A website without a conversion optimization strategy is like a car with no wheels; it will take you nowhere.  This statement depicts the image of how useless your POD store will be without conversions. Conversion rate optimization is the most essential and popular marketing tactic print-on-demand store owners should watch out for in 2020.  It can increase your sales without spending a hefty amount on advertising and content marketing.
 

Going by the statistics, the average conversion rate is 2.35% but the maximum customers above 25% convert at is 5.31% or higher.  Conversions are the lifeblood of your online store; they help  move the wheels of business.  It's essential to work hard on improving your conversion rate, to move your profit graph upwards.  However, before we talk about effective ways to improve your website conversion rate, let's look at what conversion means.
 

What is the conversion rate and how it works?

There are two essential types of conversion rate:
 

1. Macro: it is the primary objective of your website and includes the big actions your customers/users make, like making a purchase.
 

2. Micro: these conversions are less important.  They are the smaller steps that will ultimately lead to macro conversions.  For example, when customers view a product page or add an item to your basket.  Micro conversions can also include activities like signing up to your email or gaining followers on social media.  Activities that indicate a prospective customer has shown interest or engages with your brand is an example of micro conversions. 
 

The entire sales funnel of your business is based on macro and micro conversions.  A typical customer journey on your website will look like this:
 

1. Visit a website.

2. View a product page.

3. Add it to basket.

4. Checkout.

5. Place your order.
 

To boost your conversion rate, understand how these metrics work on your website.  Develop specific benchmarks to understand your store's performance and what improvements you can make.
 

How can you improve the website conversion rate?  Let's find out
 

1. Your ads should match the landing page: there must be relevance between your ads and landing page.  Whatever you offer in your ads, it should be exactly what you offer on your landing page.  If you want to use an ad that promotes 25% off on POD products, the exact sale and language should be on the landing page where you send your potential customers.  Make sure you keep the branding the same.  Branding refers to not only the tone of voice and style but also colors, fonts and designs that you use.  The key point is to keep your designs simple and ensure people don't get a shock when they reach your landing page only to find misleading content.
 

2. Clarify your products value proposition: a value proposition guide's a customer’s purchase decision.  It tells your potential customers that everything they are looking for is present on your website.  It's your promise to deliver high value to customers via clear features and solution-oriented benefits.  The value proposition is something you need to make crystal clear on your website and it should create a certain sense of urgency, compelling customers to purchase products like custom kids' clothing from your online store.  If you want your proposition to work, pinpoint the benefits you offer to customers and differentiate the brand from the rest.
 

3. Content should be audience-specific:  whatever content you use, make sure it matches your target audience's reading and comprehension level.  Ensure the language or tone you are using and the content is coherent and rich.  If you are not getting conversions, your wording may be wrong and superfluous for your target audience.
 

4. Use cart abandonment software:  according to a recent study, online shoppers abandon their shopping carts at a rate of 70%.  This may appear too high but there are specific measures you can take to decrease the risk of cart abandonment.  There is a range of online cart abandonment software available that helps to evaluate the number of customers who abandon their carts.  The software is linked to your checkout page and whenever a user closes the window, a pop up will appear with an offer to encourage users to convert.  If the user still abandons the cart, create an autoresponder email to encourage customers to come back and finish their shop.  With a little bit of effort, you get an automated abandoned cart email sequence which, when it goes live, will require little effort at all.  Cart abandonment software has a good effect month after month in improving website revenue. 
 

5. Use quality product images: customers have a lot of confusion about online shopping, especially regarding quality.  To reduce the doubt of customers, have quality product images on your website.  When purchasing products, online shoppers cannot touch products by hand, making it difficult for them to determine its quality.   With product images, give customers peace of mind about the quality of the products they are buying.  According to a study conducted by SmartInsights, multiple product views and other alternative images lead to 58 % more sales.
 

6. Secure website: one way of optimizing your conversion rate is by making customers believe that the website is secure.  Add trust elements to your website.  A few trust signals that you can have in your website include:

• Contact information (like contact page, email, phone number and live chat).

• Social profiles (e.g. Facebook, Linkedln, Twitter and Instagram).

• Payment assurances (e.g. various payment methods, trust badges, certifications and SSL).
   

Hopefully, after reading the above points, you will be in a better position to optimize your custom kids' t-shirts online clothing store.  Follow all the above steps and you will get a higher conversion rate.