Sahra Ashton
Maximize Revenue Through An Improved Online Buying Experience
Welcome to our first edition of the MyCommerce “Tips and Tricks” newsletter. This three-part series will include proven best practices and techniques on a range of topics to help your business maximize profits. Today’s edition is focused on three easy steps to optimize your website so you can create a better buying experience for your customers.
Step 1: Optimize Clicks To The Cart
The chances of converting website visitors to actual buyers is directly tied to the number of clicks it takes for them to get to the shopping cart. The more customers who get to your cart, the higher the close rate will be. Of course, there will always be customers who end up in the cart with no intention of buying because they are comparing prices, checking out other costs like taxes and shipping or even doing their initial research on a product or products with no intention to buy. The law of averages prevails here though: the more people you get to the cart, the higher your cart conversion rate will be. Here are some things to keep in mind when creating the optimal path to your website’s shopping cart:
- The distance from any page on your site to the shopping cart should never be more than one to two clicks (preferably one).
- ‘Buy Now’ buttons should be strategically placed, and it should never take more than one click to get from ‘Buy Now’ to the cart.
- Two clicks for a path of going to a product detail page, then shopping cart.
Research has proven that there can be a 50 percent drop off for each additional click you add to your customer’s online shopping experience. Get them to the cart efficiently and quickly and you should see improved conversion rates.
Step 2: Make It Easy, Make It Obvious
Purchasing online should be easy and obvious for everyone coming to your site. Take a minute to review your website to make sure the flow and navigation is simple and intuitive. When thinking of site navigation, always put yourself in the shoes of the buyer. Here are a few things to consider when looking to improve site navigation and enhance the online shopping experience for your customer:
- Strategically locate ‘Buy Now’ buttons – make sure they are on relevant product and solution pages and make them OBVIOUS.
- Click on ‘More Info’ links to get more info – make sure these links are easy to find and provide helpful information.
- Navigate to the cart with a product – make sure this follows the one to two clicks experience.
- Add multiple products to the cart by going back to a store home page – this will ensure the cart functions properly from product pages to cart and vice versa.
No matter who is purchasing, it should be easy and obvious for the online shopper to buy. By reviewing your customer experience once a quarter you can ensure the buying process is simple, obvious, and easy!
Step 3: Clean Up Buttons And Links
‘Buy Now’ means customers want to add the product to their shopping cart and potentially purchase. The ‘Buy Now’ button should mean what it says – it should go straight to the shopping cart and shouldn’t be overcomplicated with additional information or detours for more information. You can utilize ‘More Info’ buttons to provide additional detail on specific products or solutions. These can link directly to product/solution detail pages. Each product/solution detail page should feature a ‘Buy Now’ button for pass through to the cart.
In addition to cleaning up around the ‘Buy Now area’, consider having multiple ‘Buy Now’ buttons so they are easy to locate and people do not have to scroll up or down to find one. Consider replacing ‘More Info’ buttons with ‘More Info’ links so they do not stand out as much as a ‘Buy Now’ button should. You don’t want to hide those links, but don’t detract the customer if their intention is to Buy.
These three tips will get your website prepared to do business with your customers. Just remember the simpler the better, make sure your buying experience is one the customer will want to engage with. Think of what you personally expect from an online shopping experience, and you’ll create a process that will keep customers coming back.
Have you made any of these suggestions and seen an increase in conversions? Please leave a comment below for to let us know what worked for you! We look forward to hearing from you.
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