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E-commerce Challenges – 2: Confusing Checkout Process

26 Sep 2013

Almost every second website undergoes the frustration of customers abandoning their website at the time of checkout according to the recent survey conducted by MarketingSherpa.

 

If the website is attractive enough to lure the customer to purchase a product, product is good enough to lure the customer to check out, then why does the customer abandon the website at the time of check out. There are certain fatal mistakes that e commerce websites make and one of them is related to their checkout process that we have discussed here, in our previous blog-post we discussed about e-commerce security challenges.

eCommerce-Checkout

E-commerce checkout process

 

It is very important to have a lucid and logical checkout process with almost all the checkout fundamentals clearly in order. However, most e-commerce developers fail to follow the same.

 

It is essential to have an experienced team of research analysts and developers who know the ups and downs of e commerce and take extra care to get things right at every stage. Following the golden rules while designing the e-commerce checkout process mentioned below would help set up a smooth check out process.

  1. Linear process
  2. One of the major e-commerce challenges is that the customer is never at leisure and you have very less time to turn him into a loyal customer. Diverting customers to a registration page or any other page and then redirecting to the first step of checkout again is a sure shot way to antagonize your customer forever. There should always be a linear checkout process to ensure the customer has a smooth transaction.

  3. Optional or alternative registration
  4. If a shopper is in hurry, filling address details and personal details means waste of another 5-10 minutes. A lot of websites suggest registration but do not keep it obligatory. Alternative method is to simply ask for email address or Facebook registration, which saves time and is equally useful.

  5. Page load time
  6. Slow page loading is often touted as one of the most common reasons to abandon the website at this stage. Only a good developer can ensure your check out pages load quickly and is bug free. Moreover, your website should be scalable, so even if hundreds of users are checking out at the same time, the process goes on without a hitch.

  7. Secure checkout page
  8. Every e-commerce website will aim to make their website as secure as possible. They also incorporate all the security measures on their website. However, due to incorrect display of these measures, most customers feel like they are dealing with a shady website and abandon the website. This is purely based on gut feeling and not on logic.

     

    The solution here is to place security logo, SSL certificate sign, 3D secure verification, PCI DSS, etc., all shown strategically at the time of input of credit card details and checkout. This will reinforce the security image of your website and customers will be reassured.

  9. Confusing checkout process
  10. A novice e-commerce shopper will not understand all the e-commerce terms easily. Moreover, using ambiguous or newer, fancy terms will confuse even the experienced shopper. This is why always add small descriptions for every field like phone number, area code, postal code, etc.

     

    Also avoid confusing terms like ‘Continue Shopping’ – does it mean you want to continue with check out or you want to shop more. It is very frustrating for a customer to land on the shopping page if instead he wants to check out.

     

    Our team can provide a solution that addresses any e-commerce challenges that your business may face.

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