If it is not easy to buy from your website, you are going to lose sales. Many websites experience shopping cart drop-out rates as high as fifty percent. That means that as many as half the people who have decided to buy never actually finished the checkout process because they got bored or frustrated and left. There are a few simple things you can do to help prevent this from happening on your own website.
Make the Checkout’s Design Continuous
If your checkout page looks drastically different than the rest of your site, you’re probably going to experience higher shopping cart drop-out rates. Customers want to feel that they are buying from you. If the moment they click the buy button they are suddenly taken to a page that looks nothing like your website, they are probably going to feel less comfortable submitting their credit card information. Some shopping carts such as 1ShoppingCart offer a lot of customization, making it easy to match your checkout page to the rest of your website. Others, such as ClickBank or 2Checkout, make it a bit harder.
Ease of Navigation
Another key factor is the ease of navigation throughout your website. Make sure all the products are easy to find. Use a breadcrumb system so people can find their way back to previous pages quickly. Place buy buttons in prominent places throughout the website. The moment someone decides to buy, it should be dead simple for them to find a buy button and click on it. Have a friend of two browse your site and buy a product. Watch them throughout the process. Look for where they get stuck or snagged and aim to improve the process.
Accept All Forms of Payment
Different people prefer to pay in different ways. Some people like to use their credit cards; others to use PayPal; still others prefer a personal check. Make it easy for your customers by accepting orders of all sorts. PayPal isn’t difficult to set up. Taking checks takes a little bit more effort, but in the end it is worth it. Make sure to also make it easy for American Express users to buy from your site. Furthermore, if you’re selling high-end items, consider offering a payment plan. A payment plan could drastically increase your sales simply by helping more people afford your product.
Making It Easy to Buy
The hardest part of selling to a customer is getting them to want to buy. Don’t let the process get snagged up by something as simple as the checkout process. Make your shopping cart’s checkout design continuous with your site. Make it easy for customers to find the buy buttons and make your payment options friendly to as many people as possible.
