The key to increasing your Shopify conversion rate is understanding why people buy your products. They do it because they believe you are giving them a great deal, which means:

  1. they trust you
  2. they want what you’re selling
  3. they want it now. 

Store owners, brick or click, are masters of consumer psychology. Building trust, making your stock sparkle and whipping up a frenzy are all part of the job. But, if you can find an extra sprinkling of stardust, you can send your conversion rate through the roof. Here are 6 ways to get that extra little something, fast…

six shopify conversion hacks

6 Ways To Boost Your Shopify Conversion Rate

  1. Make Yourself Scarce (Literally)
  2. Make Time Work For You
  3. Build an Organic Trust Farm
  4. Overcome the Sound of Silence
  5. Provide “Moments” For Your Customers
  6. Overcome Cart Abandonment

Although it’s easy to spend your life worrying about metrics and measurements, they can’t change how your store works. Moving those dials in the right direction is about getting inside your customers’ heads. So, whilst your aim is to increase your Shopify conversion rate, your focus should be on offering value. 

The first thing you offer is the experience people have when they buy from you. To understand this, it helps to think about the shop behind the numbers. These 6 eCommerce strategies all put customers first and conversions next. 

1. Make Yourself Scarce (Literally)

Did you ever find yourself fighting for the last slice? Do you savour the moments before your alarm clock rings? An emotional reaction to scarcity is hardwired within us.

Using Scarcity to super-charge your Shopify conversion rate.

Most people are helpless to resist the power of scarcity. We value rare things much more than we value the everyday. Not only does this affect what something is worth, it also shapes the choices we make. 

So, how can you use scarcity to supercharge your Shopify conversion rate?

It’s all about cultivating the allure that comes from exclusivity. To do that, you need to show that there’s a limited amount of your product available. 

One way to do that is to display your stock levels on your product pages. It will mean adding a small piece of code to your product page template (product-template.liquid). Once you’ve done that, you can manage your stock levels using Shopify’s product editor. 

low stock shopify conversion rate

Another way to add some of that last-chance excitement to your store is to incorporate it into your branding. Customising your product titles and descriptions is the quick-and-easy way to play hard-to-get.

For the biggest impact, though, you can highlight an item’s scarcity with a personal message. A Fomo notification shows your customers when a product is low in stock, turning mild interest into serious consumer desire.

2. Make Time Work For You

You’ve always wanted to try that thing… You’ve been talking about going there for years… You would LOVE to meet that person… Have you planned any of it? Probably not.

Now, imagine this was your last chance to try that, go there or meet them. Wouldn’t you do almost anything to make it happen? 

Using urgency to enhance your Shopify conversion rate

Digital retailers have a hard time turning interest in action. With so many options available, it takes a lot to make someone commit to an offer. So, as a store owner, it’s up to you to add some urgency to the situation and help the customer stop procrastinating.

The best strategy is to finalise each sale as quickly as possible. But, to do that, you need a trigger! By presenting a customer with their “last chance” to get a particular deal, you force them to make a choice immediately. Not only does this reduce procrastination, it engages your customers emotionally. 

Adding a visible time limit to your offers is easy on Shopify. The simplest approach is to use your product title, image and description to announce the time limit. 

shopify conversion rate countdown timer

This has the added advantage of incorporating the effect within your Meta Title and Meta Description, so customers see it straight away.

shopify conversion rate meta title

To enhance the urgency, you might consider adding a countdown timer. The app store contains a number of countdown plugins that can be attached to buttons, installed as a widget or used as a header bar. In fact, there are over 50 specialist apps designed to create urgency

3. Build Trust the Organic Way

You’re choosing a film and you find one you haven’t heard of before – what do you do? … It’s dinner time and you’re wandering along a street inspecting the different restaurant – what is it you’re looking for? …There’s a new show in town and the reviews are amazing – shouldn’t you see it for yourself?

Building trust with Social Proof

Other people have a big influence on our opinions and our choices. This principle is known as Social Proof, and it has become a major part of eCommerce.

