Ecommerce
IN ECOMM,
BEING EASY
TO READ HELPS
YOU SELL
Ecommerce
Whether you sell socks with chihuahuas on them, folding commuter bikes for preschoolers, or edible shower caps, ecomm marketers face one big challenge—you need to get visitors not just to “add to cart” but to check out. Online storefronts tend to be dotted with distractions (like navigation or other products), however, and your product pages may not match your ads’ exact premise. Using pre-cart landing pages instead allows you to deliver on-point messaging, wow-inspiring product shots, and social proof to convert more clicks.
- The overall conversion rate for the industry is 3.5%, but the best-performing ecomm landing pages actually convert at 25.8% (based on the top 25th percentile).
- Ecommerce landing pages make up 24% of the pages we analyzed in this report.
- Below, our machine learning algorithm has broken ecommerce down into 5 subcategories to get more granular.
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Ecommerce
Ecomm pages earn a
3.5% median conversion rate.
What’s this mean? Ecomm conversion rates can vary quite a bit, depending on what you’re selling. Industrial tools naturally convert lower than the ecomm baseline (since selling a drilling press isn’t the same as selling a t-shirt). Set realistic goals by picking the subcategory benchmark closest to your own. How’d we get these numbers? Read our methodology here.
Ecommerce
Joy and anticipation get
customers in the mood to buy.
We all dream of that one, golden product that sells itself. (“A frozen pizza that also does my taxes? And it babysits the kids!? Sold!”) Sadly, ecomm marketers are seldom handed something so compelling. Without beautiful product shots, persuasive copy, and shout-it-from-the-rooftops reviews, many products will never find the right buyers.
Sending visitors to a landing page tuned to emotions associated with buying could make a difference. Below, we show how expressing a little feeling may relate to positive changes in your conversion rates. Take a look for yourself.
Some ecommerce landing pages that use more words associated with joy and anticipation see higher conversion rates. So if you’re writing copy, we recommend you try to hit both of these sentiments. Don’t be afraid to build high expectations for your products in your headline and CTA—you want people excitedly tracking their shipments—and include joyful testimonials and supporting copy throughout.
Not all emotional language is good, however.
In today's uncertain climate, consumers are craving something to look forward to. Given this mindset, I'd expect to see similar or even higher conversion rates for ecomm brands using words associated with joy and anticipation.
Ecommerce Copywriter
Our results show that some sentiments, even words associated with trust, correlate to lower conversion rates in ecommerce. Marketers who use negative words to emphasize the problem their product solves are similarly less likely to see more conversions too. (We saw similar, but less pronounced trends with sadness, fear, disgust, and anger.)
Ecommerce
Words that inspire joy in
your customers
What does joy look like? We’ve listed a few of the words that our machine learning algorithm used to find joy on the ecomm pages we analyzed—but you need to do more than simply sprinkle joyful words on your page. From headlines and hero images to CTAs and testimonials, all the components should work together to communicate happiness. Read more about sentiment analysis in our methodology.
Ecommerce
Ecomm by the numbers
2X
More Disgust on Ecomm Pages
Ecomm pages contain 103% more disgust words (like contaminate, dirty, and mess) than the overall industry baseline, but it doesn’t relate to more conversions. Still, unless you need to evoke disgust to convey the value of your product—as in, “it eliminates the unpleasant odor of toe rot”—you may want to avoid being gross.
2.8X
Conversion Rates from Click-through CTAs
When it comes to ecomm CTAs, getting prospects to click is a whole lot easier than getting them to fill out a form. It’s not surprising that click-through pages perform more than twice as well as looking for phone calls or form fills, but try testing clear and clickable CTAs to reduce friction—like, say, “Add to Cart.”
46%
Fewer Words for Subscription Boxes
On average, pages for subscription boxes (think monthly snacks and supplies for your ferret) contain almost half as many words as the baseline for ecomm. That also might be why they convert comparatively well: our results show a tendency toward fewer conversions when ecomm pages have more copy.
Ecommerce
What does a high-converting ecomm page actually look like?
Knowing is half the ecomm battle. Now that you’ve got some benchmarks, you can find fresh inspiration for your next campaign by checking out some masterpieces from Unbounce customers.
Get the Ultimate Ecomm Landing Page Lookbook.Ecommerce
Plain language helps merchants communicate value.
Almost every industry we studied benefits from short, straightforward language. And that’s no less true for ecommerce, where more difficult language relates to fewer customer conversions. For more detail, take a look at the graphs below, which chart reading ease and word count for ecomm:
People have very short attention spans so simple language is always best. Unclear or complex messages create friction for the consumer, and every moment of friction is another chance for them to bounce. Try drilling deeper into the benefit your product provides to your consumer. Remember, you're not really selling a product, you're selling the result.
Content Marketing Manager, BigCommerce
Ecommerce
For ecomm, shorter and simpler is better.
As you can see, a pithier page tends to convert better than composing a philosophical treatise that covers all 101 benefits of your product. Likewise, keep your vocabulary simple as pie and your sentences short and sweet. (Maybe don’t use words like “pithier,” now that I think about it.) Our machine learning analysis shows a dramatic increase in conversion rates on ecomm pages that trend below 300 words and are written at a middle-school level.
Want more details about these findings?
Read more about how we measure reading ease in our methodology.
Ecommerce
THREE BIG
TAKEAWAYS
FROM THE
ECOMM
BENCHMARKS
- Joy and anticipation are likely the best emotions to infuse into copy for ecomm pages. We saw some evidence that these two sentiments could correlate with higher conversion rates, so using them may get your visitors in the mood to buy.
- Insisting on trust probably doesn’t work. Words associated with negativity and trust both occasionally correlated with lower conversion rates. Instead, we’d recommend showing you’re trustworthy by offering simple refunds and shipping guarantees.
- Shorter pages with everyday language tend to perform better. When copywriting for your products, resist the urge to throw in everything plus the kitchen sink—even if you’re selling kitchen sinks. Keep it short and focused on the main benefits.
Ecommerce
How do your landing pages stack up?
See exactly how your page compares to ecomm industry benchmarks with the Unbounce Copy Analyzer, which provides instant copy recommendations to help you turn more browsers into buyers.
Analyze the effectiveness of your landing page copy.