E-COMMERCE
To ensure that your store visitors really become customers, a long chain of requirements and functions must fit in their eyes. Your store must convince them not only of the products, but also of your store and make them feel comfortable during the purchase process. Otherwise, the switch to a competitor is not far away.
Once the customer's shopping cart is filled, nothing stands in the way of completing the purchase? - Not quite! Even then, unfortunately, the reality often paints a different picture. The last and biggest hurdle for the customer is the checkout process. This is where your store has to convince. We have briefly summarized the most important features that you should consider in your checkout.
After all, who hasn't experienced it: the virtual shopping cart is full, you are already looking forward to great new products, overcome your guilty conscience and go to the checkout to quickly complete your order. But on the way to payment, all the data is needed. Questions about the delivery time or the shipping costs remain unanswered because no exact information is given and you have long since lost track of everything. After several clicks, the user loses interest and finally cancels the purchase.
A situation that has certainly happened to everyone at some point. According to current studies, the abandonment rate in the checkout process is 40 - 80%. There are many reasons for this. The most important step is not to fill the shopping carts, but to lead the customer quickly and easily to the purchase. How can you keep the abandonment rate in your store as low as possible? Optimize your checkout process and make this part of your store particularly user-friendly.
1. Clarity
In the checkout process, the customer has the opportunity to check his order once again. In addition, the customer can expect the most important information to be summarized here. Here it is particularly important to provide a certain clarity so that the customer can quickly find his way around and all open questions such as costs, shipping, delivery time, etc. are answered at a glance. The faster and easier the customer is guided through the checkout process, the more likely they are to make a purchase. If important questions remain unanswered, the customer may switch stores and order from a competitor. To ensure the best possible overview, you should always keep the following points in mind:
- Display order summary with pictures and product details
- clear and transparent cost breakdown
- transparent shipping and returns information
- meaningful buttons for redirection
- indicate where the customer is by means of a progress bar
- streamlined login process
2. Create trust
Especially when it comes to personal data and money, the customer must trust you. If he is suspicious whether the store is really serious, he will probably not disclose any personal data. Increase trust by removing all possible concerns of your store visitors and support your USP's with trust seals. Seals of approval are attractive, authentic, professional and give customers the feeling that they can buy safely. Of course, you should not build up the trust of potential customers at the checkout - but here you have the opportunity to once again point out the advantages of your store, which facilitate or confirm the customer's purchase decision.
3. Let the customer decide
Give your customers full control. Many customers prefer a certain payment method or shipping service provider. Let them decide for themselves how they want to pay for the order and whether the delivery will be sent via DHL, Hermes or another supplier.
.Also with the checkboxes, you should not make a pre-selection, but let your customer choose for themselves which one to click. This means a few more clicks, but nothing is more annoying for customers than unintentionally subscribing to a newsletter because you overlooked a check mark.
4. Customer data
New customers in particular find the registration process in an online store time-consuming and nerve-racking. To make the purchase process as fast as possible, offer the order via a guest account. This way, new customers have the opportunity to convince themselves of your store and the products without revealing all their personal data. In addition, the process is much faster and easier - a plus point in any online store!
Other than that, the rule of thumb is: as much as necessary but as little as possible! Only the really relevant data should be requested for customer and delivery data. If it is not clear why the data is required, you can provide appropriate explanations in info boxes. Transparency in turn creates trust. It is also possible to mark mandatory fields. This way, the customer can decide for himself which additional data he wants to provide. To be on the safe side, use live validation. This way, the data can be checked directly for errors and you can be sure that the delivery can be made.
Now it's your turn!
These were at least the first most relevant tips on how to make your checkout process user-friendly and optimize it to reduce cart abandonment.
