Shortening the First Click to Checkout Journey

Your customers don’t have time to goof around. They want to click over to your online store, find the items they want and get going. The last thing they want to do is spent time poking around your site trying to figure out where they’re supposed to go and why there are so many steps to go through before they checkout.

That’s why we offer One Page Checkout – we know you and your customers are busy people and therefore can’t take forever to complete transactions. But is it really that dire? Are people on the Internet that strapped for time?

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It may not be so much that customers can’t afford to click multiple times in your site; it may be more that they don’t have to anymore. There are so many websites on the Internet that it’s become impossible to keep up anymore, if it ever was in the first place. There’s no real reason for customers to stay on your website if there’s a prettier, easier, more accessible website that does the same thing – and there almost always is.

You have to give them a reason to stay. Usually that entails making their life better, easier, and faster. If you don’t, they may take off. This is a strong reason why you should consider shortening the time it takes customers from entering your site to submitting their credit card info.

For example, some websites make the mistake of making their customers go through a lengthy sign up process to buy something. If you offer the same products at a reasonable price and don’t make them jump through hoops to receive those products, you’re going to get some of that competitor’s business. Even if you’re a little more expensive the price of not dealing with difficult websites is worth it to some customers.

Shortening the Journey

Lessening the amount of clicks your customer performs to buy a product isn’t just introducing One Page Checkout to your site. There are many other things you can do to make life easier for everyone who visits your online store.

One way you can lessen the amount of clicks is to have a more inclusive product page. Many websites have separate pages for images, product reviews, and other details of each of their products. Instead of having separate pages for customer to click around to, include many details on one page. You don’t want pages too cluttered so you may also consider having a sampling of each detail on one page.

Also consider moving some of your product around so they’re more easily found. During the winter holidays many online businesses will move their hot selling items to the front page to enhance visibility. After the holidays end, though, they move them right back.

Instead of reverting back to your old site design, keep the fast-moving products towards the front of the store. This way your customers see it right away and can just click and buy it. Otherwise, they’re left poking around the site for minutes on end until they can find the product they want. By that time they may have bounced away from the site to find somewhere they can easily find what they want.

Have you ever sat down and watched someone click around your website? What surprised you?