Complete Guide to Increase Shopify Mobile Conversion Rate (2024)

This shift towards mobile shopping has prioritized the need to capture and convert customers on the go.

As consumers increasingly use their phones for everything from browsing to completing purchases, your brand needs to focus on optimizing your mobile conversion rates.

In today’s blog post, we’ll share our time-tested tips and guidelines; from calculating and understanding your current mobile conversion rate to implementing practical steps for improvement, we cover it all.

Let’s begin!

What is Shopify mobile conversion rate?

Shopify mobile conversion rate is a metric that tracks the percentage of mobile users who take a desired action on a website or app out of the total number of mobile visitors.

It’s not always about purchases- it could also include signs up for a newsletter!

Essentially, it shows how effective your mobile site or app is in turning visitors into customers or leads.

Take a look at this in-depth in our previous blog here.

How to calculate mobile conversion rate for your Shopify store?

Mobile Conversion Rate=(Number of Conversions from Mobile Users/Total Number of Mobile Visitors)×100

Number of Conversions from Mobile Users is ****the total number of actions completed by mobile users. This is based on your business objectives, such as completed purchases, sign-ups, downloads, etc.

Total Number of Mobile Visitors is the total number of users who accessed your site or app via mobile devices within a given timeframe.

For example, if your mobile site had 5,000 visitors in a month and 250 of them made a purchase, your mobile conversion rate would be:

Mobile Conversion Rate=(250/5000)×100=5%

What is the average mobile conversion rate for Shopify stores?

When you calculate your brand’s mobile conversion rate, it is natural to wonder how well you’re doing compared to your competitors.

Currently, the average mobile conversion rate is around 1-2%.

But remember, this figure can change significantly based on the industry and market trends; for example, fashion and luxury goods brands tend to see higher mobile conversion rates due to fast fashion and impulsive shopping.

Why is mobile conversion rate important for Shopify stores?

People are increasingly shopping through their phones, and not everyone is eager to add another app that takes up space on their phone and sends pesky notifications.

Many new users might want to experience shopping from you first, and they will turn to their phones to explore your brand and its offerings.

A high mobile conversion rate:

• indicates that the mobile platform is well-optimized, user-friendly, and aligns with the customers' needs and preferences.
• shows the quality of user experience on a smartphone.

A low conversion rate might signal issues such as:

• poor site design
• slow loading times,
• or a complicated checkout process.

As a result, it is a critical metric for strategic decision-making. With it, you can pinpoint areas that need improvement and allocate resources accordingly.

How can you increase Shopify store mobile conversion rate?

From technical tweaks to user-centric design, in this section, we'll explore how to transform your mobile site into a powerful tool for driving conversions and fostering customer engagement.

1. Build a native mobile app (Pro tip)

Unlike mobile-optimized websites, native apps offer a more personalized, faster, and user-friendly experience, directly contributing to higher engagement and conversion rates.

They load faster, allow for deeper personalization based on user data and saved preferences, and can also function offline.

Additionally, you can leverage timely and relevant notifications to bring users back to your app and encourage immediate action.

When you design your native mobile app, remember these tips:

1. Understand your User: Before development begins, understand your target audience's needs and preferences. This will guide the app's features, design, and overall user experience.
2. Simplicity in Design: The app should have a clean, uncluttered design with easy navigation. A user-friendly interface is essential for keeping users engaged and reducing bounce rates.
3. Optimized Checkout Process: Simplify the checkout process with features like saved payment methods, one-click purchasing, and easy form filling. A streamlined checkout can significantly reduce cart abandonment.
4. Integration with Mobile Features: Leverage mobile-specific features like cameras, GPS, and biometric authentication to enhance the user experience and provide added convenience.
5. Regular Updates and Improvements: Continuously update the app based on user feedback and changing trends. Regular improvements keep the app relevant and enhance user satisfaction.

2. Improve page load speed

Mobile users are often on the go, and their patience for slow-loading pages is minimal.

A delay of even a couple of seconds can significantly increase your bounce rates and reduce conversions, whereas faster load times lead to a better user experience, higher engagement, and increased customer loyalty.

Here’s a quick checklist to improving the page speed of your mobile website:

1. Analyze Current Performance- Use tools like Google's PageSpeed Insights to find your mobile website's loading speed
2. Optimize Images- Large, high-resolution images can drastically slow down your site. Make sure you compress them and use the correct file formats.
3. Leverage Browser Caching- Browser caching stores webpage resource files on a local computer when a user visits a web page. This way, when a user revisits your site, the browser can load the page without sending another HTTP request to the server, reducing load time.
4. Minimize Redirects- Each redirect triggers an additional HTTP request, increasing the page load time. Audit your site to identify and eliminate unnecessary redirects.
5. Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)- A CDN stores copies of your site's content on multiple servers around the world, allowing users to download data from the server closest to them. This reduces the time it takes for data to travel, improving your site’s load speed.
6. Optimize CSS and JavaScript: Minify and combine files, defer the loading of JavaScript, and remove unused CSS to reduce the amount of code that needs to be loaded and executed.
7. Implement Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)- AMP strips down your HTML and uses a streamlined version of CSS, ensuring that your content loads almost instantaneously.
8. Prioritize Above-the-Fold Content: Also known as lazy loading, it delays the loading of below-the-fold content until the user scrolls down and ensures that users have something to engage with immediately.

