To be successful and ensure preference over the many competitors, an e-commerce needs to bet on quality products, ease of navigation, a good layout, adequate logistics, marketing strategies and tools for customer loyalty.
However, one of the fundamental steps for conversion that is somewhat neglected is the optimization of the e-commerce checkout. This phase represents the last stage before the purchase is made, and it is here that the customer usually makes the final decision regarding the product.
However, if the checkout is not easy and requires a series of time-consuming actions from the user, this can result in giving up the purchase and abandoning the cart. To prevent this from happening, in today's article we will list the 7 best practices for you to adopt in your online store. Check them out!
1. Speed in making the purchase
Speed is one of the main reasons why a customer prefers to buy from an online store. After all, it is not necessary to leave home during business hours to purchase a product and he can make the purchase when he is free.
However, this desire can become frustration if the user is faced with a poorly designed site, which is difficult to load or requires many steps to complete the purchase.
Therefore, if you want to have a higher number of conversions, invest in the quality of your site so that it provides a pleasant experience to the user, so that he does not give up before even starting.
The same goes for mobile devices, because with the popularization of smartphones and tablets, many purchases are made by these means. In other words, it is essential to invest in a mobile platform that adapts to the most diverse types of screens and that does not present difficulties in any of the sales stages.
2. Security during the stages
The virtual environment is still considered unsafe by many consumers, due to lack of information or unpleasant experiences. Therefore, it is very important that, when arriving at your e-commerce, this customer feels safe to make his purchases and is sure to receive the order without any damage.
Security measures are even more important in the order finalization stage, because this is where the user provides his bank details and information about his credit card, address, phone number, CPF, etc. Therefore, use security certificates and avoid directing your customers to other sites, so that they have more confidence with your service.
3. Easy to fill out forms
The forms with information to finalize the order are also factors related to the speed and agility with which the checkout is done in e-commerce.
Many business owners don't usually think about this, but filling out long forms with various information needs, which are interesting for marketing strategies, can be a real martyrdom for rushed customers.
A good alternative is to provide the option to log in with social networks, such as Facebook or Google account, because these platforms already provide some data that advance the process of collecting information. Another interesting option is to make available a quick purchase that asks only for essential information such as CPF, name, delivery address, and payment method.
4. Shopping cart summary with detailed information
Providing a summary of the shopping cart is another way to speed up the purchase and optimize checkout in e-commerce. This information is important so that the user can briefly observe the orders made and the total amount to be paid including taxes and surcharges without having to leave the page to access this data.
5. Adequate description of the purchasing process
Still in this sense, it is necessary to provide a complete description of the entire buying process so that the user has the exact dimension of where he is and what is missing to finish, because it is unpleasant to feel lost during the purchase.
An interesting way to do this is through the creation of navigation tabs that allow the user to go back in case they need to and also have an idea of how long it will take to complete the order.
In addition, you can create a checkout page to confirm the data and close the purchase. Consider putting a thank you message and be sure to inform what the next steps are - stock pickup, delivery to the carrier, etc.
6. Eliminate distractions
Some e-commerce sites have a series of banners, pop-ups, and links that, if clicked on, direct to pages outside the checkout stage. As much as the use of these tools is appropriate for marketing strategies, at this stage, the customer wants, besides security, ease of access to information.
Therefore, checkout pages with too much visual information can drive the customer away and generate cart abandonment. If in doubt, perform an A/B test and see which design elements on the site guarantee a better result.
7. Diversity of payment methods
It may seem far-fetched, but a significant part of the population does not have a credit card or a bank account. Therefore, getting to the final stage of a purchase on a website and not being able to finalize the order due to the absence of the allowed payment method is frustrating for the customer, which can lead them to the competition.
For you not to lose sales and to be able to serve as many users as possible, invest in various options such as: bank payment slip, transfer, debit card, digital wallet, among others.
Now that you know our tips for improving the checkout stage in e-commerce, what are you waiting for to put them into practice? Remember that having a site that offers a good user experience will result in less cart abandonment and, consequently, in a higher conversion rate, which is the main goal of an e-commerce store.
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