Let customers be your ‘guest’

Forcing the customers to register for an account in order to buy from you is the easiest way to put them off from their buying decision. As they are at the beginning of the checkout funnel, they will be more prone to leave once you ask them to create a password. Consequently, your cart abandonment rate will increase and conversion rate will decrease.

Why customers prefer to be guest?

Customers don’t want to be forced for creating an account for many reasons:

• They already have numerous accounts and passwords to remember and basically don’t want to add yet another one to this list.

• Even if the customers have already registered with you, it’s very possible that they don’t remember it. They don’t want to bother trying their password variations or reset password in the middle of their checkout.

• They want to finish their checkout as quickly as possible. Signing up for an account adds another step and as a result takes more time.

• They think registration means making a commitment to shop more from the site. Especially first-time customers don’t want to register before experiencing the whole shopping flow of the site.

• They find registration logical only if they are regularly buying from the site and when they don’t want to enter the same delivery and payment details repeatedly.

• They expect to be spammed once they create an account. Even if the site allows them to uncheck newsletter subscription, they believe signing up is more likely to enable the site to send them unnecessary marketing messages.

• They tend to recognize the site is storing their personal information, while creating an account. Although it is also possible to do that without registration, customers perceive guest checkout safer.

How to welcome a guest?

How you offer guest checkout is also just as important as offering it. Below are some key features, a smooth guest checkout process should provide:

1. Allow users to add products to their cart without authentication

This might seem obvious, but allowing customers to manage their cart without asking for login is prerequisite for offering guest checkout. The customers should be able to review the total cost of the cart before they decide to checkout as guest or registered.

2. Make sure guest checkout option is distinctly visible

Customers, who are already registered with you, will look for sign-in option and since they are repeated visitors they can find it easily. However guest checkout option is appealing to new visitors and is more likely to be overlooked. It should be the most dominant option and ideally displayed on the top left area of the page.

3. Explain why you need customer’s email address for guest checkout

Customers who are not familiar with guest checkout process may not understand why you need their email address. They will be more likely to think that you will spam them after purchase. Explain that you will only use it for sending their order information, not for marketing purpose. This touch may help you to reduce fake email entry.

4. Allow registered customers for guest checkout

Do not dissatisfy your existing customers while making your new visitor’s job easier. As previously mentioned, it’s possible that your registered customers forget they hold an account on your site or they simply forget their password and don’t want to deal with password reset. So let email addresses from existing accounts to use guest checkout option.

5. Allow same email address for multiple guest checkouts

Some sites consider guest checkout as a one-time trial and do not allow the same email address for multiple checkouts. If your guest customers want to make repeated purchases with you, it means they were happy with their guest experience and they may simply want to remain guest. Do not force your existing guest customer to become registered for their following purchases.

Make sure your guest is still happy after checkout

By offering guest checkout option you have already get the customer. Yet there are still things you can do to provide a seamless after guest checkout experience.

1. Do not even mention the word ‘register’

If you still want to convert your guest customer to register, the best time to offer it is just after the order is placed. Instead of asking them to ‘register’, offer to save their details for the next time, which will represent a more customer-centric approach.

2. Automatically fill in the details in registration form

In order to provide a more effortless experience, show the registration form fields as auto-filled with the details customer gave you for guest checkout, such as name, email and delivery address. The only effort left for the customer should be to choose a password. Do not forget to mention the benefits of registration and to give them the control for their marketing preferences.

3. Make order management accessible to the guest customer

Key functions such as order management, cancellation and return should not be placed in login-required pages. As these actions are usually configured to be taken on registered account pages, they are likely to be forgotten for the guest customer access. In order to provide a seamless checkout experience, authorize guest customer for those pages.

Side notes

While providing convenience to your guest customers, there are also some steps you can take to reward registration. Keep your signup form as simple as possible. Do not ask for unnecessary data even if it is optional. If guest customer can checkout without providing this information, registered user should also be able to do so. Finally, do not ask for email activation either for signup or checkout.

References

1. ‘E-commerce checkout usability: Exploring the customer’s checkout experience’ by Baymard Institute http://baymard.com/checkout-usability

2. ‘Be our guest: a guide to ecommerce guest checkout best practice’ by Christopher Ratcliff

https://econsultancy.com/blog/65457-be-our-guest-a-guide-to-ecommerce-guest-checkout-best-practice/