Every website owner might have faced the difficulty of shopping cart abandonment or conversion rate drops on a checkout page at one time or the other, during his/ her tryst with e-commerce. But is that how it actually should be? Well, not exactly. Conversion rates on the checkout pages can be increased by providing the customer anything and everything that would make him/ her come at a well researched and completely confident decision. So, let us take a look at some tips which can be used to solve this problem.
The Layout
A few small changes in the design and layout can help boost conversion rates. Some of the changes you can implement in this respect are:
- Let the users have a visual experience: A visual indicator giving a clue to the shopper regarding how far he/ she have progressed through the checkout process could be useful, if things are spread out across multiple pages. But otherwise, it is preferred that you skew everything into one single page, since less number of clicks to checkout increases the conversion rate.
- Use different colours: In order to reduce the chances of clicking the wrong button while shopping, it is recommended to keep the ‘checkout’ and ‘continue shopping’ buttons in different colours and at a distance apart.
- Keep the ‘create an account’ option towards the end: People prefer to register and give their contact information after they complete the order, rather than doing it beforehand or in between shopping.
- Let people have an option to save their cart or add items to a wish list: Some people might like to use a shopping cart to save things for shopping later on. So give them the option to save their shopping cart or to pack items into their wish list. Mini cart option let the customer to edit and update the cart items in checkout page can lead to an increase in conversion rates.
Product Details
You can also make the shopping cart as interesting as possible by optimizing product details, so that the customers can be sure of whether they have ordered the correct products or not.
- Include full product details: The users will always prefer to read a full summary of a product which includes things like size, colour, customization options etc, as it helps them to purchase the right product.
- Product recommendations are important: Recommend all related products to a shopper before he checks out. This will help him to get everything he needs to make the maximum out of what he buys.
- Keep in touch: Give all the necessary contact details such as phone numbers and email ids (along with the order number), so that customers can reach back to you in case of any queries. This avoids confusions and prevents the unnecessary abandoning of shopping carts in between.
Payment and Shipping
Making the process of payment and shipping easier and more feasible can also prevent the carts from being cancelled. Thus it can lead to an increase in conversion rates.
- Give them free shipping: Consider providing a free shipping if you can afford it, as this in most cases persuades people to place orders.
- Give them a chance to choose their preferred shipping and payment methods: This will make them feel more comfortable shopping with you, as many people will have different notions about how quick they want their order to be delivered and through what mode to pay.
- You can also increase shopping cart conversions by throwing in some rewards and special offers: The reward you give them is a form of marketing, which will make them return to you in future as well. Also promote product reviews from the buyers’ side, as this will lead to more user engagement.
The checkout page strategies discussed above are few among those many successful ones which have always been proved to be highly effective. Implementing such well planned strategies in the necessary areas can yield better results and will surely boost up the conversion rates.