How to make your Shopify checkout competitive — how to squeeze it like a lemon and make lemonade?
In the competitive scenery of e-commerce, making your checkout process truly shine is like extracting every possible drop of juice from a lemon. The ultimate goal is to elevate conversion rates while ensuring customer satisfaction, necessitating a comprehensive strategy that combines simplification, innovation and security. Within the context of this article, we’ll explore the methods for enhancing the competitiveness of your checkout process, transforming your e-shop into a secure and attractive place for shoppers.
Even if you have great product pages, it won’t be enough if customers get frustrated during checkout or if their needs aren’t met. Here’s a hard fact: almost 70% of online shoppers don’t complete their purchases after adding items to their cart. This leads to retailers losing lots of money because many potential sales are missed.
Is your e-commerce checkout process equipped to capture these potential customers? It’s time to mend the gaps in your system with the help of these 19 tips for optimizing the checkout process, grouped into four distinct categories.
What stands behind checkout optimization?
Checkout optimization means a retailer’s plan to make more people buy things in their online store. The main goal is to make it easy and trustworthy for shoppers when they’re buying stuff, so they complete the purchase instead of leaving items in their cart without buying them.
Why is checkout optimization so crucial?
Statistics may give us a headache, but they don’t lie. 17% of shoppers leave their purchases because they think the checkout is too complicated. So making the checkout better is crucial to reduce the number of people leaving without buying. Additionally, making the checkout better can also make people spend more money, it automatically raises the (AOV) Average Order Value.
Let’s take a look at the strategies, grouped in 4 topics, that will significantly make your checkout better, easier to follow and, what’s most important, more convertible!
Simplify the Process
Allow Guest Checkout
Think of this as the easiest part of improving your checkout. Making customers create an account before buying can be a big turn-off. However if you let them check out as a guest, it makes things simpler and it keeps customers interested.
To activate this option in your Shopify checkout, go to Settings > Checkout and in Customer contact method section, make sure that the field with the Require the customer to log in to their account before the checkout label is unmarked.
Use address autocomplete
The wrong shipping info can cause problems with orders and make customers unhappy. You can make things easier and reduce mistakes by using Google’s auto-address. It helps streamline the input process, making it simpler for customers and decreasing errors. To activate this feature go to Settings > Checkout and check the Use address autocompletion option in Address collection preferences section.
Reduce Form Fields & Display the Continue Button Above the Fold
Lengthy and complicated forms can scare customers away from completing their purchase. To prevent this, reduce the number of necessary fields to just the basics, making it faster and easier for customers to finish their order. A shorter form also allows you to place the “Continue” button above the page fold, leading customers smoothly through the checkout process.
Below you can see a comparison between how your checkout may look with a second address line and without it.
Take Advantage of One-Click Checkout
Shop Pay’s one-click checkout is super convenient. It’s like Amazon’s approach, making buying really easy and quick, encouraging more people to make purchases and increasing conversion rates. Follow these steps to activate it in your admin panel:
- Go to Settings > Payments
- Shopify Payments section, click Manage
- Shop Pay section, check Shop Pay
- Save
Extend the possibilities
Think about enabling your customers to make quick payments through Apple Pay, either directly from the Product Detail Page or within the Cart. By including this alongside other payment choices, you can streamline and expedite the purchasing experience for a diverse customer base. Some will value the convenience of using familiar iPhone tools for a speedy purchase, while others will appreciate the variety of options available during checkout.
Have a Mobile-Friendly Design
In 2024, about 187.5 million people are predicted to shop on their mobile devices, spending roughly $621 billion. To reach this audience, your checkout process needs to work well on mobiles. This means making your website load fast, adjusting it to different screen sizes and using big, easy-to-tap buttons like “Add to Cart” and “Checkout.
Offer More Than Your Opponents
Offer Fast & Free Shipping
According to a report prepared by Shopify, fast & free shipping is a must nowadays. The tats are unrelenting: three quarters of global shoppers are influenced by the availability of free shipping, and 58% anticipate free next-day delivery.
You can demonstrate your commitment to meeting these expectations by incorporating shipping-related messages, badges and progress indicators throughout the checkout process.
Provide Multiple Payment and Shipping Options
Variety is the spice of life and it’s equally true in e-commerce. Offering diverse payment and shipping options caters to different customer preferences, ensuring that no potential sale is lost due to a lack of choice. As a Shopify merchant you can pick as much as you want from Shopify, Additional or Manual Payments. It’s worth considering using some Shop now buy later providers to give your customers as much flexibility as they may need.
