10 Best Ecommerce Checkout Practices to Boost Sales

Peter A. Liefer II | Posted: January 2nd, 2023 | Updated: August 30th, 2024

To maximize online sales, ensure your eCommerce website provides an effective checkout experience. Statistics demonstrate that seven out of ten shoppers do not complete a purchase when faced with complicated checkout processes. Striking a balance between customer convenience and business requirements is key, and comprehensive conversion rate optimization strategies are essential for success in this area.

 

How to Make Your Checkout Process Easier for Increased Sales

Use the following e-commerce checkout optimization tips to redeem lost revenue and improve your conversion rate.

  1. Establish Trust Signals

If you have shopped online at least once, you would know that online shoppers such as yourself prefer to purchase from trusted brands and businesses. As an entrepreneur, your mission to build trust does not end once a potential customer has added an item to their cart. You need to continue proving that your eCommerce website can be trusted with credit card details and other sensitive information via trust signals.

Leading examples of trust signals you can use are:

 

  1. Remove Additional Fees and Costs

As much as 55 percent of shoppers abandon their online shopping cart because of extra costs.  Shoppers want the price showcased on product pages as the exact amount stated on the checkout page before they finalize their payment – no hidden charges included.

Sometimes, additional fees to cover shipping, customs, or taxes are impossible to cut. However, by presenting this information on your product pages or offering free shipping for orders over a specific threshold, the additional costs won’t come as a surprise or deter shoppers from making a purchase.

 

  1. Incorporate a Checkout Progress Bar

Smooth checkouts with fewer form fields encourage shoppers to complete their purchases, with research demonstrating that a streamlined checkout process increases overall sales. People, in general, appreciate less hassle, and online shopping is no exception despite its convenience.

From complete names and addresses to credit card details and contact numbers, you need a lot of information to process orders, especially if you offer personalized products. To help set your customers’ expectations, include a progress indicator that enables them to know how close they are to completing your checkout process.

 

  1. Autofill Shipping and Billing Addresses

The more time a potential customer spends in the checkout flow, the longer they have to rethink or change their minds about making a purchase. Fortunately, you can speed up the process with Google Autocomplete, which prefills a customer’s billing and shipping address as soon as they begin typing it.

 

  1. Offer Multiple Payment Methods

Customers should have multiple payment options when shopping online. According to Shopify, around 7 percent of shoppers will abandon the checkout process if an eCommerce website does not offer their preferred method of payment.

Improve your checkout conversion by accepting different payment options, including:

  • Credit or debit cards (ensure to accept multiple card networks)
  • Shopping apps, such as Shop Pay
  • “Buy now, pay later” options or Shop Pay installments
  • Digital wallets, such as Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, or Google Pay

 

  1. Upsell or Cross-Sell Items

Help your customers get more value from their orders using upsells and cross-sells. An upsell suggests a higher-priced product similar to the one in their cart, while cross-selling recommends products that complement the items in their online shopping cart.

For example, if you sell customizable drinkware and a potential buyer has a $49.99 three-piece tumbler set in their shopping cart, recommend a $59.99 set that contains five items, or a $5.99 pack of reusable straws that matches the tumbler set. Upsells and cross-sells increase average order value (AOV), so you get more revenue from each customer.

 

  1. Have a One-Click Checkout Option

One-click checkout is changing the way shoppers make online purchases. This feature is a fast and reliable way to speed up your eCommerce checkout process, allowing buyers to complete their order in one quick click. Shopify’s Shop Pay checkout service, for instance, uses a secure digital wallet to store customers’ billing information and payment details.

 

  1. Enable Guest Checkouts or Social Media Account Logins

More than 23 percent of online shoppers abandon their carts due to the site mandating them to create an account. As much as you want to increase your number of registered users, consider eliminating forced account creation and keep your buyers engaged by offering one (or both) of these options:

  • Guest checkout. Allow your customers to complete a purchase by simply entering their email address, name, shipping, and billing details. A couple of days or weeks following the transaction on your eCommerce site, send a follow-up email that encourages them to register or create an account.
  • Login via social media accounts. Allow shoppers to log in and shop on your eCommerce website using their Facebook or Instagram accounts to complete a purchase. There is no additional work involved in creating an account, and you still benefit from accessing customer data.

 

  1. Offer a Mobile-Friendly eCommerce Checkout Experience

In 2021, one-third of Americans used their smartphone device to make a purchase each week. A mobile-friendly checkout should encourage mobile shoppers to complete the transaction. Your checkout page, for example, should automatically resize for smaller screens, and shoppers need to have large-enough checkout buttons and fonts to ensure they complete a purchase without experiencing complications.

 

  1. Make Chat Support Available

Not everyone who clicks “add to cart” is ready to hit “checkout and pay.” Ease your customers through any last-minute concerns by offering in-checkout chat support. This feature allows your team to communicate with customers and answer questions they may have during the checkout process. Provide real-time automated answers to common questions such as refund policies, shipping and delivery timelines, and product-related concerns to reassure your customers that choosing you as their online vendor is the right choice.

 

Ensuring your e-commerce website offers the best checkout experience is key to driving online sales. By allowing Primeview to design your e-commerce website and incorporate the practices outlined in this article, you can have a smooth and streamlined checkout process that will keep your customers coming back. Contact us today for a FREE quote and get started with Magento, WooCommerce, or Shopify.

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