Top 15 WooCommerce Website Development Tips

Are you launching an online store for your small business?

You could consider WooCommerce, a beginner-friendly WordPress plugin. 

It is a popular choice among businesses owing to its easy setup and customization options. It integrates easily with extensions, payment gateways, and shipping carriers.

Over 6 million stores have been built using WooCommerce to date.

However, setting up an e-commerce store is merely the groundwork. Lead generation, driving sales, and increasing conversions need effective strategies. 

Following best practices ensures a better shopping experience and builds trust while you achieve your eCommerce goals.

This blog has 15 actionable WooCommerce tips that you can implement to boost traffic, improve user experience, and increase sales. Keep reading to discover valuable tips.

15 Actionable WooCommerce Tips to Follow to Achieve Your E-Commerce Goals

HOSTING

1. Choose a WooCommerce-Specific Host

A straightforward yet often overlooked point when implementing WooCommerce tricks is choosing a WooCommerce-specific hosting provider. A specialized WooCommerce host will increase performance, tighten security, and facilitate business growth. 

But which hosts are optimized for WooCommerce?

• Elementor: An Elementor Pro plan can build a customized store and craft unique product pages with its advanced themes. Other key features include a popup builder for lead generation and a flexible form builder. Elementor uses the Google Cloud platform’s C2 servers for increased speed and flexibility. Besides, it enhances security with DDoS protection and Firewall.
• WP Engine: With flexible options to customize your website, this host can increase performance, simplify workflows, and help adapt to growing business demands. It uses high-end servers, advanced caching systems, and a global CDN for increased speed. The developer tools feature GIT integration and one-click staging environments. Since its advanced tools demand technical knowledge, working with experienced WooCommerce development services is recommended.

• SiteGround: An affordable host with an ideal blend of features to enhance performance and user experience, SiteGround is another popular choice. It’s SSD storage, custom caching, and a selection of data center locations offer reliable speed. SiteGround provides intuitive features, easy-to-follow setup wizards, and 24/7 customer support, making it beginner-friendly.

USER EXPERIENCE

2. Implement a Mobile-Friendly Design

A WooCommerce store that is fully responsive ensures customer retention and revisits from potential buyers. 

As per a study, 50% of users will visit your site less if it isn’t responsive though they like your business. 

It is also worth noting that 80% of mobile users shop online using their phones. 

Responsive themes, optimized images, readable fonts, improved speed, and easy navigation contribute to mobile-friendly design.

Here’s an example of the stellar mobile navigation implementation of SOCKBOX, a WooCommerce socks store. 

Users can easily scroll down the clean, detailed menu to find what they are seeking. The fonts are easily readable on the mobile screen. Implementing an above-the-fold view organizes and gives the menu a neat appearance.  

You can apply similar WooCommerce tips and tricks to build a responsive store.

3. Improve Image Loading 

Images significantly impact your site load times and navigation. 

As per a study, images consume 61.3% of the download time of a web page. 

Leverage these WooCommerce tools to improve image loading:

• Ewww and Shortpixel image optimizers: To reduce product image size, convert images into WebP and AVIF formats, and increase store speed.
• RabbitLoader: To convert images into a next-gen format. It also speeds up your site with browser and CDN caching mechanisms. The tool uses lazy loading for non-critical images.  

Additionally, control your product image dimensions by making them as small as possible. To do that:

• Go to Appearance 
• Choose Customize
• In WordPress Customizer, navigate to WooCommerce 
• Choose Product Images and enter the dimensions

5. Optimize For Speed

Google recommends an optimal page load time of 2 seconds. As per a report, a short website downtime can cost $137-$427/minute for small businesses. 

Follow these tips to optimize for speed during WooCommerce development:

• Use caching plugins like WP Rocket and W3 Total Cache.
• Compress images.
• Increase WordPress memory limit.
• Choose a high-quality host.
• Use a CDN.
• Tools like W3C Validator can optimize HTML code.
• Ensure proper URL structure and avoid broken links to minimize redirects.
• Implement tools like Google PageSpeed Insights and Pingdom to test WooCommerce speed.

6. Simplify Checkout

Below are some of the best WooCommerce tips to simplify the checkout process:

• Reduce the number of form fields. Ask only what is necessary.
• Add trust signals like trust seals and testimonials.
• Add an offer they can’t refuse.
• Make support accessible.
• Offer guest checkout.
• Eliminate hidden fees.
• Add multiple payment options.
• Autofill and validation can speed up checkout and minimize errors.
• Offer incentives like Free shipping or discounts.
• Customize checkout by working with a WooCommerce website development company.

 Take a look at Zara’s checkout page for inspiration:

They kept the number of form fields minimal. Also, notice the use of Google Maps location charts. It gives users a hassle-free shopping experience by reducing manual typing effort.

7. Leverage Video Commerce

Buyers want to get information as quickly as possible when they visit your store. Creating explainer videos, product demo videos, and customer testimonial videos are ways to give out information easily. 

33% of shoppers want to learn about products through videos. 

On the other hand, 69% of shoppers say that product demos help them make purchase decisions.

8. Add Wishlists

Adding wishlists to your store enables customers to monitor prices, share, and keep track of out-of-stock items.

As a store owner, you will get insights into customer’s preferences and provide a better experience. 

