Importance Of Developing User-friendly Check Out

By Author: Krish Garison
Total Articles: 22
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One of the harsh realities of the ecommerce websites is that more than 50 percent of potential customers abandon their shopping carts. So, the main question here is that why do consumers abandon their shopping carts. Are there any fundamentals that can be applied to ensure that the customer buys the products and thereby improve the conversion rates.

For understanding the implications of ecommerce website design, there was a study conducted focusing on the checkout user experience from the “Cart” to the “Complete Order.” The study showed that the users had a dilemma before proceeding to the final step in the checkout process. Conducted on the popular websites, the users were given more than 500 usability issues ranging from being distracted by animations to the illogical checkout flow. This article describes the methods that would benefit in developing the checkout process.

First is the checkout process should be linear. Some websites had confusing steps and intimidated the customers just because they were different from the model of linear checkout. The best way to avoid this by creating “steps within ...
... steps.” Each step would direct the customer to another page, and thereby develop a flow. If there is a sub step called the “account creation”, it should never be directed to the previous step. This is important as the mental mindset of the customers dictate that the checkout process should be linear. The next thing to do is to add descriptions to the form fields that can be ambiguous. The customers should be clear in understanding the labels. This also makes the customer impossible to understand the checkout process. If the form field does not have any explanation, the customers would be confused. For an affordable website design that is also efficient, some contextual words should be avoided. For example, “continue” is both equivocal and confusing. Another such word is “back.” What does it actually imply? Back to the page or back to the search results? Some consumers proceeded to checkout simply because they didn’t understand the word “back.” The words, which are not open to interpretation, like “Shop Now” or “Check out Now,” can be used. The study also revealed that customers were hesitant when the credit card fields didn’t appear secure irrespective of its actual security features. Pages with the secured icons, badges, and texts were perceived to be more secure. In any ecommerce websites, the shoppers mostly go with their gut feeling. The website designers can achieve this by adding different visual cues like colors, borders and badges.

It is advisable not to use the “apply” button in the form. The customers don’t seem to understand the term. The different fields of the credit card expiration dates can be difficult to decipher especially if they are not written exactly as the way it is on a credit card. There are credit cards with month names, some with numbers and some with both. The best way to match the field is to develop it in the exact way the customer sees the credit card. Another thing to be kept in mind when developing the form fields is to use only one column for the form fields. Another thing is to make sure that the shipping address is same as the billing address. Most of the customers typically order the products to the home. This would decrease the number of checkout fields in the form and thereby make it less intimidating to the customers. Other than this, use clear error indications, don’t ask for irrelevant information and ensure to make the registration optional. Following all these would help in developing the shopping cart that is easily usable and accessible.

Author Bio:
In an ecommerce website design, the shopping cart and checkout options is an important person. Krish Garison lays stress on the importance of implementing these fundamentals to avoid the customers from leaving the website before completing the shopping process.