You’ve successfully created an eCommerce store, and customers have begun to visit your website. However, despite the constant traffic, the site’s conversion rate isn’t great. 

Even though there are several reasons why customers may abandon their shopping carts, a long and confusing checkout process is often the culprit. Luckily, there are several steps you can take to prevent the loss of potential sales and improve shopping experience.

In this article, we will show you the ten best practices to optimize your eCommerce checkout process and boost conversion rates. It all starts when you choose your eCommerce builder. Make sure that the checkout page is fully customizable, allowing you to implement the necessary changes.

Let’s get started. 

1. Show a Progress Bar

One of the biggest challenges for eCommerce businesses is reducing their cart abandonment rates. Lengthy and complicated checkout processes tend to significantly increase these rates.

An excellent way to solve this is showing a checkout progress bar. It lets users know how far they are from finalizing their purchases. Also, optimize the process by adding only the necessary steps and forms. For example, include options to use the same address for shipping and billing.

2. Provide Multiple Payment Options

If users can quickly find the payment method they want, they will most likely complete their purchases. Here are some of the payment methods you should include on your eCommerce website:

• Debit or credit card

• Bank transfer

• PayPal

• Google Play

• Square

• Mobile payments

• Cash on delivery

3. Offer Free Shipping

Image taken from Unsplash.com.

A study showed that 56% of customers abandon their shopping carts because of unanticipated shipping costs. In addition to being transparent about shipping, taxes, and other costs, there are a few strategies you can implement to increase the site’s conversion rates. For example, providing free shipping is a great way of convincing users to complete their purchases. If you can’t offer it, consider giving discounts or even coupons for future orders. Also, make sure to include information about shipping methods and fees early in the checkout process.

4. Offer a Money-Back Guarantee

Many businesses offer a money-back guarantee to help boost conversion rates and for a good reason. 

When you offer a money-back guarantee for a product or service, it shows that you firmly believe them and their efficacy.

So, just by including the guarantee, you gain customer trust. It will help your eCommerce website stand out from its competitors and achieve higher conversion rates.  

5. Checkout Without Registration

As we discussed before, one of the main reasons people leave an online store is a complicated and lengthy checkout process. To simplify it, allow people to use their social media accounts, purchase without registering, or provide only the information necessary for payment and shipping. 

6. Use Live Chat

Around 38% of visitors are more likely buy products from an online store if it has live chat support. The live chat allows potential customers to communicate directly with your business to ask urgent questions about your products or services and get answers in real time. If you run a small online store and don’t have professionals available to handle the live chat, use chatbots to provide information 24/7. 

7. Add a View Cart Button

Displaying a view cart button when your customers are going through your online store is a great way to boost conversion rates. By doing this, users can quickly see the items they’ve added to the cart without leaving the page.

Ensure that the updates happen in real-time and make the icon easily recognizable – use a shopping cart or bag, for example. Also, make it stand out from the background by using contrasting colors or making the button more prominent so it's easier to find. 

Image taken from Unsplash.com. 

8. Show a Purchase Summary

To make it easier for people to purchase from your website, show them a summary of their shopping list when they’re at the final stage of the checkout process. 

Display the total prices with taxes already included, shipping fees, and their preferred payment option. 

9. Make Sure It’s Mobile Friendly

Over 50% of website traffic comes from mobile devices. Thus, make sure that customers have a pleasant experience regardless of the device they use. Also, if your eCommerce website is not optimized for mobile, it won’t rank high on SERPs.

Luckily, whether you use an eCommerce website builder or a CMS, there are mobile-friendly templates to help you create a responsive web design from the beginning. Some platforms will automatically make your existing desktop interface mobile-friendly. However, you should always double-check if your eCommerce website works well in all devices. 

10. Use Social Proof

Your potential customers will need some form of reassurance that your product or service is worth their money. One great way to gain customer trust is using social proof. You can do that by displaying:

• Awards

• Customer reviews and testimonials

• News mentions

• Positive posts on social media

You can create a dedicated page or place them strategically throughout the website. However, if you’re just starting your business and don’t have a lot of feedback yet, you can offer people a special promotion or discount in exchange for honest reviews and testimonials. 

It’s also a good idea to embed your social media on the website so customers can easily share posts and news about your business.

Conclusion

Receiving a lot of traffic is a great thing, but it doesn’t mean your eCommerce site will instantly increase its sales. Many people leave a website before completing their purchases and the reason might be your checkout process.

Luckily, there are several practices you can implement to optimize your eCommerce website’s checkout and increase its conversion rates. Let’s recap the ten best practices listed in this article:

1. Show a checkout progress bar

2. Provide multiple payment options

3. Offer free shipping

4. Offer a money-back guarantee

5. Allow your customer to check out without registration

6. Use live chat

7. Add a view cart button

8. Show a purchase summary

9. Make sure the website is mobile friendly

10. Use social proof

By following this guide, you’ll be able to provide your customers a better user experience and boost your eCommerce sales.

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