Improving the eCommerce Checkout Process
eCommerce is an ideal solution to selling online. The eCommerce Checkout Process allows you to reach all potential customers for your product or service as well as automating most of the sales process.
There is a huge amount of what we believe to be rationally considered, consciously-driven activity is actually planned and executed sub-consciously – our consciousness is then told what is happening, giving us the illusion of conscious control. A more specific finding is that we are cognitive misers: Our minds take lots of shortcuts to minimise the amount of thinking effort required to get a task done.
The eCommerce Checkouts Process
eCommerce Checkouts need to be designed so that they can be completed with as little thought as possible – or possibly while multi-tasking (e.g. grabbing a sandwich for lunch, looking busy at work, keeping an eye on the kids). When something in checkout does demand full concentration, it should be resolved quickly and simply – the more often this happens, however, the more annoying and frustrating the checkout process is going to feel.
So, the fewer form fields to fill in the better, the more that are auto-populated the better, the more straightforward the labels, calls-to-action and guidance the better and the more obvious and relevant the error messages the better.
Here are 10 specific issues related to the entire checkout process, all of which are focused on making checkout simpler in one way or another:
- Isolating the checkout
- Checkout steps
- Navigation
- Persistent summary of checkout information
- Avoiding loss of information already entered
- Stock management and session timing
- Form design
- Validation and error-trapping
- Calls to action / submit buttons
- Trust by customers
Find out more about Emarkable’s eCommerce Services, the eCommerce Checkout Process and selling online.
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We are always happy to answer any questions. Contact the team by phone on (01) 808 1301, or email us at info@emarkable.ie
