Quick answer: how to raise e-shop conversion
Conversion rate is the share of visits that end in an order. Raising it from 2% to 3% means half again as many orders at the same traffic, without a crown more in advertising. That's why optimisation pays off before the next campaign.
The order to tackle it in:
- Checkout, every extra field and step costs orders; guest checkout is the baseline.
- Shipping and its cost, an unexpected shipping price in the last step is the most common reason for an abandoned cart.
- Speed, a slow page has no chance to sell, especially on mobile.
- Product page, photos, availability, shipping and returns in one place.
- Trust, reviews, contact details, terms, facts about the company.
The rest of the article is a how-to for each point.
Conversions > Traffic
Most e-shop owners focus on traffic. SEO, PPC, social media, all to bring more people in. But what if the problem isn't visitor count, but how many of them actually buy? Before you pour more money into advertising, it's worth knowing how to measure online marketing ROI.
Conversion rates vary by sector, price point and traffic source, so your own rate is the one worth tracking. At 2%, 20 out of 1,000 visitors buy; at 3%, thirty do. Moving from 2% to 3% therefore means 50% more orders, and at the same average order value 50% more revenue, without any extra ad spend.
At a 2% conversion rate, 20 out of 1,000 visitors buy. Moving to 3% means 50% more orders from the same traffic (and 50% more revenue at the same average order value), with no extra ad spend. Before raising your PPC budget, work out how many orders you're losing on the site itself.
1. Simplify Checkout
Every extra step in checkout is another place where some customers leave. Ideal checkout has max 3 steps: cart → delivery details → payment.
2. Free Shipping (or the Illusion of It)
An unexpected shipping cost is among the most common reasons for an abandoned cart. Solutions: free shipping above a threshold (show how much is left), include shipping in product prices, offer free in-store pickup.
3. Loading Speed
A slow e-shop demonstrably loses sales, some customers leave before the page even renders. Studies differ on the exact percentages, but the direction is always the same: every extra second costs orders. Details in Website Speed and SEO.
4. Product Pages That Sell
Most product pages have a name, price, and supplier-copied description. That's not enough. Write unique descriptions, add 3-5 photos, show reviews, display availability clearly, and add cross-sell sections.
5. Trust Elements
Customers who don't know you need a reason to trust you, reviews, security certificates, visible contact details, guarantees, and numbers like "5,000+ satisfied customers."
6. Mobile UX
A large share of visitors come from mobile. Check that buttons are large enough (min 44×44 px), forms have correct keyboards, cart is one tap away, and images adapt to screen width.
A large share of visitors arrive on a phone, an e-shop tuned only on desktop misses a substantial part of its customers. Walk through the points above directly on a mobile device: button sizes, correct form keyboards, and one-tap cart access only show up there.
7. Search That Works
Customers who use on-site search are among the most purchase-ready visitors you have, they already know what they want. Ensure typo tolerance, autocomplete with product images, sensible filters, and helpful "no results" pages.
8. Abandoned Cart Emails
Cart emails have the highest open rates of any automated campaign and realistically win back single-digit percentages of abandoned carts, which, at an average order value, still makes them one of the most profitable automations an e-shop has. Set up automatic emails at 1 hour, 24 hours, and optionally 48 hours with a discount offer.
9. Payment Methods
More payment methods = fewer customers leaving. In Czech Republic 2026: card online, Apple/Google Pay, bank transfer, cash on delivery, and installment plans for expensive items.
10. A/B Testing
Don't guess what works. Test. Two CTA button versions, two product page layouts, different trust element placements. An A/B test needs enough orders for the result not to be chance, so smaller stores should fix obvious problems and measure the overall conversion rate instead (see the FAQ below).
Recoloring a button, rewriting the copy, and hoping is not how conversion optimization works. Without measurement you can't tell whether a change helped, hurt, or did nothing. With enough order volume, run two versions against each other in an A/B test; for a smaller store, compare the conversion rate before and after the change. Only measurement will prove it.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good e-shop conversion rate?
It depends on the sector, price point and traffic source, so comparing yourself to someone else's number is of little use. Your own curve is more useful: measure weekly and act on changes relative to yourself. A tenth of a percentage point at a store with thousands of visits a month shows up in revenue more than chasing an "industry average".
What raises conversion fastest?
Checkout. Removing mandatory registration, shortening the form and showing the shipping price from the start are the cheapest changes with the fastest impact. Button colours come much later.
What does conversion optimisation cost?
The cheapest route is applying the points above to your existing store, often a matter of hours. If the template or platform itself turns out to be the bottleneck, you're looking at an e-shop redesign, which starts at €1,000.
Do I need A/B tests for this?
For smaller stores, usually not, a statistically sound test needs large volumes. Up to a few thousand orders a year it makes more sense to fix obvious problems (long checkout, missing information, slow mobile) and measure the overall rate rather than testing shades of a button.
How to Start
You don't need to implement all 10 at once. Start with what costs least effort and brings the biggest effect:
- Simplify checkout
- Add trust elements
- Set up abandoned cart emails
These three can be done in a week; then verify the impact on your conversion rate over the following weeks.
Once your conversions are under control, it pays to drive in more quality traffic, where to advertise more cost-effectively, I compare in my article Google Ads vs Sklik.
Need help optimizing your e-shop? Get in touch, I'll look at specific numbers and suggest where to start. I offer SEO optimization, e-shop redesigns, and complete Shoptet and Shopify e-shop development.