- How to optimize the WooCommerce site for higher conversions
- Best WordPress shopping cart plugins
- How to install WooCommerce shopping cart plugins step-by-step
- Usable shopping cart designs
- Tips for Reducing Cart Abandonment
There is a perception that WordPress CMS is not suitable for online stores. Nevertheless, almost a third of all existing online stores operate on this software. Do you know why?
Despite the fact that initially, WordPress was created exclusively as a blogging platform, today it has developed to such a level that on this platform you can create almost anything. In many cases, you can do without even web programming knowledge. Just pick a good template and select the necessary plugins. Today we will look at everything related to the WooCommerce shopping cart theme.
What can be said, this is a very cool solution for online stores. The main page can contain various sections of recommended and new products, a slider, a vertical navigation menu, and additional promo banners. You can upload your logo and background image for the website, adjust the color of accents, and optionally disable the scroll up button, social icons, publication information, and even the main menu.
And what is most important for you, as the person who is interested in this article? Of course, it’s a large number of visitors to your website and satisfied customers after the conversion.
How to optimize the WooCommerce site for higher conversions
Of course, the number of satisfied users mainly depends on you and your products but we will tell you how to optimize your WooCommerce website for higher conversions. Plugins!
If you want more subscriptions and visits to the contact page, you should increase the attractiveness and visual effect of the buttons for the target action; use the pop-up window for calls to action. It does not matter where–in the footer, sidebar, or anywhere else on the page or in a single post. Using WordPress plugins, it is very easy to create such elements. For example, the user leaving the page can be shown a pop-up with a delayed form or a lateral retractable block with an appeal. Such exit-intent plugins increase the conversion of outgoing traffic. Not only professional CRO-plugins (Conversion Rate Optimization) generate leads. Sometimes this feature is included in plugins for social sharing or newsletters. Below, we have collected for you the coolest free and premium plugins to increase site conversion.
Best WordPress shopping cart plugins
FREE
| Name | Description | Main features |
| WP EasyCart Shopping Cart & eCommerce Store |
The plugin allows the user to easily create three different pages for their purchases - account, shop, and cart. This allows you to easily create a portal to your store through user interaction. | All services with multi-language and multi-currency support.
Sell with Square, PayPal Express, and Stripe. Possibility to upgrade to the Professional or Premium edition. |
| WordPress Calls to Action
By Inbound Now |
This plugin allows you to monitor conversion rates, track leads, clone call to action buttons and conduct split tests. | Interesting calls to action on your resource.
The opportunity to take your existing projects and implement them. Easy to use interface. |
| One Page Checkout By coolcoders | Thanks to this plugin, customers can view products and their descriptions plus can also apply various coupons and promotional codes without leaving the page and not waiting for a new page to load. All notifications appear at the top of the page. | Unlimited filters.
Long term setup. Skip cart page. |
| Easy Digital Downloads | From the name itself, it is clear what the function of this plugin is - it provides a complete system for the easy sale of your digital products. | Allows users to view their complete purchase history, as well as the ability to re-download.
Translated into more than 20 languages supports PayPal Standard and Amazon Payments. |
| Ecwid Ecommerce Shopping Cart By Ecwid Ecommerce | This is a very convenient e-commerce solution with support for more than 40 payment options and 45 different languages. Also, an interesting addition will be free mobile applications for iOS and Android, which is very much appreciated in the modern world. | Stores your data completely in the cloud.
Automatic backup. Brilliant API. |
| Social Media Share Buttons and Social Sharing Icons By UltimatelySocial | This plugin allows you to add icons for RSS, e-mail, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+. Here you can choose from 200+ social media platforms and more. You can add your own icon for sharing. These icons and buttons will convince visitors to like or share content. | 16 design patterns.
The ability to subscribe to your blog via email. Optimized for mobile. |
| PayPal Shopping Cart By Scott Paterson | This plugin allows you to place PayPal buttons under the “Add to Cart” and “View Cart” sections anywhere on your website. Payments are naturally processed by PayPal with a credit or debit card. | Compatible with any WordPress theme.
Support 25 currencies. |
PREMIUM
| Name | Description | Main features | Price |
| Shopp | It adds a secure shopping cart, a simplified checkout system, a product demonstration, and infinitely flexible tools for developing your site. | Streamlined installation system.
Flexible shipping calculators. Friendly SEO. |
$55 for a single-site license |
| Bloom by Elegant Themes | This plugin is designed to increase the subscriber base. Highly specialized targeting will help convert visitors to loyal customers. | 100+ highly customizable design templates.
6 options for displaying forms on a page. customizable location and user experience. |
$89 per year |
| Cart66 By Reality66 | Sell everything: digital files, send goods, sell music, books, and videos, accept donations and even sell subscriptions and memberships. | Google Analytics.
