Making sure it is simple and straightforward for your customers to submit payment is essential to increase sales and conversions. That’s why having a well-designed checkout page is so important.
A good example of a quality checkout page can be seen on the Young Living essential oils website by D Gary Young. However, having the right page layout isn’t the only factor to consider. Keep reading for a few other tips to improve and simplify your customer’s checkout process, and collect payments.
Offer Various Payment Methods
If you want to improve the online payment process, make sure you offer several payment methods. In fact, you should include as many different payment methods as you can to help increase accessibility and convenience for your customers.
When a customer wants to buy something from you but they can’t pay with their preferred method, they are probably going to look elsewhere for service. Don’t let this happen by offering multiple payment options.
Educate Your Customers
While most people are fine with paying online today, some are still hesitant to embrace technology. Even though this can be problematic, if you educate your customers on the security and reliability of your payment methods, they will be more comfortable with the entire process.
Provide a Consistent Design
While improving your checkout page is a good step, as an online business, you also need to develop other steps for your customers to take before they get to that final step. This means that you provide a consistent and seamless design from landing through the website experience. This will reassure your customers of your authenticity and improve brand recognition.
Eliminate the Red Tape
Make sure you do whatever you can to make the transaction simple. No one wants to have to track yet another username and password. Consider if the “hoops” you have in place are worth it for your customer. If you put up too many barriers to the purchase, they may leave without completing it.
Most people who are buying items online don’t care why you want to collect information from them. If you minimize (or completely eliminate) these marketing pushes and opt-ins, you can let them get right to the purchase process. Once they realize the process is smooth and easy, you can ask them to leave a review, join your loyalty program or sign up for a newsletter.
Allow Payment Without an Account
Along the same lines as the tip above, if you require that someone make an account to buy something, it may deter their purchase. If someone needs to purchase something quickly, they don’t want to have to sign up and create an account and have another login to keep up with. In fact, this is a huge conversion killer and too intrusive – especially for first-time customers.
Keep the Payment Process on Your Site
You likely put a lot of time and effort into getting people to your website. If this is the case, why will you have them leave and go to a third-party site to complete their payments? If someone clicks “checkout,” and they are taken to a different website, they may feel lost and decide to abandon the purchase completely.
Don’t use this last chance by sending customers away. Instead, handle everything on your site. Your business’s website needs to be the last thing your customers interact with.
Reward Customers Right Away
Shoppers will be more likely to buy something from your site if they get a reward right away. Offering some type of loyalty program will show your customers that you want to give back to them to earn their repeat business. While it is easy to get too carried away with loyalty programs, the best advice is to keep things simple and ensure someone can see their benefits and rewards right after they make a purchase.
Improving the Checkout Process for Your Customers
If you want to improve the checkout process for your customers, be sure to keep the tips and information found above in mind. This is going to help ensure your customers have the best experience possible
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