Overview
Josh came to me through the Sidekick Program with a single goal: increase his WooCommerce store’s checkout conversion rate. At the time, his store was set up like many others—focused on product pages and driving traffic through ads, but lacking the strategic elements that make a marketing-first website.
By focusing on building out a structured sales funnel, optimizing checkout, and implementing upsells, Josh’s store evolved into a marketing-first website that converts traffic more effectively and drives consistent revenue. What started as a one-time project to improve checkout has turned into an ongoing partnership where we continuously optimize and build out the store through the Sidekick Program.
Quick Summary
Josh needed help increasing his checkout conversion rate, but what we discovered was a much bigger opportunity to overhaul his store into a marketing-first website. Since then, we’ve worked together on optimizing his sales funnels, increasing Average Order Value (AOV), and speeding up his site to handle high traffic.
Key Achievements:
- Sales Funnel Implementation: Built and tested multiple checkout flows using FunnelKit, improving conversions and guiding customers through the purchase process.
- Average Order Value: Boosted revenue by adding Order Bumps and post-purchase upsells.
- Site Speed Optimization: Ensured fast load times, even during high-traffic periods from paid ads and email campaigns.
- Custom Development: Created custom solutions that were unique to Josh’s product setup in WooCommerce.
- Ongoing Collaboration: Josh now loads tasks into Trello for me to handle, freeing up his time for marketing and product creation.
Checkout Optimization: A/B Testing & Customizations
Josh’s initial checkout page was a simple one-step layout, which wasn’t converting as well as it could. We decided to run a series of A/B tests using FunnelKit, focusing on different aspects of the checkout flow to improve the user experience and conversion rates.
A/B Test 1: Multi-Step Checkout
We tested a 1-step, 2-step, and 3-step checkout layout. The 3-step checkout produced a 3.58% increase in conversions over the 1-step checkout.
Why It Worked: Breaking the checkout process into smaller steps made it less overwhelming for customers, especially on mobile devices, improving the overall experience and reducing cart abandonment.
A/B Test 2: Google Address Autocomplete
By integrating Google Address Autocomplete, we sped up the checkout process, reducing form fill-in times.
Result: A smoother checkout process led to a slight increase in conversions. Customers were more likely to complete their purchase when the form was faster to fill out.
A/B Test 3: Coupon Field Placement
Testing different placements of the coupon field showed that moving it towards the end of checkout reduced cart abandonment.
Why It Worked: Placing the coupon field at the end kept the focus on the purchasing process, minimizing distractions.
A/B Test 4: Trustpilot Reviews
We tested whether displaying Trustpilot reviews on the checkout page would build trust and increase conversions. Surprisingly, removing them actually increased conversions.
Why It Worked: Removing distractions during checkout kept users focused on completing their purchase rather than leaving the page.
This highlights why it is extremely important to AB Test things that you add to your website instead of assuming they’ll increase your conversion rate.
Increasing Average Order Value (AOV): Order Bumps & Post-Purchase Upsells
Once the checkout process was optimized, we shifted focus to increasing Average Order Value (AOV) by introducing Order Bumps and Post-Purchase Upsells using FunnelKit.
Order Bumps
What we did: We added Order Bumps—one-click upsell offers displayed on the checkout page.
Result: In the first two weeks, we applied upselling strategies like Order Bumps and post-purchase upsells to a small percentage of Josh’s traffic, generating an additional £2129.1 in revenue, with over £500 made in one day. As we expand these strategies to a larger portion of his traffic after more A/B testing, we expect these results to increase significantly.
Why It Worked: Order Bumps allowed customers to add complementary products during checkout without interrupting the purchase process, increasing their total order value.
Post-Purchase Upsells
What we did: We also introduced Post-Purchase Upsells, allowing customers to purchase an additional product after completing their order with just one click.
Result: Post-purchase upsells began driving additional sales through PayPal, with full rollout to all payment gateways in progress.
Why It Worked: These upsells allow customers to make another purchase without having to re-enter payment information, making it easy for them to buy more.
Website Speed Optimization: Faster Site, More Sales
Josh’s site was slowing down during high-traffic periods, especially during ads and email campaigns. We worked on improving the site speed to ensure that customers had a smooth, fast experience, reducing bounce rates.
What We Did:
- Page Caching: Implemented FlyingPress to pre-load pages, reducing load times during busy periods.
- Object Caching: Enabled Object Caching to speed up database queries for managing orders.
- CDN Setup: Configured a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to distribute content globally, ensuring fast load times for all visitors.
- Image Optimization: Used ShortPixel to compress large images without sacrificing quality, ensuring faster load times.
The Result:
Josh’s site now loads faster, reducing cart abandonment and improving the overall user experience. This has helped maintain steady sales during peak traffic times, especially from paid ad campaigns.
Custom Development: Tailored Solutions for WooCommerce
Josh’s WooCommerce store had some unique needs that weren’t addressed by standard plugins. We developed custom solutions to ensure everything worked seamlessly.
What We Did:
- Custom Plugin Development: Built a custom plugin to make Josh’s unique WooCommerce product types compatible with FunnelKit’s upsell and order bump features.
- Theme Customization: Tailored Josh’s WordPress theme for improved functionality and design, helping his store convert better.
The Result:
These custom features helped Josh increase his AOV and improve his store’s overall functionality, allowing him to offer a better shopping experience for his customers.
Ongoing Work & Future Plans
Josh continues to work with me through the Sidekick Program, regularly adding tasks for optimization and improvement.
Next Steps:
- Standalone Sales Funnels: We’re building dedicated sales funnels to drive even more sales from specific campaigns.
- WooCommerce Subscriptions: Adding WooCommerce Subscriptions for recurring revenue streams.
- A/B Testing & Upsells: We’ll continue running A/B tests on upsell offers and checkout elements to drive more conversions.
- Email List Growth: Implementing additional campaigns to grow his email list and keep customers engaged.
Get similar results for your store
The work I’ve done with Josh—improving conversions, increasing AOV, and optimizing site speed—happened through the Sidekick Program. Ready to make your store a marketing-first website? Let’s transform your WooCommerce store together.
Let’s Turn Your Store Into A Marketing-first Website!
By not making a change, you’re likely missing out on sales and holding your business back from reaching its full potential. Don’t leave growth to chance—let’s turn your site into a powerful sales engine.
Grant Ambrose
WagePirate Founder
