7 best practices for eCommerce conversion optimization: A comprehensive guide

Checkout complexity, slow page load times and lacking mobile responsiveness — these are some of the challenges with digital experiences that still plague brands and retailers today. Managing all these aspects is a significant challenge for businesses to deal with daily, in addition to navigating ever-evolving customer demands. 

In addition to slow site loading, it’s still common across the retail industry to misuse pop-ups, promote out-of-stock products and miss out on quick-purchase options for checkout, such as PayPal and Apple Pay. Other annoyances, such as hidden shipping fees, unclear pricing and a lack of guest checkout, also increase abandonment rates. So, how do you overcome these challenges and optimize your eCommerce conversion rates?

Let’s find the seven best ways to boost your eCommerce conversion rates. 

If an eCommerce site cannot load quickly, it’s impossible for a brand to help customers find what they’re looking for, lead them to checkout and enable them to complete the purchase. 

There are many reasons companies still struggle with site speed and performance, one of which is that they rely on in-house infrastructure that cannot automatically scale online capacity to match the increasing number of visitors landing on their website. 

A straightforward solution to this issue is to leverage the infinite scale of cloud-native platforms, such as Google Cloud and AWS, which already help countless businesses navigate Black Friday-like traffic without worrying about their systems crashing. 

Another thing to consider is mobile optimization. While many customers may download your mobile app, most consumers prefer browsing a mobile website. This means it’s important to not only speed up load times but also avoid the mistake of merely shrinking desktop layouts to fit small screens. A responsive website is critical for outstanding customer experiences in an increasingly mobile-first landscape and may require rethinking core functionalities, such as search, navigation and product descriptions.

Search and discovery are no longer about returning a list of results — they’re about understanding intent, predicting needs and guiding shoppers proactively. In the era of agentic AI, retailers must design search systems that do more of the work for the customer, not the other way around. Here are some recommendations to bring this to life. 

Shift from reactive search to proactive discovery

Traditional search waits for users to enter queries. Agentic discovery anticipates what customers want before they ask by using signals like past behavior, context, inventory, weather, and trends. Retailers must:

• Utilize predictive models to automatically surface relevant products.

• Personalize homepages, category pages, and recommendations at the start of each session.

• Highlight replenishment or predicted needs without requiring a search.

Adopt natural-language, conversational and multi-intent search

Shoppers increasingly expect to interact with search the way they interact with people. Retailers should enable:

• Natural-language queries (e.g., “show me an outfit for a summer wedding under $200”).

• Multi-attribute understanding (color, price, occasion, material, etc.).

• Conversational refinement where AI asks clarifying questions.

This removes friction and reduces the effort required to find the “right” product.

Integrate agentic shopping assistants directly into discovery

Agentic assistants go beyond chatbots — they can reason, compare products, filter options and even manage tasks across multiple systems (inventory, promotions, content). Assistants should reduce cognitive load, not just return results. Retailers must ensure assistants can:

• Recommend products based on style, compatibility or fit. 

• Explain trade-offs (“this one is waterproof but heavier”).

• Compare items side-by-side.

• Generate bundles or looks based on intent. 

Maintain a clean data foundation

Agentic search is only as good as the underlying data. Retailers need to invest in:

• High-quality product attributes and descriptions.

• Rich metadata (materials, styles, compatibility, sizing).

• Unified tagging across channels.

• Real-time inventory feeds.

As mentioned earlier, customers still receive promotions for out-of-stock items, which can be a frustrating experience. That’s why making product availability data more transparent and accessible is crucial, not only for retailers to promote the inventory that’s actually available, but also to build trust with shoppers. 

Brands can also use product availability information to their advantage: For instance, the retailer SPORT 24 provides instant information on product inventory for online shopping as well as across its brick-and-mortar stores. That way, shoppers can select items and buy them online — or utilize the reserve online, pick up in-store (ROPIS) service at the store of their choice.

