Understanding Your Audience: Tailoring the Checkout Experience
Why do some people like to shop online while others make a beeline for the high street. It seems like it’s probably as much to do with the whole in-person experience as it is about personality. Online, all we want is a frictionless experience, a clear path to checkout, and a sense of security about payment. And most people can tell when something is off - it’s almost like a sixth sense that we’re expected to ignore in order to ‘save time’ or ‘maximise convenience’.
But this doesn’t mean that everyone who shops online is the same. Some are more mindful of how and where they spend. Others have more disposable income and tend to focus less on getting the best deal. Then there are those who are somewhere in between these two categories, looking for good value while seeking some sort of guarantee about shopping only from trusted brands.
As with everything, experiences vary based on upbringing, social and cultural backgrounds, age and gender. For people aged 50+, information and security are top priorities. With Millennials and Gen Z, catchy visuals and strong messaging go hand in hand.
Personalisation also matters more with younger shoppers than those over 50. Think chatbots, faster checkout flows, seamless payments.
At the end of the day (sometimes in the literal sense), people like feeling seen, heard, and understood - something many are starting to realise in an overly automated world. Those who listen to their shoppers are better at providing a seamless experience online. And this isn’t limited only to the creative industries - research shows that even techies rely on a familiar checkout process if they find a brand they like.
Simplifying the Checkout Process: Best Practices
Do you remember the last time you abandoned a shopping cart. Did it take a while to fill in all those details or did something feel confusing or unsafe. If you’re running an online business, checkout friction is more or less not something you want.
People spend almost 6 hours on average just filling up their carts but a poor checkout experience can get them to leave in less than 60 seconds. Some of the main reasons people abandon their carts are that the process takes too long or has too many steps. You want to speed things up by making the whole payment and checkout experience seamless, convenient and quick.
Getting rid of multiple pop-up windows, lengthy forms and unnecessary distractions in terms of sales banners are a good start. One thing I’ve found useful is usually using one-click checkouts like Apple Pay, Google Pay and Amazon Payments – when people have already filled in all their information on these platforms, this can speed up checkouts dramatically. Ideally, you want a progress bar and a simplified form that only asks for essential information like shipping and payment details. You could let customers sign in through social media or other portals and autofill their information so that it’s quicker for them to complete orders.
More or less. While you can reportedly include guest checkouts, letting customers create an account means they’ll get faster checkout processes in the future. A good thing to do is to revisit your current processes once every few months and see how they’re working out with customers.
Shopping carts usually are quite easy to fix so if there’s any friction at this point, getting feedback could help make things more efficient for everyone.
The Power of Trust: Building Customer Confidence
Do you know why people are still uncomfortable about online shopping. It’s not so much the act of going through a checkout page and handing over your money - it’s more about who you’re giving your card details to. Trust is the critical piece for an ecommerce business, I think.
It can make or break someone’s experience with your brand. Establishing trust is key to getting them across the finish line and at least making that first purchase with you. And it starts with showing them proof.
If people know you’ve sold products to many people who have been happy enough to write positive reviews on your website, they’re probably going to see that as a green flag to buy something themselves. The same goes for your social media pages and even external sources like news articles that talk about your business or showcase what you do. But social proof is only one way to build trust.
Everything that follows should reinforce their perception of your brand as a responsible, trustworthy seller with nothing to hide. Clear shipping policies, solid refund timelines and no hidden costs all play into a customer’s feelings about whether they’ll be able to get what they’re paying for without being taken for a ride. Consistency is apparently everything, especially if people are buying from you for the first time.
While trust takes some time to build, it definitely helps if you can show people as much as possible right off the bat. It seems like show customers everything there is to know about how they can shop on your store and answer their questions before they even need to reach out with them - maybe in an faq page or blog article - so they feel informed and taken care of throughout their shopping journey.
