A recent survey by Baymard Institute states that after conducting over 41 different studies and found that the average cart abandonment rate is just under 70 percent. This means that out of 100 people who add products to their cart on your website, only 30 purchase them successfully. If such a massive margin of people are dropping out from shopping on your website, do you still think it’s just a coincidence? Look deeper. Higher cart abandonment could be because of the poor checkout experience. Customers might want to purchase the products, but the lengthy process and improper flow might be putting them off. And this is undoubtedly in your control. You can decide the checkout experience and optimize it for your buyers.
Let’s look closely at the checkout process and how it can help you improve your buyer’s shopping experience and reduce cart abandonment with some helpful tips.
What Is Meant By the Checkout Process?
The checkout process refers to the process after the customer decides to purchase the product they have added to their shopping cart. It includes sharing information such as the billing details, shipping details, payment information, separate instructions, etc., so that the purchase can be completed successfully and the product can be delivered to the customer.
The checkout process comprises of the following steps –
- Shipping details
- Shipping method
- Payment details
- Order preview
- Order confirmation
These fields require a considerable amount of information necessary to deliver the correct product to the valid address and securely collect the payment. But this can be highly time-consuming as many fields need to be filled.
Hence, many people drop the process midway.
5 Signs Your eCommerce Checkout Experience Needs Improvement
Slow Load Time
If every page and step takes too long to load, it can ruin the customer experience drastically. After the customer has decided to make a purchase, you have a limited window to capture their attention. Once their interest washes off, they will not buy the product. Hence, it is essential to optimize the page load time and fasten the process to complete the checkout process quickly.
Registration Requirements
Also, many people do not want to create an account while making a purchase. It takes up time, and many people are not up for that kind of commitment. If you force them to register before they are ready to pay, your checkout process is skewed. Allow first-time users to purchase as guests so they can directly complete their purchase.
Limited Shipping Options
Giving customers limited shipping options will only compel them to bounce off to competitor websites. If they can decide when their product will be delivered to them, they will have a sense of higher authority. This will help them take more control of their shopping experience, and they will enjoy the process of shopping with you. You can provide options like one-day shipping, two-day shipping, or even standard shipping and decide for themselves when they want delivery. If there are any additional shipping charges, it would be great to display them now because hidden charges are the worst enemy of any eCommerce business.
Time-Consuming Process
Most times, the checkout process consists of several forms that need to be filled before the purchase is complete. It is essential to record the customer’s information at every step to be delivered seamlessly. However, sometimes the film fields are redundant and do not serve many purposes when shipping the product. Therefore, optimize this process and reduce the field in each form. Try recording the minimum information required so that the customer can quickly pay and move forward. Moreover, if the customer is shopping for the second time, you must show auto-fill data to them, so they do not have to go through the hassle of filling the forms over and over again.
Additional Costs
The subsequent big disappointment for the customers while checking out from your store is the additional costs. If you take GST on your products, mention it in the beginning. If the prices are inclusive of taxes, it should be discussed early on. There should be no additional charges that must be shown on the final checkout page, as the customer would be highly disappointed and think that you are cheating them by not showing the charges earlier. Any additional costs like shipping charges, handling charges, or taxes should be compiled and displayed on the checkout page. The customer must be informed that they would be charged these when they begin their shopping on the website. Don’t throw these as a surprise for customers.
Tips to Improve
Shiprocket Checkout
Get started with Shiprocket check out to increase the speed of your checkout process by a great margin. Shiprocket checks out. You get refilled addresses that make the checkout process easier for customers with assisted form fill, customize shipping options based on the customer’s preferred delivery, and multiple payment options. Moreover, customers will also get a chance to select from COD or prepaid payments that can be a massive boost as maximum users use COD in India. You can provide a frictionless checkout to customers by eliminating multiple form fields and record only the most vital information.
Reduce Form Fields
The next step to improve your checkout experience is to reduce form fields. This will improve the page load time, help the customer with an assistant check out, and capture the user’s attention for a more significant amount of time. The chances of them bundling your card are much lower when you reduce form fields.
Run Surveys
If you notice the day cart abandonment rate is high for your store, running service would be a great option to understand where the customers face problems. This will help you gain a deep insight into where your process is lacking and how you can improve it. But again, keep the survey crisp so that you can get the most valuable responses from your customers.
Provide Payment Options
Provide multiple payment options to customers and integrate with the payment gateway to be highly safe and secure. This will build the customer’s trust and give them more control over their shopping experience as they will select how they want to pay for their order.
Final Thoughts
For the customer, the checkout process is the final step before the product can be theirs. Therefore, they do not want to spend a considerable amount of time contemplating whether to fill the forms or not. So, it is suggested that you make the checkout process quick and stay with the customer till they complete the purchase successfully. It is essential to enhance your checkout process for a positive customer experience and a greater success rate.
