As an online luxury retailer, you know how important it is to have a good conversion rate. This will help you to keep increasing your profits while keeping your customers happy and excited! When you try to improve your conversion rate, it’s vital that you invest in quality CRO services. This will help you increase your profits faster and on a larger scale. It will also ensure that you’re providing your customers with the best shopping experience possible.
In the past year, online stores have seen the biggest impact of CRO on their ecommerce business when it comes to increasing revenue. Especially in luxury goods stores, where you have the ability to test out higher-priced products, the return on investment from testing out different calls-to-action, marketing copy, and user flow have been significant. Our clients see on average 30% increase in revenue over the course of a few months by making small tweaks to the product pages.
A “good” ecommerce conversion rate for luxury goods differs from the CR for low- and mid-priced products. Luxury & Jewelry brands see on average 1.56% – 2% conversion rate which directly depends on the product price and available sizes and product variants. In other words, the higher is the product price the lower is the conversion. However, there are several ways you can increase conversion and boost sales even for very expensive products.
How to increase the conversion rate for a luxury goods store?
Luxury brands usually drive a lot of web traffic and social media followers. Naturally, people glance through luxury brand sites and social media profiles to look for inspiration and motivation. And most of them will never convert because they can’t afford it. As a result, online stores with expensive goods need more traffic to make sales, which results in a low conversion rate.
However, there are several ways you can increase the conversion rate for your luxury goods store. The first thing you need to do is to find out what is causing the low conversion rate. Are the product pages too long? Are the product images not enticing enough?
Here are just a few most common issues luxury ecommerce stores have:
1. The quality of the product page
When you improve the product page, you improve the conversion rate. The reason is that people have a tendency to visit the product page first and then make the decision to buy. If your product page does not inspire them, they will move on. The good product page includes a clear descriptive product title, clear price indication, reviews, product availability, easily identifiable add-to-cart and buy buttons, price, product availability, description, quality images, and so on.
For a start, you can add top-notch product demo videos, images, and descriptions to your product pages. You can also test different product page layouts and elements, such as, adding a “Limited edition” label, testing the Add-to-Cart button color, or review placements. Be careful with A/B testing though, as you need to know what you are doing, otherwise, you will end up with disastrous results.
2. The quality of the product description
The most typical cause for a low conversion rate for luxury goods stores is the low-quality product description. Your product description must catch the customer’s attention. A good product description copy should answer the following questions: What makes this product special? Why should I buy it? What are the benefits of this product?
A good product description should include actionable words and simple language. You need to avoid vague or flowery language that confuses your customers. People believe that luxury brands offer higher quality products and services. So, you want to write your luxury product description in a way that shoppers can see the quality of the product. If you don’t have a high-quality description, you’ll end up on the last page of Google.
Luxury goods usually have a higher price as well. So premium brands usually have a more detailed product description than others. It’s essential to inform the shopper about what is included in the package, how to use the product, and make it look beautiful. You want to make sure they have enough information to feel comfortable paying the higher price.
3. The quality of the website traffic
If you are selling a luxury product, the amount of traffic that you get from the website will make a huge difference to your sales. Sometimes, a low conversion rate has nothing to do with your site or product. It is often a result of the low-quality traffic. Make sure that the website has a high quality of traffic, and you will make more sales.
The amount of traffic that comes to your online store is important, but the quality of the traffic is vital for your luxury business. You need to identify marketing channels that bring the right kind of traffic to your store. For example, you will want to test the traffic that comes from Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Google. After that, you need to determine which of these platforms generates higher ROI (returns on investment) and focus on them. These right website traffic will result in a higher conversion rate for your luxury ecommerce store.
4. Buy now, pay later.
We’ve all seen those “Buy now, pay later” (BNPL) offers. The idea is that shoppers buy something now and pay for it later, usually with a set of Afterpay, Affirm, or Klarna payments. BNPL can help increase the conversion rate for luxury ecommerce stores by making their products more accessible to the public without decreasing the price.
5. The quality online shopping experience
Luxury shoppers expect not only high-quality products but a quality shopping experience online. This means, your premium brand should have a well-designed online store, and the brand must be visible to the customer. The website must be user-friendly and interactive. The website has to allow the customer to access the products easily. Luxury brands have to create a positive user experience that makes shoppers want to buy. A “warm welcome” digital experience can help with this, leading to a higher conversion rate.
