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Five Easy Ways You Can Improve Your Magento Checkout Process

  • Written By Chris
  • Posted August 22, 2018
  • 7 minutes Read Time

If you’re already a successful eCommerce seller, you’ll probably know that digital payments are on the rise. Apple Pay, PayPal, Klarna, Amazon Pay – this list is growing day by day.

As these digital payment methods become quicker, more secure and increasingly convenient, it makes sense to try and capitalise on their growth by making your checkout process as user-friendly as possible. Online shoppers now expect a range of payment options from familiar providers when they choose to check out, so your store needs to keep up.

Such is the growth within the digital payment industry, financial services organisation Visa have forecast that £1.2bn worth of payments will be made on mobile devices alone by 2020. You need to be onboard this bandwagon!

The key thing to bear in mind here is that the payment processing landscape is already a complex one. There’s a perfectly balanced group of parties deeply committed to this industry – banks, credit card companies, retailers and of course consumers. Despite their size differences as individual groups, they are united by one common goal – to streamline online payments and simplify checkout processes as much as possible.

Visa have forecast that £1.2bn worth of payments will be made on mobile devices alone by 2020.

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That’s where you come in. Your Magento store needs to keep its visitors happy and the best way to do this is to deliver a fast, efficient and enjoyable user experience. It’s a simple challenge – a streamlined checkout process means happier customers, which in turn should mean happier retailers.

There’s also a kickback for the credit card companies and banks that jump to the top of the pile in popularity for their digital payment methods. Ultimately, everyone is pulling in the same direction and a better checkout process is inevitable. With that in mind, here are five easy ways you can improve your Magento payment processes:

Stay Focused On The User

When you truly concentrate on the end user of your store, you can make huge strides. A recent study managed to improve the conversion rate of one eCommerce store by 18.5% with some simple navigational improvements.

Simplifying your user flow can be done in a number of ways. We often see retailers redirecting customers off-site to vendors like PayPal which is often confusing and distracting for customers, occasionally resulting in the abandonment of the purchase.

Avoid using any redirection or pop-ups anywhere in the checkout process – let the customer focus purely on completing the transaction. After payment, the best option here is to redirect your customer back to your store homepage so they can continue to browse if they wish.

Another tip is to ensure the entire payment process is consistent – by this, we mean keep colours, fonts and logos the same across your entire store as well as within the checkout. Not only is this much easier on the eye, customers instinctively feel more confident when making a purchase.

Alarm bells usually ring for consumers worried about phishing scams and fraud when they’re redirected off-site, so try to build trust with them by using visual clues that they’re still on the same site.

Don’t Force Registrations

The key to securing conversions is to make the checkout process simple. One of the best ways to do this, and something most of the major online retailers do, is to avoid making registration mandatory. Let customers check out as a guest if they wish.

Now don’t panic, this doesn’t mean your sign-up numbers are destined to fall off a cliff. If you’re chasing new accounts as well as sales, it is possible to enjoy both without the need to force sign-ups when checking out.

Just about all the information needed to make a new account is entered by the customer during a transaction, so simply add the option to create an account and set up a password at the end of your checkout process in Magento. You can also highlight the benefits of creating an account at this stage, but make sure it’s clear that it’s optional.

Customers generally appreciate being given a choice, so the easier you make it to sign up, the more customers will choose to do it. Not only that, they’ll be happier it’s a choice and not mandatory.

Email Receipts

This might sound obvious but there’s a significant percentage of eCommerce stores that still don’t do this by default. The checkout process doesn’t end the moment you’ve got your customers’ money – sending an emailed receipt is a great way to deepen the relationship. You can also take the opportunity within the email to upsell or cross-sell, or better yet send a money-off coupon for their next purchase.

The checkout process doesn’t end the moment you’ve got your customers’ money – sending an emailed receipt is great way to deepen the relationship.

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Emailing a simple receipt thanking the customer for their business just rounds off the whole transaction nicely and brings a positive end to what was hopefully an enjoyable checkout process.

Keep It Simple

As the saying goes, there’s nothing worse than leaving money on the table. From an eCommerce retailer perspective, this translates as a customer that is left confused and frustrated when they really want to check out but can’t figure out how to.

When analysing your Magento checkout process, make sure clear direction is given at every stage and calls-to-action keep the transaction moving so customers know what they need to do. Try to keep things short and concise, and if possible make sure your font choice is clean and simple to read.

As an extra step, offering information or help buttons throughout the process can guide customers through each stage and also offer you greater insight into which areas of the transaction are proving overly complex.

Customers want to feel in control when making a purchase; that they understand what is happening at every stage of the process and the reasoning behind it. You need to make sure your process is intuitive and frictionless as it won’t take much to lose a customer once they’ve reached this point.

Another top tip here is to add in a transaction progress bar at the top of the page so customers can see clearly how many steps are required to check out and where they are in the process at any time.

Stay Ahead Of The Curve

Last but by no means least, you need to keep learning and maintain a focus on the future. Digital payment technology is an industry that’s moving incredibly quickly at the moment, so make sure you get in ahead of the curve and offer the best methods to your customers sooner rather than later.

We’ll set you on the right path here – earlier this year, Visa announced its Digital Commerce program. The aim of this program is to standardise end-to-end digital payment processes across all browsers and devices, with the end goal of individual consumers being recognised when they log onto a merchant site using passcodes or biometrics and ultimately being able to check out with a single button click. Other financial providers are sure to follow suit.

Summary

Implement these five tips and you’ll be well on your way to a frictionless and streamlined checkout process for all your online customers. Bear in mind that these tips are just a starting point though – investing in ongoing updates to keep your customers happy should be an important part of your long-term business strategy.