Seeking ecommerce conversion best practices audit

We’re a US-based diamond-alternative ecommerce jewelry company looking for an conversion rate optimization specialist with experience getting better conversion results specific to the Shopify platform. After an initial paid website audit with some suggestions-- this job listing-- the successful candidate will become responsible for overseeing our onsite conversion rate optimization initiatives from inception to completion. Collaboration with our team is essential to ensure that our advertising efforts align with our overall business objectives. This is not about selling something to every visitor. We sell precious metal gold and platinum jewelry products that are a premium to most of what the average top-of-funnel consumer might be thinking when searching for the generic “cubic zirconia”. That means we will always receive visitors that are not monetizable. Instead, we are looking to make our website shopping experience easier and allocate resources for content creation and product mix merchandising based on real data. Our primary services: - “Design your own” custom cubic zirconia rings and engagement rings - Replica cubic zirconia rings and engagement rings for diamond jewelry customers for different purposes (lost, stolen, travel insurance, cannot afford original with diamond) Our primary products: - Single large loose stones $12-72 USD from 0.25 to 6 carats - Bulk large loose stones at discounted prices down to $1 or less with volume - Wholesale packages of small loose accent or melee stones for jewelry makers with package price points $20 - $20,000 - Earrings starting at $175 USD up to $1000 - Engagement rings starting at $300 up to $5000 - Wedding sets of engagement ring and matching band starting at $600 up to $8000 The “Milestone 1” deliverables we are asking for with this limited-scope “Website Audit” project are pretty simple and we think the right person could do this in a couple hours max: 1) 25 things the professional would add, remove, fix or improve from our website and ecommerce business in order to help reach our conversion optimization goals: increase sales conversion, decrease bounce rate, increase average order value, and increase revenue per visitor. These things might be conversion opportunities, friction points, website bugs or errors, product or product merchandising ideas, areas for improvement in the customer journey or really whatever you want. 2) Which 5 of your suggestions you think should be the highest-impact, 3) Which one thing you’d do first if we gave you the ongoing monthly contract to be our conversion master because your website and conversion audit was the best we received. We’d be grateful if the deliverable for milestone 1 was delivered in a single Google sheet, a copy of which we will give you upon hiring, but if you feel you work best with screenshare video where you are talking as you look at the website-- or other media-- that is fine, too. We will be hiring at least 4 and possibly as many as 15 professionals to do the same work. Of the small group hired, thereafter we will select one individual for an ongoing relationship to be our onsite conversion master and go on to milestones 2 and 3 and beyond. The backstory: We’re a small company. Over the last 12 years we’ve employed as few as 4 and as many as 16 people on our way to selling a less-than-impressive $1.3M USD in total revenue. Our $xxx,xxx annual sales revenue typically grew year over year -- until it didn’t. The company ownership was content to continue making investments in the company while growth was happening, but we’re now in a 3-year slump with annual sales off almost 50% from where we were in 2023 and something’s gotta give! Our core team believes that this company can sell what we’ve sold in the last 12 years in one year-- with the proper advertising. Unfortunately, our conversion is pretty poor. It seems that each time we try to improve one thing for website user experience, something else breaks and we have no team member able to be responsible for this important ecommerce function. Status quo: Over the years, depending on how you slice the numbers and the type of traffic received, our conversion rate from visitor to purchase has been anywhere from 1 in 1000 (0.1%) to 1 in 200 (0.5%) and rarely better without finagling the numbers to evaluate conversion minus referral spam and bot traffic-- which are problems every website has to some degree (though other ecommerce sites regularly sell 4-5% and other jewelry brands regularly sell 2-3% of online visitors even considering having those issues, too). The goal: For our store, we believe a conservative 2% conversion rate from visitor to sale should be possible-- without sacrificing too much profit margin-- and the achievement of that milestone will give our company ownership confidence to put money again into much more paid advertising. If you’d like us to hire you for the website audit only, please tell us. We might still hire you to submit your ideas for the audit deliverable items noted above only. But if you’d also like to thereafter be hired as an ongoing conversion master for CubicZirconia.com, there are some additional qualifications noted below which we would expect the best candidate to have. Notes for those wishing to do the “Milestone 1” website audit but not any ongoing conversion pro work: - Yes or no is fine if you want to work with us after the audit or not, either way we would still hire you for website audit if only that is what you want to do. - It’s okay if you don’t have one or Shopify experience for the audit gig (only needed for ongoing job - DIY coding or outsourcing to a hired pro you work with for coding is fine-- though for the ongoing job we’re seeking the additional coder skill-- but either way we would still hire you for website audit if only that is what you want and are able to do. To be considered for this fixed-price website audit gig ONLY, please simply answer the evaluation questions provided. If you aren’t wanting us to hire you AFTER the fixed-price website audit to be an ongoing conversion master for CubicZirconia.com, you can skip the information below. • **** INFO BELOW ONLY FOR THOSE WHO WISH TO DO THE WEBSITE AUDIT FIRST AND THEN BE CONSIDERED FOR ONGOING CRO AND WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT WORK ***** For ongoing work AFTER the “open audition” website audit, you must have: - A website audit project under your belt from us that really “wows” us - Experience making live changes on Shopify draft themes yourself (i.e. not suggestions for onsite changes we also have to hire a web dev to make) - A passion for conversion rate optimization - An obsession for split-testing of product pages, landing pages and collection page templates - Organizational abilities to place your own ideas and our suggestions into a project management queue to work on as the project goes along - The insight to prioritize which-- and communicate why-- tasks you feel are higher-impact - Comfortability with small, focused budgets for ongoing work that needs to pay for itself reasonably quickly (≅ $1000 USD/month) - Strong optimization and analytical skills - An openness to considering how pricing, price testing, discounting, cost of goods and profitability affect your work with conversion optimization. - Enough familiarity with Asana to review and re-use as desired some of our past notes and tasks for conversion optimization - Good English communication skills (written especially) - Able to report weekly Nice to have: - A pleasant personality - A shared belief that natural diamond values have long been inflated to the consumer’s detriment - Great to Excellent English communication skills (written especially) Milestones: - Milestone 1: Completing the website audit from this job listing (we will hire 4-15 people for this milestone) - Milestone 2: $1000 7-30 day contract to implement high-impact activities you think will move the needle. - Milestone 3: $1000 monthly multi-month to implement more high-impact activities-- on the way to 2% visitor-to-purchase sales conversion ratio goal - Thereafter, this will be an ongoing paid part-time engagement of at least a few hours per week. The upside for the one candidate who goes on past the website audit gig: - For the right fit we are open to bonus compensation outlined in such a way to incentivize the achievement of mutually-agreed objectives aligned with both our interests. - It is company ownership’s goal to attract a potential partner with this job listing, not just an employee. The right person for this role has a skillset we now believe-- after a number of related mis-steps of our own-- to be worth not just cash now but cash later - Starting with hiring a bunch of people to do the same work (website audit), we’re looking for one person who really wows us - If you do, we’ll hire you at your desired hourly rate as you help us achieve 0.5%, 1%, 1.5%, and 2% conversion rate from visitor to purchase. - When you help us exceed 2% conversion rate without unduly sacrificing profit margin, we want to pay you a residual income for 3 years as a percentage of revenue (amount to be determined mutually after the conclusion of milestone 3) To be considered for this fixed-price website audit gig-- the first step to any possible relationship working together-- please answer the evaluation questions provided. We’ll hire 4-15 people for this step, and if you think you’re good enough you probably are! :) Apply tot his job