More and more people are opening ecommerce businesses. Whether your ecommerce business has 200 items or 20, your main goal should be to sell. You could have a beautifully designed site and great products but if your checkout process is very complex and hard to use then you probably aren’t getting the most out of your ecommerce store. Here are a few tips that can help you decide if your checkout process is working for your business.
First and foremost keep your checkout design and process simple. Your checkout process should be very user friendly. There is no need to “over design” this part of your site. There is only one purpose of the checkout, to allow the customer to make their purchase. Make it easy for the customer to know what they are purchasing. Use simple clean text and a small thumbnail image of the product.
If possible allow customers a quick checkout option rather than creating an account. There are many advantages to having your customers create an account like customer history and email campaigns, but if this is going to keep someone from buying then it’s better to allow them to buy without an account. If you must have the customer create an account then try to have this as one of the last steps in the checkout process.
You should always display some kind of progress indicator or meter. Don’t make the customer guess at where they are, what they are doing or what comes next in the checkout process. You should have a clear progress indicator somewhere in your checkout layout.
Make if easy for customers to modify their order and shipping method throughout the checkout process. People make mistakes and add the wrong items to their cart all the time, so make it easy for them to remove the item, change the quantity or even continue shopping. You may not like the idea of them leaving the checkout process but if they forgot an item and are having difficulty locating the “continue shopping” button then they are more likely to abandon their entire order. You also want to allow the customer to change their shipping method at any time. They may get to the end of the checkout process and realize they can’t afford the overnight shipping. This is when your “edit shipping” button will come in handy.
At the end of the checkout process you should have a thank you page. This page should obviously include some kind of thank you message and a statement informing the customer that they will receive a confirmation email shortly. This will give the customer a sense of stability and security. Letting them know your business is a legitimate reliable company and hopefully keep them coming back to make more purchases.
If your check out process does not reflect the above-mentioned items or you experience frequent shopping cart abandonment at checkout you should consider redesigning your checkout process. It will make for a more user-friendly ecommerce site. With a simple, easy to follow process in place customers will enjoy the entire shopping experience and will keep coming back and/or recommending your site to others.