There’s no question that customers and businesses alike have lived through monumental changes and challenges in recent years. And after these years filled with uncertainty, rapid pivots and market volatility, a slowing economy presents yet another test. As your company prepares to weather a likely recession, fine-tuning your business to capture as much revenue as possible is mission critical.
So where should you start? We recommend taking a careful look at your checkout. Amid increased inflation and an economic slowdown, the speed, security, and convenience of your checkout are paramount. But the vast majority of checkouts fall short. A recent study from our partner Stripe, a global leader in payments infrastructure, shows that problems with checkouts are common and widespread - they appear across regions, industries, and organizations of all sizes. Stripe’s global survey of 1,600 businesses found that 95% of leading ecommerce sites are making five or more basic errors in their checkouts.
These numbers indicate that many customers encounter friction at checkout—something that often causes them not to complete the transaction. For businesses, losing out on transactions because of a clunky checkout process or missed sales opportunities at checkout isn’t a minor inconvenience. It means leaving money on the table and potentially losing a customer forever.
In today’s economic environment, offering a seamless customer experience isn’t a luxury—it’s essential. Our blog delves into navigating shifts in customer expectations and maintaining a competitive edge.
Our partner, Stripe, has identified four areas of focus for businesses looking to improve their checkouts and key ways to optimize for conversion. Here are Stripe’s top tips to tune up your checkout:
Checkout conversion
Put yourself in your customer’s shoes for a moment. We’ve all been there: You’ve done your research, you’ve compared products, and you’ve made your selection. The item is in your online cart, and you’re ready to buy. Then, you get to the checkout form—and it stops you in your tracks.
If a slow or complicated checkout caused you to give up on the transaction, you’re hardly alone. In Stripe’s survey, 60% of customers said they give up on a purchase after two minutes, while the average length of checkout takes three minutes.
The solution:
It’s critical to optimize your checkout flow and eliminate any areas of friction or barriers that might cause customers to take their business elsewhere. Capture more revenue by making buying easier for customers—allow customers to save their payment information for faster checkout in the future, upsell and cross-sell with product recommendations, and if customers abandon their purchase, send them a reminder to complete the transaction.
Payment methods
Offering the payment methods your customers prefer is essential. But it’s not as simple as merely adding one or two of the top new methods to your checkout. As payment methods become more diverse and customer preferences evolve, it’s imperative to stay current with how and when your customers want to pay. This requires a targeted approach—adding payment methods that are popular in the regions where you’re selling and with your particular customers.
The solution:
Offering the right payment methods makes all the difference. To ensure you’re offering the right mix of options, pay attention to the payment methods your customers want. This tends to vary regionally, so you may find that one-click checkout or buy now, pay later options are popular in some markets but not others, and it may be crucial to add a local payment method such as iDEAL to increase conversion with another segment of your customers.
Mobile optimization
Customers are increasingly using their mobile devices to browse and shop online, and many start their purchases from a social media platform, such as Instagram or Youtube. Stripe’s study found that nearly half of customers use smartphones more often than desktop devices to buy online. But one in five in North American sites have at least one basic error in the mobile optimization process, and 93% do not support wallets, a mobile-friendly payment method that stores customer payment details on their phones.
The solution:
Improving the mobile checkout experience can help keep customers on track toward completing their transactions. Ideally, your mobile checkout experience will be as quick and convenient as your desktop experience—that means you have a fully responsive checkout form that automatically adapts for your customer’s device screen size. Adding mobile-friendly payment options, such as digital wallets and one-click checkout options, is another key step. You can also allow customers to save a payment method to provide one-click checkout for future purchases.
Subscriptions
Subscriptions are an important offering for building recurring revenue and creating high-value repeat customers—and they can be an effective part of your strategy for navigating an economic downturn. But Stripe found that the majority of customers have experienced friction with their subscription orders, and one out of five of the top 217 global subscriptions sites had three basic errors in their transaction process.
The solution:
Customers have come to expect a seamless experience, with conveniences such as one-click checkout and saved payment methods that make online transactions fast and simple. Subscription businesses must deliver the same level of ease to remain competitive and grow. A few ways to achieve this: Improve your subscription business by offering free trials, autofill capabilities, and self-service options so customers can modify or cancel their subscriptions online without having to speak to a customer service representative. Rely on the experts Taking the steps above to improve your checkout can help strengthen your business and help it perform its best through a more challenging economic climate. But these steps are also just the beginning. With Ciklum and Stripe, you have a great team in your corner to help keep your business going strong.
Get in touch with our team of experts to learn more about how we can help optimize your checkout.
Sources:
- The state of North American checkouts in 2022
- The state of European checkouts in 2022
- The state of Asia Pacific checkouts in 2022
