Optimizing your eCommerce site, especially your checkout, for desktop and mobile shoppers is no longer just an option – it's a basic requirement. The average checkout abandonment rate sites is about 67.4%, with users citing problems ranging from hidden checkout charges to having to register before buying.
The following tips can help you design and build a better checkout process across multiple platforms.
Keep the Process Linear
Confusing and complicated steps can make the checkout process a whole lot harder, and frustrate customers to the point of abandoning their shopping carts. When breaking down the checkout process, make sure to cut process down to include only the essentials, and keep the total steps to five and below.Whether your checkout process has only two steps or the maximum of five, always give your customers a way to keep an eye on their progress. Displaying progress bars at the top of your checkout pages is a great way to do this.
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| Firebox |
Firebox's checkout pages have this progress bar on top of them to show users where they are in the checkout process.
You can also make the process easier by integrating trusted payment services like Paypal or Google Wallet into your checkout system. This reduces the time and steps it takes to fill out payment and shipping details. |
| Screenshot from Watchshop.com |
Forms Should Be Simple and Clear
Even the simplest steps can become complicated if you don't simplify the forms your customers need to fill out. Your forms should only include the most important fields:
This checkout interface designed by Moby is an excellent example of a simple form that displays only the most important fields.
Field labels should be straight to the point, and should always be clearly visible. Baymard Institute recommends using responsive design to position labels on top of form fields in portrait mode, and to the left of the field in landscape mode. This allows your customers to see what the field is for and see everything they're typing in.Keep Your Checkout Pages Free of Distractions
Your checkout pages should also be free of distractions. This doesn't mean not including any content in it at all, but you should make sure that everything that appears there is necessary and helpful.
Nikon's checkout pages are neat and minimalist, but still provide important content such as customer support details, shipping information, and links to the website's policies.
Offer Option to Purchase/Checkout as GuestThis feature is especially important when dealing with mobile shoppers, but surprisingly few eCommerce websites offer it. 29% of users that abandon the checkout process do it because the websites require them to register before buying.
Highly successful eCommerce sites like Walmart make it a point to allow new users to continue to checkout as a guest.
A usability test conducted by User Interface Engineering also proved that users have trouble completing their orders if they have to register an account. The solution was to replace the "Register" button with a "Continue" button and a simple message: "You do not need to create an account to make purchases on our site. Simply click Continue to proceed to checkout. To make your future purchases even faster, you can create an account during checkout." This increased the number of customers purchasing by 45%, an extra $15 million the first month, and an additional $300,000,000 for the first year.Use Mobile UI Elements
Optimizing your website's user interface elements for touch devices makes filling out forms and completing the checkout process much easier for mobile shoppers. For example, using image links or buttons that are at least 44 x 44 points square or 57 pixels square makes it easier for users to tap on them using their mobile devices.
Replacing traditional dropdown menus or text input fields for item quantities with clickable +/- selectors, like AB Aeterno Watches does, is also a good idea to help users that will have a harder time viewing and selecting options on their mobile devices.
ConclusionmCommerce grown tremendously at the start of 2014, and shows no signs of slowing down. Providing an excellent checkout experience on your website through responsive design and mobile optimization is a great way to decrease the number of users abandoning their shopping carts and increase your sales and conversion rates.
Author Bio
Clayton Wood is the marketing director at SEOReseller.com. He spoken at several online marketing conventions, and is passionate about helping companies and entrepreneurs keep up with the latest best practices in digital marketing and SEO.
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