Offer Live Chat Support
Real-time assistance can resolve customer doubts and questions promptly. By providing live chat support, you’re not only differentiating yourself but also personalizing the shopping experience. Sure, it depends on the business, but if you feel like it may be helpful for your customers, maybe it’s a good idea to take a look at these solutions — Shopify Chat apps.
Custom pricing
Custom pricing benefits both customers and your business by tailoring the experience to individual needs, offering savings, boosting value and fostering long-lasting relationships. Moreover, by providing a swift and obligation-free shopping experience for first-time buyers, offering custom pricing may turn them into loyal, repeat customers. With Shopify Functions you can provide simple or more complex solutions for your customers.
Make Your E-Shop a Safe Haven
Display Security Badges
Online shoppers often worry about their privacy, and about 17% of shopping carts are abandoned because people don’t trust a website. To build trust with your online shoppers, it’s crucial to show security badges during the checkout process. These badges can include:
- SSL certificates
- Payment logos
- Antivirus symbols
- Money-back guarantees
- Customer review
These trust badges serve a dual purpose: they boost your brand’s credibility and give customers confidence that your company will keep its promises. When potential customers see familiar checkout logos and customer reviews, it reinforces their belief that your store can protect their sensitive information.
Show the checkout flow
Transparency is key. Clearly communicating the checkout process and the steps involved reduces anxiety and keeps customers engaged, ultimately leading to a successful purchase. Thankfully, the default Shopify checkout provides us with a step component.
Additional content
Communication with the customer within the process makes him or her feel more cared for. If any of the steps or locations in the checkout path make you feel a little lost or seem to be complicated, first try to simplify them, then, if that’s not possible, guide your client with some verbal tips or even better with clear infographic tips.
Do Not Reinvent the Wheel
Incorporate common design elements in your checkout. Customers are used to a certain way of doing things and changing it can confuse them and reduce trust. While adding your unique touches is good, remember that Shopify’s success is based on its standard practices. So it’s best to stick with the default layout to keep things familiar for customers.
Do Some Additional Magic
Reinforce Sales with Psychological Triggers
Every time a customer considers an online purchase, a mental tug-of-war unfolds. They ponder if it’s a worthy expenditure, if they genuinely need the product. Guide shoppers towards responding affirmatively to these questions by employing psychological cues at the checkout, like:
Cross-Sell and Upsell
Improving the checkout process isn’t just about preventing people from leaving their shopping carts. It’s also about making them spend more on your online store, which means more revenue. You can do this with cross-sells and upsells.
Cross-selling is when you suggest a product that goes well with something that’s already in a shopper’s cart. For instance, if someone is buying a t-shirt, you can cross-sell by recommending matching pants or jewelry. This boosts the average order value.
Upselling, on the other hand, encourages customers to buy a higher-priced product that’s similar to what they’ve already added to their cart.
Remind Shoppers Why They Buy
Subtle reminders of the reasons customers chose your product can reignite their excitement and determination to complete the purchase. Highlight product benefits, unique selling points and any discounts or offers available.
Don’t forget to send reminders
Shopify provides a convenient and straightforward method for automating the sending of reminders to customers who leave their checkouts unfinished. You can easily select your preferred settings for this feature in the ‘Abandoned checkout emails’ section located under Settings > Checkout. As shown in the attached screenshot, you have the flexibility to test the option with either subscribers or all customers, determine the optimal timing for sending these reminders and even customize the email content to suit your needs.
Track, learn and change… if needed
Utilizing Shopify’s Web Pixels allows you to monitor your customers’ actions, and this isn’t merely for amusement but rather to enhance every aspect of the shopping journey and enhance your earnings. It’s crucial to understand how well your checkout aligns with your customers’ requirements and to identify any areas where improvements can be made. So take note of when individuals abandon their shopping carts, what causes any confusion or if certain features aren’t being utilized. Keep in mind to implement these modifications gradually and exercise patience when analyzing the data.
In conclusion, mastering the art of checkout optimization is a multifaceted endeavor. By simplifying the process, offering more than your competitors, ensuring the safety of your e-shop and adding a touch of magic, you can significantly enhance your checkout conversion rates. It’s not just about squeezing the lemon but also about creating a delightful and memorable shopping experience for your customers.
Thank you for reading!
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More from me:
Shopify’s New Checkout Extensibility — Your Questions Answered (FAQ)
Creating and publishing your new Shopify Checkout — A step-by-step guide for Shopify Plus merchants
Shopify Checkout Revolution — from checkout.liquid to One-Page Checkout
