action (CTA) buttons larger. In other words, making buttons bigger, so customers don’t have to enlarge their screens can make a significant difference in boosting mobile e-commerce conversion rates.

Please note that users on desktop devices have a mouse or trackpad. As a result, this situation explains the difference in desktop versus mobile conversion rates. Using a pointing device tends to be more accurate than using fingers.

#4 Use mobile-friendly popups

Popups can be a nuisance. If done right, they are helpful and informative. Popups are common on desktop devices since e-commerce site designers have made them non-intrusive. However, desktop-based popups can become quite the hassle on a mobile device. In particular, desktop-based popups may completely block a mobile screen.

Mobile-friendly popups can help boost mobile conversion rates by allowing users to view their screens clearly. Furthermore, mobile-friendly popups help reduce the mobile versus desktop conversion rate gap when they provide great deals and special offers.

#5 Offer alternate payment methods

One interesting issue that commonly comes up is alternate payment methods. You see virtually every e-commerce site processes credit cards. However, the growth of other payment methods such as PayPal, Apple Pay, Amazon Pay, and even cryptocurrencies has led some users to prefer some retailers over others. 

Offering as many payment methods as possible can help boost your mobile e-commerce conversion rates. Please bear in mind that offering alternative payment methods is part of improving the overall checkout experience. 

How can PickyStory help improve your mobile conversion rates?

PickyStory’s conversion tools are ideal for giving your store an extra boost when it comes to converting visitors to buyers. By offering product bundles and deals throughout your store, you give your customers more chances to buy more products. 

Also, PickyStory’s deals display perfectly on both mobile and desktop layouts. Deal widgets auto-adjust to suit the screen size that your customers are shopping from. 

Your mobile conversion rate matters. Make it a priority.

Reaching the coveted 5% conversion rate mark is much easier than you think. The starting point is to identify why customers aren’t following through on their purchases. By providing them with a great user experience, you can boost your conversion rates significantly. With PickyStory and a highly responsive site design, you can kick your mobile conversion rates into high gear and reap the rewards. 

What are you waiting for?!

If you’re looking for more e-commerce tips and recommendations, check out the PickyStory blog.

Good Luck!

Read more: Upsell On Shopify: How To Upsell, Best Practices, Examples (+Pro Tips)

Grow your sales with high-performing deals.

Get PickyStory

Generate more revenue from every store visit.

Offer irresistible deals across your buyer's journey.

Try now
Watch video
  • Topics: Sales and Conversions

MOST POPULAR

Back to top

Platform

Main tools

By use case

By industry

Resources

Company

PickyStory is the complete e-commerce upsell platform. PickyStory enables e-commerce brands to make personalized offers by helping customers to discover more products.

pickystory

© All rights reserved 2023

Icon

Not enough sales?

Capture every drop of revenue with PickyStory's complete upsell platform.

Button
pickystory

Get matched with the right partner. PickyStory will do all the work to connect you with one of our awesome partners.

Trusted by the fastest-growing
e-commerce brands

vertical logos
X
pickystory_full_for_black-background-1-min.png

See PickyStory in action

See live demo
pickystory

Convert more visitors into buyers with PickyStory's e-commerce conversion platform

By entering your email, you agree to receive marketing emails from PickyStory.


Trusted by the fastest-growing e-commerce brands

pickystory

Book a demo to learn more about PickyStory's e-commerce upsell platform

By entering your email, you agree to receive marketing emails from PickyStory.


Trusted by the fastest-growing
e-commerce brands

vertical logos