Saved information in customer account can boost eCommerce conversion rate?
It is an arguable point that customer account should be required or optional on eCommerce sites. One one hand, making the customers account mandatory will leave you loss of those customers who do not want to create an account. On the other hand, there are certain information in customer accounts which can help the eCommerce site owners to present a more personalized shopping experience. On the whole, it's a one-time burden to the customers after that, both the parties can get something useful out of these customer accounts.
So, I think customer accounts are desirable and they have something useful in their trunk for both the sellers and the customers. However, making them mandatory is not a wise choice at all. For those who do not understand the importance of the customer accounts, they will not be interested in shopping with you if you make them necessary. As a result, the step taken for better eCommerce conversion rate will result in degraded conversion rates. But still, there are certain points which advocate how customers accounts can improve your eCommerce conversion rate by improving the UX for the customers.
Multiple Wish Lists with customer accounts-
Wish List has been a common feature in all eCommerce sites. Most of the sites have adopted this feature to improve their eCommerce conversion rates. It works by allowing the shoppers to save their desired product links in an easily accessible section, and then later they can browse these products whenever they have to buy them finally. It saves the customers from the task of researching the products when they actually want to buy it.
This useful feature works greatly to optimize the user experience on eCommerce sites and has several advantages for both the parties. Multiple wish list can be saved the users for different requirements and wishes. Say, one wish list for electronics shopping, other for clothing and so on. This useful feature can only be accessible to the customers if they have a user account to save the list.
How it helps in eCommerce conversion rate optimization: Websites can remind the customers about their lists. Sellers can take it to a further level by sending the customers to email reminder about the items customer have liked. Plus, websites can use the information to notify a price reduction to the customers regarding the products added to the list.
Optimizing user experience with multiple shipping Addresses-
There are certain occasions when shipping address is not same for each purchase we make on the eCommerce sites. It might be possible that I have saved a shipping address in New York with my last purchase and this time I want to send a gift to Granny who lives in California. It would be frustrating to update the shipping address each time I have to get a product delivered to a different address.
To tackle this, eCommerce sites allow the customers with accounts to save multiple shipping addresses and then use them with just a single click while checkout. It will reduce the length of the checkout process, plus provide a shopping experience free from redundant form-fillings.
How it helps in eCommerce conversion rate optimization: When a shopper understands the ease of shopping with multiple addresses saved in the address book, he will more bound to become a loyal customer whenever he has to buy for someone else or deliver the product to a different address. Moreover, eCommerce sites can extend this feature further by allowing the shoppers to request delivery of products to multiple shipping addresses in a single cart. Here is an example from Amazon’s checkout page.
Optimizing user experience with multiple Payment MethodsCompleting a payment is the most stretched part in any eCommerce checkout. However, this great stretch can be minimized to minimal by providing the users with customer accounts to save their payment information and use them again whenever they shop with you next time. It is a one-time process when user has to save the payment information. After that, a single click on any saved payment method will lead to least possible input from the customer to complete the payment. Off-course, the sensitive information like PIN numbers are never saved; you will still have to enter them each time for security reasons.
How it helps in eCommerce conversion rate optimization: Customer will be able to switch quickly between the saved payment options. It will not lead to a shopping cart abandonment if in case a particular payment option cannot be used at that time.
Finally,
There are uncountable ways to provide the users with a much engaging user experience with customer accounts. There is no doubt that both the parties receive some extra perks with an eCommerce shopping through saved accounts. However, it must remain a clear fact that not all customers understand these perks and they find creating an account as some extra burden. You cannot afford to lose even these customers. For better eCommerce conversion rate optimization, you should encourage the shoppers to create accounts, but do not make it compulsory; it should remain entirely optional.