The dot create team recently travelled to WordCamp Europe 2024 in Turin, Italy – one of the largest WordPress conferences in the world. This was our third WordCamp Europe, after previously attending Seville in 2015 and Vienna in 2016.
Across the two days we attended a wide range of talks covering everything from design and blogging, to WooCommerce and SEO, and the future of WordPress itself.
One of the most interesting sessions was by Travis Lima, Customer Success Manager at WooCommerce. Travis works closely with some of WooCommerce’s largest stores, and his talk focused on small but powerful improvements that can significantly boost conversions on an online shop – turning more visitors into paying customers.
We’ve expanded on Travis’s talk below and added some of our own practical advice too…
Be authentic
Customers increasingly want to buy from brands they trust. Travis emphasised that websites should show the human side of their business.
- Show behind-the-scenes content
- Introduce the people behind the business
- Share stories about how products are created – or even why certain ideas didn’t work out
In short: people buy from people.
Build trust with customers – provide evidence
Trust is a crucial factor in online purchasing decisions. Some simple ways to reinforce credibility include:
- Display customer reviews and testimonials (called social proof)
- Show case studies or examples of your products in use
- Demonstrate expertise through blog posts or guides
- Provide clear company information and contact details
When customers recognise a business is well established and reliable, this can significantly boost conversions.
Be reachable – make it easy for customers to contact you
Another important factor is making sure customers can easily reach you when they have questions.
- Provide clear contact information on the website
- Offer multiple contact methods (email address, phone number, web forms, live chat, etc)
- Respond quickly to enquiries
If customers can’t easily ask questions, they’re far more likely to abandon their purchase.
Reduce fear
Online shoppers often hesitate if they feel uncertain about a purchase. You can reduce this hesitation by clearly explaining things such as:
- Return and refund policies
- Delivery times and shipping costs
- Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Providing reassurance helps customers feel more confident about completing their purchase.
Streamline your checkout to increase conversions
Checkout design is often where businesses lose sales. Travis highlighted that checkout pages should be:
- Simple and distraction-free (for example, some stores remove the main website header during checkout)
- Ideally a single-page process
- Free from unexpected additional fees appearing later in the process
- Designed so customers can complete payment quickly and easily
It’s also helpful to allow guest checkout, so customers don’t have to create an account, and to offer multiple payment options such as debit / credit card and PayPal.
Website design – make products easy to find on your online shop
Customers have limited time and attention, so it’s important that products are easy to find on your website.
Clear navigation, well-organised categories and simple product filtering can help visitors reach what they’re looking for with the fewest possible clicks or taps.
Sell the outcome, not just the product
A useful marketing principle is to focus on what the product will do for the customer, rather than simply describing the product itself. For example:
- What problem does the product solve?
- How will it make the customer’s life easier or better?
A good example of this approach is Apple. Rather than simply listing technical specifications, they highlight outcomes such as “work all day with up to 22 hours of battery life”.
Overall, the talk reinforced that conversion rate improvements don’t always require major redesigns — sometimes small improvements can have a surprisingly large impact on a shop’s success.
More takeaways from WordCamp Europe 2024…
Authentic content in the age of AI
Another highlight of the event was the keynote presentation from Matt Mullenweg, co-founder of WordPress, and a keen blogger. Matt suggested that in the age of AI, the most valuable content businesses can create is personal stories and experiences that AI simply cannot generate.
For example, if you run a restaurant, instead of simply posting a recipe, Matt suggested telling the story behind it — what inspired the dish and how it came about. This kind of authentic storytelling helps content stand out in an increasingly AI-generated web.
Please leave a gap: the importance of white space in web design
A design-focused talk we enjoyed was by Ioanna Aravani. She explained how white space (the empty space between sections and elements) plays a crucial role in improving usability and readability. It helps guide visitors’ attention to important information and creates a calmer experience, rather than the webpage feeling too crowded.
It’s a simple design principle that we like to use when creating web designs, and it can make a huge difference to how easy a website is to use.
Connecting with the WordPress community
Beyond the talks themselves, WordCamp is also about meeting the people behind the WordPress ecosystem. We attended a great evening hosted by WP Engine on the riverbank in the centre of Turin, which was a fantastic opportunity to meet other developers and agencies.
Events like this are always valuable for the practical ideas we can bring back to the office and apply to the websites we build and maintain for our clients. We’re looking forward to attending more events soon…
