Insights | SVA Consulting

It's Time Someone Checks-In on Your Checkout | SVA Consulting

Written by Cailee Hanson | May 16, 2024 3:08:23 PM

We’ve already diagnosed your customers with checkout indecision, and now it’s time for your checkout to get a checkup.

Uh oh… just as we thought! Your eCommerce checkout has a severe optimization deficiency! Lucky for you, we already have the treatment plan.

According to a study done by global payment platform Stripe, 96% of the top 200 eCommerce companies in North America had at least five basic errors within their checkout process. I hate to break it to you, but if the top eCommerce companies have that many errors, chances are you have that many errors in your checkout process, too (or maybe even a bit more).

Now, you may think your customers aren’t noticing these errors, and maybe they aren’t, but they’re definitely noticing that your eCommerce checkout isn’t as efficient as they want it to be. According to a Capterra survey, two-thirds of consumers expect the entire checkout process to be four minutes or less.

In other words…Come on, people! Make the checkout process quick and easy!

Keep reading to learn about eCommerce checkout best practices to optimize your checkout process, make it easier for your customers to order, and ultimately increase your online sales and conversion rate.

Insights: Don't Let Your Customers Stray, Give Them More Ways to Pay

Checkout Sweet-Spot: Short and Sweet

Although I wish I did, I don’t have all the answers, so I did a bit of research to see what industry leaders are saying about how to optimize your checkout. Here is a list of some of the common factors I found:

  1. Respond to mobile devices
  2. Offer both account and guest checkout options
  3. Remove unnecessary information and distractions
  4. Allow for multiple currencies
  5. Offer multiple payment methods (our last post was on this topic, isn’t that convenient!)
  6. Don’t have hidden shipping or tax fees (even more convenient, our next post is on this topic!)
  7. Make customer support accessible
  8. Allow auto-fill for addresses
  9. Display security/trust signals throughout the process
  10. Offer address and payment saving options for next time
  11. Allow ship-to multiple addresses
  12. Show specific error messaging so customers know what information was inaccurate
  13. Make the checkout flow visible
  14. Offer discounts and/or promotions
  15. Cross-sell and/or up-sell where appropriate

There it is, you’re all set! Easy, right? Just do all those things I listed above, and you’ll have an optimized checkout process!

Oh wait, I forgot to mention… there’s actually a platform that does all these things for you (and more) and you barely have to lift a finger. That platform is BigCommerce (I’ve mentioned them a time or two).

BigCommerce’s native optimized one-page checkout allows customers to have all the steps involved in the checkout process on one page, offering the customer both transparency and efficiency.

Throughout the system, BigCommerce themes are fully responsive, leaving no worries that the checkout page will not respond to mobile devices. BigCommerce offers both guest and account checkout, auto-fill and auto-save field options, B2B checkouts, custom checkouts, single-click checkout integrations, and integrations with hundreds of top payment, shipping, and tax platforms, all working together to give customers a truly optimized checkout experience.

Work with us, SVA Consulting, to identify specific ways you can optimize your checkout experience for customers and find tailored solutions to fit those needs.

Learn more about our eCommerce and integrated ERP services, or better yet, click the button below to talk to us. We haven’t abandoned the old art of conversation, yet!

Download:

(click the image to download)