How To Create A Winning Checkout Experience For The Customer

One of the unwritten rules about an eCommerce website is that the customer’s checkout experience is equally important as the quality of your landing page.  You will be able to eliminate a majority of your cart abandonment issues if your checkout is configured properly.  Plus, you will increase your conversion percentage.  Suffice it to say, this calls for a lot of maintenance and tweaking.

However, should the consumer feel like your checkout process is too complicated for them to navigate or should something go askew with your eCommerce site, they won’t stick around.  If you include the following in your checkout process you will increase your conversion ratio:

• Decrease the percentage of cart abandonment occurrences – by letting the customer select a different payment option, you will decrease the number of times that they abandon their shopping cart.

• Empower the customer by enabling them to move freely about your product pages – make sure it’s easy to navigate the checkout process as well. If they have to make changes, they should be able to do so easily, intuitively, and smoothly.

• Include a clear, concise call to action – remember, you are directing your customers to take the next step. So you want to ensure that your call to action is understandable.  Oh, and make sure that the “remove from cart” button is not remotely close to the “checkout”

• Include product information and thumbnails – thumbnails tell the customer they have chosen the right product. You don’t want them to hit the back button or leave.

• Provide customers with a comfortable and safe checkout environment – include 3^rd party security reinforcement logos such as SSL certificates and VeriSign.

In addition to the above consider adding other elements such as 24/7 customer service, clear shipping information, cross-selling, a progress indicator, and a “save-for-later” option.  Remember, the less complex the checkout process, the more their checkout experience is.