The guiding rule for sales for a Shopify store owner is to engage marketing tools.
I’m sure you are saying to yourself but I use marketing tools for my Shopify store but very few of my customers return to buy again.
Well, have you optimized your checkout page?
Table Of Content
1. Article Brief
2. Reasons For Checkout Page Abandonment
– Customers’ unreadiness to buy
– Extreme checkout procedures
– Store payment and return policy
– Rigid payment channels
– Unsatisfactory order fulfillment procedure
– Inability to access total order cost
– Distrust about the store’s payment channel
– Insecurities about inserting card information to finalize payment, especially for first-time buyers
3. Checkout Practices & Tips To Optimize Your Shopify Store
– Guest checkouts
– Free Shipping Offers
– Discounts That Are Redeemable For Next Purchase
– Products Or Order Summary
– Trusted Payment Channel
4. Wrap
Beyond engaging your customers or visitors with different marketing strategies to increase sales conversion. You surely need to make your checkout page and procedure fit to make your customers want to become returning buyers.
Optimizing the checkout page can magically increase sales for your store as well as sales conversion and customer retention rate. If customers find every purchase stage on your Shopify store comfortable and seamless, you have a better chance of increasing average order value and retaining more customers.
Checkout pages contribute to 27% stat for online customers who abandon their carts. This large percentage of online buyers abandon their carts due to long or complicated checkout processes. For some customers, having them create an account before shopping can discourage them to further the ordering process. That is a major pointer for you to optimize your checkout page to capture more sales.
Reasons For Checkout Page Abandonment
There are several reasons customers get to the checkout page and abandon their orders without completing the process. Some of these issues can be solved by keeping your checkout page likable and easy to use for customers.
First, here are some reasons why customers abandon their orders at the checkout stage;
1. Customers’ unreadiness to buy
There are times when customers are just testing the waters to know how your e-commerce store works when making purchases. Customers in this category might end up leaving their orders untouched which contributes to checkout page abandonment.
Window shopping is also a thing in the e-commerce industry. Online buyers like to check multiple stores to see compare prices and other benefits they can get when buying their desired products. Such customers might halt their purchase at the checkout stage.
2. Extreme checkout procedures
Some online stores have checkout procedures that can easily discourage buyers from checking out if there is a long procedure that doesn’t end in 5 minutes or less. Having a checkout procedure with shorter requirements and clicks is a way to reduce cart abandonment and checkout page issues.
3. Store payment and return policy
Since most stores have their return policy document attached to the checkout page, customers who do not find the return policies favorable might end their journey on the checkout page without paying for the item.
To counter this problem, ensure your return policy is outrightly discussed with measures that can boost customer loyalty and morale to complete the buying process.
5 Ways To Boost Customer Retention Rate For Your Shopify Store
4. Rigid payment channels
Limitations on payment channel service providers for online stores can cause customers to abandon their checkout page. If the payment channels available do not suit the customer’s choice or they can’t find an option that they would like to use for payment.
Leaving customers with multiple payment choices can facilitate the reduction in checkout restrictions.
5. Unsatisfactory order fulfillment procedure
Order fulfillment differs from store to store. And your choice of e-commerce fulfillment service is dependent on the nature of the products you sell on your Shopify store. This also makes up one of the reasons why customers abandon the checkout page.
To improve on this aspect, you need to keep in check and optimize your store’s order management strategy. When doing this, you should ensure your fulfillment procedures are quick and followed through till orders are delivered to buyers.
E-commerce Fulfillment Services And How To Choose One
6. Inability to access total order cost
As minute as this sounds, some customers exit online stores once they cannot see a total rundown of how much their orders cost on the checkout page. You need to make your checkout page carry the necessary information as much as possible. This will strengthen customers’ trust further in making payments.
7. Distrust about the store’s payment channel
Past experiences with certain payment channels can be a contributing factor to why a customer might abandon the checkout procedure. If a customer has had a dented experience with a payment channel you use on your platform, it might be difficult to convert such customers except if there are other options for making payments.
8. Insecurities about inserting card information to finalize payment, especially for first-time buyers
Making payments online requires a level of security consciousness to avoid fraudulent activities on card usage. Online buyers are usually careful about the type and kind of stores they release their card information to for making payments.
With these said, there are a couple of ways to make your checkout page likable for customers to complete their purchases. Some of which might require that you offer customers freebies that can attract them to click pay or buy.
Checkout Practices & Tips To Optimize Your Shopify Store
1. Guest Checkouts
Giving customers the chance to order items on your Shopify store without having to create an account can help you capture conversions from the 27% that abandon their carts due to long checkout procedures.
Guest checkouts help you mitigate the barrier to finalizing purchases which comes in form of account creation. However, you can get such customers to create an account post-payment. One of such ways is to ask that customers create an account to track their order fulfillment stage.
If you can, you can also offer a discount when accounts are created. This is an incentive that can nudge customers to fill out the long forms. From here you can get their personal data for email marketing and proper delivery details.
2. Free Shipping Offers
Shipping is a factor in online buying. It is almost natural for an online buyer to consider shipping costs before checking out on their carts or even before adding an item to their cart. For an e-commerce store like Aliexpress, most items have their shipping cost or conditions stated under product prices.
Although, it is not all time that you might be able to fund a free shipping offer. You can use this tip once in a while maybe for first-timers or returning buyers who have been loyal to your store. Another measure to use to give free shipping offers is to set a spending threshold. Once the customers spend to a certain threshold, they automatically qualify for free delivery.
Free shipping offers can be used in different methods to increase sales conversion some of which have been mentioned. You just need to understand your capacity to know which of the methods best suits your store or product type.
StoreBundle is a Shopify app to help you display a free shipping bar on your product pages, home page, or other selected pages at a $0 cost. Install StoreBundle here.
3. Discounts That Are Redeemable For Next Purchase
To get the most result from offering customers discounts on your Shopify store, you need to target points that customers won’t be able to resist. Setting discount codes or coupons that are redeemable when customers make their next purchase can help you increase sales and also create more returning buyers for your store.
Online buyers are easily attracted by discounts and they definitely won’t want to see it waste no matter how little it might be. Using discounts can help you increase sales conversion.
4. Products Or Order Summary
Some online buyers click exit on the checkout page if they can’t get a total summary of the products, cost, and other necessary delivery details on a single page. Having the customers’ details in the shortest form, a list of products to be paid for, and a total cost deduction that will be made from their card can quicken the payment process and help you convert more sales.
If you properly optimize this page, you can also include the shipping details as well as options to reduce or increase the quantity of each product that is in the shopping cart. Upselling is also something you can do on the checkout page.
Showing product recommendations on the checkout page can help you increase average order value since some customers might find recommended items interesting.
5. Trusted Payment Channel
Online payment security is a top priority when it comes to making payments on e-commerce stores. If customers find your payment service providers untrustable, they might exit without checking out.
Credit card fraud is a thing with online buying, that is why you should make your pages =, design, and outlook show the genuineness of your store. You can show reviews from existing customers on your store to show trustworthiness.
Wrap
Making your checkout page customer friendly can help you increase sales conversion. You can also use the checkout page to show appreciation to customers which is a more personalized way of boosting customer loyalty and trust.
When making your checkout page to be fit for sales conversion, ensure you put into consideration your product line and store’s capacity to carry out the checkout practices.