Here’s an example of West Elm’s wishlist:

Use WooCommerce wishlist plugins like YITH Wishlist and TI WooCommerce Wishlist to execute this trick. 

CONVERSIONS

9. Identify Profitable Traffic

Setting up Google Analytics can track traffic sources and customers’ shopping and checkout behavior. It can also identify how many visitors convert into sales and give product performance and bounce rate reports.

These reports enable you to identify areas to focus on and those to ignore.

9. Tips to Boost Sales

 Some crucial WooCommerce tips that can help boost sales include:

• Implementing upselling and cross-selling. Example of how Sephora implements upselling by highlighting new arrivals on their Homepage:

• Offering time-sensitive discounts and coupon codes to drive urgency and increase sales. 
• Leveraging customer data to identify pain points and personalizing your products and services.
• Providing 24/7 Live Chat support and prompt responses to queries.
• Easy checkout design.

10. Use Push Notifications

Using push notifications strategically can increase customer retention and conversions.

Employ emojis, CTAs, pictures, and rich formats, and personalize send times to improve performance.

The morning, weekend, and evening are the best times to send push notifications.

SEO STRATEGIES

11. Up your SEO Game

Investing in SEO is highly rewarding. In an e-commerce brand case study, the owner saw 200% growth from SEO in a year and made £20,000 from SEO alone in revenue. They conducted keyword research and focused on content-led SEO and authority building.

Some of the best SEO tips include:

• Choosing an SEO-friendly theme.
• Conducting keyword research and including relevant keywords in product titles, descriptions, and meta tags.
• Using well-structured, SEO-friendly, and descriptive URLs.

• Optimizing CSS, JavaScript, and SQL Queries in the database.
• Implementing custom schema markup for products including price, availability, and ratings to enhance visibility in search engine results.

• Installing compatible WooCommerce SEO plugins like Yoast SEO or Rank Math.
• Adding internal links to related products, blog posts, and category pages.
• Building high-quality backlinks.
• Optimizing for local SEO.
• Creating unique, engaging product descriptions and blog posts about your products or helpful guides.

BRANDING

12. Tell your Brand Story

Why is your brand story important to customers? Branding facilitates recognition and trust and helps gain loyal followers. 

50% of customers are more likely to buy from you if they recognize your brand.

Also, 82% of shoppers will stay loyal to your brand if your values align.

Practice these essential tips while branding your e-commerce business:

• Stay consistent with your brand voice, design, color, and style.
• Incorporate great storytelling techniques.
• Use high-quality visuals.
• Offer top-notch customer support.
• Focus on product quality.
• Leverage social media.

EMAIL MARKETING

13. Set-up Email Marketing Campaigns

Thanks to smartphones, accessing email is incredibly easy. Why not take advantage of it? 

Receiving a well-crafted email can influence your customer’s purchase decisions and retain them.

As per a study, 59% of customers’ purchase decisions are influenced by marketing emails. Besides, email marketing ROI is high.

Employ these WooCommerce tricks while running an email marketing campaign:

• Send personalized and relevant emails.
•  Don’t bombard subscribers with too many emails.
• Avoid too salesy or spammy emails.
• Encourage subscriptions by offering deals, discounts, and loyalty programs.
• Use email marketing tools like WPFunnels, Mail Mint, and WooRewards.

BUILDING TRUST

14. Establish Credibility with Social Proof

Create a page for testimonials, success stories, and customer reviews during WooCommerce development to establish credibility. Incorporating user-generated content is another great idea.

Here’s how Long Wknd intelligently incorporated user-generated content while showcasing products and highlighting their benefits.

According to a study, social proof helped Lv8 Marketing Agency increase conversions by 98%.

Consider WooCommerce social proof plugins like TrustPluse and WPForms. 

15. Encourage Reviews

To build customer trust, get reviews. Some great WooCommerce tips to generate reviews include:

• Sending post-purchase emails.
• Offering incentives for reviews in return.
• Using plugins like ReviewX to gather reviews.
• Responding to feedback.
• Sharing reviews on social media.
• Showcasing positive reviews prominently.

Reviews can also boost sales, and improve SEO,

 Bonus WooCommerce Tips for Success

1. Use automation to personalize email marketing, send push notifications, simplify invoicing and payment processes, display positive reviews, and more.
2. Learn how to add your WooCommerce store to Facebook and promote your business. 
3. Enable customers to have a more personalized experience by allowing customizable products.  
4. Implement effective search and filters to improve user experience.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Avoid these 8 common WooCommerce mistakes at all costs:

1. Using plugins from unreliable vendors.
2. Integrating unnecessary plugins. It decreases site load speed.
3. Not having robust security measures. 
4. Unresponsive customer support.
5. No follow-through after a marketing campaign.
6. Lack of disaster recovery plan.
7. Not backing up your site and not updating your plugins.
8. Not testing your site speed, checkout process, and other features.

Conclusion

Implementing essential WooCommerce tips and tricks will keep customers returning to your store while significantly increasing conversions. 

What’s better for an online store than to have a loyal customer base who trusts you?  

Start optimizing your WooCommerce store today. Contact Icon TechSoft WooCommerce website development company for expert website optimization services. We bring 10+ years of expertise in WooCommerce development with a proven track record of excellence. 

We are ready to help transform your eCommerce vision into reality. Let’s build a user-friendly platform that engages customers and drives sales.