How to Grow Ecommerce Revenue by Increasing Conversion Rate

Heather Page

DATE: 11th May 2026
CATEGORY: consultancy
TAGS: ecommerce, ux design, website design
AUTHOR: Heather Page

If an ecommerce platform isn’t built to convert, then no amount of traffic will help bring in that all important revenue.

That’s a problem a lot of ecommerce brands are dealing with right now. A common misconception is that you need a huge advertising budget to win big in ecommerce, but the real winners are the ones who know how to turn a browser into a buyer when they do land on your site. That’s where conversion rate optimisation (CRO) comes in.

Building the backbones of a well converting site is essential when running an ecommerce store in any industry. For many brands, ecommerce is the engine driving the whole business and the opportunities have never been bigger. However, nor has the competition.

Global retail ecommerce sales are projected to reach $7 trillion in 2026, with online purchases accounting for roughly 21% of all retail sales worldwide. That's just under 3 billion people shopping online this year in 2026.

We’ve compiled an essential guide on how to grow ecommerce revenue by increasing conversion rate using the steps below.

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How fast can you load?

Did you know that 53% of people leave a page if it takes longer than three seconds to load on their mobile devices? Loading speed is that first drop off and if your site is too heavy, it’s going to cost you. A light, up-to-date CMS framework and optimised images and video are all fundamental basics to help keep your website loading at lightning speed. Our own CMS, Serenity Source was built for this exact reason - it was developed to be inherently lightweight yet powerful to deliver high performing digital assets for our clients.

Optimising for a seamless mobile experience is a priority

Over 70% of online orders are placed via mobile devices. Mobile optimisation, or even better - mobile first design, for ecommerce platforms has to be at the forefront of development to deliver a seamless experience for mobile users. If your site still requires pinch and pulls, it’s time to upgrade fast. Think easy-to-use navigation and user journeys, button placements and responsive forms at checkout pages to eliminate unnecessary friction and subsequent drop-offs.

Is your branding communicating the right message?

The quality of branding, photography[internal link] and consistent messaging communicates invisible trust signals that convey quality, price point confidence, and trust. Getting this right will provide a solid building block for any ecommerce store. Delve deeper into ‘why strategic branding drives revenue and increases business value’ in our recent blog. [internal blog link]

Minimise website user drop-offs

Intuitive navigation, intelligent search bars and accessible UX design all contribute to how easy your site is to use. Every step you make your users take is an opportunity for them to drop off. Creating an environment where visitors can find what they’re looking for in minimal steps and view information with ease is essential.

There’s always room to improve ecommerce user journeys

Analyse high drop off points on your website to identify bottlenecks and use heatmapping and session recording technology to further analyse user behaviour and rectify any blockers in your buying journey.

Present your product page with clarity

Unlike a physical shop presence, where buyers can pick up items, look at them close-up and ask questions in-store, your online product listing has to provide that level of viewing power via a screen. So to build trust and confidence in the product, your listings need to feature detailed product descriptions, high quality photography[internal link] including close-ups and even 360degree viewing options and videos.

Build trust with social proof and reviews

Integrate customer reviews with links to view more on independent websites to reassure customers of the authenticity. Another avenue is to showcase your products in real life via user generated content (UGC). UGC is a great marketing strategy for brands providing third party social media marketing and generating internal assets to utilise at different touchpoints.

Create a frictionless checkout experience

So you’ve got them to the checkout, but you’re only halfway there. Did you know 70% of online shoppers abandon their carts? That’s 7 out of 10 people that don’t go through with their purchases. But why? Unexpected costs, too many steps, limited payment options, last minute doubt, and forced account creation are the most common reasons why. Let’s look at the stats for the most common friction point:

54% of UK shoppers abandon purchases due to high delivery costs - the biggest reason for abandonment. Consider reworking pricing models to integrate delivery costs into the products where possible.

Checkout complexity was rated as the second biggest reason for drop-offs, with non-optimised forms, forced account creation, unclear delivery information and minimal payment choices being cited as the reasons.

Payment options

Make payments as easy as possible to reduce friction when spending. When users have to spend time filling out their details, this gives people time to doubt their purchasing decision and abandon their cart. However when using integrations with popular payment systems like Paypal or Apple Pay, the process is then streamlined, enabling faster checkout experiences and reduced drop-offs.

Another way to alleviate last minute affordability doubt is with the option of buy now pay later (BNPL) payment options. Global BNPL users reached approximately 380 million in 2024 and are projected to grow toward ~670M by 2028 and BNPL users are expected to reach 96.3M in 2026.

How to recover abandoned carts

Automated emails
Even the most conversion optimised ecommerce platforms will experience abandoned carts due to reasons beyond their control. But the chance to recapture those sales are still very much there and automated email campaigns are the most effective ways to recover potential sales. Let’s look at these encouraging stats.

Over 20% of users who receive a cart abandonment email go on to complete their purchase. That’s a pretty impressive stat and one that is wholly worth acting on if you’re not already.

Retargeting Ads
Another way to reintroduce users to your site after abandoning their cart is with retargeting ads. Retargeting ads can increase conversion rates by up to 150% compared with standard campaigns that target cold audiences.

When is pay-per-click (PPC) advertising the right move for ecommerce?

A common mistake is treating paid traffic as the first option when sales are slow. But if your site isn't converting, PPC will only accelerate your losses, not your revenue. You'll simply be paying to send more people to an experience that isn't ready for them.

The right time to invest in PPC is when your conversion foundations are solid - when traffic lands on a site that's fast, intuitive, trustworthy and easy to buy from. At that point, paid traffic becomes a genuine growth accelerator rather than an expensive way to fill a leaking bucket.
That sequencing matters more than most brands realise, and getting it right is often the difference between PPC that delivers a strong return and PPC that quietly drains budget with little to show for it.

Getting the foundations right before you scale

Growing ecommerce revenue isn't just about driving more traffic. It's about making sure your store is ready to convert it when users arrive. The steps outlined above aren't a quick fix list; they're the foundations that separate stores that scale sustainably from those that haemorrhage budget, chasing sales they were never going to close.

The honest truth is that CRO work isn't glamorous, but it's where the real commercial gains are made. Once those foundations are in place - fast load times, a seamless mobile experience, a frictionless checkout, and a strategy to recover lost sales, that's when investing in paid traffic and broader marketing activity genuinely starts to compound.

At Serenity, we enjoy working with ecommerce brands because we know the foundations of UX determine everything that comes after - identifying where your store is losing customers, building the infrastructure to convert better, or knowing when the time is right to scale with expert-led PPC. We won’t suggest marketing strategies when we know it won’t work because the conversion rate isn’t there. We take a no-nonsense approach to finding what will actually move the needle for your business.

If any of the pain points in this article sound familiar, we'd love to have a conversation.

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Contact our Growth team today to find out more about the impact of this significant update.