Hi! I’m Andreina Caushi, Director of Client Services & Partnerships at ECOM Department, and lately I’ve been really interested in CRO.
Over the past few months, I’ve had the opportunity to attend multiple Shopify BFCM sessions and conversations at Shopify’s headquarters in SoHo, and I’ve always found myself really interested in the conversations around e-commerce behavior, what makes people buy, and what brands can do to create a better online shopping experience.
More recently, I went to a talk with the Founder of Visually which inspired me to write this. There there was a lot of conversation around the psychology and science behind CRO, and it got me thinking about how much of this I already do naturally when I’m shopping.
Because, honestly, I love online shopping.
Like, a lot.
And I know that sounds crazy, but I actually think it has taught me a lot about what works and what doesn’t work on an e-commerce site.
I know what makes me more likely to buy something somewhere versus somewhere else. I notice when I trust a website immediately and when something feels off. I notice why I add something to my cart, why I leave, and what makes me come back later.
And I’m constantly asking myself why.
Why am I more likely to buy this product from this website than somewhere else? Why did I add something to my cart but not check out? Why does one $300 shirt feel completely justified while another $150 shirt feels overpriced?
That, to me, is where CRO gets really interesting.
CRO is really psychology
I think CRO can sometimes sound very technical. We talk about conversion rates, A/B tests, funnels, heat maps, analytics, personalization and all of these tools that can tell us what people are doing.
But underneath all of that is a person trying to make a decision.
And people are complicated.
We get distracted. We don't always read everything. We compare. We overthink. We change our minds. We see something we love, put it in our cart and then decide we absolutely do not need it.
We’re also constantly looking for little signals that tell us we're making the right decision.
That’s why I think CRO is as much about psychology as it is about data.
The question isn't just, “How do we get someone to buy?”
It's “What is stopping them from buying?”
Maybe they don't trust the site yet. Maybe they don't understand the product. Maybe they can't figure out their size. Maybe shipping is too expensive. Maybe there are too many choices. Maybe they simply aren't convinced that the product is worth the price.
Those are all CRO problems, even if they don't initially look like CRO problems.
There is only so much information we can take in
One thing that really stuck with me from the conversations I’ve been having around CRO is processing overload.
There is only so much information we can process at once, and I think e-commerce websites are really good at giving us way too much.
You land on a homepage and suddenly there is a sale banner, a hero image, a navigation menu, new arrivals, best sellers, categories, editorial content, an email pop-up, social proof and five different calls to action.
And then we're expecting the customer to somehow know exactly where to go.
More doesn't always mean better.
Sometimes we actually need less.
This is especially important on mobile. A lot of people are going straight to the menu because they already know what they're looking for. If your most important categories aren't easy to find, you're making the customer work way harder than they need to.
And I think that's something brands should constantly be looking at.
What are people actually doing when they land on the site?
Are they going to the menu?
Are they searching?
Are they scrolling?
Are they clicking the hero?
Are they immediately going to a product?
The homepage might be beautiful, but if the customer can't figure out where to go next, the beauty doesn't really matter.
Sometimes I just want you to help me choose
I also think we forget that customers don't always want endless choices.
Sometimes I just want someone to tell me what to buy.
If I'm shopping for skincare and there are 20 products, I don't necessarily want to read about all 20. I want to know which one is right for me.
That's why I really like things like “Help Me Choose” quizzes, shopping by concern, shopping by occasion or even something as simple as a “Best Seller” badge.
It gives me a place to start.
And I think those little visual cues can be really helpful too. If you want me to notice something, give it a badge or some kind of visual distinction.
But if everything on the page is screaming for my attention, nothing really stands out.
There has to be some sort of hierarchy.
The customer should be able to look at a page and instinctively understand: Here's what I'm looking at, here's why it matters, and here's where I should go next.
Tell me why I should buy this
This is probably one of my biggest personal CRO opinions.
If I'm looking at a $250 silk top, I want to know why it's $250.
Because I can probably find something similar at Zara.
And I'm not saying that to compare the brands. I'm saying it because the customer is already doing that comparison in their head.
If you want me to spend more, tell me why.
Tell me about the fabric. Tell me how it's made. Tell me where it's produced. Tell me how it fits. Tell me why you designed it. Tell me what makes it different.
I want the story.
I want to know why I'm here.
I think this is particularly important for luxury and premium brands. When someone is spending more money, the website needs to communicate more than just what the product is.
It needs to communicate the value behind it.
And that's where CRO and brand storytelling really come together for me.
