You're pouring significant budgets into marketing campaigns and obsessing over driving more traffic to your online shop – only to realize that 98%¹ of your visitors ultimately leave without buying anything. Lost revenue due to poor conversion rates and high customer acquisition costs (CAC) is a familiar daily struggle for many ecommerce businesses. But what's really causing these low conversion rates, and what practical steps can you take right now to sustainably improve your results? In this blog post, we’ll share actionable insights for conversion optimization, along with expert advice from our trusted Shopware partner network.
"The ultimate goal is to create an effortless shopping journey. The smoother and more intuitive the process, the higher the conversion rates – without the experience feeling overly sales-driven. A well-optimized store naturally converts better because it reduces frustration and guides users intuitively through the buying process."
– Alexander Schneiderbanger, Senior E-Commerce Consultant bei best it
5 key reasons why your conversion rate isn’t improving
It might be small consolation, but your ecommerce business isn’t alone in struggling with low conversion rates and high bounce rates. Recent IRP studies indicate that average ecommerce conversion rates are steadily declining, dropping from 2.05% in September 2023 to just 1.63% by February 2025² – although variations of up to four percentage points exist across industries³.
But your conversion rate isn’t the only KPI indicating your shop’s performance. Your bounce rate – the percentage of visitors who leave your website immediately after viewing just one page – also speaks volumes about your store’s user experience. The ecommerce average bounce rate is about 50%⁴. If your bounce rate is significantly higher, it’s time to prioritize improving your site's user experience.
This brings us to the key reasons your conversion rate remains low or your bounce rate is above average. Although multiple factors may play a role, experience shows that these five common issues frequently stand out:
1. Your shopping experience isn’t personalized enough
Today’s customers expect highly personalized shopping journeys. Generic offers, irrelevant recommendations, and a lack of targeted personalization can quickly lead to frustration and abandoned purchases. In fact, according to Accenture, 91% of consumers prefer online shops offering personalized experiences⁵.
"A common mistake is treating all customers the same. With Shopware’s Rule Builder, content, pricing, and promotions can be dynamically adjusted for different customer segments, yet many merchants still take a one-size-fits-all approach. Tailoring experiences based on data leads to significantly higher engagement and conversions."
– Alexander Schneiderbanger, Senior E-Commerce Consultant bei best it
2. You’re not providing enough purchase incentives
Discounts, exclusive offers, complimentary extras, or genuine customer reviews often trigger decisive buying impulses and significantly improve conversion rates. Without these incentives, visitors lose interest quickly. A Criteo study found that 93% of consumers say discounts or coupons directly influence their purchase decisions⁶. However, it’s important to use such incentives strategically, as Alexander Schneiderbanger from best it points out. Attempts to upsell or include other distractions during checkout can actually backfire and lead to a drop in completion rates.
3. Your product information and terms are unclear
Incomplete or ambiguous product descriptions, hidden shipping costs, or unclear return policies create uncertainty – one of the biggest reasons for abandoned carts. According to the Baymard Institute, insufficient or misleading product details cause 20% of cart abandonments⁷.
4. Your online store is too slow or confusing
Slow loading times and complicated navigation frustrate shoppers, prompting them to leave your site immediately. Customers expect a smooth, easy-to-navigate user experience. Even a 1-second delay in loading time can reduce your ecommerce conversion rate by approximately 7%⁸.
5. Your checkout process is overly complicated
Each unnecessary step in your checkout process reduces the chance that customers complete their purchase. Barriers like limited payment methods or mandatory account creation frequently drive customers to competitors. An optimized one-page checkout, by comparison, typically delivers around 7.5% higher conversion rates than multi-step checkouts⁹.
„The most common mistake is overcomplicating the checkout process. The simplest method is the most effective, even if it seems basic or unexciting.“
– Christoph Krebs, Head of CRO at Digitas
How Shopware helps you eliminate buying barriers and boost your conversion rate
There’s a reason Shopware is consistently recognized as one of the world’s leading ecommerce platforms. Praised for exceptional usability and advanced features tailored specifically to conversion optimization and customer experience, Shopware was named an Innovation Leader in Gartner®’s 2024 Magic Quadrant™ for Digital Commerce¹⁰ – for the fifth consecutive year. Additionally, Shopware earned 11 medals in the 2024 Paradigm B2B Report, including top marks in categories such as "Transaction Management" and "Integrations, Operations & Infrastructure."¹¹
To tackle the common challenges mentioned above, Shopware provides a robust set of features designed to significantly improve your conversion rates. Here are some of the key features you can leverage right away.
Drive conversions with powerful personalization: Rule Builder, Dynamic Access, and Customer Specific Pricing
Rule Builder: Craft tailored purchase incentives with dynamic rules – like targeted discounts for first-time buyers or free shipping above a certain cart value.
Dynamic Access: Personalize product displays by selectively showing items or categories to specific customer groups, enhancing relevance and engagement.
Customer Specific Pricing: Boost conversions by offering customized pricing tailored precisely to different customer segments.
"Shopware's Rule Builder is a game-changer for personalization. We use it to create dynamic promotions based on customer purchase history, location, or even browsing behavior. This level of targeted marketing ensures that every customer sees offers that are relevant to them, significantly boosting conversion rates."
– Torben Korb, Senior IT Developer at Digitas
Create compelling incentives with targeted promotions
Promotion Engine: Easily configure and automate discount campaigns and promotions tailored to your sales channels – delivering compelling incentives that convert visitors into buyers.
Optimize ecommerce conversions with Shopware’s Shopping Experiences and Sales Channels
Shopping Experiences: Use Shopware’s intuitive CMS to effortlessly create appealing, personalized landing pages – perfect for theme weeks, product categories, brand showcases, and more – to offer customers unforgettable shopping moments.
