Running an e-commerce website successfully isn’t only about having a great homepage and a huge product catalog. The place where the real business happens is the checkout process, which starts at the point where customer adds a product to the shopping cart & ends where he completes the purchase.
The moment a visitor picks an item on your e-commerce portal and clicks on the “Add to Cart” option, you no longer have a visitor or just a window shopper; you’ve got yourself a potential customer. So, it is of utmost importance that your online store offers a seamless experience to customers from that point onwards.
This is what we will help you with through this post by describing the key elements of shopping cart & checkout pages that ultimately lead towards better conversion.
What Makes Shopping Cart Conversion Centric?
Just like other pages of your website, the cart page should deliver a good experience to the end user. Plus, the process should be so streamlined that users always feel like they are almost there to finalize their purchase. Here are a couple of things to ensure about shopping cart to make it more conversion friendly.
Shopping Cart Popup Window
Use the power of product page elements that convert more. When shopping for multiple items, customers often tend to cross-check what’s already in their cart (especially to keep a check on the order cost). Going to the cart page & then back to the product page or catalog creates quite a hindrance for customers.
This issue can be easily resolved by implementing a shopping cart window popup on your e-commerce store. It can be a regular popup that emerges at the center of the page or a drop-down paginated window that appears when a user clicks the cart button. Both options are displayed below:
Also, notice the elements of the popup cart window, which actually helps in enhancing the shopping experience:
- Option to increase/decrease the quantity of the added products
- Remove the product from the cart
- Order value & cost breakdown
- Option to visit the cart page or to proceed to checkout in case the customer doesn’t want to continue shopping
Shopping Cart Page Elements
The shopping cart page ideally should be an extended version of the cart popup we just discussed. So, besides the items selected and the amount was chosen, it should also display the size, color, product image/description, shipping cost details, and other details pertaining to the added products. It lets the user see whether they made the right selection or not.
A few more elements you need to ensure on the cart page to improve conversion & sales are as follow:
- Option to continue shopping (one-click access back to product catalog) & to go to checkout
- Product recommendations based on what customer has in a cart is a great way to boost sales. According to a McKinsey report, 35% of Amazon.com revenue is generated by its recommendation system.
- Additionally, you can also add a feature “save cart”, which allows customers to hold the items in their cart for a later purchase
How to make checkout page convert more for you?
Paying heed to this particular page is essential because the checkout is the point where a customer is about to generate revenue for you. Just like all other pages, the checkout page also needs to be easily navigable; going from point A to point B must be a smooth flow.
Layout design, the seamlessness of the checkout process, & website security – you need to work upon all these areas to make the checkout page conversion friendly. Below are the key elements of a checkout page that you should focus on.
Auto-save Customer Details
Whether we talk about the billing address, the shipping address or credit card details, you must offer customers an option to have these details saved, so they don’t have to fill it time and again for every purchase they make on your store.
Now, there are two critical things pertaining to the auto-save feature. First is security & second is the ability to change the saved details.
To ensure security, you need to build your store on a secure e-commerce platform and take further security measures, if need be. You also need to display the level of sophistication of your security measures on the checkout page to assure customers that their information is safe with you.
Auto-save feature is cool, but once in a while customer might need to change details. So, also make sure that the option to change saved details is also easily accessible.
Multiple Payment Options
There’s no bigger failure for an e-commerce store than seeing a potential customer leaving the website without making a purchase because it doesn’t offer the payment option he wants. Credit/debit cards, e-wallets, and the good old cash on delivery – offer all the payment options that customers in your target market want or would need.
For instance, in India, credit card penetration is quite low. As a result, many online shoppers can’t take the advantage of EMIs offered by e-commerce stores on various purchases (since they are credit card exclusive). To target such segment, you can use payment options like ZestMoney, which lets people buy products on EMI without needing a credit card.
In addition, also ensure the security of the payment gateway you are choosing for online transactions. Displaying security seals, VISA/MasterCard/American Express Seals below the payment section also helps in building trust in customers. Mentioning technical details such as 128-bit encryption also leads to improved customer experience, as it helps in putting technically-sound customers at rest.
Rewards/Discount Redemption
Time and again, rewarding your customers for their purchases has proven to be a good move to build loyal customers. And over the past few years, e-commerce has benefited from it more than any other sector.
These rewards can be in the form of points, cashback, coupons and other options. Offering them is important, but equally important is making sure that customers are able to take advantage of these offers without much effort.
Amazon is a good example on how the reward/discount redemption feature should be implemented on the checkout page. Notice in the screenshot below how they are providing options in rewards, by offering a gift card and promo code option, as well as offering a gift card instantly.
Another thing to keep in check is, in case the coupon code entered by customers is not right, they should be notified about the same too. Take MyProtein for example (in the screenshot below):
Notice that MyProtein is offering this option on the cart, while Amazon offers it on the checkout page. You can use the promo code redemption option anywhere of these two pages, but the checkout page happens to be a better choice.
Conclusion
The design elements and features of your online store’s shopping cart and checkout page can make or break the deal. To ensure great customer experience and to have a good number of loyal customers, you just can’t miss out on these pages. No matter how extensive your catalog is, your focus should always be on streamlining the purchase process.
Points mentioned in the post – such as saving & securing customer details, offering multiple payment options, etc. contribute greatly towards enhancing the shopping experience for your customers.
kanika khera
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