Optimising the customer checkout experience
Around 70% of Americans1 shop online. In just the first quarter of 2022, retail e-commerce sales were $250 billion.2
There are enormous revenue opportunities in the online space, but to get a slice of the pie and hang on to it, you need to get the experience just right.
With 73% of consumers3 saying customer experience is an important factor in their purchasing decisions, it's vital that you pay attention to every step in the buyer journey so you convert sales. Here are five ideas to help you create the ideal customer experience.
Optimise for smartphones
Smartphones are the most used device for online shopping, with around 64% of Americans4 using them to make purchases. Not surprising, good design and a thoughtful user experience can have a significant impact on conversions.
Make sure your smartphone online store delivers:
Fast loading speeds: People will just as soon abandon their cart than wait around for a page to load.
A responsive design: Your site needs to automatically resize for smartphones.
Highlight call to actions: Make your buttons stand out so customers don't have to go searching for Buy Now, Add to Cart or Checkout.
Clear menus and navigation: Adding a single, drop-down menu makes it easier for customers to find what they need.
Add live chat for product queries
When a customer shops in store, they have the luxury of being able to speak to someone about their purchase. Replicating this experience online with live chat can help increase your conversion rates because customers can get the support they need in real time.
Another benefit of live chat is that you can capture insights into frequently asked questions, which you can address on your website so people can self-serve. It can also give you valuable feedback on your products, prices and website.
There are plenty of great live chat applications that you can embed into your website. Each offers different features and pricing plans. and some are better suited to smaller operations. Here are a few you might want to take a look at:
● LiveChat
● HubSpot Live Chat
● LiveAgent
● Tidio
● Drift
● ClickDesk
● Olark
Reduce pop-ups and distractions
Pop-ups can be useful when done right, like capturing leads for the sales team. But when they get in the way of a sale or slow down the process, they can do more harm than good. Most people aren't fans of a pop-up. Hubspot found 73% of browsers5 dislike online pop-ups.
If your end goal is to drive purchases, then your customer journey should be focussed on achieving this. You want to minimize the friction on the path to the cart and through the checkout process. Remove any unnecessary links or pop-ups that could distract your customer's attention.
If you are planning on using pop-ups, e.g. to include a special offer, keep them to a minimum and follow these rules:
Make them useful: They need to offer something useful or valuable to the customer. For example, letting people know they can get 15% off at the checkout by entering a one-time code that pops up while they're shopping.
Keep them clear: You have limited real estate, so use it wisely. Be specific on what the customer will get.
Stay away from smartphones: Google can penalise you for adding pop-up forms for smartphones (which they refer to as 'intrusive interstitials'). If you must add a pop-up here, make sure it doesn't dominate the screen.
Time it right: If you pop up too soon, you'll annoy your user. Give them time to absorb the content and think about how they are interacting with the page.
Minimise clicks from landing page to checkout
Imagine being in-store and when you tried to make your way to the checkout, people stepped in front of you to ask questions, get you to take actions, take a few steps back and then have you repeat some of those steps. You'd drop what you're holding and walk out.
Online is no different. From the moment they land on your site to checking out, you want to minimize the steps and expedite the sale. Keep clicks to a minimum; save what's in their cart so if they need to come back, they don't have to start over; reduce form fields, and streamline the process where you can. Don't make them have to go through countless and unnecessary pages and fill in more information than required.
Afterpay's Express Checkout is a great example of how to significantly reduce the number of steps it takes for a customer to checkout. Not only does it save time, but it's been shown to:
● increase site conversion rates by up to 2X6 compared to other offered payment methods
● reduce cart abandonment by up to 23%7
● increase order frequency by 9.2%7
● increase sitewide sales by up to 9.8%7.
Add a favourites list
Not every customer that comes to your site is ready to buy. But that doesn't mean they won't be back. And when they do, you want them to be able to pick up where they left off. Allowing your customers to mark their favourites as they browse lets them create a personalised list that they can come back to when they're ready to buy.
The other advantage of favourite lists is that you can email your customers later with a reminder about what's on their list. Adding a timed offer or free shipping if they buy now, for example, could help motivate them to checkout sooner.
By following these tips, you can help drive more conversions and create experiences that will keep your customers coming back for more.
- Amazon is a colossus in a nation of shoppers, NPR/Marist Poll, 2022.
- Quarterly Retail E-Commerce Sales 1st Quarter 2022, U.S Census Bureau News, 19 May 2022.
- Experience is everything: Here's how to get it right, PWC, 2018.
- Online purchases by device in the U.S. in 2022,Statista, 21 April 2022.
- Why People Block Ads (And What It Means for Marketers and Advertisers), Hubspot, 14 January 2020.
- According to a global Afterpay study conducted in June 2021.
- According to a global Afterpay study conducted in November 2021.
All references to any registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Afterpay does not endorse or recommend any one particular supplier and the information provided is for educational purposes only.
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