The checkout process on an ecommerce website plays an important role in increasing sales.

The success of an ecommerce website depends on several factors. A streamlined checkout process is important to motivate customers to buy on the website. It improves sales and is vital to the long terms success of the business on the Internet. On the other hand, poor design and usability of the checkout pages increases cart abandonment and negatively affects sales.

In this article, we take a look at nine easy ways you can improve the checkout process on your website resulting in reduced cart abandonment and increase in sales.

1. Reduce the Number of Steps

It is important to streamline your checkout process and make it as convenient for customers as feasible. The fewer the number of pages customer have to go through, the easier it is for them. This can result in increased sales on your website. Single page checkout is offered by most shopping cart software these days. Make sure to take advantage of this.

2. Display Progress Bar

A typical checkout process consists of several steps. It is important to display a progress bar that clearly indicates the steps involved. It should also highlight the current step. A well designed progress bar should have clearly labelled steps and give the user a clear indication of where they are at in the overall process.

3. Display the Delivery Times and Costs Clearly

Delivery time is an important consideration and affects purchase decisions of customers. Displaying the delivery time and costs clearly throughout the checkout (and on product details page) is an essential usability feature of ecommerce websites and helps to prevent abandonment later in the checkout process.

4. Prevent Customers from Providing the Same Information Twice

A perfect example of this is Billing and shipping details which are same in most cases. Rather than asking customers to provide the same address on two occasions, this can be prefilled automatically. Alternatively, a checkbox to denote if the same details should be used for shipping and billing is also effective.

5. Simplify Registration

Most ecommerce websites require customers to register or login during checkout. It allows businesses to collect valuable customer data and makes it easier for repeat customers to buy again on the website.

It is important to make the registration process as easy as possible. Reducing the number of form fields is an easy way to do this. You can also make it optional for customers to register or register them silently by creating a user account in the background and emailing the password to the customer.

6. Use Social Login Instead of Guest Registration

A study has shownthat 40% of customers prefer social login i.e. register or login on the website with their favourite social media account such as Facebook or Twitter as opposed to registering separately on the site as a guest.  Social login also reduces shopping cart abandonment and increases sale on ecommerce websites.

7. Consider Offering Free Shipping

If your profit margins permit, offering free shipping is a great way to make purchasing more appealing for shoppers and motivate them to complete the order. Studies show that free shipping influences purchase decisions and can improve conversions manifold.   You can also consider offering free shipping on orders over a certain amount.

8. Offer Multiple Delivery Methods

Try to offer more than one delivery method to customers on checkout if possible e.g. standard economy delivery for those who want to save on costs as well as an express option for those who want prompt delivery of products. Delivery time is an important factor in the purchase decision of customers and one of the reasons why customers abandon the cart during checkout instead of completing the purchase.

9. Offer Choice of Payment Methods

Try to offer multiple payment methods to customers during checkout e.g Paypal, Google Checkout, High street bank, and more. Make sure available payment options are clearly labelled and displayed.