Deciding on the best product categories for your eCommerce website may be more important than you think. Rather than being tempted to start with as many product categories as possible, hoping to attract more customers, this can actually have the opposite effect.
Making sure your products are well organised and easy to navigate for your website visitors tends to increase conversions. Here are three signs that your current product categories are not working as well for you as they could be and what to do about them.
Do You Have a High Bounce Rate?
If customers can’t find what they’re looking for quickly, they may leave for another website. Take a look at your Google Analytics data to see which pages people bounce from. You can then make changes to improve your website and hopefully lower your bounce rate.
Do You Get Lots of Product Searches on Your Website?
If website visitors have difficulty navigating your site through your existing product categories, they may use the search function instead to help them find a particular product. However, the good news is that you can use this information to help rectify the problem.
Are You Getting Fewer Sales Than Expected?
Both of the above can lead to a lower conversion rate. Potential customers may think you do not stock the item they wish to purchase. Therefore they may go elsewhere to buy instead, resulting in missed sales opportunities.
If you answered yes to one or more of the above questions, a tweak of your product categories might be in order. The most important thing is to make it as easy as possible for customers to find what they’re looking for on your website.
How to Fix This?
One of the easiest ways to ensure your product categories make sense to your audience is to collate the search terms they have used on your website. You can then use these to organise your products. The number of categories and subcategories you will need will depend on the range of products you sell.
Rigorous Digital is a Digital Marketing Agency based in Cheltenham, UK, servicing an international client base. eCommerce websites are one of our specialisms. Want more eCommerce website and marketing tips straight to your inbox? Then, sign up for Rigorous Bulletin, our monthly newsletter.
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