Have you taken a look at your check-out design lately?
If you ever wondered about the direction your check-out process should take, here are a few tips and ideas to consider the next time you update your site.
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New store users have a tendency to make the following connection: create an account = get newsletters. Offer a guest checkout option to reassure customers they aren't signing up for spam in their inboxes. If they have a great experience, they are bound to come back and create a real account. |
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While guest accounts tend to be much appreciated for the reason above, it does lengthen the checkout process because more information needs to be entered on each order without an account (method of payment, address, etc…). Consider combining such crucial imput into one step if possible. |
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There is an average of 5 checkout steps involved, from the shopping cart page to the order review page. Anything farther than 7 steps is generally considered to be a process hampered with low user functionality. |
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Users will respond to the functionality of a step. By lessening the number of steps but keeping all the necessary checkout functions, you can simplify and streamline the checkout experience. The One Step Checkout extension (thumbnail from The Persimmon Tree on the left) is a good example. |
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Influential eCommerce websites with high levels of revenue have been found to have a lower score of check-out customer usability. A big reason why was due to third party sellers and large marketplaces. If you are a smaller competitor, you can gain leverage by offering a fast and easy check out process. |
You can read more about this topic through the following links: Baymard's recently released checkout usability survey and Smashing Maganzine's excellent in-depth analysis over the survey.
