From engagement to purchase: just-right checkout

One of the frequent questions merchants face is how to optimize the checkout process on the eCommerce site. The issue is a crucial one: not only does streamlined checkout help combat cart abandonment, but with the proliferation of alternative payments and gifting options, it’s vital to create a smooth process that can adapt to shoppers’ preferences.

Single-page formats have debuted in recent years, due to the perception that a single page presents fewer hurdles for shoppers and is easier to understand and digest. Case studies have shown that single-page checkout can boost completion more than 20%.

But as with anything, the devil is in the details. Like multi-page checkout, single-page checkouts can be streamlined or cluttered, straightforward or confusing, and can lead to gratification or frustration. Because single-page checkouts require more complicated technical processes to verify the information shoppers submit as they proceed down the page, they can be harder to execute, especially when all those options for alternative payment, multiple delivery addresses and the like are factored in.

Perhaps that’s why, in a sampling from the top 100 merchants in Internet Retailer’s Top 500 list, the vast majority — nearly 89% — use a multi-page checkout, with most sites featuring a process that takes four pages to move from the login page through to “submit order”. (We didn’t count the cart page or the post-order confirmation page, and we simulated the simplest of purchases: one that would be shipped solely to the billing address, without gifting options, and paid with a credit card.)

Clearly, one-step checkout isn’t the panacea for every path-to-purchase fallout problem merchants face; otherwise these merchants, who number among the biggest of the big brands, would have adopted it. But the good news is that regardless of the number of steps involved, merchants can deploy tactics that help shoppers along the path to purchase — balancing the desire for simplicity with the need for trust-building signposts. To optimize checkout, merchants should:

Consider a hybrid model. Merchants needn’t adopt an either/or stance when it comes to checkout; they can blend aspects of one-page and multi-step formats to create the sleekest possible path to purchase. Several merchants we surveyed in the two-page category use the first page to determine if shoppers are existing account holders, new reigstrants, or guest checkout users, and then follow up with a one-page checkout tailored to their preferences — thereby ensuring the single-page format includes only the options appropriate to the audience. L.L. Bean uses a modal window to determine whether shoppers are current account holders, then presents a clearly-labeled accordion-style single-page checkout. Guest users are invited to create an account as part of the process.

Downplay less-popular options. Merchants should use their analytics to determine which checkout options are used infrequently, and then position them accordingly on the page. For example, merchants already routinely use a checkbox to let shoppers duplicate their shipping address information into the billing address form; some merchants we surveyed took this notion a step further, eliminating the form for entry of the second address altogether unless shoppers indicated the need for it. Similarly,  the option to log in as a registered account holder was placed in the right-hand column on a number of merchant sites we surveyed, thereby eliminating the need for a “login or guest checkout” starter page altogether.  Dick’s Sporting Goods uses this technique, labeling the registered-user process “express checkout” to flag to shoppers the expediency of creating an account.

Provide access to live help. Regardless of the number of steps in checkout, merchants should make access to customer service easy and prominent. Live chat prompts are appropriate throughout, with proactive invitations triggered if shoppers “stall” at any point in the process. And other means of reaching customer service should be prominently signposted, as on the Bass Pro Shops eCommerce site, where a specialized header highlighting customer service and providing links to product guarantees and FAQs is used throughout checkout.

Truly integrate alternative payments. As we’ve previously written, offering alternative payments is now commonplace.  But merchants shouldn’t merely divert shoppers into alternative payment processes right from the cart page; rather, they should incorporate options as much as possible into the checkout process — not only reducing the impact of the jarring experience for shoppers of being handed off to another site, but also enabling collection of key shopper data within the merchant’s native  eCommerce platform. Build.com uses a tabbed approach to enable payment with Google Checkout or Paypal — but uses its own eCommerce site to collect shipping information and the shopper’s email address. The third-party payment processes have been tailored to avoid duplicate entry of information, and shoppers return to Build.com for the final order confirmation and placement.

Stay tuned for more optimization strategies as we head toward the all-important fourth quarter. How many steps are in your checkout process, and why?

From engagement to purchase: best practices for “add to cart”

As the middle of the year approaches, many merchants are already looking ahead to the peak holiday season and fine-tuning site features in hopes of powering optimal sales growth. And with cart abandonment rates still hovering above 50%, according to technology researcher Forrester, optimizing the path to purchase from should be high on the list of to-do items.

While a sizeable percentage of shoppers are using the cart for research, those who wish to buy immediately should have a streamlined option available to them. To that end, merchants are increasingly tweaking every nuance of the purchase path. The step that has perhaps changed the most in recent years is the very first one: the action that results from clicking “add to cart.”

Back in the early years of eCommerce, most merchant sites moved shoppers from the product page to the shopping cart page when an item was added. Now,  though, more than two-thirds of merchants keep shoppers on the product page, according to a sampling from the top 100 merchants on Internet Retailer’s Top 500 list. More than a third of merchants use a pop-up or modal window to mark the addition of an item, while another 30% display a drop-down global cart window. Another 2.86% use a text-based flag on the product page to alert shoppers the selected item has been added to the cart.

The use of pop-up or drop-down windows is a testament to the power of motion to dominate our attention. The activity notifies shoppers that their item has been placed in the cart, while at the same time keeping them in the browsing environment — balancing the need to acknowledge the add-to-cart action with the desire to encourage further product selections.

Some merchants lose that sense of balance, though, when it comes to what options for next steps are offered for shoppers to select. Opportunities for promotional messaging and up-sells can be missed in an effort to minimize clutter, while attempts to streamline the path to purchase can leave shoppers without information vital to making a purchase decision. To make the most of post-add-to-cart messaging, merchants should:

Keep the cart option.  While it’s tempting to skip the shopping cart page altogether in an effort to streamline the purchase process, merchants who fail to provide easy access to the cart may cut off the only opportunity shoppers have before checkout to view the estimated order total. With shipping costs remaining a top barrier to order completion, the ability to view and select delivery options is crucial, as is the capability to enter promotional codes. And for those shoppers who are still in pure research mode, it’s important to have access tools that enable saving items to a wish list or printing the cart contents for reference in physical stores. To balance the needs of shoppers who want to check out immediately after adding items to the cart with those who want to consult the tools the cart page provides, merchants should display both options, preferably with equal prominence. They should also clearly label each option to highlight the availability of both the streamlined and standard option, as Rakuten does in modal add-to-cart window.

Include free shipping information. Speaking of delivery costs, merchants should use the window that appears after the “add to cart” action to highlight any free shipping offers and their thresholds. While ideally the window should calculate how close shoppers are to meeting the threshold and present a personalized notification,  it’s enough to prominently display a global message, as REI does with the text flag alerting shoppers to the $50 threshold for free shipping.

Spotlight smart upsells. Immediately after adding an item to the cart, shoppers should be presented with a curated selection of items. Unlike the cross-sells displayed on the product page itself, the upsells shouldn’t contain SKU variants of the same item or similar items at different price points; rather, the products on display should complement what’s already been added to the cart to entice shoppers to consider a further addition. Crate & Barrel’s modal window displays four products related to the selected item.

Stay tuned for more path-to-purchase optimization tips — both for the eCommerce site and for mobile. Meantime, what strategies do you employ to keep shoppers engaged after clicking “add to cart”?