Many payment gateways included. Built-in product catalog with unlimited categories. |
From $9.99 per month |
How to install WooCommerce shopping cart plugins step-by-step
After you choose for yourself the most necessary for your site, let's figure out how to install it on your site.
- You need to log in to your WordPress dashboard with your username and password.
- Click Plugins on the left side of your WordPress dashboard menu.
- On the plugins page, click the Add New button.
- Enter the name of the plugin in the plugin search bar (e.g. PayPal Shopping cart).
- Find the PayPal Shopping cart plugin in the search results and click Install.
- You will see the installation process of the PayPal Shopping cart plugin. Once the installation is complete, click the Activate button.
- Voila! Done.
This will lead you to the plugin initial setup wizard. You will be presented with the Shop Settings page, where you can configure the location, address, and currency of the store. Choose the appropriate options depending on the desired target audience (payment configuration, shipping options, and storefront theme). And now let's talk about various design options for your business.
Usable shopping cart designs
The design of an online store is the most important component of a complex process - attracting customers. An amazing and attractive home page, an original template, a catchy title - all these are “hooks” that catch potential customers and give an additional chance that the user will continue to explore your web resource because it is really interesting.
In view of the fact that we are dealing with an online store, your buyer is deprived of the opportunity to see the product live, feel it, and try it on; therefore, you must provide them with the maximum amount of information: a detailed description, technical specifications, high-quality photos, reviews, videos, or 3D-overview. By the way, the one who invented reviews for goods was Amazon, thereby adding sociality to the site, greatly increasing conversion and sales. And look at its popularity today!
The secret of your success, of course, is in originality, in your strengths, and excellent ideas. After all, how difficult it is in the modern world to find something unique. Therefore, if you are still only planning the working design of your project, we recommend that you read the very useful article “42 Best Shopping Cart Page Design Templates.” Maybe it will inspire you to create something completely unreal.
The main advice: make the product page design spacious, with emphasis on the main elements. If possible, do not clutter the page. The information should be structured in separate blocks. People should not be confused because people love specifics. Plus, today finding an alternative is not a problem at all. Therefore, if a person gets annoyed by something, they will leave your site very quickly (take care of the loading speed of your website). Therefore, look at everything from the perspective of the user!
Tips for Reducing Cart Abandonment
This is usually called "WooCommerce abandoned cart rate." The higher it is, the more reason you have to think, "What is actually wrong here?" Think about it. What often becomes the reason that you have added a product to the cart but did not buy it? Indeed, most sources set abandonment rates at about 60-70%. Due to many reasons: a compulsory condition in the preliminary creation of the account, too much percentage of the commission for the purchase, too complicated checkout process, reluctance to leave credit card information, or simply the person is not sure about making the purchase.
So, how do you reduce the number of abandoned purchases in the online store? There are four easy ways.
- Make users feel safe. From the very moment a person adds the product to the cart until they receive the product in their hands, your buyer must understand that he does not risk anything, but only wins. Make sure that the customer can easily reach their carts at any time. Offer a comprehensive return policy, provide an accessible 24/7 team of specialists who can answer any questions in a convenient way for a person. Plus the checkout process should be smooth (hire a group of professional testers and they will check out all of your system inside and out). A very important point is the final price: taking into account all the discounts or their absence, delivery, or courier services. Everything should be transparent and clear.
- Allow customers to place orders as guests. Few people like an obsession. Constant pop-ups with messages that you need to register, or "do you really want to leave this site?" are very annoying and can cause an unfinished purchase. There is nothing wrong with buying without registering. A satisfied customer will always return. And registration can be backed up with some goodies such as discounts on goods or just notifications of new deliveries. After all, you only need concerned clients.
- The checkout process does not have to be complicated. Simplify it. All that a person needs from you is to get his desired goods as soon as possible. And the longer they have to wait and exert themselves the greater the likelihood that they will go to another site. And if you are counting on an audience of Homunculus loxodontus, then you can wait for payment from them with the same success =) By the way, in this case, you can use One Page Checkout plugin from the table above.
- Send your customers emails with reminders of the “abandoned cart.” Do not spam and if you are not familiar with the CAN-SPAM Act - read it. Of course spam filters are improved every day and most likely they will not miss an unwanted message in your inbox folder, but first, build up your client base, and then invite them to come back to your website and think again about a purchase. Maybe now is the perfect time for it =) Who knows?!
We tried to consider the most important key points related to the creation of an online store with WooCommerce shopping cart. The current trend suggests that more and more new e-shops will be created. This means that the need to create online stores and specialists capable of creating them will also increase. To make a high-quality online shop, it is not enough for the designer just “to be able to draw”, and for the developers just to launch the platform, here you need to understand strategies, marketing, and technologies.
If you decide to create your own internet shop and are confident in your abilities, we will be happy if our tips help you achieve success in this.
How To Use WordPress For ECommerce [Free Ebook]
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