3. Simplify navigation

Your users need to find what they're looking for quickly and effortlessly, which in turn can significantly increase your mobile conversion rate.

Here’s how you can improve your website’s navigation for mobile users:

1. Understand User Behavior- Mobile users want information quickly and don’t have the patience to navigate through complex menus. Use heatmaps and session recordings to learn how your users interact with your site and which areas need simplification.
2. Opt for a Minimalist Approach- A cluttered menu can overwhelm users. Instead, focus on the most important categories or pages that users are likely to visit.
3. Implement a Responsive Design- Ensure that your navigation menu is easily accessible and functional on all screen sizes.
4. Enhance Touch Interactions- Mobile users navigate using touch, so make sure that menu items are large enough to be easily tapped with a finger and that there’s enough space between items to prevent accidental clicks.
5. Prioritize Important Elements- Place the most important navigation elements like the search bar, shopping cart, and main product categories where they are easily reachable, like at the top or bottom of the screen.
6. Offer Breadcrumbs- Breadcrumbs are navigational aids that help users understand their location within your website and easily backtrack if needed.

4. Use clear and concise copy

Mobile shoppers tend to quickly scroll and skim (it's the age of Instagram and TikTok infinite scrolls!), making it crucial that you convey your message quickly and effectively.

Here’s how to craft copy that can boost your conversion rates:

1. Keep It short- Avoid long paragraphs. Ensure each sentence is to the point and without jargon. Break down your content into short, manageable chunks, and use bullet points, subheadings, and short paragraphs to make your content easy to scan.
2. Prioritize Information- To effectively use limited screen space, place the most important messages at the top where they are immediately visible, like your unique selling proposition or key benefits.
3. Write Action-Oriented CTAs- Use strong verbs that encourage immediate action, such as "Buy Now," "Learn More," or "Sign Up." Ensure that your CTAs stand out visually and are easy to tap on a mobile screen.
4. Leverage Headlines- They are often the first thing mobile users see. Make your headings powerful and engaging so that they grab attention, convey the main message, and encourage the reader to continue scrolling.

5. Optimize visual elements

Make sure you use high-quality images that give customers a clear understanding of what they are buying.

On mobile devices, your challenge is to maintain quality without compromising load times. Remember to:

1. Optimize Image Sizes- Large images can reduce page load times, leading to higher bounce rates. Instead, you can compress them without losing quality with tools like Adobe Photoshop, TinyPNG, or online image compressors.
2. Use Responsive Images- Such images adjust their size based on the user’s device, ensuring that they look good on both small and large screens, improving load times.
3. Enable Zoom and Rotate- This allows customers to examine products in detail, just as they would in a physical store. Remember to ensure that these features are touch-friendly and easy to use on mobile devices.
4. Showcase Products in Use- Use images and videos that help customers visualize the product in their own lives. Display user-generated content, such as customer photos or videos, to provide social proof and build trust.
5. Optimize Video Content- Like images, you can compress videos and offer lower-resolution versions so that anyone with slower internet connections can also access the content.

6. Implement easy checkout

A complicated or time-consuming checkout leads to abandoned carts and lost revenue.

Instead, do the below to optimize the steps of your mobile checkout process to increase your mobile conversion rate:

1. Simplify the Checkout Interface- Every additional piece of information requested will lead to more drop-offs. Design a clean, uncluttered interface with a clear progression from one step to the next. Use dropdowns and toggle switches to minimize user effort.
2. Guest Checkout Option- Forcing users to create an account can reduce mobile conversion. Instead, offer a guest checkout option to encourage the user to convert faster.
3. Use Autofill and Saved Information- Enable autofill and allow returning customers to save their information. This reduces the time and effort required to fill out forms, increasing conversion.
4. Optimize for Mobile Input- This means designing large, touch-friendly fields and use clear, readable fonts. Make sure the fields trigger the appropriate keyboard (numeric for phone numbers, email for email addresses, etc.).
5. Multiple Payment Options- Offer a variety of payment options to cater to different preferences like credit/debit cards, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and other digital wallets.
6. Security and Trust Signals- Display security badges and use HTTPS to reassure users that their personal and payment information is safe. Trust is a critical factor in the decision to complete a purchase, especially on mobile devices.
7. Clear Error Messages- Provide immediate feedback if there’s an error in the information entered; otherwise, confusing or delayed error messages will cause frustration.
8. Progress Indicators- Show users how far they have reached in the checkout process and the number of steps left. This sets expectations and gives a sense of accomplishment as they move closer to completing their purchase.

