E-COMMERCE CRO

Nepali e-commerce stores lose buyers at checkout for two different reasons depending on whether the buyer is in Nepal or overseas — and each needs a different fix

A domestic Nepali buyer abandons because eSewa is not visible and the page loads too slowly on mobile. An international buyer abandons because the product images look amateurish and the copy does not match how buyers in Australia or the US talk about what they want. These are different problems. Treating them as the same produces no improvement in either market.

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This is for you if

This service is built for three types of Nepali e-commerce operators.

You sell to Nepali buyers. Your traffic is coming in — mostly on mobile, mostly from Facebook and Instagram — but the conversion rate is under 1%. You suspect the checkout is the problem but you are not sure whether it is the payment options, the page speed, or something else entirely.

You make and sell Nepali products — pashmina, hand-knotted rugs, tea, jewellery, wellness products — to buyers in Australia, the US, or Europe. Your traffic is reasonable but add-to-cart rates are low. Buyers land on your pages, look around, and leave without purchasing. You know your product is competitive. You do not know why the store is not converting.

You serve domestic Nepali buyers and export buyers at the same time, on the same store or on separate storefronts. You need a CRO approach that accounts for both buyer types without cannibalising either experience.

What's broken

Four conversion problems specific to Nepali e-commerce stores

Product images that disqualify the store before copy is read

Product images shot on phone cameras without white backgrounds, consistent lighting, or multiple angles communicate something to an international buyer before a single word of copy is processed: this brand is not professional enough for me to trust with my money. International buyers compare Nepali export stores against established competitors from India, China, and Western brands on the same platform. Amateurish product photography is the first filter they apply, and most Nepali export stores fail it.

eSewa and Khalti not visible until the payment step

For domestic Nepali buyers, eSewa and Khalti are the trusted payment methods. When these options are not displayed prominently on product pages and cart pages — when they only appear at the final payment step — buyers who did not see them earlier assume the store does not support their preferred method and abandon before reaching that step. The fix is not adding the payment methods (they are usually already there) but surfacing them earlier in the buyer journey.

Page load time above 4 seconds on mobile 4G

Nepal's average mobile data speeds are significantly slower than the connections that most Shopify themes and product page setups are optimised for. A product page built for a 50Mbps Australian NBN connection can take 5-7 seconds to load on a Nepali 4G connection. Mobile CRO in Nepal starts with speed. Layout and copy improvements on a slow page produce negligible conversion gains because a large percentage of potential buyers are not waiting long enough to see them.

No social proof from buyers in the destination market

An international buyer from Australia or the US looking at a Nepali export store needs to see that other Australian or US buyers have purchased and been satisfied. Reviews written in Nepali, or reviews from buyers with Nepali names and locations, do not provide this reassurance. They may increase trust with domestic buyers but they do not transfer to international buyers. Without destination-market social proof, international buyers remain uncertain about the reliability of delivery, packaging quality, and the brand's accountability to an overseas customer.

What we engineer

The CRO deliverables for a Nepali e-commerce store

Conversion audit

Full review of the current store — product pages, cart, checkout, and post-add-to-cart funnel — identifying the specific points where buyers are leaving and the probable causes.

Product photography brief

For export-focused stores, a written brief specifying background, lighting, angles, and composition standards that match the visual expectations of international buyers in the target market.

Payment method visibility audit

Review of where eSewa and Khalti appear in the buyer journey for domestic stores, with specific recommendations for surfacing payment method logos on product pages and cart pages before checkout.

Mobile page speed analysis

Technical review of page load time on Nepali mobile connections, identifying the specific assets (uncompressed images, third-party scripts, unoptimised fonts) adding load time, with a prioritised fix list.

Session recording and heatmap review

Analysis of Hotjar or Microsoft Clarity session recordings and heatmaps to identify where domestic and international buyers are dropping off, what they are looking at, and what they are ignoring.

Social proof strategy for international markets

A structured approach to collecting and displaying reviews from buyers in the target export market — including post-purchase email sequences, review platform selection (Loox, Judge.me, Okendo), and display placement on product pages.

Checkout copy and trust signal review

Audit of checkout copy for international buyers — return policy visibility, delivery estimate, currency display, and brand trust signals — with specific rewrites where the current copy creates uncertainty.

A/B testing roadmap

A prioritised list of the three to five changes most likely to produce measurable conversion improvement, structured as testable hypotheses with success metrics.

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What changes

Four outcomes from a CRO engagement

Before
After
Before Product images shot on phone cameras without white backgrounds, consistent lighting, or multiple angles communicate something to an international buyer before a single word of copy is processed: this brand is not professional enough for me to trust with my money. International buyers compare Nepali export stores against established competitors from India, China, and Western brands on the same platform. Amateurish product photography is the first filter they apply, and most Nepali export stores fail it.
After Before the engagement ends, you have a documented view of the conversion funnel — where drop-off is happening, at what rate, and what the probable cause is for each exit point. You are not guessing. You are working from session data, heatmap evidence, and a structured audit.
Before For domestic Nepali buyers, eSewa and Khalti are the trusted payment methods. When these options are not displayed prominently on product pages and cart pages — when they only appear at the final payment step — buyers who did not see them earlier assume the store does not support their preferred method and abandon before reaching that step. The fix is not adding the payment methods (they are usually already there) but surfacing them earlier in the buyer journey.
After Image quality, trust signals, and above-the-fold information are brought to a standard that international buyers in the target market recognise as credible. Buyers who previously left before reading the product description now read it.
Before Nepal's average mobile data speeds are significantly slower than the connections that most Shopify themes and product page setups are optimised for. A product page built for a 50Mbps Australian NBN connection can take 5-7 seconds to load on a Nepali 4G connection. Mobile CRO in Nepal starts with speed. Layout and copy improvements on a slow page produce negligible conversion gains because a large percentage of potential buyers are not waiting long enough to see them.
After eSewa and Khalti are surfaced on product pages and cart pages for domestic buyers. International buyers see payment methods they recognise (Stripe, PayPal, card logos) with trust signals that confirm security. Neither buyer type arrives at checkout uncertain about whether their payment method is supported.
Before An international buyer from Australia or the US looking at a Nepali export store needs to see that other Australian or US buyers have purchased and been satisfied. Reviews written in Nepali, or reviews from buyers with Nepali names and locations, do not provide this reassurance. They may increase trust with domestic buyers but they do not transfer to international buyers. Without destination-market social proof, international buyers remain uncertain about the reliability of delivery, packaging quality, and the brand's accountability to an overseas customer.
After Rather than a one-time fix, the engagement establishes a test-and-learn cycle. Each test produces data. Data informs the next test. Conversion rate improves incrementally and measurably over 90 days rather than through a single redesign that may or may not work.
How it works

