Ways to place an order in an online store: choosing the best conversion

The world is oversaturated with possibilities. People want to do only what gives fruit and brings pleasure, and spend as little time as possible on everyday things. Internet shopping has recently, alas, been among them. The reverse side of the development of e-commerce: a lot and affordable. Three-quarters of online shopping baskets are abandoned without making a purchase. If the customer is not satisfied with something at the checkout stage, he reacts: “Oh, come on…”. The sale did not take place. What should the store owner do? How to increase conversion? How to make it so that customers are pleased to buy and return?

Let’s talk about it today. We appreciate the time, so we immediately drove to sort it out.

We will go through all the stages of the purchase “from and to”. In general, for the client it looks like this:

selecting products and adding them to the cart (we will reveal the details of this stage in another article later);

ordering: it is at this stage that the purchase process is most often interrupted. In this article, we will describe different options for organizing the design so that you can choose the one that best suits the specifics of your online store, and so that customers can easily move on to the next stage;

confirmation and ideally payment of the order — congratulations, the conversion took place!

Let’s focus on the second stage.

So, the customer has selected the goods he needs and proceeds to checkout. Decide what information you need to get from him. Here is an approximate list of data that the client can share:

general contact information: first name, last name, phone number — this is the minimum for further communication with the client;

email: required for additional notification of order status changes, registration of the client in the database and further marketing work with him;

other details: delivery address, convenient shipping and payment methods;

comments on: include this column in the list so that the client can warn you about something.

It looks clear and logical. But why do customers throw baskets more often than they buy? We’ll figure it out. And to begin with, we will tell you about an important detail — mandatory registration.

Can unregistered users make purchases in your online store?

Important! Internet users rarely consciously register in online stores before placing an order. And usually this step does not just delay them, but even repels them. Because it’s a long time. And boring. It’s better to leave.

So we definitely do not recommend forcing. But we can share some useful advice! If it is important to you that every visitor registers, make it so that it is a joy for him. Offer some kind of encouragement: for example, a discount or bonus points. Any small gift will remove the barrier on the way to registration. Both you feel good and the visitor is pleased.

But if it’s not in your principles to bother with bonuses or the time for gifts has not yet come, then we advise you to choose another way. It will also keep the contact in your customer base, but will make the registration process invisible. It’s simple: when a customer enters their details at the checkout stage, they can automatically register in your store. You immediately get a registered client. And the client appears:

It remains only to thank the customer for the purchase and tell him about the account registered for him, about the new available features and send the login and password to log in.

Congratulations on a successful conversion and a registered buyer! Recall that each new contact gives you fuel to disperse the business. Read more about this in our article “Collecting contacts”.

Therefore, although the registration process in this case is formally abolished, but in fact lives and works perfectly. And it helps you to work effectively.

Now let’s figure out how to make the main stages of ordering also work efficiently, bringing the buyer to the purchase. Let’s consider the options for its organization.

An option is the aksakal, which still works perfectly these days: the page displays information only of the step at which the client is located.

We will describe it in detail. From the shopping cart, the buyer proceeds to checkout. And then, step by step, on a new page, the client fills in and confirms the data: first contact information, then the choice of the delivery method and payment. He sees each step on a separate page, where he can enter and change data.

The advantages of this option of placing an order:

the amount of requested information is minimized at each step: no matter how many pages you need to fill in the end, it’s easy for the client to do it, because every time he sees only a small part of the order processing process, and not the whole picture;

you can configure only those steps that are necessary for the operation of your online store.

But there are also disadvantages:

a lot of steps, as a result — a lot of steps that the customer can stumble over and throw the order;

the sequence of steps does not always coincide with the logic of the client, which may reduce his desire to finish the job.;

to correct or clarify something at another step means going from page to page, back and forth, over and over again;

there is no visual picture of the order in front of your eyes — only information related to one step.

These disadvantages are rather a feature that should be taken into account if this option of organizing an order is generally suitable for you. If we talk about design, and not about the principle of work, then there are tools with which step-by-step design can be beautifully organized. And these disadvantages will not be so noticeable.

