Five Ways to Improve the Mobile Checkout Process By Tory Darling, Codal Inc
______________________________________________________ The checkout process is arguably the most important step on an eCommerce and mCommerce platform, but unfortunately companies are struggling to optimizing to convert shoppers. As many as 60-75 percent of online shopping carts are abandoned equating to roughly $18 billion annual loss due to this shopping cart abandonment. Thus, there is a substantial need for companies to employ user experience design services and even potentially mobile app development companies to ensure the mobile checkout process is fully optimized. Below are five areas that a mobile app and design development team should focus on when refining the checkout process. 1. Utilize all mobile capabilities The advancement of mobile technology is one that offers retailers opportunities they have not been able to incorporate on an eCommerce platform. The two capabilities to highlight are geo-tracking and the mobile wallet. Geo-tracking allows the retailer to provide the option of delivering the particular item to the current location of the user. This ability would be particularly useful for those users ordering at home, allowing them to skip filling out all the fields pertaining to their address. Next, the mobile wallet offers the ability to directly obtain the payment information from the user. Especially since credit card information is an annoying process for the user, it is in the best interest to provide an alternative in which the fields will be filled out for them using their mobile wallet. 2. Improve load time Long load time has a significant impact on losing conversions on a mobile app or website. According to research, when a checkout page on a mobile device takes four seconds to load, the cart abandonment rate reaches 25%.
For every second the app or website is taking to load, the rate of lost customers remarkably increases. Thus, working with a mobile app development company to improve this load time will help the overall sales. 3. Simplify the process Developing an easy to use and simple checkout process is critical in improving the conversion rate. Two areas of focus to make sure it is simplified is ensuring the call to actions stand out and that the checkout flow is shortened. Incorporating strong and direct CTA’s is an essential component to the checkout process. Without continuous and direct steps for the user, the potential for confusement increases. For more information about how to improve CTA’s check out this blog. Minimizing the number of steps of the checkout flow will greatly improve conversions. Just as a long line in a physical store may dissuade a shopper from purchasing, so too does a lengthy checkout flow result in cart abandonment. 4. Remove distractions Getting the user to be in the process of purchasing is the exact position retailers want. Thus, completing the transaction should be the main priority of the site, eliminating all other distractions. One of the distractions that may result in a loss of a customer is offering additional products. Instead of upselling or cross selling during the checkout process, retailers need to either do so when the user adds the item to the cart or offer to them once the purchase has gone through. Another distraction to eliminate is any form of advertisement, whether that be banner ads or pop up ads. Including those ads on the site as a form of revenue does not make sense if it dissuades users from completing their purchases. 5. Enhance trust Research suggests that 17% of shoppers ditch their carts if they have concerns about payment security. Offering a form of proof to the users indicating that the app or website is secure will greatly impact the perception of trustworthiness. Some form of proof that can be used are trust icons, testimonials, and reviews.
Conclusion When it comes to developing an app or mobile website, one of the areas of main focus should be the checkout process. An analogy that can be drawn to losing a user during checkout is a quarterback throwing a last second interception to lose the game, when all he had to do was take a knee to win. Don’t be that quarterback, hire a mobile app development company. Looking for more insight on UX design services? Are you wanting to develop an app and you need to know the cost to develop an app is? Visit Codal’s blog, or come talk to us here! We’d love to hear from you.
Codal Inc App Development & UX Design Agency www.codal.com