The first thing to keep in mind is that not every visitor to your website is ready to become a customer. And many who visit for the first time may have an interest in your product offerings, but be reluctant to actually make a purchase. So, it's essential to slowly build trust to nudge visitors who are in the early stages of the buying cycle towards a decision to buy something.

One of the most effective ways to accomplish this is by simply asking site visitors for their email address, just like many successful ecommerce operations do. By encouraging potential customers to trust you enough to give you their contact information (and following up with e-mail marketing messages), you can help persuade those who are undecided about making a purchase from you into giving it a shot.

People who shop online rely heavily on imagery to make purchasing decisions, since they can't see or touch your products in person. Using high-quality images gives online shoppers a crystal-clear look at what you're selling, giving them the confidence to make a purchase and helping increase your sales.

Make sure all images you use are large enough to show details (or have a zoom feature) and are accompanied by well-written descriptions to back them up.

One reason many would-be customers don't follow through on making purchases online is fear: that a product won't fit properly, won't arrive safe and sound or won't meet their expectations, in some other way. So, customers appreciate the prospect of buying from businesses when there's little or no risk.

With that in mind, your greatest asset in helping to put these skeptical potential customers at ease is to eliminate the risks associated with making a purchase from you. For example, make shipping free of charge, offer easy, no-cost returns or money-back guarantees. And if you happen to also have brick-and-mortar shop, consider allowing customers to make hassle-free returns to your physical store.

When it comes to buying anything online, customers want to know that others before them have made similar purchases and were happy with the products or services they bought. That's why 84 percent of people trust online reviews and testimonials as much as they do personal recommendations. Adding this "social proof" to your online store will boost conversions by helping you establish a reputation for reliability.

The best ways to add social credibility are:

• User reviews
• Star ratings
• Testimonials
• Case studies
• Media coverage
• Social media shares
• Celebrity endorsements

Shoppers leave abandoned carts for reasons that include unexpectedly high shipping costs, the need to create an account to complete a purchase, financial information security or fraud concerns and, most often, a complicated, multi-step checkout process.

Although not every online store can offer a one-click checkouts, every online store should make the checkout process easy to follow and understand while ensuring customers feel from start to finish when paying for their purchase. One way to accomplish this is by indicating checkout steps with an incremental or numbered a progress bar, so customers always know where they are in the process and how much further they have to go until it is complete.

Conclusion

No matter what products or services you sell, how you promote your ecommerce business, or how much traffic reaches your e-store, following these five guidelines can help you to optimize your operation for increased conversions and sales.