Having a successful business online involves various factors. You have to have a user-friendly website that customers can navigate with ease. Your website also needs to be attractive because customers will avoid sites that look cheap. Once you have the perfect website, you can have all the customers you need but if your checkout process is difficult, you will lose business. The following tips will help you to ensure that your checkout process is easy and effective.
Prominently display your payment options – Nothing is more frustrating to a customer than filling up your cart, only to discover that your business doesn’t accept the credit card they wanted to use.
Explain the steps – If your checkout process involves multiple steps, explain the steps as the customer goes through the process. Provide some sort of display that lets them know which step they are on and how much further they have to go.
Add instructions next to each step – Instead of listing instructions at the top of the page, list them next to each step. For instance, explain the instructions for address information near the address section and credit card information near the credit card section.
Give a reminder about security codes – No matter how many times a person uses their credit or debit card, they can still forget what the security code is. Add a helpful tip that tells them what it is and where to find it on their card.
Live chat – If possible, have a live chat feature so customers having trouble can get instantaneous assistance. Most customers that have trouble with the checkout system will abandon their order if there is no option for immediate help.
Highlight errors in red – Customers need to know at a glance what is wrong with their information. Highlighting errors in red makes it easy for them to spot the problem and fix it.
Provide contact information – Even if you have live chat, provide contact information for any problems or questions. Don’t make them hunt for the details, place it on every page.