Here’s how a step-by-step checkout might look like. We see the headings of all the steps on one page: contact information, delivery, payment. But only one window is always open, in which it is possible to enter data or choose something. The remaining steps have been minimized so far. You can proceed to each next step only when the previous one has passed. The next step will open immediately, and the newly filled one will collapse. After entering all the data in stages, it remains to confirm the order.

Let’s move on to the next design option.

Making an order on one page

If your client likes to change the composition of the basket or if it is important for him to have all the information about the order in front of his eyes at once, then step-by-step ordering will be inconvenient for him. For such customers, another option for placing an order is suitable — on one page.

compactness: all the fields to fill in and the shopping cart are on the same page;

it is convenient to check and change the information in the shopping cart and in any other field at any time;

the page is updated dynamically: the available delivery and payment methods change depending on the data entered and the selected products;

you can enter a discount coupon and immediately see the information associated with it.

Here’s what it might look like:

In this case, you have several additional settings that are worth paying attention to:

what product parameters can be changed in the shopping cart;

whether the dependence of the available delivery and payment methods on the order value, weight and size of the goods, address and other parameters is necessary.

You can alternately activate each of them to try them in action. And as a result, choose the one that is best suited for your online store.

For some customers, the registration process itself is an obstacle to ordering something. These guys like to call, dictate an order by phone and wait for it to be completed.

In order not to lose such clients, you should take care of:

visual and understandable identification of the goods in the showcase: the customer should be able to easily explain to the operator what kind of goods he needs; for this, it is necessary to place, for example, the article of the goods in a prominent place;

a noticeable placement of a phone number and other similar coordinates for quick communication, if you use them: for example, a chat in “Whatsapp” or “Telegram”;

convenient product search for their employees: the article search and auto-selection of goods by partially entered name should work. The main thing is to be able to respond promptly to the client’s wishes.

Quick order processing

If your client lives in the rhythm of a megalopolis, then the perfect addition for any of these “long” options will be the maximum simplification of the order processing procedure. Motto: “Quick and easy!”

What are the options:

Guest checkout

Buy quickly and simply — how to shake hands with a friend. With this option, a simplified order creation form opens, where it is enough to enter a name, phone number or email address, select a delivery method and click on the “Place an order” button.

Order in “one click”

We optimize the order in “one click”

even more — for those customers who do everything on the run. From them — the phone number, from you — the operator who will accept the order and cope with its assembly.

This method is good to quickly hook the client, but there are also disadvantages. The conversion rate depends on the human factor, in other words, the work of your employee. Everything plays a role: friendliness and competence, a convenient showcase for the operator and the client; the operator must be able to quickly receive information from the client, work “smoothly”.

And now the order is confirmed. Now give the buyer the opportunity to save their data for the next time. Unobtrusively suggest: “Do you want to save your data?”. Usually it is not difficult to check the box. And the advantages of this simple action will be received not only by the client, but also by your marketing department.

Yes, we almost forgot about smartphones.

Optimize order processing for mobile devices

Marketers know that mobile devices have already surpassed desktop computers in terms of purchases in online stores. Therefore, it is vital to optimize the ordering process for smartphones.

Our tips:

If unfinished orders remain, don’t worry. You need to look at, collect and analyze data to see the real picture.

And finally, some more general useful tips:

set up automatic error checking when filling out so that the client can correct himself and enter all the data correctly;

set up smart hints so that the client knows exactly what, where and how to fill in;

add useful informational messages, for example: “Your order has been placed. Check its status in your personal account.”;

offer the opportunity to place an order in different ways: without registration and with registration, quickly “in 1 click” and by phone.

In order to clearly understand which ordering option will work best in your online store, test each of them. So you will understand whether your client likes to get advice by phone or wants to sit silently at the computer at home, he prefers to order quickly or more thoughtfully, whether registration bonuses are important to him or not. Make the ordering process as clear and convenient as possible so that it does not become an insurmountable obstacle on the way to purchase.