The days of standing in the long lines that move like a sloth in front of the billing counter are long gone. It is the era of digital marketing. Today, from garments to gadgets, everything is available on the ecommerce sites. They are not only easily accessible, but also offer easy ways to find the great deals. That is why, more buyers are opting to shop from these ecommerce sites.
But unfortunately, many sites fail to appear as trustworthy or do not provide enough convenience to shop in, as their close competitors do. The worst thing happens when the shoppers abandon the shopping carts while checking out, thus resulting in the drop of the conversion rate.
But why does it happen?What makes the customer change their minds? What is the reason that drives them away from the site in the middle of purchasing? If you are still clueless, it is high time you review the checkout process of your site. Probably the reason is just in front of your eyes, but you are ignoring it.
A survey by Econsultancy and TolunaQuick shows that:
- At least 74% shoppers leave their shopping cart because of the product’s high delivery charges.
- 54% shoppers have faced technical problems while shopping online, so chose to leave.
- 26% shoppers left because they felt forced to register.
From the above statistics, it is quite clear that the most of the shoppers leave during checkout. Basically, it indicates that there are some serious problems in the process with most of the sites.
How does a popular checkout flow?
A popular ecommerce site becomes successful when the checkout process consists of only five to eight clicks. It makes the shopping experience smoother and thus, helps to gain the trust of the shopper. Generally, a default checkout process consists of the following steps:
- Buyer chooses a product
- Specifies its size, color and quantity
- Billing
- Delivery and payment options
- Confirmation
But as soon as a customer finds some long series of queries and forms to be filled in, it takes a toll on his patience. As a result, he decides to leave. If this is the story of your ecommerce site, then it is high time you consider optimizing your checkout flow.
Here are a few tips for you to upgrade your checkout process for better conversion.
#1. The Cart Matters
While the customers are shopping, they need to keep a close look on the shopping cart as well. For the convenience of the customers, you need to show them every time what they are paying for. Otherwise, it is more likely when they will find out what products are there in their cart and how huge a bill they are going to pay, they will freak out and immediately leave the cart. So, it is always better to display all the cart items, so that the customer will be sensible enough while shopping.
You can consider implementing a cart recovery tool in your website as well. If a buyer is about to close the page of billing and leaving the shopping process, then you can lure them again to complete to purchase and make the best of the offered incentives.
#2. Don’t leave the Buyer Clueless
Buyers hate to be clueless. They always want to keep a tab on what step they are in while purchasing. Make sure that a clear and progressive process bar is displayed at the top of the page on checkout. If the customer does not know what is ahead of him after entering the billing and shipping address, obviously he will hesitate. So, be transparent by showing what he is going to do and how much time it is going to take next.
Such an indicator allows them to feel more in control and makes the shopping experience smoother.
#3. Stop Forcing
Often biggies in the ecommerce retail fail because they force their potential customers to register. The buyers often hesitate to give away their information. Their hesitation is legitimate because all sites are definitely not trustworthy and often manipulate the personal information that are given by the customers. The moment the customer feels that the registration form is thrust on his face, he won’t hesitate to abandon the shopping cart.
The solution for such a problem lies in making the registration optional. Or better, make a provision for guest shoppers that will allow them to produce just the credit card detail and not all the personal information to purchase a product. But you can use a trick. To tempt your customer to register or open an account, you can introduce some new offer and promise new goodies or special discount. That often does the trick.
#4. Forms that are Relevant
When someone is checking out from your service, if he faces a series of forms that demands multiple information, then it will freak them out again. Just ask yourself, why someone who is completely new to your site would give away too much information and especially if some of those are irrelevant. Obviously, they won’t. So, provide them with a form that will ask for only the relevant information that is required for the deal. Cut short the form and make it compact looking.
#5. Clear Functional Buttons
Your site should have some clear functional button. It will make the call-to-action easier. Suppose, after giving away the information, if the customer wants to go back to the previous page, he can find the Back button easily. Or, if you want to lure your customer to shop more, then have a visible button of Continue Shopping.
Your motto should be to direct your customer in a very clear way.
#6. Various Methods of Payment and No Hidden Cost
Shoppers hate these most. After shopping, if your customers find out that there is only one method of payment that is not suitable for him, he will not only leave the site immediately, but will also vow to never return. Or worse, after providing all the details while placing the order, if the customer finds out that there are hidden costs that will make the bill bigger, then he is going to feel fooled. As a result, the conversion rate will drop immediately.
So, be wise and transparent. Introduce various methods of payment as well as offering free shipping.
#7. Build Trust
Building trust is the key to successful business. Concentrate on that. Generally, people refrain from giving away their personal details to complete strangers, let alone credit card details. So, when you are asking them to give away this information, they will naturally hesitate. To make them more comfortable in dealing with you, incorporate trust signals in your ecommerce page. While checking out, if the customer finds these badges that will ensure them of your faithfulness, you will be able to build trust among your customer.
Finally, when you are done and are all set to launch the new and modified look of your ecommerce page, go through A/B testing. It will help you to make sure that the necessary changes are all at the right places. Check out how it is going to help to increase your conversion rate. So keep on testing.
Images: ”Shopping cart isolated on the computer keyboard. Online shopping concept/ Shutterstock.com“
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