Conversion optimization shouldn't mean stripping away the personality of a brand. If you're a luxury brand, I still want to feel that. If you're a fashion brand, I still want to understand your point of view.
The website just needs to make it easier for me to understand why I should buy from you.
Please don't make me guess my size
Sizing is another huge one for me.
I cannot tell you how many times I've been interested in something and then stopped because I have no idea what size I should buy.
Different brands fit differently. A medium isn't always a medium. And if I have to pull out a measuring tape and start doing research just to figure out whether something will fit me, you've made the experience harder than it needs to be.
That's why I think sizing tools are so important.
Give me the model's measurements. Tell me what size she's wearing. Give me fit notes. Tell me if it runs small or oversized. Let me see what other customers are saying.
Help me feel confident.
And honestly, even something as simple as naming color swatches can help.
If I see six little circles with no names, I'm like...okay, what color is that?
Is it ivory? Cream? Oat? Beige?
Just tell me.
These seem like really small things, but CRO is often about finding all of those little moments where someone might hesitate.
One small question might not stop a customer from buying. But when you start stacking five or six unanswered questions on top of each other, suddenly you have a customer who isn't feeling very confident.
Don't just tell me. Show me.
E-commerce is obviously incredibly visual.
Before I read a huge product description, I'm probably looking at the product.
How does it fit?
What does the material look like?
Is it sheer?
Does it move?
What does the color actually look like?
Can I see it on someone?
That's why I'm a big believer in testing different types of visual content. Photography is important, but video, UGC, different angles, zoom functionality and customer imagery can all help answer questions that a paragraph sometimes can't.
We've tested video in a product experience and saw conversion increase by around 5%.
But the important takeaway isn't “video increases conversion by 5%.”
It's that we tested something.
We had a hypothesis, we tested it and we learned something.
That's what I like about CRO.
We're not just saying, “I think this looks better.”
We're saying, “I think this might help the customer make a decision. Let's test it.”
And sometimes the test tells us we were completely wrong.
That's okay too.
A test that disproves our assumption is still useful because now we know something we didn't know before.
Shipping and returns are not small things
One of the first things I look at when I'm shopping somewhere new is shipping.
How much is it?
Is it free?
When will I get my order?
What happens if I don't like it?
Can I return it for free?
These things can completely change whether I buy something.
And I think sometimes brands spend so much time making the website beautiful that they forget customers are looking for very basic information.
Sometimes the thing standing between me and a purchase isn't the homepage.
It's the fact that I can't figure out if returns are free.
That's why I think timing matters just as much as information.
Shipping information might be most helpful near the add-to-cart button. Fit information should be close to the size selector. Return information should be easy to find before I get to checkout.
It's not just what you're telling me.
It's when you're telling me.
Trust is a conversion tool
All of these things ultimately come back to trust.
Do I trust the photos?
Do I trust that the product is going to look like it does online?
Do I trust that my order will actually arrive?
Do I trust the return policy?
Do I trust the reviews?
Do I trust that this brand is going to give me a good experience if something goes wrong?
The first purchase from a brand is a little bit of a leap.
The website has to help make that leap feel smaller.
That's why things like reviews, UGC, clear policies, product details, transparent shipping information and even showing the product from different angles can be so important.
They're all little pieces of reassurance.
So... am I a CRO expert because I shop too much?
Maybe.
But I actually think being good at CRO requires a combination of data, psychology, curiosity and empathy.
Tools can tell us what people are doing. Analytics can show us where people are dropping off. Testing can tell us if something actually worked.
But someone still has to ask why.
Why didn't they click?
Why did they leave?
Why did they add to cart but not purchase?
Why did they spend five minutes on the product page and still not buy?
Sometimes the answer is complicated.
And sometimes it's really simple.
Maybe they couldn't find their size.
Maybe they didn't understand the return policy.
Maybe they weren't convinced the product was worth the price.
Maybe there were just too many options.
That's what makes CRO so interesting to me.
It's not about finding one magic button color or creating the “perfect” homepage.
It's about constantly learning how people shop and making the experience a little easier.
And honestly, I think being an obsessive consumer gives me a bit of a head start.
If there's a brand out there, there's a pretty good chance I know it. I'm constantly shopping, comparing, opening new tabs, reading reviews, checking shipping policies and asking myself why I'd buy something from one brand over another.
So now, when I look at a website professionally, I'm also looking at it as a customer.
Would I buy this?
What's stopping me?
What question do I still have?
What could we test?
Because that's really the fun of CRO.
You don't have to assume you know the answer.
Just test it.
happy to help with any questions you may have as well andreina@ecomdepartment.com