E-commerce brands worldwide are losing billions of dollars in missed opportunities every year. As an E-commerce website owner, you’ve done many marketing activities. You have built the correct buyers’ persona to connect with the right audiences. You have spent a lot on website UX. But the bad news is that the conversion rate of the checkout page has been low.
What is the checkout page?
The checkout page is an overview of the items a shopper sees when about to make payment. It is a sequential process that could result in a direct checkout or multi-page checkout. It is almost like the offline version of a physical grocery store with the checkout counter.
There are two types of checkout pages
- One-page Checkout
- Multi-page Checkout
Why is it essential to optimize it?
The reason for the optimization of the checkout page is to reduce lost conversions. One crucial action that will help you is to optimize your checkout page. This way, you can boost conversion rates by assisting shoppers with all they need. You will also minimize your platform from losing shoppers at purchasing.
Why Do Buyers Leave at the Checkout Page?
A lot of factors are responsible. Here 5 factors that are responsible:
a. Creating an account
E-commerce shoppers have always been looking for a simple payment process. Buyers dislike going through the stress of creating an account before payment. This has put me off many cart pages several times. This is one of the reasons shoppers leave and may not come back.
b. During discount code offer
A lot of online buyers are happy when the platform owners offer discount codes. You can use this to call attention and attract buyers. This increases conversion and income revenue – all things being equal.
However, this has increased cart abandonment when the codes malfunction. The inability of discount codes to work will frustrate an average shopper. So, always test out promo codes regularly to be sure everything runs well.
c. Credit card entry difficulties
Online buyers, most times, don’t feel comfortable giving out credit card details. This is because of the fear of fraudulent transactions. So, when they go out of their comfort to enter their information, and there are difficulties – it leads to frustration.
Research has shown that more than 24 percent will abandon the cart when they encounter this challenge. Some E-commerce sites make it hard for buyers to click on important buttons to proceed.
d. Checkout button malfunction
Many shoppers have reported after following them up, that payment button fails. It’s painful when a buyer has fulfilled every need only to click on the payment button and noticed it isn’t working.
In some cases, after clicking on the checkout button, the process took an extended time to finish. To make it worse after a long time of the process, the confirmation was aborted. Thus, there is a need to test the payment process for any malfunction.
e. Extra charges
E-commerce website owners sometimes lure buyers through the payment funnel. At the time to finish the process, buyers will discover some hidden charges. These hidden charges sometimes are taxes, fees, and the delivery charge. The best way to avoid this is by putting it straight to the shopper, so they are aware.
All these being said, checkout optimization is your best way out. Because of an average of 6 out of 10 people that get to this page leave. If you can keep these six shoppers, your business can experience a positive turn around.
Ways to optimize your checkout page
1. Remove Unnecessary charges
More than 60 percent of cart abandonment has been linked to extra charges. We are all aware that, there is nothing annoying as knowing the amount payable but to realize extra fees at the checkout page. If 6 out of 10 people leave a page on an E-commerce website, then it should be removed.
If you will be charging extra because of taxes, shipping or fees, state it on the product page. Informing buyers earlier in the process will help in the final decision. Make sure buyers see the total amount before the last checkout page.
It’s good you encourage your shoppers with no shipping fees, discount offers, and more. Many buyers have given positive feedback on offers and discounts. Some E-commerce website owners, too, said they sold more with single price offers.
2. Have multiple payment options set up
Some online buyers (more than 3%) abandon cart pages because of card decline. Also, about 8% of the shoppers don’t get to see the payment options best to them. When you give the people various payment options to interact with – they will decide what to go for.
There are multiple options available that you can integrate. Payment options like Paypal, credit and debit cards, internet transfer, and so on. Shoppers will convert more with this because of flexibility.
With growing awareness about cybersecurity, it is best to request shoppers’ payment information later in the process. Asking people to fill their “account information” at the registration page immediately may send the wrong impression.
Many online buyers feel more comfortable to fill out simple forms during payment. Let it be ingrained on your platform to save users’ information automatically. Many don’t like to be asked to fill forms over and over again. An auto-fill mechanism should be put in place to ease future purchases.
Reduce the processes buyers have to go through before the checkout. This will increase conversion and revenue.
4. Capture email from the beginning
Once customers fill out forms on the platform, capture their email immediately. You will have the chance to keep up and build a relationship with them. You can easily send their shopping and abandonment history to their mail.
Allow them to select how and when they want to receive messages. Send educational information to them that will ease their understanding of products and platforms.
5. The checkout process should show trust signals
The lucrativeness of the E-commerce platform is encouraging other scammers. Buyers are much more careful when going through the payment processes. You have to show trust signals through processes.
These trust seals usually can be the logos of the payment options. It could also mean hosting your site on a secure platform – SSL certificate. Make sure to display various accreditations and certifications. These will help buyers proceed to the checkout page with confidence.
6. Keep your platform and checkout design simple
Everyone seems to talk about checkout optimization here and there. This may shift the focus of E-commerce owners to concentrating on cart pages. Customer conversion is a process that starts from the landing on your website.
If your website design is not good enough for easy navigation, it will affect the checkout page. Also, optimize the checkout page so that buyers can continue shopping at that stage. The buttons and navigation pointers should be visible at once.
7. Do demo testing before going live
Sometimes you may think your developer has fully integrated the necessary tools. Humans will remain so – no one is above mistakes. Before you finally launch, share your E-commerce website for constructive criticism.
Make sure you gather inputs for improvement from people far and near. Due to operations and updates, some things may go wrong. Always keep an eye and do a regular review of your checkout process.