20 Strategies to Optimize Your Website
The overall user experience plays an important role in the success of any ecommerce website. But the checkout page is also pivotal. If you are getting splendid website traffic but the sales are staying lower than the usual conversion rate of 3.48% for ecommerce websites, then your checkout page may need attention.
It doesn’t mean everyone visiting your website should be buying from you. Not everyone visits the website intending to buy or use your product. But, having a conversion rate that is significantly lower than usual is a warning sign that something is wrong.
What is so wrong with your website? What stops your website from earning all the fortune you wish? We have created a checklist for you to follow that will help you optimize your website’s checkout page.
1. Minimize Headers and Footers
Little things matter more. Remove any distractions on the checkout page. Let the customer complete their order before firing them with other offers or products on sale.
In the header, put the crucial link for the delivery information (clicking which opens a lightbox or a modal). Also, put the secure payment gateway and merchant reviews in sight which will put faith in the customers’ minds.
Remember, the primary goal on the checkout page is to get the customers to complete their payment and buy your products. The distractions or the unwanted elements will only off-track your sales.
Can you see the menu or distracting header and footer in the below image? UnderArmour has nailed its checkout page with such a sleek layout of payment details.
2. Reduce the Number of Form Fields
One thing to remember is that an individual filling in the details at the checkout could have possibly shopped elsewhere but chose to buy from you. So in this matter, making them feel like they are filling in too much information wouldn’t be a smart move.
Minimize the number of form fields by doing the below-mentioned activities:
a) Use the “Full Name” field rather than the “First Name – Middle Name – Last Name” field.
b) Have “Address Line 2” as a hidden field unless the buyer really needs it. Like in the below image, the user has already filled the address, so they don’t need another open field for the address.
c) Promo Code and Company name fields should be hidden as not many websites have a “Company” field, and the “Promo Code” field should open when clicked.
The checkout page of Crate&Barrel makes someone really want to use a promo code. But what if they don’t have one?
On the other hand, Adidas provides a collapsible Promo Code inserting window.
One only clicks on it when they have a promo code.
d) Use Auto-detection for Zip or Postal Code. This way, you can save the customer’s time and the payment gets easier. After all, time is money.
3. Lengthy Forms Should Be Divided Into Multiple Steps
If the user has come to your website for the first time, you will be collecting more information than existing customers. It is advisable to split this information gathering into multiple steps, such as full name and basic details on one page, address on another, and the payment method on the next. This way, the customers will not feel like it’s a lengthy process upfront.
4. Include a Product Summary at the Checkout
The customer is buying from you, keeping the other websites on the side. They deserve all the luxury you can provide them, so it becomes necessary to provide them with the available options, sizes, and other product details on the checkout page so they can double-check the accuracy of the purchase one last time before completing the order. If they have to backtrack to check something, you could lose them in the process.
5. Provide Product Links to Get Back to the Product Page
In addition to the previous consideration, if customers want to re-verify something more detailed about a product in the shopping cart, such as the material it’s made of, give them an easy link back to that product page. If they have to double-check something, they have to double-check it. Don’t try to prevent that. Make it easy so they don’t get lost or frustrated in the process and abandon the purchase all together.
6. Add a Continue Shopping Button: Cross Selling
A simple and effective method to keep your customers buying from you is showing them the products related to the ones they just bought after their order is placed. This way, they will get hitched to your product list and even buy the products immediately or shortly.
7. Make it Easy to Update Product Quantity and Remove Items
When customers buy something in bulk, they would maybe mix or match things or change their minds about the number of products they want to buy. In similar cases, it is necessary that they can do it from the order details window itself.
Having to go back and edit their order may create a chance of losing a customer.
8. Recommend Related Products Before The Checkout
If a person is buying a Razor, you may as well show them your best-selling shaving foam or cream. You never know if the customer is about to run out of those related products. It can be beneficial to remind them. Hence, showing the related products before the customer makes a payment is considered smart.
When the site-wide offers also apply to those related products, you’re giving them even more ways to save money. And that’s a good impression to make.
When the site-wide offers also apply to those related products, you’re giving them even more ways to save money. And that’s a good impression to make.
9. Confirm Product Availability
Product availability is a critical factor. When customers know the product is available, they feel better about being kept informed. When they are notified stock is low, they feel better about getting one of the last items in stock (FOMO). When the item is out of stock, they appreciate not wasting their time.
10. Allow Multiple Payment Methods
Having multiple ways the customers can pay helps you keep the customer. See it this way. A person wants to buy using a wallet, but you don’t support wallet payments!
No one wants to lose a customer like that. Therefore, have multiple payment methods available for customers.
11. Display How Much the User has Saved
Most websites also offer site-wide discounts or discounts on specific products and delivery charges. The customers may know that they have saved from you but showing them that they saved $30 on their order will make them feel better. You can show both the amount and percentage together.
12. Offer Discount Coupon Codes
When you tell the customers that they will be getting a discount coupon free with their order, it immediately places the thought of already having the coupon code whenever they think about ordering another product online.
13. Provide Free Shipping
Shopify shares that 80% of customers expect to have free delivery. Many retailers offer flat-out free delivery and build it either into the price of items sold or into their overall business plan. Other free-delivery options membership programs, minimum purchases, and coupon codes for joining a “club” or accepting email notifications. As you know, customers have come to expect it or at least expect a way to get it.
If free shipping is simply never going to be available as part of the business plan or due to a unique situation, then continue to monitor the competition and ensure your shipping fees are in line with industry norms.
14. Include Approximate Shipping Dates
To save yourself from a bombardment of emails saying that your delivery is taking too long to reach the customers, mentioning the estimated delivery dates can be a lifesaver. A customer may otherwise expect the delivery earlier than the time frame in which you normally deliver.
15. Billing and Shipping Information
Show the billing and shipping information that is on file so customers know they can check out quickly, without re-entering it. And for first-time customers, let them know the info will be saved (or can be) so they can enjoy faster checkouts when they shop now and in the future.
16. Address Add/Update
When an existing customer comes to your website and places a new order, it is possible that they want to ship the product to a new address. This way, they can click to the same address immediately if they want it delivered there or add/update an address with ease.
17. Save Card Details for Future Use
Having to reach for the wallet, take the card out, enter the details and then wait for the OTP to arrive is a hectic process. Moreover, this poses a higher risk of customers getting irritated whenever they order from your website. Therefore, you must let the users approve of saving the card details on your website for future use.
18. Notification via Email, Phone Messages and WhatsApp
When the customers choose to have the notification alerts for their orders on any of the platforms, it makes reaching them easier with your offers and their order details. You can also let them choose to get notified when a product is running out of stock or with other messages that entice sales.
19. Provide Return/Exchange/Privacy/Terms Policy Links
For the customers to know you as a brand, the policies you have implemented play a big role. Let them access and read your policies, so there is less friction if and when they want to return or exchange their product(s).
20. Delivery Option Selection Such as Home, Office, Work
The customer may forget where they will be when they receive the order. It is possible that all the people in the house are working individuals and will be at the office when the parcel arrives at home.
Keeping such conditions in mind, it is necessary to provide the options like Home, Office, and Work along with appropriate time and date selections. In Office/Work deliveries, the timings should be Monday to Friday from 10:00 AM to 07:00 PM.
The Wrap: Keep Testing and Optimizing
Customers have some to very little time while ordering something. So taking the distractions out of place unarguably helps put them in a place where the customers will feel happy to buy something rather than being fed up with seeing too many things and inserting too many details.
Let us know in the comments section if you, too, have a tactic that helped you optimize your checkout page experience.
