1. Reduce Risk

Before cus­tomers even get into your shop­ping cart, make sure that they’ve been exposed to clear mes­sag­ing about price match­ing, best price guar­an­tees, and ship­ping and return poli­cies. Reit­er­ate this mes­sag­ing in the shop­ping cart and dur­ing the check­out process.

2. Up Front Pricing

One of the lead­ing causes of cart aban­don­ment is the sticker shock that comes along with get­ting to the last page only to dis­cover $18.67 worth of taxes and soul-crushing rush ship­ping costs (let’s admit it, we waited too long to get reg­u­lar ship­ping in time for the holidays).

Cal­cu­late taxes and ship­ping as early as pos­si­ble in the check­out process. Let cus­tomers input their postal/zip code to get an esti­mate. If that’s not pos­si­ble, make sure that there is clear mes­sag­ing stat­ing that taxes and ship­ping will be cal­cu­lated later in the process.

3. Gift Options

If cus­tomers can send prod­ucts as gifts, ensure that that’s clear on prod­uct pages and then include that option right at the top of the ship­ping infor­ma­tion in the check­out process.

4. Build Trust

Use trust marks like Verisign or McAfee to rein­force that the check­out process is secure.

5. Requir­ing Account Creation

If pos­si­ble, delay account cre­ation until after the cus­tomer has suc­cess­fully checked out. Per­suade them to cre­ate an account by offer­ing an acqui­si­tion incen­tive (“save your infor­ma­tion for next time and get 10% off your next purchase!”).

Check out the Ama­zon $300 Mil­lion But­ton if you need some per­suad­ing to think about delay­ing account creation.

6. Opti­miz­ing Web Forms

Forms can be a big hang up dur­ing the check­out process. If they’re dif­fi­cult to fill out or cus­tomers get a lot of errors, the chances of them aban­don­ing start to climb.

Opti­mize your forms with our web form best prac­tices.

7. Thank­ing Customers

Make sure that your thank you pages are also in good shape – they’re an oppor­tu­nity to re-engage cus­tomers and get them to pur­chase again. Pro­vide addi­tional incen­tives to return, par­tic­u­larly for high value customers.

For more thank you page opti­miza­tion ideas, check out this post.

8. Fol­low Up On Cart Abandonment

When known vis­i­tors aban­don their cart, fol­low up with reminder emails or per­son­al­ized on-site mes­sag­ing that reminds them they have items in their cart. Give them a time limit, and con­sider per­suad­ing them to check­out by offer­ing an incen­tive (free ship­ping, addi­tional dis­count, etc.).

9. Make It Easy To Get Help

Inevitably, cus­tomers will have prob­lems or will decide they don’t want to buy online. Rather than lose them entirely, make it easy for them to chat live with a cus­tomer ser­vice rep, find a phone num­ber to call for help, or locate a store. Obvi­ous phone num­bers and calls to action through­out the check­out process are the way to go.

BONUS: Opti­mize the Pre-Checkout Expe­ri­ence Too

Need some ideas for opti­miz­ing your site for the hol­i­days? Max­i­mize your chances of mak­ing the sale. Coming up next week: 15 Tips & Ideas for Opti­miz­ing Your Web­site for the Hol­i­days.


Biography / Resume : Ian is the Manager of User Experience & Research at Mediative, helping clients optimize the online experience for their potential customers. He manages several key accounts and leads the company’s ongoing research projects to better understand search, buyer behaviour, mobile, and user experience. With a background in neuroscience, web design and eye tracking, Ian brings an invaluable knowledge of human behaviour and human-computer interaction to his position at Mediative. He plays a key role in many of the company’s SEO projects and lends his expertise to the strategy development of both PPC and display advertising projects. Ultimately, Ian believes that success in digital marketing comes down to two things: being found and being good. So he works with clients to make they tick both boxes and establish a successful and lasting presence online.