Nigel Wilkinson
Managing Director of Daneswood. Nigel has been in sales and marketing since the 1980's and run digital marketing agencies since 2000.
Do you want to increase the percentage of your website visitors who purchase from your online store?
There are so many best practices to optimise this process to achieve more sales and allow shoppers to check out quickly and easily.
How Can You Optimise Your Online Checkout?
Payment Options
Not only can multiple payment options make your visitors feel more comfortable making a purchase on your website, but it can also allow people who may only have a few payment methods to shop.
This can also be particularly helpful for new customers who are a little more unfamiliar with your company, allowing them to take the reins when completing a purchase.
Many buyers can feel uneasy about giving out their credit/debit card details so, including options like PayPal, WorldPay or Apple Pay are favoured greatly.
Create an Account or Checkout as a Guest
For some, having an account with you is extremely helpful, especially with regular and repeat customers. This leads to a quick and simple purchase and also can help recommend similar products to them that you feel they’d like.
Tracking order history, reviewing saved items; better known as a ‘wish list’, and receiving customer benefits are all great features of having an account.
We would always recommend encouraging everyone to make an account, you can gather useful marketing information to make their experience on your website even better.
However, for some, checking out as a guest is much easier and quicker. This can reduce the number of new users who abandon their items at the checkout because of a prolonged buying journey.
We would recommend putting a process in place to encourage these guests to create accounts after buying with you, perhaps following up with emails.
Cart Abandonment Notifications
Whether it’s through email or an app notification on a mobile or tablet, these act as friendly reminders to customers that they haven’t completed their purchase.
This is particularly helpful when an item is low in stock or there is a limited time offer, to remind customers not to miss out.
This feature is also known to increase conversion rates and prevent people from abandoning their purchase.
Optimised Basket View
When viewing the items in the basket, making products adjustable such as changing the size, colour and quantity all combine for an easy and personalised purchase.
This will reduce the number of clicks a customer needs to take before converting, meaning your conversion rate is likely to be higher.
Mobile Optimisation
Are all your features visible and as efficient when used on a mobile?
Before even launching your website, you should be making these checks, but it’s never to late to fix some of these issues or just make your website even better on mobile.
Things you should check for on mobile are…
- Are all links clickable?
- Is the page layout displaying as it should?
- Do all the payment options work and correctly redirect you in a mobile browser?
- Do all selection/option drop-down menus display and work as they should?
All these features combined are vital for a quick and simple purchase.
It is known that users who experience a longer and more complicated process when at the checkout tend to abandon their purchase altogether, so these features prevent this from happening, offering a quick and efficient customer journey.
If you’re looking to boost your sales through an online presence and are looking for expert advice and guidance, contact the Daneswood team and we’d be more than happy to help!
Contact us on 01392 248365 or email sales@daneswood.co.uk