It’s 2023, and the eCommerce space wouldn’t work as well as it does without optimized shopping cart checkouts. The online shopping revolution is here to stay. Optimized shopping cart checkouts have made it easier for people to buy products. It’s just a matter of clicking a couple of buttons before completing the purchase process from the comfort of a home.
It has become too obvious for eCommerce businesses to optimize shopping cart checkouts to elevate customers’ shopping experiences. Ideally, eCommerce businesses have to prioritize this element early on. It is vital to note that optimizing eCommerce shopping cart checkout is a continuous process.
Data highlights that online stores lose over $15 billion in revenue and sales every year due to cart abandonment. Remember, a higher cart abandonment rate equals more visits to the store sites. You may not be aware of it, but over 70% of shoppers leave their online shopping carts. It means 7 out of 10 people abandon or leave their shopping carts.
Annually, online stores lose over $4 trillion across the world due to cart abandonment. And when businesses find new ways to improve their shopping cart checkouts – it becomes obvious to make those changes. This renders heightened shopping experiences for a diverse range of customers.
12 Best Practices for Shopping Cart Optimization
So, what does it take to influence customers to move forward with the shopping cart checkout? Well, online stores need to consider many elements to improve engagement with customers. And this reduces the cart abandonment rate.
Let’s dive into the best practices for online stores to optimize their shopping cart checkouts:
1. Add a Proper Product Summary that Makes Sense
One of the most effective ways to optimize the shopping cart checkout is to add a thorough product summary. But avoid rounding up technical details that might get over potential shoppers’ heads. Instead, simplify and contextualize the product summaries.
Include images, product specs, full name, attractive thumbnail, pricing, and screenshots. After that, you’ll notice more paying customers on your shopping cart checkout page. This will instill more confidence among customers to follow through with purchases. Depending on the scope of the type of products you’re selling, add brief points about products rather than long boring descriptions that discourage customers from completing the checkout process.
2. Make the UX of Your Shopping Cart Checkout Page Mobile-Friendly
Your online store site should be compatible with tablets, personal computers, and smartphones. Understand the value of mobile-friendliness on every page of your online store. This allows customers to switch back and forth while making purchases.
Ensure the user experience on your shopping cart checkout page is compact and mobile-friendly. Today, most people use their smartphones to dive into the rabbit hole of online shopping.
You can even leverage the psychology of colors. This involves using a suitable color palette to hold onto customers on your shopping cart checkout page. Additionally, highlight the checkout option with a dark color so that customers can click it without having to look for it.
3. Use Slick and Minimalist Design
Here’s the thing – a cluttered shopping checkout page complicates the shopping experience. It also increases the cart abandonment rate. The last thing you want to do is add bright and shining elements for the sake of it and push customers away.
Focus on intuitive and simple design. Follow the lead of the most successful online stores that carefully cut out design aspects that distract shoppers. When designing your cart checkout page, adopt a minimalist approach. You should also showcase your thumbnail images professionally. It will allow potential customers to easily spot your products.
Most online shoppers rely on their wishlist of items they want to buy at the end of the checkout. An attractive web design influences customers to continue shopping. It also reduces the cart abandonment rate.
4. Allow Customers to Customize their Shopping Cart Items
Allow shoppers to remove items, add discount/coupon codes, and change item quantities. It may sound harsh, but understand that if customers are not able to customize their shopping cart items, they’ll leave. In the context of the cart checkout page, make online shoppers’ experiences flawless.
You don’t have to operate on a large scale to offer customization options to customers. Today, even small online stores allow customers to customize their shopping cart items for added convenience.
When shoppers are able to edit items immediately, it saves them from getting frustrated and encourages online shoppers to buy more items. As an online store owner, you don’t want shoppers to start over with the whole checkout process.
5. Cut Out Redundant Information from Shopping Cart Checkout Page
Any information that is not relevant to the product shouldn’t be on the cart checkout page. In fact, get rid of redundant information from product browsing to the cart checkout process.
If a potential customer sees information that is not relevant or does not tie together with the interest product, it’s going to dissuade that prospect to leave. In fact, it happens all the time.
Part of the solution is to streamline and refine your eCommerce shopping cart checkout. This means only adding essential and specific information across your cart checkout page. Instead of making one time changes, continue to make your buying process straightforward and flexible for potential and existing customers.
6. Don’t Include Hidden or Extra Charges
Do you know what bums out a lot of customers on the checkout page? – When they discover hidden or extra charges to complete their transaction. If you want to add a shipping charge, make sure to highlight that information “before” the customer gets directed to the cart checkout page.
