Optimising the checkout process

Once a customer has begun the checkout process, the purchase is as good as made… isn’t it? Unfortunately not. If only it were that easy.

By Phillip Smith, Country Manager UK at Trusted Shops

The shopping basket and checkout process are particularly prone to abandoned purchases, because it’s during this period where the customer has to actually pay. But by using the right strategies, online retailers can significantly improve conversion rates and reduce abandonment.

The shopping basket is where the customer is first confronted with the total sum of their purchases for the first time (it’s also often where additions are revealed such as shipping or insurance).  The shock of this information can sometimes cause the user to have second thoughts about the purchase.

However, its important to remember that a crucial aspect in purchase abandonment isn’t just the shock of seeing the price – it’s a subconscious fear that something could go wrong with the order or that there may be hidden costs.

The buyer’s trust is being tested – are they confident in the service, the timing, the product and that their personal information is being properly handled? It is crucial retailers address these potential barriers to purchase.

Where should trust-building measures be positioned in the shopping basket?

In general, online retailers exclusively promote confidence-boosting measures, such as trustmarks, customer reviews and payment systems, on the homepage. This is a big mistake. Trust must be conveyed throughout the entire shopping process.

Using trust-building measures in the shopping basket has a verified positive effect on the conversion rate and abandoned purchase rate. Conversion specialist Torsten Hubert from the CRO agency WebArts said: “Thanks to many testing projects and labs, we know that the integration of trust elements on shopping basket pages often provides very good results.”

WebArts therefore analysed the point at which the shopping basket attracts the most attention. During the test, trust measures were positioned in four different places in a shopping basket and assessed using a heat map:

Header: On all templates in the header across the page

Below: Below the call-to-action in combination with a benefit-Box

Call-to-Action: To the left of the primary call-to-action

Left: On the left side of the shopping basket

The results showed that positioning to the left of the shopping basket was best by a large margin.

In addition, the results of the heat map were enriched with statistical data on fixation. Fixation describes how quickly and for how long visual contact to a point is established. The faster and longer a user visually perceives an element, the more intensive the effect of the element on the user.

The second hurdle: the checkout

Unfortunately, the job isn’t finished once the shopping basket has been optimised. The checkout is also prone to abandoned purchases. However, online retailers often fail to cover all the angles when it comes to conversion optimisation. They restrict themselves to optimising the usability criteria in order to ensure that the checkout steps can be passed through quickly.

Online retailers who only optimise usability in their checkout process shouldn’t be surprised if the abandoned purchase rate remains constant. This conclusion was reached by conversion expert, Manuel Ressel from WebArts after carrying out a long series of tests in various shops.

In many cases, optimising usability is no longer the most powerful lever in the checkout process. After all, in the shopping basket, too, customers have fears, concerns and barriers that could still prevent purchases. Breaking down these barriers must be the primary concern in optimisation.

Follow these three tips:

1. Build trust

Even though secure network connections and shop trustmarks are obligatory for online shops, technical knowledge of how those things work isn’t essential for retailers to gain a customer’s trust. What is important, is that the shopper recognises that your store is trustworthy and that it’s made clear that orders are in safe hands.

Optimisation can be complemented with other approaches that encourage trust:

Promoting a hotline: A hotline which is displayed prominently on the website comforts the user because there is someone to contact with any queries. Anyone selling products that require a great deal of explanatory support will definitely benefit from this.

Advice on right to return: All users are legally entitled to right of return. However, if users have previously had a negative experience they will still hesitate before buying.

Clearly showing how easy it is to return goods can counteract this reluctance. An extended right to return beyond the mandatory 14 days can also be communicated as a trust-building measure in the checkout.

2. Communicate benefits for the user

Prominently highlight your services again in the checkout area as service can be a sales-boosting unique selling point. Just think of Zalando’s 100-day right to return. When faced with such a great offer, it’s difficult for customers to refuse – which encourages their order.

Manuel Ressel, from WebArts, said: “The ideal way in which to display these additional benefits also differs depending on the particular benefit and the user. In many cases it suffices to list the additional benefits and to positively reinforce them with a check mark.

In other cases, icons can visually enhance the additional benefits. A €0 icon and a reference to free shipping can convey the message of a free service more powerfully than a simple check mark.”

3. Motivate users

The checkout is without doubt the most unpleasant part of the shopping process because it’s the point at which customers must pay. Use subtle messages to encourage the customer to buy from you using a positive message that helps the customer to visualise the end product.

Mentioning how little effort is needed to complete the final steps is also worthwhile. Another approach is to explain to the customer why they have made the correct choice to shop with you.

Abandoned purchases:

Reducing your abandoned purchase rate to zero is an impossible aim in online retail. However, studies in the USA have shown that someone who has abandoned a purchase is not necessarily a lost customer.

48 per cent, of customers can be encouraged to buy from the online store again. They have been known to return within 28 days despite a previous abandoned purchase. However its important to remember that what applies to regular customers is rather different to new customers

According to the study results, only 3 per cent buy from an online store after abandoning a purchase, so the researchers recommend paying particular attention to customer retention.

The study – conducted by SeeWhy between July and August 2011, investigated the purchase behaviour of more than 260,000 e-commerce transactions by 617,000 visitors, to various US online shops.

For more information, visit: www.trustedshops.co.uk/merchants