Optimize your checkout and increase your sales with these 5 key steps
Key things to consider for your checkout
Conversion is not a simple thing. A high degree of factors influence it, but your checkout is one of the most important. If you want to improve your sales - and reduce the abandoned carts - you have to dedicate some time to optimize your checkout.
Multi-step checkout vs. one-step checkout
Multi-step checkout
A multi-step checkout can be considered the classic version of a checkout. A multi-step checkout lets your customer enter key data on different screens. So for an entire checkout (contact details, delivery, and payment details), this can amount to quite some clicks and screens for the consumer to go through.
Suppose your webshop is hosting a multi-step checkout. In that case, you must display information in a logical order with clear indications of where the consumer is in the process and what their following action is. Multi-step checkouts are great for analytics, as it’s evident at which stage in the checkout the consumer decides to abandon their purchase (i.e., customer leaves at contact details page, instantly showing that there might be unnecessary friction there).
One-step checkout
As you can probably guess, the opposite of a checkout with a page for every type of information is a checkout that hosts everything on one page.
One of the key advantages of a one-step checkout is giving consumers instant transparency by showing them the order button right away. A one-step checkout visualizes the destination for the customer, which can be an excellent tool for boosting conversion.
Introduce different payment methods
Your payment mix is critical to your checkout, as it, more than anything, plays into your customer’s preferences. Offering the payment methods that a customer wants to use is one of the easiest ways to boost your conversion. Not offering the payment methods they’re looking for is also one of the easiest ways of ruining your conversion.
From conventional payment methods such as credit or debit cards to trending payment methods such as digital wallets or BNPL methods - know what your target audience wants and deliver that to them.
At MultiSafepay, we offer an extensive range of payment methods, sure to satisfy customers in every corner of the continent.
Which checkout is yours: embedded or hosted?
If you’re not planning on building your checkout, there are essentially two flavors you can choose from: embedded or hosted checkouts.
Let’s look at what advantages each brings to the table.
Embedded checkout
An embedded checkout integrates the payment component (data fields) in your checkout. Embedded components allow users to remain on your website for the entire payment process.
Payment components also utilize tokenization to store sensitive data in an encrypted fashion, ensuring compliance with all PCI-DSS security standards. Enabling easy, super-fast repeat purchases for returning customers.
Hosted checkout
A hosted checkout integration takes the payment experience and moves it to a webpage hosted by MultiSafepay. Redirecting the customer to a payment environment fully stocked with the latest MultiSafepay ecommerce innovations.
Safety is not a concern, as it’s equally safe as an embedded payment component.
Comparing the two
One is not necessarily better than the other, but when we zoom in on conversion, we notice that embedded generally converts better. Lowering the checkout time and not sending customers to an external page to pay are vital contributors to this success. Consumers who are highly aware of safety are less likely to pay when redirected from your website.
Hosted payment pages are generally easier and faster to set up, so for some businesses; they are just the better alternative when it comes to time invested. But we advise looking into an embedded solution if you’re looking to optimize and make the most out of your online sales.
Second Chance email
One of our innovations that have taken ecommerce by storm is Second Chance emails.
We’ll sketch a scenario to highlight how they work:
Imagine a customer has a full cart and is filling out payment details but, for some reason, decides to leave your webshop. This could be intentional, but it might be due to a distraction or another reason that unintentionally broke off their purchase. Our Second Chance email will send a reminder to the associated email address, which gives them a link that redirects them right where they left off.
All they need to do is finalize the payment.
The Second Chance emails can be configured automatically, fully edited, and styled to match your company’s tone of voice and style. We recommend sending a minimum sequence of two emails (one directly after cancellation, one up to 24H later), as we’ve noticed that companies who use this effectively boost their conversion by up to 35%.
Reinforce your brand identity
As mentioned before, the checkout is vital to your sales. Besides offering the correct payment methods and the integration that converts best, it’s also essential to remember that your checkout needs to match your style.
Too many businesses spend a lot of time on their product and homepages, only to skimp out on their checkout. Surround the final moment of your customer’s purchase with the branding elements that made them choose for you, so personalize that page!
Ready to optimize your checkout? We’ll help you get started
Helping ecommerce companies create the right payment strategy for their business is a key part of our business. We consider your target market and help you achieve your business goals.
Are you ready to see how we can help you succeed? Don’t hesitate to reach out.