These are just a few tips for increasing conversions for luxury brands. I am sure, you will see the results if you implement them. However, conversion is not everything. You should also aim to increase the average order value for your luxury store. Why is it important? Often when the conversion rate cannot be increased because it reached its maximum, you still can increase sales by boosting your average order value by selling more to those who can afford it.
How to increase AOV for luxury brands?
As a luxury brand, you should not overlook the importance of your average order value. According to the Luxury Retail Report, luxury ecommerce stores have an AOV of $408, which is more than 3 times higher than the average of non-luxury brands. In other words, while luxury stores have lower conversion rates, their customers spend much more.
Luxury goods such as high-end watches, cars and handbags are often associated with glamour and exclusivity. In the past, luxury goods were limited to the wealthy and high-status. As a result, the average consumer was unable to buy luxury goods. However, in today’s digital world, luxuries are also available to all.
One of the challenges with luxury goods is that they're often expensive, and this might cause some shoppers to hesitate or to only buy low-ticket products. So you really need to focus on attracting the right audience and offering them an unparalleled shopping experience to sell high-ticket items.
So how can you increase the average order value for luxury goods?
Scarcity to increase conversion and AOV
The high price of premium products can be justified by the limited production of these goods, the high demand, or the rarity of these goods, all of which result in limited supply. However, there is a way to take advantage of the scarcity of a luxury good to increase the average order value, or the average price per order, for that product.
Limited edition products.
One way to increase the average order value (AOV) for luxury goods is to create limited edition products. For example, high-end watches usually come with a limited edition watchband. In order to add value to the watch, the watchband is often of a higher quality than the standard band that is used for all other watches. The higher the quality of the watchband, the more valuable that watch is to the consumer. Therefore, the consumer is willing to pay a higher price for the limited edition watchband because it adds value to the watch.
By creating a limited edition product, luxury retailers are able to increase the average order value. It does require some effort to create limited edition products, but it can be a worthwhile endeavor for luxury retailers.
Pre-order products
Retailers use this strategy to increase the average value of luxury goods. The strategy allows shoppers to pre-order luxury goods before they are released, so they can get their hands on the latest items before everyone else. This allows the retailer to increase the price of the product and, in turn, increase the AOV.
For example, luxury jewelry brands often use a pre-order strategy, where they will allow their customers to place orders for a special piece of jewelry that is only available for a short period. The consumer will be able to reserve the jewelry ahead of time. When the jewelry is ready to be delivered, the buyers will be the first person in the world to have that specific jewelry piece. They will be able to wear the piece before anyone else, which will increase the demand for that product.
Shopping assistance to boost sales
Shop the look
When shopping for premium products, the fun of finding the perfect luxury items is what makes you satisfied. When you find a product that you truly love, you want to learn how to style it with other items available in the store, such as accessories, clothing items, or even perfume to achieve that expensive look.
Customers are often inspired by celebrities and design runways, and they want someone to tell them what to wear so that they can look as awesome as their favorite influencers. They are willing to spend a large amount of money on fashionable items because they know that they will look great in them.
The Shop the Look is the perfect feature for every luxury retailer because it helps shoppers to view and purchase different looks and sets that have been professionally styled with the products that they have picked. These looks are often inspired by celebrities that luxury shoppers admire. It helps customers learn how to style the products that they've picked and encourages them to buy more, which is a great way to increase the average order value.
Virtual shopping assistant
Luxury shoppers are often concerned with what to wear and how to style their outfits. They want fashion advice, and they want it now. In order to meet the needs of luxury shoppers, online retailers create an online fashion assistant that provides fashion advice via video chat or text chat. The assistant can provide fashion advice to the luxury shopper, based on the type of luxury goods that the shopper has purchased or thinks to purchase.
When asked for fashion advice, virtual fashion assistants use their understanding of the latest trends and their access to the right items to direct luxury shoppers toward items that will look great together and help them achieve the desired look. It helps establish emotional connection and trust between shoppers and the brand. As the result, shoppers tend to buy more times than they would buy without assistance.
Conclusion
Most luxury shoppers want to have a unique premium piece that they can have in their collection and feel great about. These premium goods are more than just something to have, but rather something to own and invest in, which makes them luxury.
Keep this in mind when developing a marketing strategy and selecting your Ecommerce KPIs. As you can see, luxury e-commerce cannot rely only on conversion optimization or traffic, sometimes it makes more sense to focus on the average order value. If you need help determining the best KPI to work on or identifying areas for improvement, simply book a meeting, and let's talk!