The checkout process is one of the most overlooked elements of your website. Indeed, it can be the difference between someone actually buying something or leaving your site. It’s easy to assume that, once someone has added products to their cart, they are going to buy them. But, a bad checkout experience will stop them in their tracks.
What makes for a bad experience? It’s relatively easy to deduce; checkouts that take too long and are too complicated will be despised by consumers. If you make people spend ages checking out, they are going to lose interest very quickly. You’d better hope that you have a very unique product that keeps them around.
So, how do you streamline and speed up the checkout process on your website? Let’s explore some ideas…
Hosted checkouts
A hosted checkout is a checkout that exists on a third-party website. It isn’t technically on your site; users go to pay and are taken to a different site. One of the benefits of hosted checkout systems is that they can speed things up.
Instead of needing your customers to spend ages typing information in, you can send them to a hosted checkout where their information may already be stored. If they have used the same third-party checkout before on different websites, their data is there and ready for them to use once more. It means they can buy things and go through the checkout process in a matter of seconds.
Guest checkouts
It is never a good idea to ask for information before someone checks out. Yes, you want someone to create an account, but do this after they have made the purchase. Offer guest checkouts for people that aren’t already registered on your site. All they need to do is put in an email and some delivery/payment details, and they’re done. It lets them breeze through the process and place their order.
After, you can ask them to create an account to track the order and streamline the process if they return. Now, they can take their time creating an account and providing more details. When they return, they just have to log in and all their payment and delivery information is ready to use again, making it even faster this time.
Instant checkouts
This is a tactic that Amazon employs all the time. If you click on a product, you can either add it to your basket or ‘Buy Now’. The buy now option lets you purchase the item right away – all you have to do is choose your payment option.
Implementing this on your site can help members buy things way faster than usual. Instead of adding something to a basket, going to their basket, clicking to check out, or choosing details, they can make a purchase in a couple of clicks. It’s super-fast, and people will love this.
The faster and easier you can make your checkout, the better the response will be from your customers. This is such a sneaky little tactic to help you generate more sales and avoid missing out on customers at the final hurdle.