Mobile Optimization: Ensuring Seamless Transactions
Have you been out lately and noticed how everyone seems glued to their phones like it’s the 90s and pagers are a thing again. That’s because, well, they are. Not pagers, I mean - mobiles. They’re everywhere.
So it goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway) that nowadays people shop using their mobiles for just about everything - from groceries to beauty products and even luxury wear. A lot of the time, when people face glitches while shopping online or find it hard to complete a transaction on their mobile devices, they're more likely to leave the site without purchasing than if they were on a desktop. Frankly, I don't blame them because it can be quite frustrating when you’re doing something as enjoyable as shopping.
It appears that this typically stems from the fact that most e-commerce businesses have sites built for web usage and adapt them for mobile use later rather than vice versa. Mobile-first designs are not simply about creating responsive websites for different devices. It's more about prioritising the look and feel as well as functionality of a website for mobile users at every stage in its design process. This means simpler navigation and design layouts with easily clickable links, visible call-to-action buttons, and larger font sizes that make checkout quick and easy without all the complicated guesswork.
Yes, the word's gotten out - less really is sort of more. So while you're taking a closer look at your site's checkout process, take some time to understand how shoppers interact with your brand using their phone or tablet too. If your analytics show low mobile conversions or high cart abandonment rates by mobile users - it's time to do something about it before you lose valuable customers looking for seamless experiences elsewhere. More or less.
Leveraging A/B Testing: Finding What Works
Ever wondered if making your call-to-action button blue instead of green could change the way people shop on your website. Seems like such a small thing to tweak, but you'd be surprised at how much those subtle changes can impact checkout conversions. I know some brands are fairly sceptical about A/B testing - and to be honest, I was too - but there's more to it than just comparing how two images look side-by-side.
At the risk of sounding like I'm in an infomercial, let me tell you why it works. A/B testing is not a case of 'good' vs 'bad', but more about finding what works best for your target market. Rather than spending hours (or weeks, if you're a perfectionist) wondering if you should put the Pay Now button on the top or bottom right, you just do both and see which one people respond better to.
And yes - there is a chance that it's neither, but that's still valuable information because you can try something else instead. If you're on the fence about it, here's my suggestion: Start by picking something easy to compare. Sort of.
Maybe you're deciding between using three or four checkout steps or maybe it's using pop-ups versus sticky banners for upselling during checkout. There's only one rule you have to stick to here - make sure everything else is exactly the same as it was before and after you run this test. It could be even more granular if you're worried that it might not work out or that it'll take too much effort to implement this idea. A/B testing comes with its risks - and that's why lots of brands tend to avoid them unless they're absolutely certain they've got something worth risking current sales over.
But I'll be frank with you here. What you've got isn't working as well as you'd hoped, so what've you got to lose. Besides, chances are you'll learn something new about your customers that'll help shape your business into something more efficient in future.
Post-Purchase Engagement: Turning Customers into Repeat Buyers
It seems like i suspect have you ever noticed that the easiest way to get someone to buy something is to get them to buy something. If you want a customer to buy something, ask a customer who already has. Ask someone who hasn’t bought anything and they are likely to say ‘no’. Someone who’s already bought is more open to being propositioned.
Customers are like lovers - seduce them with the after dinner drink. Post-purchase engagement means keeping your customer engaged so they come back for a second helping. There are likely companies that do this well, and companies who stalk you like a bad date. You know the type.
You have an exchange of email addresses and then they send you 20 non-stop. ‘We noticed you left your dinner on the table’, ‘Can we have your feedback.
’, ‘Hey, where did you go. ’ Put on some lipstick and think about how you want your customers to feel after they buy from you. Make it subtle.
It seems like make sure what you are offering is relevant, has a clear benefit, and is easy for them to accept or reject. More or less. The art of seduction is slightly in the dance – not in going in for the tongue pash straight up. Look for ways to make your post-purchase engagement meaningful and clever.
Add value but don’t be naff, needy or pushy. That sort of defeats the purpose.