The contrast between shopping in the real world and shopping online is quite stark. Although businesses do their best to provide some familiarity, providing customers with shopping basket tools and leading them gently through the checkout process, there are a large number of differences. One particular difference is that when you take your shopping basket to the cashier at the supermarket, the cashier isn’t likely to fall over, slow down or completely fall apart at the seams.
Shopping in the real world is a fairly simple process. You select your items, you take them to the counter, and someone takes your money. Online, the process is supposed to work much the same way. It often doesn’t. This means that internet users, who have a certain expectation of service, don’t receive that service in the way they expect. This can spell trouble for an e-commerce site.
Studies have shown again and again that shopping cart abandonment is a major cause of loss of sales for online retailers.
The fact that internet users abandon their purchase at the checkout stage is really very intriguing. After going through the process of researching their goods, selecting what they want to buy, and proceeding to the checkout, the internet user suddenly abandons the process. This means that a significant commitment of time has suddenly been thrown aside. This is not usual behaviour for internet users, who tend to become more dedicated with more time spent on a site.
The KISS principle applies
The answer to the checkout problem is obvious to anyone who’s spent some time shopping online. Although there are plenty of stores with an excellent checkout process, many stores make the process more complicated than it needs to be. When you consider the problem from a user point of view, the answer is obvious. A checkout only needs:
- Collection of name and delivery address
- Payment details
- Confirmation.
Simple, isn’t it? The desire to glean more information from customers is what leads most sites astray. Stripping your checkout down to these elements might seem like a bit of a sacrifice, but it will result in more sales and, eventually, better rankings that lead to more traffic.
Simplification helps your SEO
The checkout process lies deep within most sites, so it would seem to have little to do with search engine optimisation. As you can probably guess, though, the roll-on effect from the loss of customers does affect SEO. If customers are frustrated with your system, they will not return. Lack of return traffic, and possibly bad reviews, will be noticed by the search engines.
Simplifying your checkout process is well worthwhile for a number of reasons, and SEO is just one of them. You can talk about how the checkout process affects your search engine optimisation with our experts at SEO Consult Australia.
A more usable site is essentially a better site, when it comes to the search engines. To improve your profits and your search engine position, consider giving your checkout a thorough review.
