Why your checkout drags your conversions down and how to fix that
Checkout is the most critical part of the sales funnel as this is the place where conversions happen. However, this is also a place where most of the shoppers leave the site and never come back.
The reason? Poorly optimized checkout.
There may be minor issues with your checkout that eventually result in big losses. To prevent losing both customers and conversions, we have prepared an overview of the most popular checkout issues and provided ways to fix them in a hassle-free manner.
- Checkout is too confusing
Long and confusing checkout is one of the top reasons for shoppers to abandon their carts. If the process takes too long, involves many useless steps, and is overall too complex, no customer will have enough patience to complete it.
Some e-commerce entrepreneurs may argue that lengthy checkout is the only way to collect the necessary information about the customer. But UX Playbook by Google has a different idea.
Fixing the issue
The first and most obvious step is eliminating the number of fields in the checkout. Here is how you can do it:
- Replace First Name and Family Name fields with one Full Name field.
- Eliminate unnecessary fields (do you really need titles?).
- Hide the company address field.
- Make billing address the same as shipping by default.
As well, try to stack the checkout on one page instead of multiple pages. A single-page checkout tends to perform better than a multiple-page one.
- Registration is obligatory
This issue is on the second place among the most popular reasons behind cart abandonment.
As an e-commerce entrepreneur, you want to collect the users’ emails and data. Users, in their turn, do not want to spend time creating an account which they may not even use in the future.
Fixing the issue
The best thing you can do and adopt ASAP is offering an option of guest checkout.
Guest checkout requests for the name and email only. Email is needed so the user can access their cart from any browser and device. For marketers, this is a working method of collecting the users’ emails to further use them in promotional campaigns.
As well, enable the social media sign-in option. Since almost everyone is present on social media, this is a quick and easy way to become a member of the store and do it with minimal effort.
- Immediate redirection to the cart
Some websites try to speed up the checkout process and immediately redirect the user to the cart after they place an item to the cart. And this method is completely wrong.
Because modern users want more control over their actions on the site, they won’t be happy if you decide for them. That leads to bounce rate, cart abandonment, and low level of trust in the future.
Fixing the issue
Don’t do it. Simple as that.
Once the user adds an item to the cart, present them a few options, like continue shopping or proceeding to the cart. This way, you won’t interfere with the initial user’s intent and will not seem too pushy.
- Unexpected costs are popping out
The most popular reason for cart abandonment is unexpected costs. By unexpected costs, we mean the additional costs that users were not aware of: taxes, shipping fees, etc.
This is a serious problem that many stores tend to ignore. However, it heavily impacts conversions and serves as a decisive factor to leave the cart and never come back.
Fixing the issue
The user should be aware of total cost throughout the customer buying journey, from seeing the product on the page to paying for it. So the essential steps to follow are:
- Implement a price calculator so users can figure out the total price right away,
- Make the additional costs visible and clear,
- Clearly state the different prices for product variations,
- Always inform about any additional costs.
In this way, you will ensure the total price is clear from the start and the users will not get confused when getting ready to pay.
- The store seems sketchy
This issue is also among the ones that impact conversions but it affects not only the checkout but the whole user experience.
If your store does not seem reliable enough, customers will naturally hesitate to share their private data and conduct any financial transactions. And that’s a serious hit at your conversions.
Fixing the issue
The best way to resolve the issue is to add security badges to your store. Recognizable badges like McAfee Secure or PayPal Verified build trust and make the store more reliable.
As well, add customer reviews to product pages. Not only do reviews promote conversions but they also serve as a guarantee of product quality and show that other people trust your brand.
Conclusion
Checkout optimization is one of the major tasks that you need to solve in order to make your store more converting and improve its performance. However, there are other aspects that affect your shoppers’ behavior: UX/UI, overall performance, ease of navigation, mobile optimization.
By having a comprehensive strategy at your disposal, you will be able to timely identify the problem areas within your store and timely fix them without harming conversions.
Author’s Bio
I am an E-Commerce and digital marketing observer, currently contributing to Onilab – Magento Development Company. My goal is to create informative and compelling content to help my readers navigate through the vast and ever-changing business environment. With over 5 years of experience in writing, I have helped numerous companies communicate their message across various channels.
