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In this month’s article, I will discuss more tips to avoid Checkout abandonment. I also encourage you to join the eBizInsider forums which contain a wealth of knowledge.

Let’s split the checkout process into two distinct steps. The first step is a shopping cart page where the consumer adds products to the cart. The second step is the rest of the checkout process including the shipping and billing page, order review and confirmation. The largest percentage of abandonment occurs on the shopping cart page. There are steps you can take and things to avoid during this checkout step to make the experience easy for your customers and profitable for you.

Single Page vs. Multi Page Checkout

Single Page checkout is most likely two or more pages in total, one page displays your cart and all the other checkout information, including shipping and billing information on this single page, and the second page would be the confirmation page. Some checkouts allow customers to review the content before submitting their order. Multi-page checkout includes a cart, checkout pages and a confirmation page. Each option offers benefits and drawbacks depending on your store.

Single page:

• Single page is truly not a single page checkout but most likely two pages minimum including the confirmation page. It is now possible to display everything on one page without reloading the entire page.

• Single page checkout has been gaining popularity because it reduces the number of steps for customers to complete an order.

• Customers who frequently shop online may benefit from the speed of a one page checkout.

• One page checkout makes for a longer page which leads to excessive scrolling. This can cause shoppers to miss fields required to checkout and lead to an unpleasant shopping experience.

• If there is no easy access provided for your customer to get back in the store and shop for more products, single page checkouts might decrease the overall size of your order.

Multi-page:

• Multi-page checkout is a more traditional and familiar checkout model for most customers. If multi-page checkout is not designed properly, it leads to customer confusion and abandonment. Ideal multi-page checkout should not be any more than 4 steps starting from the shopping cart to the confirmation page.

• Here is an ideal flow for multi-page checkout

• Shopping Cart > Shipping and Billing > Order Review [Optional] > Confirmation Page

• It’s easier for customers to have Shipping and Billing combined on one page. Let your customer choose the shipping and billing address to be the same so they do not have to re-type the same information during checkout.

• Order review helps build customer confidence. It allows customers to review information before submitting their order. This allows a comfort level, especially in the case of large orders. Not including an order review takes a step off the checkout process but can lead to increased cancellations if the customer expected a review page to be shown before confirmation. Decide which works best for your website.

My advice is to skip the cart page altogether and let customers add a product to the cart from the category or product page and view all cart related information on these pages. This feature is called, variously, Mini Cart, Persistent Cart or Floating Cart. This feature reduces a step in the checkout and improves the shopping experience. This feature also keeps customers on their current page and allows them to surf and add more products in their shopping cart. When they decide to check out they will be sent directly to the Shipping and Billing page, skipping the shopping cart page altogether. The primary goal is to improve the customer experience, but it also leads to larger orders because of the seamless shopping experience. Research shows it lowers abandonment by as much as 20%.

Account Registration

I have seen websites asking for account registration before I have decided to check out or see the shipping costs. This is a big turn-off for customers. This step should always be optional. Customers will not mind registering on your website once they trust you. When asking customers to register clearly, display how registration will benefit them and they’ll be less hesitant.

Offering your customer a reason to register generates customer information and repeat business, which statistics show convert at higher rates. To review:

• Registration should always be optional

• Show your customer benefits of registering, not limited to an easy way to check out

• Register customers after the purchase unobtrusively and without detouring the customer from check out

You might wonder why, if the big sites do this, that I suggest not doing it. Sadly, if you can’t compete with the big guys at eye-level, then you can’t afford to apply their standards. They have the benefit of
brand recognition.

Secure Pages and Warnings

Security-conscious buyers may amount to 30% of total users on your website. Always test your checkout pages to make sure they’re using secure channels to transmit data and there are no errors or warnings displayed in your checkout. Customers who see security warnings often become lost customers. When you install third party tracking scripts, always install the secure version of the scripts on your checkout pages. You can also display secure icons on the checkout pages that will add customer confidence.

Error Handling

Customers often make mistakes while filling out checkout pages and the difference between successful conversion and abandonment could be as simple as how you handle the errors. Display in a polite and clear way what customers missed and help them complete the checkout. Below are some approaches:

• Highlight the fields that were incorrect or missed by changing the background color of the incorrect fields to point your customer in the proper direction

• Hide or gray out the fields that were entered correctly, or display only the fields that were missed or incorrect

• Display error messages for specific fields missed instead of generic messages

Checkout Page Design

One of the main reasons for checkout abandonment was because customers found the Checkout process to be too confusing. Checkout pages should be clean and easy to understand, leading your customer a step closer to checkout by avoiding clutter on the page. Remove unnecessary navigation from the checkout page to block an exit path, but provide all the required links to your policies and contact information in case the customer needs to review it before purchase.

Checkout pages should be designed so customers can see where they are in the checkout process. A progress indicator should always be visible, like the image below. You know where you are and how many steps until you’re finished.

Another area that checkout design should emphasize is buttons on the page. You should have the button designed so that button to the next step of the checkout is more emphasized than the one that will take you back out of checkout. Here is a an example of the two buttons on the checkout page. Notice the “Cancel” button is darker and grayed out while the “Submit Order” button is bolder and red colored so that your eyes get drawn toward the “Submit Order” button rather than the “Cancel” button. You can even experiment by making the “Cancel” button smaller and light.

Shipping Methods and Payment Options

Providing different methods of payment like Credit Cards, PayPal, Bill Me Later, etc. will give your customers the freedom to choose the payment methods, which in return would increase conversion. Likewise, providing a variety of shipping methods for your customer to choose from will help them choose the method best suited for their needs.

Real-time Credit Card Verification

Credit cards should be verified in real-time, not after the sale is completed. If you verify manually and there is a problem, you take the chance of turning off the customer and losing the sale.

User Opinion

Ask family and friends to shop on your website and provide their opinions of the checkout process. Was it easy, or were there stages where they had to rethink before taking the next step? Based on the feedback, you can tweak it.

Conclusion

Tweaking and customizing your checkout process to meet customer expectations should be continuous. With newer tools and technology there are always new ways to provide your customer with a seamless shopping experience.

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