Shoppers no longer experience retail as separate channels — they move fluidly between online, mobile, and in-store touchpoints. Meeting customers where they are requires seamless, consistent experiences across every channel. Here’s how: 

Break down silos with unified commerce

Unified commerce integrates all systems — inventory, pricing, promotions, checkout and customer data — into a single platform. This ensures that shoppers get the same information across channels, whether they are browsing your website, using a mobile app or visiting a physical store. Retailers should:

• Consolidate POS, eCommerce and mobile channels into one backend.

• Sync inventory, pricing and promotions in real time.

• Enable consistent product discovery, search and checkout flows across channels.

Unified commerce ensures:

• Product information, images and descriptions are identical across channels.

• Promotions and discounts are applied correctly, no matter the channel.

• Customer accounts, loyalty points and preferences are synced across all touchpoints.

Deliver frictionless transitions across channels

Shoppers expect to start an experience in one channel and finish it in another without friction. Examples include:

• Reserve online, pick up in-store (ROPIS).

• Buy online, return in-store. 

• Shared shopping carts across devices.

• Mobile self-checkout in-store (Scan & Go). 

Seamless transitions reduce friction, increase trust and boost conversions.

Today’s shoppers expect brands to understand their unique preferences and needs. Hyper-personalization goes beyond generic segmentation: It delivers individualized experiences across every touchpoint, using AI machine learning and rich behavioral data to anticipate intent and guide decisions.

Hyper-personalization begins with a unified view of the customer, combining insights from web, app, email, in-store and social interactions. With AI, you can: 

• Predict intent: Anticipate what a shopper wants before they search, e.g., suggesting gear based on past outdoor purchases.

• Enable cross-channel recommendations: Provide consistent product suggestions from web to mobile to in-store kiosks or self-checkout.

• Trigger contextual interactions: Send push notifications or SMS about stock availability, promotions or replenishment when it’s most relevant.

• Support recurring and complementary purchases: Offer personalized bundles, suggest add-ons, or prompt replenishment for frequently bought items.

Your customer has arrived at checkout; congratulations! But there’s still work to be done: According to the Baymard Institute, about 70% of consumers abandon their carts. To minimize abandonment, brands and retailers can apply a wide range of best practices, including: 

Simplify checkout

A lengthy or complicated checkout experience with numerous forms, clicks and intrusive pop-ups can cause frustration and confusion for shoppers. Enhance your purchase experience by reducing the number of steps and pages, making the process organized, intuitive and as simple as possible. One such possibility is guest checkout. 

Offer guest checkout 

Guest checkout allows customers to complete a purchase on a website without the need to create or log in to an account. This streamlined process involves entering shipping information and selecting a payment method, enhancing the shopping experience, especially for one-time or infrequent shoppers. 

While this option enhances user experience, reduces cart abandonment rates and caters to customers who may prefer a quick purchase, guest checkout hinders the company from collecting data for potential follow-up marketing and personalization. However, if the shopper allows the use of cookies, it’s possible to offer a basic level of personalization. Nonetheless, today’s businesses should be equipped to provide both account-based and guest-based checkout options, catering to both infrequent and loyal customers. 

Freeze the cart 

Promotions with short expirations or prices with limited validity may result in changes to the cart amount after initiating a payment. For instance, a promotion might expire during the payment process, resulting in a discrepancy in the expected amounts. One potential solution is to temporarily freeze the cart before payment, thereby securing its amount. 

Nevertheless, this approach poses its own challenges, such as navigating the complexities associated with unfreezing a cart if the customer wishes to make modifications after being redirected for payment. A potential alternative to cart freeze is to permit cart changes at any point. If an amount discrepancy arises, you can process a refund automatically and prompt the customer to reinitiate the payment with the adjusted amount.

Provide payment methods aligned with customer expectations 

To align with customer expectations and minimize checkout friction, brands and retailers should prioritize offering payment methods like PayPal, Apple Pay and Samsung Pay. These popular and user-friendly options enhance the purchasing process, providing customers with convenient and secure ways to complete transactions. 

By incorporating these widely used payment solutions, businesses can streamline the checkout experience, reducing barriers to purchase and fostering a more seamless and satisfying shopping journey for their customers.

