Fashion eCommerce is a rapidly growing industry. Beyond major retailers, many small businesses are seeing the opportunity for abandoning the traditional bricks-and-mortar store in favor of getting a piece of the online sales pie. 

Unfortunately, the old adage, “Build it and they will come” doesn’t apply to fashion eCommerce sites. Instead, operators need to optimize their website in order to increase conversions and make the user experience as streamlined as possible.

Here are five effective ways you can optimize your online store to make more sales.

Remove the Extra Options

When it comes to business, it is better to do a few things well than to have endless mediocre options. This is essential in online business operations, especially in the modern world of shrinking attention spans and endless choices.

Not only will removing extra options help you maintain your eCommerce website, but it will also drive your customers in the right direction by removing distractions. 

For a fashion eCommerce site, the best way to reduce the options is by having strong filtering capabilities. There should be multiple ways of sorting your product offerings so as to limit what’s being viewed at any one time. This way, a shopper will see things only in the size they want or based on the occasion. This reduces the options and makes it easier for them to make a decision, thereby reducing the rate of browsing abandonment.

Another consideration for improving eCommerce growth is to limit distractions during checkout. Rather than presenting the option to click back and look at other items, you might consider removing browsing options for a completely immersive experience. Amazon does this very well with their streamlined checkout process.

Highlight the Reviews

Reviews are the bread and butter of helping leads to become paying customers. With many first-time buyers being cautious about putting themselves out there, seeing positive reviews of a product can help to make the purchasing decision for them.

While reviews shouldn’t be the focal point of the page as such, they should certainly be highlighted. You can see a prime example of this method in Just for Kix, a dance fashion eCommerce website. The review stars are at the top of the page above the product description, so your eye naturally gravitates toward them after viewing the product image. By clicking on the hyperlink, you can jump to the written reviews to learn everything you want to know.

highlight reviews

Use Smart Automations

When you run a fashion eCommerce website, your goal should be to map every aspect of the customer journey. By doing so, you can set up smart automation protocols that prioritize conversion rate optimization (CRO) without manual follow-ups. In other words, incorporating these into your business structure will make you money while you sleep!

Automation should be used to trigger emails that help potential customers get through sticking points. Take browsing abandonment, for example: when someone looks at the same shirt three times without buying, triggering an email that offers a 10% discount can make the difference between sale and abandonment. 

Another common point of friction is cart abandonment. Using automation to remind shoppers of an abandoned cart puts the idea of purchasing back in their minds. 

Finally, using automated emails to regain lapsed customers can assist with retention after the fact.

Use Visual Stimulation

It is no surprise that visual stimulation plays a significant role in online sales, especially with regard to fashion. Perhaps the greatest challenge with online shopping is that it creates an intangible environment in which to purchase clothing. You cannot feel the fabric or try on the outfit to see how it fits your unique body shape and size. Creating a positive visual experience, however, can make up for those shortcomings. 

The most important visual component of a fashion eCommerce website is clear imagery that shows the product from different angles. When designing your user interface, it is also important to use the more subtle visual cues, such as ample white space for your descriptions and images to pop up.

It is also important to consider how your user’s eyes travel over the page. The general motion tends to be left to right, top to bottom. This is why you see so many fashion eCommerce websites with a product image on the left and a description on the right: it is a format that works.

Optimize Content and Keywords

Never underestimate the power of a search bar on your fashion website. In many cases, retained customers will come back to look for something specific. The inability to find it quickly could send them directly to your competition.

Optimize your product descriptions and title keywords for search within your site as well as for SEO. Incorporate descriptive keywords that meet SEO requirements while having the right product tags for site navigation.

While prioritizing keyword use is important, your content should also be carefully crafted for your audience. Your tone and the words you use should all convey the essence of your brand and engage your target demographic. For example, an eCommerce website that sells dance fashion will likely have a different tone and descriptors from a site that sells men’s ties.

It is worth investing in hiring a good sales copywriter to help with CRO for your eCommerce site. An experienced copywriter will be able to convey your tone, hit the mark for SEO, and encourage customers to hit the “buy now” button.

optimize content and keywords fashion

Final Thoughts

There are plenty of ways to optimize your fashion eCommerce website in order to sell more products and increase your revenue. Define your goals and focus on one optimization at a time. As mentioned before, it is better to do a few things well than many things poorly. 

For more valuable tips and resources for eCommerce growth, click here.