4 Tips For Improving Your Customers' Shopping Experience

With the rise of online shopping, there has also been a rise in the amount of "window shopping" done by online shoppers. A cart will be filled with items and then abandoned at checkout, which can cause real issues for businesses depending on their backend transaction system. A major reason why this can happen is that a shopping platform has a checkout process that is too complicated or time-consuming, and customers who shop online want a fast and safe experience. Here are a few tips for improving your transaction experience so that more sales are made. 

1. More Payment Options

What can really slow customers down and make them abandon a transaction is seeing that their preferred form of payment isn't accepted. Whether they're using Google Pay, PayPal, or Visa gift cards, they need to be able to pay the way they want if they're going to keep shopping with your business. It's generally a simple process to have your website developer go into the syntax tree and make those changes. Brick and mortar businesses have had to deal with this challenge, too. Many people prefer using tap-to-pay options and need a card reader that can process chips. Sticking with your old-fashioned register is going to alienate customers, and the same goes for online businesses. 

2. Consistent Design

Something that can really throw customers off when they get to the checkout page on your website is if the layout is inconsistent with the rest of the website. Your payment processor might have a preferred layout that clashes with your website's aesthetic. You may even have a processor that takes customers away from your website entirely, opening a new tab to a page that seems unaffiliated with your business.

This sends a signal to customers that they've left your website and someone else is taking their money and could make them uneasy enough to abandon the purchase. Plus, your business's branding and name won't have a chance to make a last impression as the purchase is complete. Find a processor that allows for a level of customization and makes your checkout page feel like it flows seamlessly from one page to the next. 

3. Allow Levels of Account Creation

Not all customers have the same preferences when it comes to the relationship they have with your business. Some are ready to make an account, receive regular emails, and take a deep dive into the FAQ page to find out "how does ACH payment work?". But others, and possibly the majority of your customers, prefer to have a less involved approach.

You should provide them with the option to skip account creation and use an email address or phone number to track their order. Once they've received their purchase, they might want to order more products and that will get them in the right place to make an account. You can encourage account creation by offering perks or points towards discounts, but being as low-pressure as possible is essential to avoid pushing customers away. If your customers for example want to order vanilla lotion or face wash every month, having a way to consistently and simply reorder can be very beneficial and increase loyalty.

A lot of customers will ask for certain products to be easily available. If you offer a lot of similar products, like thrive patch, having a way to find products that have been ordered before, they won’t waste time searching for what they want. Create a consistent order form, and they will have the products reordered every month without having to do anything.

4. Clear Error Messages

One big frustration many have with the checkout process is the tedious amount of information they have to enter, and how hard it can be to know when you've made an error that you need to fix. Sometimes websites will prevent customers from going to the next step until they've fixed their error, but keep the error message hidden at the top of the page where the customer can't easily find it. Ensure that your error messages are directly beside or below the relevant field to make it less of a hassle to fix.

And make sure your website saves information for form resubmission so customers won't have to re-enter all those fields once they make a mistake. These small changes can add up to a much less frustrating, more streamlined customer experience and can make all the difference in getting customers to a completed purchase.