In the days and months to come, it will become increasingly important for retailers to fuel this growth by creating seamless, user-friendly checkout processes that inspire trust and that make full use of all of the advantages the medium has to offer.
Let’s take a look into some examples of checkout processes.
Include Only Vital Fields
We’ve all answered those dreaded questions, such as “How did you hear about us?” While they may serve the vendor, they do nothing for the buyer, who is offering up their hard-earned cash and deserves to call the shots here.
While these questions are annoying on a desktop, they can be fatal in mobile.
Allow Checkout As A Guest
Providing an option to check out as a guest should be standard practice across media (although 24% of e-commerce websites don’t), and especially on mobile. A user is much less likely to complete an order if they have to go through the process of creating an account and confirming it.
Leverage Mobile UI Elements
One big reason why is that it leverages the advantages of the medium, often relying on touch controls, which a user is much more likely to use than typing.
Remove Distractions
Once a user is in the checkout process, they have obviously expressed a willingness to buy. Put another way, the website has switched from being a salesperson to being an order fulfillment center. With that in mind, remove anything that draws their attention anywhere other than the task at hand.
Conversions can rise in enclosed checkouts, a tactic you may have noticed when purchasing from Amazon. With this technique, the vendor removes the standard header, including the menu links and search bar, which could drive the user elsewhere. A checkout page can be made especially simple on mobile.
Show Progress
A user wants to know where they are, where they are going and how much longer until they’re done. Progress bars alleviate anxiety here.
Recent studies show that the majority of major e-retailers show a progress bar, although many implementations leave much to be desired.
Build Lightweight
Above all, time is precious. 74% of mobile visitors will leave a website if it takes longer than five seconds to load. Users have come to complete an action, and they are already convinced that it’s the right thing to do, so it’s best to get out of their way.
Provide Security Reassurances
One of the biggest reservations users have left about mobile e-commerce is security. To get over this hurdle, designers needn’t be subtle: provide as many reassurances as possible that the experience is secure, and drive the point home. This means using iconography, SSL certificates and dedicated callouts in copy.
Google Wallet, PayPal And Amazon Are Your Friends
Instead of forcing users to fumble through checkout forms and type their address, use a trusted service such as Google Wallet, PayPal and Amazon to get users two taps away from completing their payment. Their information will be automatically populated, and the process will be nearly complete.
As Always, Test Across Systems And Setups
Mobile testing can be difficult and time-intensive, but with the market split between an array of operating systems, prioritizing by market share and testing at multiple resolutions is important. Getting your hands on a phone for each OS is always best, but if that’s not possible, you can use a browser plugin named User Agent Switcher for Firefox and Chrome. It can be an invaluable time-saver for testing, allowing you to bounce between different OS experiences on your desktop.