Improving Customer Experience Will Lessen Those Abandoned Carts

E-commerce is a vital part of most retail operations, and creating a positive e-commerce experience is essential to boosting sales and retaining customers. Brick-and-mortar stores encourage customers to persevere through minor difficulties because of the inconvenience of driving to another store. Switching stores online is all to easy, making a near perfect customer experience top priority for your brand. Check out these tips for improving the customer's e-commerce experience to increase online sales.

Keep It Simple

As many as 67 percent of all online shoppers abandon their shopping carts without making a purchase. A significant portion of those who shop and drop leave because of glitches in the e-commerce experience. Avoid losing your customers by keeping the checkout process simple. Keep the number of steps to a minimum, and use autofill to transfer information whenever possible. Let customers know how many steps are left, and guide them through the process to keep it flowing smoothly. Keep error messages to the point, and make sure that it's easy to fix errors. No one wants to re-enter a page full of information because of a minor error in one field.

Provide Plenty of Information

Avoid making your customers search for information. A smooth e-commerce experience starts with an easy-to-navigate website. Provide a list of your accepted payment types on every page. Create large buttons that are easy to find, and clearly label them. Although a beautiful website immediately grabs the shopper's attention, easy-to-find details are essential for making the sale. Provide product information that is visually appealing but also useful. Choose simple, easy-to-read fonts, and make sure to cover the essentials. Carefully monitor user questions, and update your data so that commonly requested information is there and easy to find. Remember that every person who asks for more information probably represents hundreds of other users with the same questions who simply left the site without bothering to send a request.
Be Mobile-Friendly

Mobile shopping is a growing trend, so be ready for the future by ensuring that customers have a smooth e-commerce experience regardless of the device used to access your site. Increase online sales by creating a website with a mobile-responsive design. Mobile-responsive sites change their size and look depending on the screen resolution of the device used. Keep buttons large and easy to click with a finger or stylus, and require only a minimal amount of text input. Integrated buttons for PayPal and other payment methods further eases checkout.

Test Drive the Process

Recruit family and friends to buy products at your site to make sure everything goes smoothly. While you're at it, make a couple of purchases yourself. Completing the entire checkout process is the best way to look for problems firsthand. Make sure that your test drivers use a variety of devices and payment methods, and encourage both positive and negative feedback to help you make improvements.

Employing these tips help you keep purchases flowing by providing a smooth e-commerce experience for your online shoppers. A streamlined checkout process, ready access to needed information and mobile-friendly layouts decrease abandoned shopping carts and improve sales numbers. Personally use your site on a regular basis, and work for continuous improvement to retain customers.

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