Visual Website Optimizer, who brought us many gems of content like the ecommerce survey, now bring us this infographic about the perfect checkout page. It lists the four strategic areas addressed by the perfect checkout process: functionality, usability, security and design. They are explored in helpful detail and accompanied by tactical suggestions.

For example, do your customers have to create an account if they want to complete a purchase? You better think twice about this requirement. You can harm conversion rates by adding a few extra buttons to click or forms to complete.

Did you know that 30 percent of card declines can be saved by offering additional payment methods in your checkout page? Do not leave your customers hanging there with their pockets out. Include regional alternative payment methods to capture even more customers.

Do not underestimate the impact a confirmation page has on usability. It is an essential reference guide for your customers, so make sure it goes to the right email address, and include contact information in case your customer needs to get in touch.

This infographic also comes with excellent sources listed at the bottom. Dig through them to find useful information about conversion optimization from reputable sources like the esteemed Baymard Institute and conversion rate optimization expert Justin Rondeau.

What have you done lately to create the perfect checkout page? Share your tips in the comment section below.

The post Ecommerce Eye Candy — Anatomy of a Perfect Checkout Page [Infographic] appeared first on cleverbridge.

• Fast load times
• Ease of use
• Accurate product descriptions
• Seamless checkout experience
• Clear policies

“A two second delay in load time during a transaction results in abandonment rates of up to 87 percent. This is significantly higher than the average aban-donment rate of 70 percent.” – Radware

Fast Load Times

Convenience is one of the primary benefits of ecommerce.

According to statistics compiled by Radware, more than half of customers say that a slow load time is the primary reason they’ll abandon a site. Not only that, but, “A two second delay in load time during a transaction results in abandonment rates of up to 87 percent. This is significantly higher than the average abandonment rate of 70 percent.”

Successful ecommerce merchants know the devices and most popular browsers that their customers use to shop, and design sites with those parameters in mind.

Ease of Use

An ecommerce site’s design and architecture must be aligned with how its target audience searches for product information.

The Baymard Institute studied how consumers navigate the ecommerce sites of several major retail brands. Specifically, they looked at “home page, category navigation, subcategories, and product lists.” They discovered that product categories should be clickable, and named in a way that reflects the search terms its customers use to find items. New merchandise should be given prime site real estate to encourage return visits. Ecommerce sites should also include a history of recently viewed items — so customers needn’t navigate using the back button.

Accurate Product Descriptions

Remember #thedress controversy that took hold of the Internet this past winter? It was essentially fueled by the fact that some online viewers saw a blue dress, while others saw one that was white and gold.

Though the event generated publicity for that merchant, your typical ecommerce site must strive to eliminate any discrepancies between site information and the reality of the product. When a product description does not match the reality of a product’s features, it creates a costly business problem. Not only is the customer less likely to purchase in the future, but there are operational costs associated with returns.

Every good ecommerce site should ensure that product descriptions are clear, and that product specifications are accurately represented.

Seamless Checkout Experience

Ecommerce shopping cart abandonment is a challenge for all online sellers, but the more seamless a checkout experience is for the customer, the less likely it is to occur.

Effective ecommerce sites make it as easy as possible for customers to complete transactions by eliminating potential hurdles in the ordering and payment process. They offer customers the ability to log in, using social media credentials, to account information they’ve created in the past to retrieve stored information. They also offer an option to checkout as a “guest.”

They test form fields to ensure that a variety of scenarios (like a hyphenated name or an address that contains a ½ number) are accommodated. Information like city and state based on the user’s zip code is pre-filled and includes a checkmark that pre-fills the billing address when it’s the same as the shipping location.

Recognizable credit card logos and site security symbols are included in the checkout process to assure customers that their payment transaction is secure.

Customers are notified by email as soon as the transaction is processed, and they are provided with contact information to a customer service representative who can assist them with live help, online or by phone, if needed.

Clear Policies

Buying from an online merchant often requires that the customer makes a leap of faith in regards to the product quality, service and satisfaction guarantees a merchant may offer.

Effective ecommerce sites are forthcoming about policies regarding product returns, exchanges and warranties. They dedicate space on the website where customers can easily find such information, along with the processes customers should follow if they have to make a refund request.

Keystone

Though the ecommerce space offers significant revenue opportunity and a captive marketplace, merchants must meet and exceed customer expectations on all fronts, including site functionality, product quality and convenience. By combining customer insights with the best practices established by ecommerce leaders, businesses of all sizes have the potential to succeed in an online selling capacity.