7. Design mobile-friendly pop-ups

A pop-up is annoying to begin with, and they don’t fare better when experienced on a smartphone.

As a result, it’s important to design them so that they increase engagement and don’t frustrate users.

Remember to:

1. Design for Mobile Interaction- Pop-ups and forms should be designed to fit comfortably within the mobile screen, with large, easily clickable buttons and clear, concise text. This ensures that users can interact with them without zooming or excessive scrolling.
2. Use Timing and Triggers for Pop-ups- Sudden pop-ups can be annoying and lead to high bounce rates. Instead, time them based on user behavior, such as when they scroll for a certain percentage of the page or spend a certain amount of time on the site.
3. Avoid Overwhelming Users- Filling a small screen with large pop-ups can overwhelm your users. Hence, you need to keep your pop-ups and forms snappy and to the point. You can also make the design and copy intriguing and land them on a new page with more details instead of including everything on a tiny overlay.
4. Allow Easy Dismissal- The close button should be large enough so the user can tap it easily without having to zoom in. You can also allow users to tap outside the pop-up to close it, which is often the natural behavior of mobile users.

8. Optimize discovery with relevant product filters

Any navigation system you design that reduces the steps for a user to find the right product and purchase is a win. Especially when it's on tiny mobile screens, and brands have an extensive product catalog.

This is where product filtering comes into play. Here are a few helpful tips to remember:

1. Use Intuitive Filtering- Start by identifying the most relevant filter categories for your products; for example, for fashion brands, it could be size, color, price range, brands, etc, while for electronics, filters like brand, features, and price range might be more relevant.
2. Design for Mobile- Consider using sliders for price filters, checkboxes for multiple selections, and dropdowns for space-saving organization.
3. Enable Dynamic Filtering: When product suggestions and results update in real-time as filters are applied, without the need for a separate 'apply filters' action, it offers immediate feedback and a more interactive experience.
4. Simplify Multi-Selections- Allow users to select multiple options within a filter category. For example, in a clothing store, a user might want to view all shirts in both medium and large sizes.
5. Show What is Selected- Once filters are applied, it should be clear to users which filters are active. Use visual cues like highlighted buttons or a list of applied filters. Also, design an easy way to clear all filters or remove them individually.

9. Leverage gestures

The way users interact with their smartphones is fundamentally different from desktops. We are used to gestures like swiping, tapping, and pinching because they align with natural hand movements.

They also reduce the need for on-screen buttons, freeing up valuable screen space for more content.

Here are some tips for designing gestures for eCommerce stores:

1. Swipe: Enable horizontal swiping for image galleries and product carousels, which reminds users of flipping through a catalog. In shopping carts or wish lists, enable swiping to delete items or save them for later. Remember to include an undo option for accidental swipes.
2. Tap: Make product selections and opening details easy with simple tap gestures.
3. Pinch: Allow users to use pinch gestures to zoom in on product images. This is important for increasing mobile conversion rate, especially in categories like apparel and electronics.
4. Long Press: Use long-press gestures to reveal additional options or information about a product, such as color variations or sizes

10. Increase user intent

Your mobile shopping experience needs to compel users to take the desired action, like making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or downloading an app.

Here are a few strategies you can use to increase their motivation to continue shopping from your mobile site:

1. Clear and Compelling CTAs: Your call-to-action (CTA) should be relevant to the user's intent. For instance, a user browsing product reviews might respond well to a CTA like 'Learn More,' while one comparing prices might be more inclined to 'Buy Now.'
2. Leverage Urgency and Scarcity: Limited-time offers and low stock alerts motivate users to act quickly. Use FOMO (fear of missing out) to inspire users to complete their order faster.
3. Engaging and Interactive Elements: Incorporate quizzes, polls, or calculators that gamify the experience for users and guide them toward a specific product.
4. Social Proof: Seeing positive feedback from other customers can significantly motivate a user to convert. Display reviews, testimonials, and user-generated content to build trust and influence purchase decisions.

Wrapping up

Increasing your mobile conversion rate is a game of continuous optimization. But it’s easier to track and refine your design and processes when you have a mobile app.

This is where our team comes in.

At Shopney, we love making the transition from a mobile or desktop site to an app seamless while ensuring the brand keeps its signature style guide.

If you’re eager to increase your conversions and as a result, sales, reach out to our team today!

Take the first step towards increasing your Shopify store’s mobile conversion rate.

Build a mobile app for your brand today!

Install Shopney and get started right away.