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Simplify Checkout – Reduce Cart Abandonment

One of the biggest mistakes beginner marketers make is believing that once a customer has decided to buy a product, that they won’t change their mind. A high “cart abandonment” rate can be the difference between a massively profitable site and one that earns you minimum wage.

Reduce The Number Of Steps

I’ve seen nightmare scenarios where checkout processes have upwards of nine individual steps between the “add to cart” button and the final “thank you” page. And no, I’m not talking about clever backend upsell strategies to maximize revenue. I’m talking about single product checkouts that seem to be begging customers to leave before completing the sale.

In my experience, reducing the number of steps in a checkout has a direct and dramatic result on conversion rate. The fewer steps you have, the better. Now, it may seem reasonable to assume short easy steps are “less intimidating” to the visitor. However, what is essential to understand is that every page the visitor has to load is another opportunity for them to change their mind about the sale. They may be busy and trying to get this done before rushing out, have a slow Internet connection, be on the fence about the purchase already, or still unsure if this is better than another product they are considering. The point is, if you don’t make the sale when you first have them in your checkout process – it is highly unlikely that they will be back.

Now, if you have an unusually large amount of information to gather from your customers – you will want to split test the option of using multiple steps. There is a fine line of balance between simplifying the process by using a single checkout page and intimidating your customers by showing them a few dozen fields to fill out. In this situation, you’ll want to collect and save essential contact information in the very first step. This way, if a customer does abandon the cart later, you can contact them for a second shot at completing the sale.

Reinforce Speed, Simplicity, and Security

For my checkout pages, I prefer to use a single-page order form with an audio message at the top. This message starts out saying “Welcome to the quick 2-minute secure order form…”.

It is important to notice that I give them an estimated “2-minutes” of time to complete the form (adjust the estimate appropriately for your form). This is because when a visitor first lands on a checkout page, their inner dialog is often going to be saying “ok, now I have to fill all this out… this could take a while”. I want to remove inner resistance by assuring them it is a quick process.

Next, you’ll notice that I say “secure order form”. People are always weary of putting their credit card or personal information online. Virtually anything you can do to remind people that this is a secure process is going to improve conversion rates. Show your secure server certificates, trusted partner logos, and then back it all up with solid industry standard security.

Collect Essential Information Only

Along with minimizing steps, you want to remove unnecessary fields from your order form. Depending on the checkout software that you use, this may or may not be possible for you. Most cart software will give you certain control over optional form questions. I always choose to remove every optional field, and even seemingly important fields if I don’t have a use for them.

More recently, I have moved to a checkout system that one of my companies had custom developed specifically for our marketing needs. Now, this may not yet be an option for you, but it is something to consider down the road. Having your own checkout software ensures you can provide a completely seamless experience for your customers, and at the same time – maximize backend sales.

Consistent Design From Start To Finish

Another key factor is maintaining a consistent design from start to finish. Ideally, you want to have your website, checkout form, upsell pages, and thank you page all use the same web design. However, if your cart software is hosted by a third party service, you may be limited as to how well these are matched up. At very least, you’ll want to include logos, color schemes, and other basic website elements.

You don’t want to send an eager prospect to an obscure third party website. They may be leery about providing their credit card information to a site other than yours. More and more people are hearing about “phishing” scams where websites pretend to be your banking site. Well, this is what starts to pop into some prospects minds when they land on a page that doesn’t seem right.

If you must use a third party website, make sure you tell customers where they are going before they click to visit that page. In other words, include a message like “Click here to order through PayPal, our secure credit card processor”.

Reinforce The Sale When Needed

Always remember to reinforce the sale at key points during the checkout. This is especially important for carts that have multiple steps, but is something I continue to apply on single-page checkouts. Basically, you want to remind customers why they decided to click the “Add To Cart” button on the previous page.

Consider listing some of the top benefits of your product along the top of your checkout page. Maybe even throw in a testimonial or two. Anything you can do to re-pitch them on your product is likely to reduce cart abandonment.

You might even consider throwing in previously un-advertised bonuses. For example, make a one-time offer to ship the product for free if they complete their order in the next 20 minutes. This helps to prevent people from telling themselves, “I’ll come back and finish this order later”, and then forgetting to return.

Test Moving Upsells To The Backend

We all know that upsells can help maximize profits, but sometimes they can actually drive customers away by adding complexity to the checkout. You may want to test moving any front-end upsells to the backend of your ordering process. In other words, allow customers to fully complete their original order before recommending additional products on the thank-you page.

This is especially true for upsells that cost more than 50% of the original orders value. Another way of looking at this is to only do front-end upsells with items that are less than half of the initial products price. If they are already buying a $100 item, front end upsells should typically be less than $50. Anything more expensive should probably be moved to the backend. This can both reduce cart abandonment and increase the likelihood that a customer will add it to their order.

Split test some of these ideas against your existing checkout system. Try various combinations to discover what works the best in your specific market. You will never know if improvements are possible unless you try something new from time to time.

Not getting enough prospects to your checkout process? Go through the tutorials on generating website traffic, conversion focus, and magnetic buttons. They have great tips that can help.

Article Tags: cart, checkout, conversion, simplify, split-test, tutorial