Online shopping is becoming the preferred and hassle-free shopping method due to its ease and convenience, not to mention the time saved. Online retail has gathered momentum and more and more entrepreneurs are starting online stores. However, customers are often bombarded with additional offers and lose their patience and instead of checking out they dump their cart and leave the site. The result: loss of business for the online store and a permanent customer lost because he would not like to go through such an experience again. It is significant to remember that such episodes are extremely rare in the physical world but reported in 45% cases in the digital world according to reliable sources.
Online businesses have to watch out for such an adverse reaction in the mind of the customer and ensure that the shopping experience is quick, hassle free and efficient. With that said here are some tips that can be implemented to ensure you are getting as many prospective customers through the checkout process as possible.
- The online shopper is in a hurry-most people online are not very patient and have short attention spans. Being sharp, they are quick to absorb and understand interesting information, but if something does not please them or hold their attention, they quickly veer away to another page or another site. Hence it is important that nothing on the site or in the check out process causes a delay or pulls their attention away from what they should be doing; checking out.
- Single page checkouts, multiple payment options, inventory lists etc are all convenient features to have.
- Significant changes in website design and technical settings can actually boost sales by enhancing the overall online shopping experience any changes that are made should be with the customers best interests in mind.
- Visitors to the eCommerce website often wish to share details about products to friends, spouse or family. This can be facilitated by additional features like “send to friend” and caching the browsers page views can also help to remind them of product they viewed on previous visits.
- Wary shoppers may be skeptical about the reliability of the online store, paying more than the regular price, or ending up receiving a defective product. The eCommerce owner can ensure that payment options include reliable credit card companies like VISA that will not divulge information, post customer testimonials to prove their authenticity, offer exchange and refund options, warranties and sample ordering facilities, and keep the prices the lowest on the net.
- High shipping charges are considered as the biggest reason for full shopping carts being abandoned. The solutions to this would be to charge a flat rate for handling, small sample shipping charges and some tie ups with companies that can offer discounts to their customers-passing on the benefit to the customer.
The outcome of all these changes will be that online shopping will become quick, easy, convenient and have customers return for more.
