If you offer downloadable materials for sale on your blog or are thinking of branching out into product sales, you’ll need to work out the best system of payment for your visitors. If you don’t already have a user-friendly checkout system embedded into your website, you could be losing out on valuable business. There are several aspects to consider in addition to simply placing a shopping cart on your website, however. A streamlined, efficient checkout and payment system could help boost sales immeasurably. You could purchase shopping cart software to accomplish this on your own or pay for web design services. Either way, the following are a few factors to keep in mind.
Making Your Cart Visible
The best location for your shopping cart will depend on the scope of your products. If you have a personal blog and offer an e-book available for download, you would want to put the shopping cart or “buy now” button right next to this for easy availability. However, if you are running an ecommerce store, you’ll need to give your checkout area maximum display coverage. Your customer will quickly give up and move on if they can’t figure out how to make a purchase. Make sure that the button or link to your shopping cart stands out prominently on the screen, and allow visitors to view their cart easily. When they view the cart, they should be able to see each item that they have clicked on displayed clearly with the picture, product description, and price.
Create Smooth Navigation Links
As the customer views their shopping cart, they should also be able to easily add or remove any items that they need. It should be simple to navigate back to the main list of products after viewing a shopping cart, without any disruption to their shopping experience. If a customer needs to change a colour or size of product, are they able to do this without fuss? Shopping cart programs like the Shopify ecommerce platform allow simple navigation. There should be no need for a customer to have different tabs open between their shopping cart and the product pages.
Allow the Option of Information Storage
Although some customers may be hesitant to save their personal information on your website, you’ll want to provide this option for repeat clients in particular. This way, they don’t have to re-enter their details on each visit to make a purchase. Information like a shipping or billing address can be stored so that all they have to do is enter their payment details for a quick and easy transaction every time.
Provide Discounts and Coupon Codes
Whether you’re trying to reach out to new or existing customers, all online shoppers are in search of bargains. If a customer has registered their email address, you can send out a promotional offer to entice them to return to your shop. This allows your blog or shop to compete with services like Groupon, which are all the rage.
These are just a few ways to give your customers a more enjoyable and stress-free shopping experience. Each website is different, but you should strive to find ways to make your brand stand out from the competition with a user-friendly layout.
