The checkout process is one of the most critical parts of the customer journey. An optimized checkout can lead to higher conversion rates, more revenue, and happier customers.
With BigCommerce, you have lots of flexibility to customize your checkout experience. In this guide, we’ll walk through key areas to focus on to maximize conversions.
Offer Guest Checkouts
Requiring customers to create an account to make a purchase creates friction. Allow guest checkouts so customers can breeze through purchasing without that extra step.
You can still collect email addresses and other contact info without forcing account creation. Making checkout more convenient likely leads to more completed sales.
Streamline Checkout Fields
The checkout form should only ask for essential info needed to process the order. Additional fields can overwhelm customers and cause them to abandon their carts.
The bare minimum fields are:
- Email address
- Full billing address
- Payment info
Consider making phone number and account creation optional. Remove any unneeded custom fields as well.
Pre-Fill Customer Data
Answering form fields is tedious on mobile devices. Help customers out by automatically populating info for returning visitors.
For example, prompt them to autofill:
- Name
- Billing/shipping address
The less typing needed, the better.
Prioritize Mobile Optimization
Most shopping traffic now comes from smartphones. If your checkout isn’t mobile-friendly, you are losing sales.
Ensure checkout pages smoothly resize for all devices. Use large tap targets and auto-fill saved customer data.
Apple Pay and Google Pay integrations also help customers breeze through checkout on their phones.
Allow Shipping Estimates
Unexpected shipping costs after filling carts leads to abandoned purchases. Be upfront by showing estimates before checkout.
Live rates are ideal. If that’s not possible, showing a shipping fee table lets customers know what to expect.
Providing transparent shipping costs builds trust and reduces cart abandonment.
Offer Multiple Payment Options
Don’t limit customers to only PayPal or credit cards. The more ways you accept payments, the higher conversion rates you’ll see.
Consider adding:
- Debit cards
- Store credit
- Gift cards
- Cryptocurrency (Bitcoin, Ethereum etc.)
- Buy now, pay later financing
More options mean fewer barriers between customers and purchases.
Streamline Checkout Fields
Collect only essential info from customers during checkout. Additional fields equal more abandonments.
Stick to key details like:
- Billing/shipping addresses
- Payment info
Make phone, account signup, and other custom fields optional.
Set Up Conversion Abandonment Emails
Send automated emails if a customer abandons their cart before completing checkout.
Remind them of the items they left and offer incentives to finalize the purchase.
According to ROI Revolution, abandonment emails generate:
- 70% more completed orders
- 20% higher revenue per subscriber
Recover sales you would have otherwise lost.
Allow Orders Without Accounts
Forcing customers to create accounts before checking out is painful on mobile. Support guest checkouts instead.
Collect basic contact info but don’t mandate account creation. Removing that friction drives higher conversions.
Registered accounts can offer loyalty rewards and personalized experiences. But convenient guest checkouts should take priority.
Add Trust Symbols
Third-party trust badges like Norton and McAfee SECURE boost confidence during checkout.
According to SaleCycle’s research, trust badges lift conversion rates by up to 15%.
Assure customers their data is safe and spur more sales.
Prioritize Page Speed
Slow loading hurts conversion rates. Optimize checkout performance through:
- Image compression
- Minifying CSS/JS
- Browser caching
- Content Delivery Networks (CDN)
Faster pages mean customers stick around to complete purchases instead of abandoning.
Offer Coupons/Discounts
Special checkout coupon codes sweeten the deal. Offer first-time buyer promos, seasonal sales, or loyalty discounts.
Increase order value while making customers feel like savvy shoppers scoring a bargain.
Add Live Chat Support
Questions and uncertainty during checkout leads customers to bail. Offer real-time assistance via live chat.
Staff ready to address concerns and guide visitors to completion. According to SuperOffice, live chat lifts conversion rates by 20%.
Streamline Mobile Checkout
Build a lightweight mobile checkout process:
- Minimal form fields
- Large tap targets
- Clean, focused layout
- Apple/Google Pay integrations
Prioritize mobile to capture ever-growing smartphone shopping traffic.
Allow Gift Messages
Customers often shop online to buy gifts for friends and family. Include options to add gift messages during checkout.
Support messages reveal orders as gifts and add a personal touch recipients appreciate. Sweeten each online purchase.
Why Choose Anchor Group for BigCommerce Implementation?
Dedicated Support Team
Our skilled tech team meticulously customizes stores with pixel-perfect design, tailored functionality, and rigorous optimization for conversions and sales.
We become an extension of clients’ ecommerce operations and remain on-call 24/7 to address issues. Hands-on BigCommerce implementation combined with reliable ongoing support.
Deep BigCommerce Expertise
With over 300 BigCommerce stores launched, we bring unmatched experience creating successful deployments. We utilize all facets of BigCommerce flexibility to maximize capabilities based on clients’ unique needs.
Our expertise extracts the BigCommerce platform’s full potential for aesthetics, performance, functionality, and profit driving strength.
Seamless Migration Assistance
We smoothly transition online businesses from previous platforms or launch new stores rapidly. Our technical talents for data transfer, custom integrations, and UX refinement manage the entire migration process start to finish.
We get stores up and running while ensuring no hiccups during relaunch. Our specialized methodology guarantees continuity for clients’ brands throughout onboarding.
Advanced Customization Skills
Anchor Group’s BigCommerce developers leverage extensive experience with custom code like HTML/CSS, JavaScript, APIs, webhooks, JS frameworks, and more.
We customize beautiful front-end interfaces aligned with brands’ visual identities through HTML/CSS mastery. We also build advanced backend integrations connecting external tools via custom JavaScript code.
This technical dexterity empowers immense flexibility to match clients’ creative visions.
Conversion Optimization Mastery
Driving continual growth stems from testing and refining experiences using data and analytics. Our team specializes in conversion rate optimization leveraging research and A/B testing.
We unlock unused potential across acquisition channels and sales funnels through optimizing page layouts, journeys, messaging, deals, and more. Outperforming the rest, not just keeping up.
Partnering with Anchor Group means benefiting from battle-tested experts in implementing and expanding BigCommerce stores. Our intensities for design beauty, functional power, and profit-reaping performance actualize online businesses’ ambitious ecommerce goals.
We passionately elevate brands’ web presence and revenues.
