How to Improve Your Customer’s Online Checkout Experience
As you work to improve and increase sales on your e-commerce site, there are a number of factors that deserve attention and tweaks. Each one can help the business in getting closer to reaching its goals, but naturally, some practices are going to be more impactful than others. One very effective way you can start to see an increase in sales is by improving the customer’s online checkout experience. You want to create an experience that is fast, simple, smooth, and secure, prompting them to complete the sale and return again. But what are the steps to take in order to achieve this goal?
Here’s a look at some of the things you may want to consider as you improve the online checkout experience.
Use a Reliable and Powerful Ecommerce Platform
Often the most important aspect of the checkout experience is making sure you’ve chosen an e-commerce platform that is able to support your company’s and business’s needs now and as it grows. You’ll want to choose a platform that makes the checkout process simple and gives you the best chance of keeping your customers interested in your products.
If you have an e-commerce platform that is constantly down, glitching, freezing, and can’t handle the volume of traffic, then your sales will suffer.
Ensure User Data and Information is Secure
Customers also want to know that when they enter personal data – such as their payment information – that it is in a safe and secure manner. There are too many instances of hackers breaching websites and online businesses stealing customer’s information. No-one wants to be a victim, so you need to ensure your customers have a secure checkout experience.
Offer a Variety of Payment Methods
It’s also very important to offer customers a variety of payment options. Today, there are so many to choose from such as PayPal, credit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and more. The more options you offer, the more likely they will be to make that purchase since you will support their preferred method of payment.
Give Customers the Ability to Check out with a Mobile Device
Your e-commerce store should also be optimized for mobile use so that customers can checkout right on their smartphone or tablet. The site needs to appear and react in the same way on a mobile device as a desktop computer.
Progress Indicators Encourage Completion of the Sale
Finally, you can add a progress indicator to the screen. This is meant to let customers know where they are in the checkout experience so they know how many steps are left. For example, the tabs/headings may read “shopping cart”, “delivery”, and “billing”. As they move through each step, it will be highlighted so that it is always clear to them.
Customer Satisfaction is Top of the List
Keep in mind that even with the best products and services and the most competitive pricing, at the end of the day, it’s all about customer satisfaction and making sure that they not only complete the sale but return again and again.
