Why Smooth Checkouts Are So Important in eCommerce Business? Handpicked Tips to Optimize Checkouts

It is rightly said that “Time is Priceless,” and eCommerce merchants understand this age-old dictum pretty well. Buyers, at present, are so busy that they do not necessarily have dedicated time for shopping; rather, they buy whatever they need in between their other essential work. However, once they have completed shopping, they want to pay for it quickly. Here, they are very likely to drop the purchase due to complicated checkouts. They not only abandon their shopping carts but also abandon the merchant forever due to the lack of smooth checkouts.

Take a look at what this checkout means before unveiling the best practices to make it smoother than ever:

What Is Checkout?

Checkout is the specific page of the eCommerce website and apps that contain the product summary, shipping and billing details, and payment details.

It may appear to be a composite page or the order summary itself, so, merchants may find it a very simple page on the website or app. But this page is much more than a summary page.

Did you know?

Complex checkout is the reason behind 87% of cart abandonment, and 55% of them do not contact the retailer again.

Therefore, it is important to offer a smooth checkout experience to your buyers after they pick the product and make a mindset of purchase. Still, wondering Why your eCommerce store should have a smooth checkout process? Check out the next section to get the answer. 

Importance And Benefits Of Smooth And Fast Checkouts

At the checkout page, the buyers do not like any glitch – even a minimal glitch affects their purchase decision. Complicated and lengthy checkout is one of the top 5 reasons behind cart abandonment.

The key benefits of smooth checkouts are:

• Improved User Experience – Smooth checkouts offer a better buying experience to the users by keeping away the friction. As a result, the merchants can see higher conversions.
• Attract Repeat Customers – Buyers, on getting a good checkout experience, are more likely to revisit the same website/app and repurchase, which is beneficial for the merchants.
• Less Abandonments – Ascomplicated checkout is a reason behind cart abandonments, making it smooth and simple will reverse it, so, the merchant faces less abandonment.
• Accurate Fulfillment – Smooth checkout results in easier and more accurate order fulfillment. As the customers have to fill out only a few details during the checkout, they pay more attention to it and fill it accurately, which results in faster order fulfillment.

How Does A Checkout Page Looks Like?

The main components of a checkout page are:

1. Order summary
2. Billing and shipping details
3. Payment options
4. Login/guest checkout options
5. Preview

Barriers to Smooth Checkouts

Now, smooth checkout may sound simple, but it is not easy to implement and maintain throughout. The commonest barriers to smooth checkouts are

1. Safety – It often becomes difficult to maintain a safe as well as fast purchasing environment for the buyers. As a result, checkout pages become either unsafe or slow and complicated, which spoils the entire shopping experience.

2. Congestion – Even after implementing a simple and short checkout, some glitches are unavoidable. Congestion is such a glitch. In case, too many buyers are trying to fill in the details to place the order at the same time, and the server is not that strong to handle the congestion, the entire page may collapse.

Now comes the best practices so that you can also implement smooth checkouts on your eCommerce store/app.

Smooth Checkouts – Best Practices You Must Follow to Fasten The Checkouts

Slow checkouts are very common in eCommerce websites and apps, but keeping in mind the festive shopping, you must optimize the checkout page and make it buttery smooth. Here are the tips to optimize your checkouts and embrace outstanding results:

1. Provide Less Columns To Fill Up

It is a hard truth that buyers will willingly spend hours to select one product, but they are really unwilling to spend more time to fill their details on the checkout page; therefore, ask only for the details needed here to keep the form short and simple. Eliminate the unnecessary fields from the checkout pages and implement an autosave option if a buyer has to leave in between due to some urgencies.

2. Auto-Fill Addresses And Card Number

In case, the buyer already had a purchase on your website or app, auto-fill their details (like name, postal address, card number, expiry date, etc.) during their next purchase and make the checkout effortless to them. But, keep the edit options open in case they want to make minor changes there.

3. Show Progress Bar

Progress bars on the checkout pages play psychologically with the customers – as soon as they find that they are pretty close to 100%, they are less likely to drop out without completing the payment.

4. Offer Guest/Social Sign In & Easy Password Reset

According to Statista, 24% customers hate the forceful sign-ups on the checkout pages, and they are very likely to drop their purchase in case a site/app asks them to register.

In order to remove this barrier to smooth checkouts, you need to offer guest and social media sign-in options. Also, provide simple password reset options for the users who willingly register with their mobile number or mail ID – it will create a good impression on your buyers.

5. Display Security Badges To Encourage Customers

On the checkout pages, display security badges like Visa verified, PCI-DSS compliant, Google trusted, card logos, etc. All these help your app or website to become more trustworthy to your customers. 

6. Display Offers/Promos & Calculate the Final Amount

During the festivities, you must be running some offers – so, show all the available offers during the checkouts. Also, it is very important to display the final payable amount on the checkout page after applying the offers and promo codes instead of adding the charges afterward. Additional costs after the checkouts (tax, convenience fees, etc.) also impact their buying experience, so avoid these if you want to impress your buyers with a smooth checkout.

7. Offer Multiple Payment Options

A recent study mentions that in last year, 54% buyers dropped their purchase during the checkout as the payment options were only limited to credit and debit cards. During the checkout itself, the customers have to select their payment mode – here, offer them multiple options like UPI, cards, wallet, net-banking, etc. Buyers must not feel that their preferred payment option is missing on your site or app. You can use an online payment gateway solution to offer all these options to your buyers.

8. Speed It Up

While following all the tips mentioned above, ensure speed and smooth navigation on the checkout page. As soon as the buyer fills in the details, they should get to the next page – a fraction of a second matters here. Use of the latest technology can bring lightning speed to your site.

Bonus Tips for Smooth Checkouts:

1. Personalized checkout page
2. Simple 1-page checkouts
3. Make returns breezy & flexible

End Words…

So, it is essential to offer smooth checkouts to the buyers to retain them for a long time and get recommendations from them. A visitor on a website or mobile app is like an opportunity for a merchant; therefore, offering a satisfactory user experience right from the beginning is crucial.

A buyer on the checkout page shows that he or she is impressed with the products; checkout is the last thing you have to impress them to get the conversion. At checkout pages, lots of buyers change their minds due to the lack of smoothness. So, leave no stone unturned to bring smooth checkouts on your website and mobile app.