Provide clear pricing 

Companies should provide clear pricing upfront to mitigate cart abandonment and reduce checkout friction. Transparent pricing enhances customer trust by avoiding surprises during the checkout process, reducing hesitation and the likelihood of cart abandonment, as well as promoting a positive buying experience. 

Personalize checkout

Imagine arriving at checkout while purchasing a makeup product and, upon completing the purchase, receiving free goodies that match the lipstick color you just bought. More than meeting the basic requirements for a stellar experience, this next-level checkout experience is a best practice for persuading customers to finalize their purchase. 

Strengthen security measures

Companies should prioritize implementing robust security measures to effectively reduce checkout friction. By visibly demonstrating a commitment to security, like displaying trust badges, businesses can minimize hesitations during the checkout process, ultimately reducing the likelihood of cart abandonment. In addition to protecting customers, strong security measures contribute to a positive shopping experience, encouraging them to complete transactions confidently and fostering long-term trust in the brand.

Test and tweak your checkout process

Monitoring, testing and continually tweaking the checkout process is paramount for businesses seeking to implement constant improvements in their online shopping experience. Through meticulous monitoring and payment orchestration, businesses can gain valuable insights into customer behavior and preferences, enabling them to make data-driven adjustments. A proactive approach to A/B testing different elements of the checkout process ensures that the user experience remains seamless and efficient. 

Provide recurring orders

Recurring orders allow customers to automate the reordering of products they use regularly, from coffee pods and pet food to skincare, supplements and household essentials. By “setting it and forgetting it,” shoppers enjoy a frictionless, personalized replenishment experience that saves time, encourages habitual loyalty — and increases conversions effortlessly. 

Unlike traditional subscriptions, recurring orders are flexible and customer-driven: Buyers can choose their schedule, pause, skip or modify items at any time. This approach integrates seamlessly into the shopping experience, letting customers focus on convenience without long-term commitments. 

Many brands already use chat-based interfaces on websites, mobile apps, SMS or messaging platforms like WhatsApp and Messenger for FAQs, customer support or basic product recommendations. While helpful, these guided-selling tools in the form of chatbots typically rely on prebuilt logic and can only filter results — they don’t act autonomously to drive meaningful shopping experiences.

Agentic AI transforms conversational commerce by enabling brand-owned agents to go beyond simple queries. These AI agents can guide product discovery, curate personalized offers, manage carts and checkout and navigate promotions or loyalty programs — all in real time and proactively.

Rather than replacing traditional interfaces, agentic-powered conversational commerce is complementary, creating a hybrid experience where chat-based AI assistants enhance browse, search and purchase interactions, providing more personalized and proactive customer journeys.

Brands that implement these best practices see measurable improvements across key metrics:

• ARK Bokhandel: 25% increase in online revenue and a 15% boost in conversion rate.

• Leebmann24: 20% increase in basket size via personalized recommendations and upsells. 

• L.L.Bean: Over $10M in incremental revenue from 100+ small but impactful enhancements across the customer journey. 

• PetSmart: By delivering seamless omnichannel experiences online and in-store, PetSmart saw an increase in conversions that exceeded expectations. 

These examples demonstrate that even incremental improvements — when applied strategically — can compound into significant revenue gains, proving that conversion optimization is a critical lever for any modern retailer.

Lift your conversion rate and boost your revenue in 2026! Contact our experts for more information.

What is eCommerce conversion optimization?

Conversion optimization is the process of improving your website or app to increase the percentage of visitors who complete desired actions, like purchases or sign-ups.

Why is mobile optimization important for conversions?

Most consumers browse and shop on mobile. Fast, responsive and intuitive mobile experiences reduce bounce rates and increase sales.

How does agentic AI improve eCommerce conversion?

Agentic AI anticipates shopper intent, guides product discovery and personalizes recommendations across web, app and in-store channels.

What are recurring orders and why do they matter?

Recurring orders automate reorders for frequently purchased products, saving time, reducing friction and boosting loyalty and repeat revenue.

How can conversational commerce increase sales?

AI-powered conversational assistants provide proactive guidance, personalized offers and cart management, improving engagement and conversion rates.