Getting traffic is only half the job
If your jewellery website is attracting visitors but they aren’t buying, booking appointments or making enquiries, getting more traffic isn’t necessarily the answer.
Before spending more on SEO, advertising or social media, look at what happens to the customers you already have.
“Ecommerce success isn’t just about attracting more visitors. It’s about giving the right customers the confidence and information they need to take the next step.”
Steve Irvine - CEO Lionsorbet
What is a good conversion rate for a jewellery website?
There isn’t one.
Conversion rate is simply the percentage of website sessions that result in an order:
Conversion rate = orders ÷ website sessions × 100
So 20 orders from 2,000 sessions is a conversion rate of 1%.
Industry benchmarks can be useful, but comparing a website selling £50 earrings with one selling £10,000 engagement rings isn't particularly meaningful.
For many jewellers, an appointment, enquiry or store visit can be just as valuable as an online order.
Don't obsess over somebody else's benchmark. Work out what a valuable conversion means for your business.
Here are five things I would look at first.
1. Are you attracting the right customers?
More traffic doesn't automatically mean more sales.
If thousands of people arrive looking for information but have no intention of buying, your traffic can increase while your conversion rate falls.
Look at:
Which pages attract the most visitors?
Which pages actually generate sales, enquiries or appointments?
Which countries are visitors coming from?
Which channels produce customers rather than simply traffic?
Are old articles attracting lots of irrelevant visitors?
Someone searching “how much should I spend on an engagement ring?” may be researching. Someone searching “diamond engagement rings Birmingham” is potentially much closer to buying.
Both visitors have value, but they aren't equal.
Use Google Analytics, Search Console and Shopify to identify where your sales and enquiries actually come from.
If traffic is growing but sales aren't, don't immediately spend money attracting more visitors. Find out which pages and traffic sources are generating customers first, then focus your efforts there.
2. Do customers trust you enough to buy?
You're potentially asking someone who has never met you to spend thousands of pounds online.
Your website needs to answer some very basic questions:
Who are you? Can I trust you? Is the jewellery genuine? What happens if something goes wrong?
For a jewellery business, that means making things such as these easy to find:
Real information about your business and people
Store and workshop photography
Independent customer reviews
Diamond and gemstone certification
Hallmarking and provenance
Authorised retailer status where relevant
Professional memberships
Delivery and returns
Resizing
Warranties and aftercare
Clear contact information
If you've been trading for 50 years, say so. If you're a qualified gemmologist, tell people. If customers can visit your store, show them what it looks like.
Go through your website pretending you've never heard of your business.
Ask yourself: Would I comfortably spend £5,000 with this company based entirely on what I can see here?
If the answer isn't an immediate yes, identify what's missing and fix those things first.
3. Are your products giving customers enough reason to buy?
This is one of the biggest missed opportunities I see on jewellery websites.
A retailer spends money getting someone onto the website and then presents them with one manufacturer photograph, a product name, a price and two lines of description.
If five jewellers sell the same product using exactly the same imagery and description, why should the customer buy it from you?
Consider adding:
Your own product photography
Lifestyle photography
Close-up details
Video or 360° imagery
Images showing scale
Useful product descriptions
Metal and gemstone specifications
Dimensions and weights
Ring sizing
Certification
Availability and delivery times
Resizing information
Finance options
You don't need everything on every product. Give customers the information they need to make a confident decision.
Don't try to update 5,000 products at once.
Start with your 20 best sellers or most commercially important products. Improve the photography, information and presentation, publish the changes, then move onto the next 20.
4. Are you giving customers a reason to come back?
Someone looking at a £5,000 engagement ring may not buy on their first visit.
That's normal.
The important question is whether you've made it easy for them to continue the relationship.
Useful options include:
Wishlists
Email sign-up
Abandoned checkout emails
Back-in-stock notifications
Appointment booking
WhatsApp or live chat
Recently viewed products
Useful follow-up emails
Retargeting
The objective isn't to bombard people with marketing. It's to make it easy for an interested customer to find you again when they're ready.
Pick one or two ways for customers to stay connected.
If you don't have abandoned checkout emails running, start there. If appointments are important to your business, make booking one obvious. If customers regularly browse before buying, consider wishlists.
You don't need ten new marketing tools.
5. Is your website making buying unnecessarily difficult?
Some of the most expensive ecommerce problems are surprisingly small.
A customer can't find their ring size.
Search doesn't return the product they're looking for.
Filters are confusing.
Delivery information is hidden.
They want to see a £10,000 ring but can't find the appointment button.
Every unnecessary obstacle gives someone another opportunity to leave.
Ask:
Can customers easily find products?
Can they understand what they're buying?
Are sizing, delivery and returns obvious?
Is the next step clear?
Does search actually work?
Can someone easily book an appointment or contact you?
Have you actually tried buying something on your own website from a phone recently?
Give someone who doesn't regularly use your website a simple task, such as finding a platinum engagement ring under £5,000 and adding it to their basket, or finding out whether a ring can be resized and booking an appointment to see it.
Then watch them do it. Don't help them.
You'll quickly discover things that are obvious to you, but aren't obvious to your customers.
So, why isn't your jewellery website converting?
Don't immediately assume you need more traffic, a new website or a bigger marketing budget.
Start here:
1. Are you attracting the right customers?
2. Do they trust you?
3. Are your products presented properly?
4. Can interested customers easily come back?
5. Is anything making buying unnecessarily difficult?
Fix the obvious problems first and measure what happens.
For jewellery businesses, remember that the next step isn't always an online purchase. It might be an appointment, enquiry, phone call or store visit.
The goal isn't to chase somebody else's conversion rate. It's to make your website work harder for your business.
Not sure what's holding your website back?
Our Ecommerce Growth Review takes an independent look at your website, customer journey and wider digital strategy to identify what we'd prioritise and where we'd invest next.