How a CRO engagement works

  1. 01

    Data collection and audit

    Days 1-7

    We install or review existing tracking (Google Analytics 4, Hotjar or Microsoft Clarity, Google Tag Manager) and run the full conversion audit. We need access to the store backend, analytics, and any existing session recording data.

  2. 02

    Findings presentation

    Day 8-10

    We present the audit findings — the specific conversion leaks, the evidence behind each finding, and the prioritised list of changes. You see the data before any work begins.

  3. 03

    Implementation and testing

    Days 11-45

    Changes are implemented in priority order. For changes that can be A/B tested (product page layout, above-the-fold content, CTA copy), tests are set up and run for a minimum of two weeks before conclusions are drawn. Quick fixes (image compression, payment logo placement) are implemented immediately.

  4. 04

    Review and roadmap

    Day 46-60

    We review test results, document what worked and what did not, and produce the 90-day testing roadmap. You have a clear sequence of what to test next and why.

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Common questions

Frequently asked questions about E-commerce CRO

What image standards should a Nepali export brand use for product photography?

International buyers in markets like Australia and the US expect product images on a clean white or neutral background, taken with consistent lighting, showing the product from at least three angles (front, side, detail). The minimum standard is a DSLR or mirrorless camera with a white sweep background and a softbox or diffused natural light source. For handmade products like pashmina or jewellery, a detail shot showing texture at close range is particularly important because it substitutes for the in-person tactile experience the buyer cannot have. Ghost mannequin or flat-lay styling for apparel, and styled context shots (product in use) alongside the clean white background shot, are the two-image combination that converts best for export-focused Nepali stores.

How do I add eSewa and Khalti payment options to a Shopify store?

eSewa and Khalti both have Shopify-compatible payment gateway integrations. eSewa's integration is available through their developer portal and requires a merchant account with eSewa. Khalti offers a Shopify plugin. Once integrated, the payment methods appear at the checkout payment step by default. The additional CRO step — which most stores do not take — is adding the eSewa and Khalti logos as trust badges on product pages and the cart page, so buyers know before they reach checkout that their preferred method is available. This is done by adding the logos to the product page template or using a trust badge app.

How do I improve mobile page load speed for a Shopify store accessed primarily on Nepal's 4G network?

The three highest-impact changes are: compressing all product images to WebP format at a maximum of 100-150KB per image (most Shopify stores have uncompressed JPEGs at 1-3MB per image), deferring or removing third-party scripts (review widgets, chat apps, social proof popups) that load synchronously and block page rendering, and enabling lazy loading for images below the fold. These three changes typically reduce mobile load time by 40-60%. The target for a Nepali domestic store is under 3 seconds on a simulated slow 4G connection (testable via Google PageSpeed Insights with the mobile setting). Theme choice also matters — some Shopify themes are significantly lighter than others.

How do I get product reviews from international buyers on my Shopify store?

The most reliable method is a post-purchase email sequence triggered 10-14 days after delivery (timed to when the buyer has received and used the product). The email should be brief, reference the specific product purchased, and link directly to the review form — not to the store homepage. Loox, Judge.me, and Okendo are the three most widely used Shopify review apps; all three support photo reviews, which are more persuasive than text-only reviews for international buyers assessing handmade or artisan products. Offering a small incentive (5-10% discount on next purchase) in the review request email increases response rate. Once you have 15-20 reviews from international buyers, display them on the product page above the fold alongside the star rating.

What is the average e-commerce conversion rate and how does a new Shopify store compare?

The global average e-commerce conversion rate is approximately 1-3% across all categories. A new Shopify store in its first 3-6 months typically converts at 0.5-1% while it is building social proof, optimising product pages, and finding its traffic quality. A Nepali export store targeting international buyers should aim for 1-1.5% as a 90-day target after CRO work, and 2%+ as a 12-month target with accumulated reviews and optimised pages. Domestic Nepali stores typically see lower conversion rates (0.5-1.2%) reflecting the early stage of e-commerce adoption in the market, though stores with strong social proof, fast mobile load times, and visible local payment options regularly reach 1.5-2%.

Our team

The people behind the work

Not a black box. Real specialists you can call, with their names on the work.

Niraj Raut

Niraj Raut

Founder — Ecommerce SEO
Keshab Joshi

Keshab Joshi

PPC Expert
Hawrry Bhattarai

Hawrry Bhattarai

Google Ads Expert
Arogya Rijal

Arogya Rijal

SaaS SEO Expert
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Start here

A CRO audit starts by finding out exactly where your buyers are leaving

Whether your store sells to Nepali buyers or to international buyers, conversion problems have specific causes. Session recordings show where buyers stop. Heatmaps show what they look at. The audit connects those observations to the specific changes that produce measurable improvement.

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