Most visitors to an online store leave without buying. Baymard Institute puts the average cart abandonment rate at about 70%, based on 49 studies. Some of that is browsing. Much of it is friction you can remove.
Conversion rate is the share of visitors who complete a purchase. Small gains compound, because each extra sale comes from traffic you already paid to attract.
Many owners treat the site as a launch project, then move on. Conversion work never really ends. Internet use here is close to universal, so shoppers compare options quickly. These ten changes are practical and easy to measure.
1. Fix Page Speed First
Speed affects every later step. A well-built store still loses sales when pages drag, which is why an Ecommerce Web Design Company should budget for speed. A Google-commissioned Deloitte study found that a 0.1 second mobile speed improvement lifted retail conversions by 8.4%. Average order value rose 9.2%.
The study dates from 2020 and covered European and US brands. The direction still holds. Compress images, remove unused scripts, and test on a mid-range phone, not your office laptop. Run key pages through Google’s PageSpeed Insights and note the mobile score. Fix the heaviest items first, then retest. Before big sale days such as 11.11 or 12.12, check speed under heavier traffic. Hosting quality also matters, so ask your provider about server response times.
2. Simplify the Checkout
Baymard estimates the average large store could raise conversion by 35.26% through better checkout design alone. Its testing suggests an ideal flow can be as short as 12 to 14 form elements.
Count the fields in yours. Remove anything you do not need to fulfil the order. Show a progress indicator so shoppers know how many steps remain. Clear error messages help too. If a form rejects an entry, say exactly what to fix, next to the field.
3. Offer a Visible Guest Checkout
Forced account creation sends shoppers away. Baymard’s research found that strict password rules caused up to 19% abandonment. This affected returning users who struggled to sign in.
Make guest checkout easy to find. Invite customers to create an account after they have paid. Returning customers still benefit from saved details, so keep accounts optional, not forbidden.
4. Accept the Payments Locals Use
A Worldpay report, covered by The Asset, found wallets held 39% of Singapore’s online transaction value in 2024. In 2014, the share was 7%. Cards remain popular too, since over 70% of consumers surveyed preferred cards to fund their wallets.
PayNow is also widespread. Stripe reports that 83% of residents used it by the end of 2025. Offer cards, PayNow and at least one major wallet. Check that each method works on mobile, and that confirmation emails arrive. A payment option that fails on a phone costs more than one you never offered.
5. Show the Full Price Early
Surprise costs push shoppers out. Baymard’s abandonment research lists unexpected extra costs among the leading reasons for leaving.
Show GST-inclusive prices and delivery costs on the product or cart page. Do not wait until the last step to reveal them. A free-shipping threshold can also help if it is visible early. A banner showing how far the cart is from the threshold turns a cost into a goal.
6. Make Product Pages Answer Questions
A shopper who has to ask a question usually does not. Cover size, materials, delivery time and returns on the page itself.
Use clear photos from several angles. Add a short note on who the product suits. This reduces hesitation and cuts support enquiries. Customer questions are also a source of copy. Review recent emails and chats, then add the answers to the page.
7. Show Proof That You Are Real
New shoppers look for reasons to trust an unfamiliar store. Display genuine reviews, a clear returns policy and visible contact details.
Consider an easy return window if your margins allow it. Add a registered business name and address in the footer. Small signals like these reassure people about to enter card details. Reply to negative reviews politely and specifically. Prospective buyers read those replies as closely as the reviews themselves.
8. Design for Thumbs
Check your analytics for the share of visits from phones. Then complete a purchase on one yourself.
Look for tiny buttons, pop-ups that block content and forms that jump around. A sticky add-to-cart button often helps on long product pages. Lazy-load images so the first screen appears quickly. Keep forms short on phones, and use the right keyboard type for phone and email fields.
9. Follow Up on Abandoned Carts
A well-timed reminder can recover sales from shoppers who simply got distracted. Send an email or message with the cart contents and a direct link back.
Contact only shoppers who agreed to receive messages. Keep the tone helpful, not pushy. A reminder within hours is a sensible starting point, so test the timing. Offer help, such as sizing advice or a contact link, before any discount.
10. Test One Change at a Time
Record your current conversion rate before changing anything. Then alter one element, such as a button label, a shipping threshold or a photo order.
Decide what the test should prove before you start. A clear question keeps results honest. Wait until you have enough visits to judge the result. Low-traffic stores can pair small tests with customer feedback and session recordings. Avoid testing during unusual periods, such as a major sale, unless the test is about the sale itself. Keep a simple log of what you changed and what happened.
Where to Start
You do not need to do all ten at once. Begin with speed, checkout and payment options, since the research above shows the largest effects there.
Track three numbers: conversion rate, cart abandonment rate and average order value. Together they show whether a change brought more buyers, fewer drop-offs or larger baskets. Measure before and after each change. Review the results every quarter, and keep what works. Conversion gains rarely come from one dramatic redesign. They come from steady, tested improvements to the path a shopper already takes.