Sales Channels: Organize and customize your Shopware shop into distinct sales channels, delivering uniquely optimized shopping experiences tailored to each audience.
"We leverage Shopware's Shopping Experiences to move beyond static product listings. By crafting immersive, story-driven pages, we capture customer attention and guide them through the purchase journey, dramatically improving conversion rates. This allows us to tailor the experience to each target audience, highlighting key product benefits in a visually compelling way."
– Torben Korb, Senior IT Developer at Digitas
Boosted checkout and personalized checkout messages via AI Copilot
According to Christian Otto Grötsch, Founder & Chairman of the Board at dotSource, one particularly effective lever for boosting conversion rates is the optimisation of the checkout process."The checkout should be completed with as few clicks as possible. »Trust elements« such as seals of approval, customer reviews or »Known from ...« logos create additional trust. Offering the right payment methods, such as PayPal, can also have a positive impact on the conversion rate. ."
Optimized checkout process: Shopware offers an out-of-the-box checkout designed with minimal steps and intuitive navigation. Seamlessly integrate popular payment methods via our API, thanks to Shopware’s extensive ecosystem of payment providers.
AI-generated Custom Checkout Messages: Increase customer loyalty and repeat purchases by sending personalized, AI-generated messages to shoppers based on their purchase history and cart contents.
"Most importantly, never surprise users late in the process with hidden costs like additional fees or unexpected shipping charges. By keeping your checkout process streamlined and transparent, you'll create a shopping experience that converts at a much higher rate."
– Christoph Krebs, Head of CRO at Digitas
Make data-driven decisions, test, and learn
According to Alexander Schneiderbanger from Best it, one common mistake many merchants make is relying too heavily on gut feeling instead of actual user behavior: „A/B testing, heatmaps, and detailed funnel tracking in Shopware’s analytics tools should always be the foundation for decision-making.“
Christoph Krebs from Digitas adds that even small-scale tests can provide a solid basis for decision-making: „Experiment, test, learn, rinse, and repeat. Don't hesitate to test significant changes and optimizations (with a small percentage of your buyers). Even a quick, informal user test can provide valuable insights to kick-start your optimization process.“
Marian Dietrich, SEO Manager at Agiqon,, also advocates for a data-driven approach:
"A data-driven approach starts with a comprehensive analysis of the entire customer journey – from traffic quality and funnel analysis to direct user feedback. A common pitfall is relying solely on superficial metrics rather than considering all interaction points (e.g., click paths, bounce rates in the checkout, usability tests). This method enables the precise identification of optimization opportunities, the development of concrete ideas, and iterative testing through A/B tests. As a result, bottlenecks are effectively addressed, the user experience is sustainably improved, and conversion rates are increased over the long term.
Shopware provides an excellent foundation: Integrated features such as the Rule Builder and reporting empower shop owners to perform initial analyses, laying the groundwork for targeted optimization."
With Shopware Analytics, you can track various KPIs in real time and gain valuable insights – including the effectiveness of promotions and discounts, customer growth trends, new customer acquisition, average order value, revenue, and much more.
Sustainable fashion brand ARMEDANGELS rises conversion rate by 53% with Shopware
ARMEDANGELS, a leading sustainable fashion brand, migrated from Magento to Shopware to build a future-ready ecommerce platform. In collaboration with Shopware Platinum Partner dasistweb, the company successfully completed the migration in just six months. The results speak for themselves: ARMEDANGELS immediately achieved an impressive 53% increase in conversion rates and a 10% growth in revenue.
Key to this success were advanced technical features, such as a fully automated returns and refund process, intelligent caching, and high-performance hosting infrastructure. Shopware’s intuitive Shopping Experiences, drag-and-drop customizable product listings, and seamless integrations with SAP Emarsys and DHL also contributed significantly to enhancing user experience and driving conversions.
Today, ARMEDANGELS enjoys faster page loads, simplified content management without developer intervention, and enhanced flexibility – crucial factors supporting the ongoing international growth of their 2,500-product B2C online shop. Read the full ARMEDANGELS success story here.
Conclusion: Improve your conversion rate and drive more revenue by focusing on the right strategies
A weak conversion rate isn’t just a number – it directly affects the long-term success and profitability of your ecommerce business. Low conversions usually result from flaws in your shopping experience, such as impersonal customer journeys, insufficient purchase incentives, unclear product information, slow page loading, or complicated checkouts. These barriers stop visitors from turning into buyers.
Shopware addresses these critical pain points head-on, offering a powerful range of features designed to boost conversions. With flexible personalization options, automated promotions, intuitive checkout processes, and seamless user experiences, Shopware makes it easier than ever to convert visitors into loyal customers. The sustainable fashion brand ARMEDANGELS is proof – after switching to Shopware, they achieved an impressive 53% increase in conversions.
¹ https://uptain.de/blog/conversion-rate-branchen ² https://www.irpcommerce.com/en/gb/ecommercemarketdata.aspx ³ https://www.oberlo.com/statistics/ecommerce-conversion-rate-by-industry ⁴ https://capturly.com/blog/average-bounce-rate-by-industry-2023-benchmark/ ⁵ https://newsroom.accenture.de/de/news/2018/verbraucher-wuenschen-mehr-personalisierung ⁶ https://blog.accessdevelopment.com/ultimate-collection-coupon-statistics ⁷ https://uptain.de/blog/gruende-fuer-kaufabbrueche/ ⁸ https://www.akamai.com/newsroom/press-release/akamai-releases-spring-2017-state-of-online-retail-performance-report ⁹ https://www.groovecommerce.com/ecommerce-blog/one-page-checkout/ ¹⁰ https://www.shopware.com/en/gartner-magic-quadrant/ ¹¹ https://www.shopware.com/en/news/shopware-paradigm-report/
