Checkout
In e-commerce, the checkout is the completion of an order. Once a customer has filled his shopping cart, he must still enter personal data and select options for payment processing and shipping before he can click the button for the binding purchase. However, experience shows that ordering processes are often aborted at this point. It is therefore very important for success in online retail that stores optimize their checkout to remove any obstacles to completing the purchase.
Completing the purchase online in the store
Checkout is a process with steps that are similar across different stores and vendors. Customers therefore have certain expectations when they want to complete their order online in a store. The first step is to provide personal data such as name, billing address and delivery address. Existing customers who are logged in should only have to check the details. It is also important that the form fields are clearly arranged and that only necessary information is requested. Real-time validations prevent errors. The higher the effort appears to the customer at first glance, the more likely they are to cancel. Newsletter offers, surveys or similar can also be integrated after the purchase.
Payment in the checkout
A sensitive area is payment, because a lack of payment methods often leads to purchase abandonment. For example, not every customer has a credit card. When selecting payment options in an online store, the preferences of the respective target group must also be taken into account. For example, there are differences between different countries in this respect. In Germany, the following payment methods are popular, among others:
- Invoice
- SEPA direct debit
- Credit card
- Sofort
- PayPal
- Installment payment
- Apple Pay
If the payment in the checkout runs through a payment provider, it is recommended that the design of the payment page corresponds to that of the online store. Otherwise, this could cause uncertainty and abandonment for some customers.
Make the checkout process user-friendly
Ideally, there should be several options to choose from for shipping. Customers usually prefer a particular company, e.g., because there are pickup options for it close to home. In addition, it is generally important that a checkout can be managed online without great effort, distractions or other obstacles. Transparency plays an important role here. Before the purchase, it must be clear at a glance what has to be paid for what. The shopping cart should not only be visible in the checkout, but it should also be possible to change it. Last but not least, it is also important that the page is displayed correctly and clearly on all devices. This problem can be solved with a responsive web design.
