Quick summary: Are you losing customers and missing out on conversions because your checkout process has usability showstoppers?
In the competitive e-commerce landscape there’s no shortage of techniques for improving conversion, increasing order averages, and encouraging repeat sales. But for every technique websites employ to increase sales there are numerous common usability problems that prevent or strongly discourage them.
Submitted for your approval are 5 of my favorite “showstopper” problems that can cause users to re-think an online purchase, and sometimes send them running straight to a competitor.
In no particular order they are:
- Inadequate privacy and security messaging
- Enabling users to accidentally leave the checkout process
- Poor error handling
- Requiring users to create an account
- Displaying important information below the fold
Let’s look at each of these in more detail.
1. Inadequate privacy and security messaging
It seems like almost every day there’s a new story in the news about hackers compromising someone’s system to gain access to sensitive information. Online shoppers read or hear about these stories, and – right or wrong – often make snap decisions about website trustworthiness. To address these concerns it’s important to have clear and compelling statements about privacy and security in all the places where users will think about these things. In other words, set expectations upfront about how sensitive information will and won’t be used. For example:
- If you collect email addresses only to provide follow-up service and support then indicate this next to the email field (“We’ll never sell your email address”).
- Fields for entering credit card numbers should be accompanied by a brief security statement such as “We take your security seriously. Learn more about our security measures” or similar, and a link to see more in-depth information.
- If collecting a user’s telephone number for order follow-ups, display a message to that effect (“We’ll only call if there’s a problem with your order”).
- If you use a service like Verisign and can display a “trusted website” or similar banner, be sure it’s visible on the home page and on pages throughout the checkout process.
Bottom line: many users are sensitive about privacy and security, and will have second thoughts about making a purchase if they’re not reassured that their information is safe.
2. Enabling users to accidentally leave the checkout process
Giving users control of their experience is a basic principle of good user interface design. But there are situations where it makes sense to somewhat restrict that control, or at least remove some options. Once a user begins the checkout process it may be beneficial to reduce or eliminate certain navigational links if they have a tendency to take users off track (analytics data can give you a sense for whether or not this is happening, as can user testing). Displaying too many cross-sell or up-sell links can also be problematic. Of course cross-sells and upsells can be very helpful in increasing order sizes, but if they cause users to go off track and not return then there’s not much point.
Importantly, websites that don’t support use of the browser’s Back button are especially problematic in this regard since users may move just one click away from checkout then attempt to return to it by clicking Back. If clicking Back causes a session glitch and/or an error message you’re a step closer to losing that customer. Yes, you can add “return to checkout” or similar links – but users are more likely to reach for the familiar Back button than search for a link to resume where they left off.
3. Poor error handling
As I’ve mentioned before it’s important to ensure that users can easily see when they’ve caused an error and understand the nature of the problem – and what to do about it. Many websites fall down on one or more of these points by presenting users with error messages that can be easily overlooked and/or are vague or misleading. Users who can’t quickly recognize and solve problems will often give up after a few tries – especially if they feel the website isn’t helping them.
4. Requiring users to create an account
A great many e-commerce solutions default to requiring that users set up an account to make their first purchase. Of course it’s beneficial for companies to gather information about their customers, but increasingly shoppers are dissuaded by having to create a new user ID and password just to make a purchase (as a side note, other than Costco and Sam’s Club how many bricks-and-mortar stores require that customers give them their street address to make a purchase?).
It’s commonplace for users to click a “checkout” or similar link then see a display like this:
Notice how the only two choices are “you’re already registered with this website” or “you’re about to register”. That’s not a good set of options to present to users, especially in a day and age where:
- Having “yet one more” user ID and password is a nuisance
- Users are more sensitive to privacy and security issues – so why would they want to have their personal information stored on yet another server?
A better solution is to give users the option of checking out without creating a membership, then offering to save their information or create a membership after the fact.
5. Displaying important information below the fold
I’ve touched upon this issue before but it’s very common for important information and navigation – especially “continue” buttons and important disclaimers – to appear “below the fold” (the portion of the screen visible when the page first loads) during the checkout process. It’s risky to assume users will know to scroll down if they sense something is missing; some users don’t think to scroll – especially those with less online experience. It’s difficult to design screen layouts that work equally well for the most likely monitor resolution and configuration, but it can be done. Making careful use of screen space and attempting to get key information and controls as high as possible will mitigate this risk. Streamlining your displays – especially throughout the checkout process – will help a great deal.
It isn’t rocket surgery
The issues I’ve described above obviously aren’t the only barriers to succesful completion of a shopping cart checkout. But they’re very common problems and a good starting point for evaluation. The good news is that improving your shopping cart and checkout process is often as simple as making small messaging and layout changes. It’s easy to run a quick audit of your checkout process to see if any of these issues apply to you. If so, take the time to address them. You’ll very likely be able to reduce abandonment and increase your conversion rates, perhaps dramatically.
Photo credit: Dano. Creative Commons licensed.
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