A recent study performed by Get Elastic of the checkout systems of the top 200 ecommerce websites displayed some interesting trends in shopping cart design. There are many different ways in which you can increase your return on investment through minor changes to your shopping cart. Knowing what is working for the top ecommerce websites can help you to better design your own carts, especially when you take into consideration how other successful websites that operate within your niche have designed their own. Take the following trends into account when you are looking into how you can improve your own shopping cart, and provide a better overall experience for your user.
Product Images Visible During Checkout
Although a vast majority of websites will simply list products that are in the shopping cart, displaying the product images throughout the checkout process helps users to consistently be reminded of what it is that they are purchasing. According to the recent study by Get Elastic, 71% of the top 200 ecommerce websites show images of the products that people are purchasing throughout the checkout process. This could potentially help users to keep from jumping ship at the last second and continuing with the checkout process.
Allow them to Continue Shopping
After a customer adds an item to their shopping cart, giving them the option to continue shopping, or proceed to the checkout process can help you to convince users to purchase more items. Many websites even offer a small list of accessories that may go great with their purchase alongside this feature, making it easy for them to extend their purchase to more items. According to Get Elastic, 79% of the top 200 ecommerce sites give users the option of continuing to shop, or continuing on with the checkout process.
Return Policies
When a customer is making a purchase from your website, and are willing to go through with the purchase but are not certain that they will want to keep the item after it is delivered. By placing a return policy on your checkout page, you can ease the fears of customers who believe that they may be forced to return the item at some point after purchase. This is also excellent for individuals that are purchasing gifts for other individuals and fear that they may not be able to return on the item if it is not to their liking. The study by Get Elastic found that 57% of the top 200 ecommerce websites had their return policy clearly stated on the cart page, most likely to ease these fears.
Privacy Assurances
As privacy becomes a larger and more persistent issue online, you need to make sure that you are providing certain assurances to your customers. They want to know that the data that they are providing you with will not be sold to a third party site, and that there is no chance of it ending up in the wrong hands. By ensuring that you provide them with a privacy policy that is easily viewable on the shopping cart webpage, you can be certain that you ease the minds of customers that take privacy concerns very seriously. In their study, Get Elastic found that 80% of the top ecommerce websites made certain privacy assurances, or provided an easily readable privacy policy that can be accessed by customers throughout the checkout process. Of course, the more accessible the privacy policy the more easily you will be able to ease the minds of customers that are worried about their data falling into the wrong hands, which has become an increasingly common concern for many.
Cross-Sells and Upsells
Cross-sells and upsells are an important addition to any shopping cart, as they can allow a company to turn a $20 purchase into a $40 purchase. Of course, you also want to be very smart in the way that you design upsells to coincide with the products that they are already purchasing. The study showed that 54% of businesses utilized cross-sells and upsells to help them to increase their profit per customer. Your ability to upsell will depend heavily upon your business, the items you sell, and the type of customer base that your company enjoys. High quality upsells that aren’t intrusive or annoying can be a great way to increase revenue.
Coupon Codes
According to Get Elastic, 50% of the top 200 ecommerce websites displayed promotional or coupon code boxes on their checkout page. This not only allows users to receive great discounts during the checkout process, but also gives them a reason to remember to come back to your site in the future. You don’t always have to have current coupons available, but making them visible and giving them the option to use it at a later date may make them more prone to coming back.
Multiple Shipping Options
Another excellent idea is to offer multiple shipping options to your customers. This ensures that they can have items delivered to them iat the speed in which they need them, and also allow them to save money on shipping. When you offer multiple shipping options your customers will be appreciative. In the study, Get Elastic showed that 68% of the top 200 ecommerce websites offered multiple shipping options to their customers.
There are many ways in which you can spice up your shopping cart to offer better overall services. Each of these additions are very easy to implement and provide you with the ability to perform tests, and see which addiitions will help you to raise your return on investment. In general, each of these additions is aimed toward creating or conveying trust with potential customers.