How a Frictionless eCommerce Experience Will Boost Your Sales and Your SEO Rankings

There is a big misconception out there that you simply can’t compete with Amazon. I don’t feel that is even close to true.

Do you compete by trying to out-Amazon Amazon? No, of course not. They have billions of dollars, nearly a million employees, fulfillment centres around the globe, and a fleet of drones. You can’t compete with that. But, you don’t have to! You simply need to provide the same level of frictionless checkout and purchasing. And that’s something you can absolutely do.

Today’s modern e-stores like Shopify have made it easier than ever to provide the same easy click-click-buy experience as Amazon or other e-commerce giants. You simply need to know how to optimize your site(s), and how to audit your user’s experience to find the friction.

We’ve talked about friction before, but that was in a SaaS context. Today, we’re going to look at friction from an e-comm perspective. We’re going to explore how removing it can help you boost both your sales and your SEO rankings.

Here’s how.

Optimizing Your Site’s Speed Will Help Your CRO and SEO

If you walk away from this blog with only one takeaway, it should be this:

Your e-commerce site’s speed has never been more important to your Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) and your Search Engine Optimization (SEO). It is actually now the most important factor in both areas.

Slow speeds have always been the #1 purchase-killer and form of friction in e-commerce. However, Google’s most recent major update means that slow speeds are also the #1 rankings killer.

Blind-sided by this update? You’re not alone. It’s estimated that only 12% of Mobile and 13% of Desktop sites are currently meeting Google’s new standards for load speeds.

The good news is that failing Google’s new speed test, The Core Web Vitals, is not a big deal. And the act of even taking it can show you exactly where your site’s friction is right now.

Google now measures your site’s speed using 3 key metrics:

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): How long does a given page take to completely load? The target time is 2.5 seconds.
• First Input Delay (FID): When can the user start clicking on links and buttons? The target time is 100 milliseconds.
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): When do all of the images and assets on the page stop shifting around during loading? This is measured by a complex layout shift score, and the target score is 0.1.

This is a more granular way of looking at speed, and these stats can show you exactly where your speed-related friction lies.

How much impact can this have on your conversion rates? Google has estimated that sites that meet the thresholds for the new metrics are 24% less likely to see users abandon page loads.

Pre-Eliminate Perceived or Expected Barriers

Yes, you need to eliminate the actual friction in your e-commerce store. But it is equally important to instantly alleviate any perceived or expected barriers that your would-be customers are expecting from a non-Amazon site.

Your user isn’t coming to your site with a completely open mind. They’re arriving with biases and a bit of pessimism that they got from other bad experiences.

This often includes:

• Is this site going to be slow, clunky, or un-secured?
• Am I going to have to provide my credit card information, even if I’d rather not?
• Do I have to create an account, even though this is a one-time buy?
• Is this price going to magically jump 26% at check out when the USD price converts to Canadian?
• Am I going to be slapped by unreasonable shipping fees, or other needless fees?

If you can not alleviate all of these fears right away, your users will bounce to Amazon right away.

At the same time, a little bit of text goes a long way. Can your customers avoid using their credit cards and pay with PayPal or their debit cards? Make that clear right away. Does your data show that people have issues at checkout, such as their credit card address not matching what’s on record? Add a line of text that makes a clear delineation between the shipping address and the billing address on the card.

Mind the Microcopy

You might do your own user testing and click from one button to another with ease, and wonder where the friction is. Why aren’t your users finding it this easy? Take a closer look at the buttons themselves. What experience are they conveying to the customer?

What is the difference between putting the words Register and Continue on a single button? Absolutely massive! In fact, for marketer Jarel Spool, the difference was unlocking $300 million in sales for an underperforming site.

What’s the difference between Place Order and Buy? Again, it can be huge. Place Order makes it sound like the customer may have to wait a while for their order. Buy makes it sound like their transaction will be instant. Buy Now is even better.

What steps have you taken to remove friction from your online buying experience? Let me know in the comments below!