Kristen Gramigna is Chief Marketing Officer for BluePay, a credit card processing firm. She has over 20 years experience in the bankcard industry in sales management, direct sales and marketing.

The post Five Features of Effective Ecommerce Sites appeared first on cleverbridge.

I learned that many companies violate usability best practices in terms of:

• The length of their checkout process
• Account registrations
• Newsletter sign-ups
• Address validations

I noticed that most of the websites in this report sold physical products and the only pure software companies featured in the report were Symantec (which offers a traditional on-premise software) and Ancestry.com (which offers a SaaS product). This blog post shows the report’s highlights and extrapolates lessons for the software world.

Is your checkout process too long?

Beach Body LLC uses a one-step checkout process that includes product information, price, payment information, access to account information and shipping address on one page. Apple on the other hand, has all this information laid out for customers in seven separate pages.

What is the optimal length of a checkout process? Beach Body thrives on a short checkout process while Apple thrives on a longer one.

If you currently use a multiple-step checkout processes and you need to bump up conversions, I suggest performing multivariate tests with simpler checkout processes and vice versa – if you use a single or two-step checkout process maybe customers find your cart too cluttered and busy. Try testing out a longer, but clearer path to conversion.

Customer confusion is the one thing you absolutely want to avoid. Many B2C customers are not as cyber savvy as someone who lives and breathes technology, so “clarity” should always trump “cool.”

B2B customers may need additional support, and the experience of being guided through an important purchase with a step-by-step approach is more appropriate for them.

If you want to find out what really works for your customers, don’t be afraid to perform multivariate tests on your checkout process.

Do you require account registration?

Consider this: If I lived in a neighborhood with two malls close to my house, one which required me to become a member before I could buy anything and one which let me enter and buy without becoming a member, I would likely choose the latter.

But what if the first mall had better quality products and cheaper prices, and the only barrier to membership was my name and contact information? The first mall’s membership policy is no longer too cumbersome. The second mall’s laissez-faire entrance policy is also not advantageous enough to outweigh the benefit of the better selection and prices of the first mall. Think Walmart vs. Sam’s Club.

An account creates a central location for every customer’s order and product information, and is beneficial to them. Without accounts, customers would have to manage their own data. For consumers, it’s a relief to know that the merchant is handling the storing and organization of their information.

But online shoppers shop at many stores, and keeping track of every account is difficult. The experience of trying to recall this information on demand can lead to confusion, frustration and ultimately cart abandonment.

Don’t make customers create an account or login before purchasing. Rather, use customer information from the checkout process to create an account on the customer’s behalf. The account information can be presented on the customers confirmation page, thus providing them a useful account without disrupting their shopping experience.

If you already have an extensive customer account section, be sure that your ecommerce system is tied tightly via single sign-on technology.

Is your newsletter opt-in or opt-out?

One important finding from Baymard’s usability tests is that users often equate newsletters with spam. Despite your marketing department’s best efforts, shoppers sometimes do not care for the content created on their behalf.

Yet, according to the Ecommerce Blog by Shopify, newsletters can be useful for:

• Capturing new leads
• Communicating with current customers
• Positioning yourself as an industry expert
• Nurturing leads until they become customers

If you are going to offer newsletters, it is important to test the efficacy of offering opt-in and opt-out.

First measure how well your newsletters are performing against the goals you’ve set. Then route half your visitors to a cart where your newsletter is opt-out and and half your visitors to a cart where your newsletter is opt-in.

Whichever cart performs better is the right way to go.

Is your address validation confusing buyers?

Software companies seem to have little reason to worry about address verification. After all, most of your products are delivered electronically.

However, even software companies ship physical products in the form of backup CDs. Further, banks and card issuers will offer fee reductions to companies that collect important pieces of data like ZIP codes, which goes a long way toward fraud prevention.

These are only several reasons why it is important to make sure your customers are providing correct information. The only caveat to this practice is that it is equally important not to prevent customers from completing an order if they insist they are providing correct shipping information.

It’s all about abandondment.

The average cart abandonment rate for ecommerce sites is around 66%. That means 66% of the people who found your product and decided to buy it experienced a sudden change of heart during the checkout process.

Imagine if this sort of behavior happened at your local grocery store. What if visitors spent 20 minutes shopping in the aisles of a store, placing items in their cart, lining up for the checkout and then suddenly run out the door, abandoning the cart in the middle of the line.

Keystone

A clear, well-designed checkout process is crucial to your conversion rate. Perform testing to determine which elements are leading to success and which elements are leading to abandonment.

The post Four Ways to Improve the Checkout Process appeared first on cleverbridge.