How to Keep Visitors During Checkout New

A visitor has browsed your website, found a product, and is ready to checkout.  All that stands in the way of converting this visitor into a customer is the checkout process.  Checkout usually includes address and payment information, along with verification of the final charge, and the visitor is allowed to cancel the checkout process at each step. How do you keep your visitor during the checkout process?  Below is a list of five things that can help.

                                                 

Do the Sign-In Prior to Checkout

Nothing is more distracting to a customer who is beginning the checkout process than to have it interrupted with a sign-in web page. You may be able to accomplish this with a pop-up. If the customer is a returning customer and has forgotten their password, allow it to be sent to their email address.

Immediately Switch to a Protected Site

Knowledgeable customers will look for a web site that begins with http, and will know that you have taken steps to protect the information they are beginning to key in. There are emblems also that indicate a protected site such as VeriSign. Use them if possible.

Problems With A Certificate

If a customer gets a message such as “Safari can’t verify the identity of the website”, they will be immediately leery of your information. No customer enjoys seeing this message when they are about to divulge their financial information.

Shipping Charges

If you wait until you are almost finished with the checkout process before you display the shipping charges, you may lose a customer and lose that customer’s trust. Comparison-shopping is going on all the time. The customer is not going to go through the entire checkout process just to see what the shipping charges will do to the price of the item. Some web sites, such as www.amazon.com, have instituted a standard shipping charge for different goods that sellers using their site are held to. It will increase the customer’s trust if you include shipping charges in the item’s description.

Making Returns Easy

If you are able to take back an item, let the customer know that in advance. Costco is great about refunds and so is Amazon. You can get a cash refund on any online purchase from Costco at any Costco retail outlet with proper documentation. Amazon displays a shipping label to print that can be affixed to the return box.  Depending on the reason you are returning the item, Amazon gives a full refund.