To see Social Proof in action, all you have to do is look at a product on Amazon.  The number of reviews and star-ratings on display is remarkable. 

shopify conversion rate discounts

It’s the same story when you view a hotel on In this case, Social Proof is often combined with urgency AND scarcity. 

shopify conversion rate social proof

Social Proof apps are now some of the most popular plugins for “Sales and Conversions”. That shows how important reviews, ratings and testimonials are to your Shopify conversion rate. But how do you make the most of these apps? And how do you make sure your store isn’t torpedoed by harsh reviews?

Here are some quick guidelines:

  • Always use REAL Social Proof. Fake Social Proof (through inflated sales figures or invented reviews) is always obvious and a big turn-off for customers
  • Quality is important, as well as quantity. A long and detailed review is just as valuable as another 100 sales
  • Authority is a big factor; if you can get someone on your side, their word is worth a lot
  • Interact with your reviews. This allows you to enhance the good ones and qualify the bad ones. 

4. Overcome the Sound of silence 

Have you ever walked into a shop and immediately regretted it? You went in on a whim, and now you’re the only one there. It’s just too… quiet!

Harnessing the buzz of the shop floor

This is a strange question for you: what does your store sound like?

One of the things that sets a successful store apart is the “buzz”: engaging features, lively text, colourful images and other signs of life. So how do you turn your store into living, breathing marketplace?

First things first, you need a brand that your customers can identify with. Once you have that, you need to find a way to make your shop “talk”. A copywriter can help you develop a lively tone-of-voice, and a Shopify developer can help you customise your theme. But there are easier ways to fill an awkward silence. If you want to engage your customers, why not talk to them? 

Customer chat systems like Crisp, Chapport or Intercom are not just for SaaS companies. Supposing a customer has a question about an item (does it come in another size, is it suitable for certain ages, is it recyclable…) you can’t expect them to email you. In most cases, they will simply pick something else. But there’s another benefit…

By making yourself available to talk, you show that someone is working behind the scenes. Displaying a few agents makes it clear that your store is successful and trustworthy. A great customer service system can bring your store to life.

5. Create Moments For Your Customers

You check in to a hotel room and the first thing you see is a gift basket. It is full of treats to help you celebrate your first night on holiday … You’re on a train and you find an envelope on the tray table. It invites you, by name, to the buffet carriage. When you arrive, there is a newspaper and a coffee waiting for you. 

Making memories to multiply your Shopify conversion rate

Not all memories are equal. We all pay more to attention to unusual or spectacular things, and they tend to be easier to recall. That means that a few truly remarkable experiences can make a big difference to how we see things. Moments are the difference between a good store and a great one. 

An easy way to start creating “moments” is to personalise your customer experience. You can do this with a number of Shopify extensions that use cookies, geolocation and browsing behaviour to create bespoke content. 

Alternatively, you can turn a remarketing campaign into an automatic “moment” factory. Supposing someone was browsing for books but ended up leaving empty-handed; why not offer it to them for free, as long as they pair it with something else. And don’t just offer them a surprising deal – make a song and dance out of it. By creating memorable experiences you can multiply your Shopify conversion rate.

6. Beat Cart Abandonment 

You hover over the “buy” button but at the last minute you hesitate; didn’t you see it cheaper somewhere else? Coming to think of it, there isn’t much detail on the returns policy, and you really ought to check some more reviews… 

Addressing consumer doubt to increase your conversion rate

Cart Abandonment is one of the biggest challenges for eCommerce websites. Luckily, it is also one of the easiest to solve. The problem isn’t you; it’s doubt. All you have to do is show your customers that they don’t have anything to worry about. 

The app store offers a range of solutions that help to build customer trust in your store. By highlighting that your store is secure, and offering generous guarantees, you can avoid losing customers to misplaced worries. 

The Shopify Conversion Rate Shortcut

It may seem hard to believe, but there is a way to take all of these steps in one small leap. The thing is, they all involve talking to your customers – if you can find a way to keep the conversation going, you will be able to solve all your conversion rate problems naturally.

So, how can you hold a conversation with a customer in another part of the world? And how do you do all this without an army of online staff?

… MergeNotify does it all for you!

By building a stream of persuasive messages, delivered at the right time and in the best order, you can create truly engaging customer experiences.

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