You’ve probably seen a lot of customers who complain about hidden costs or extra charges that pop up on the check out page. And this dissuades customers from abandoning their shopping cart.
You should be honest and transparent about your pricing strategy throughout your online store. Make sure not to set unrealistic and farfetched expectations for customers. If you offer multiple or varied shipping prices on different products, make it a priority to highlight that information.
7. Include AutoFill Forms
It sounds obvious to add autofill forms. But many online stores fail to include the functionality of autofill forms. It gives online shoppers added convenience to fill out crucial information and browse more products. It saves valuable time and effort for shoppers.
It also reduces the number of errors customers might make while filling out form fields on the checkout page. With autofill forms, customers won’t have to manually enter information. Autofill forms make your entire checkout page efficient.
This checkout optimization tactic also ensures the shopping experience is uniform across different smart devices. So, if a customer switches back and forth between a tablet and a smartphone, the customer can use autofill forms to input the same information.
Autofill forms also improve the security of your online store’s checkout page. It makes sure your online store’s site uses SSL or other encryption protocol to safeguard the payment and personal information of the shopper.
8. Offer Multiple Payment Options and a Seamless Payment Process
If you want to make your payment process smoother, ensure it is quick and simple for shoppers. Online shoppers often get caught in the cobweb of complicated payment processes and a lack of options. So, right off the bat, offer more than one payment option and focus on the most common ones.
If you want to maintain a competitive edge in today’s eCommerce space, you’ll have to offer many payment options. On top of the usual payment gateways and debit/credit cards – allow online shoppers to pay via their digital wallets. Apple Pay, PayPal, and VISA have become the most obvious payment options. Follow the lead of renowned B2B and B2C eCommerce stores that offer 4-6 payment options.
9. Ensure Your Shopping Cart Checkout Page is Secure
Security is one of the fundamental elements that influence positive perceptions among online shoppers. A high degree of security will also help you get into the good graces of online shoppers. So, highlight security badges for online shoppers. It shows that you run a legitimate eCommerce business and value the safety and security of their payments.
If you want to make the shopping experience seamless, cover the standard security certifications, badges, and seals. Many customers abandon their shopping carts due to redundant security features.
10. Ensure the Loading Speed of the Checkout Page is Fast
If the potential customer experiences slow speed at the checkout page, there is bound to be cart abandonment. In fact, it is one of the most common reasons shoppers abandon their carts. In the fast-paced digital age, customers expect to buy a wide range of products without having to wait for even minutes.
So, communicate with your web developer and ensure the loading speed on your checkout page is lightning fast. On average, it should not take more than 3 seconds to direct/open your checkout page.
It might seem too competitive, but online shoppers don’t wait more than 3-4 seconds before moving to another online store. Fast loading speed is part of the online shopping experience. Another good tip is to minimize the number of clicks during the checkout process.
11. Integrate Live Chat on Cart Checkout Page
AI-powered chatbots have evolved to the point where they can have human-like conversations. So, make sure to offer live chat support on your landing page. This allows potential customers to address their concerns, questions, and queries in real-time.
Live chat is one of the best ways to solidify your business activities. Live chat makes it easier for customers to find specific information. It also increases the chances of completing the buying process on the checkout page.
Live chat on the cart checkout and the landing page also helps online stores build trust with shoppers and raise awareness about their brand. For many eCommerce businesses, live chat has managed to empathize with their brand.
12. Offer Guest Checkout Option
Last but not least – one of the most effective ways to reduce the cart abandonment rate is to offer visitors a proper checkout option.
Why? It heightens the overall user experience for shoppers and cuts out the usual complications from the checkout process. On top of added simplicity and flexibility, offering guest checkout options cuts out the need for online shoppers to sign up for a new account.
At its core, when you offer a checkout option to a guest, you’re removing hurdles that compromise the shopping experience. Also, it makes it easier for customers to move forward with the purchase process.
Final Thoughts
It could be negative reviews, slow delivery, high prices, or a lack of security. It can also be a complicated checkout process, hidden costs, slow-loading websites, or an unclear return policy. To reduce the cart abandonment rate, roll out the best tactics for optimizing shopping cart checkouts for your online store.
Optimized eCommerce shopping cart checkout is fundamental to the sales of online stores. After all, it’s the last page you visit before buying an item. Ensure your checkout page is seamless and offers a flawless shopping experience and a compact user journey.
In retrospect, eCommerce businesses need to continue testing their eCommerce shopping cart checkouts to find out what does and doesn’t work and then make prompt adjustments to turn potential shoppers into regular customers.
