While e-Commerce websites are stealing the show of today’s rapid business world, these websites are considered to have a strong survival only if they have a solid checkout design. Most of the designers focus only on making attractive home pages, landing pages and other parts of the website and fail to pay attention to the most critical checkout process that contributes higher in conversion and completes the process of converting your visitors into your promising customers.

Make the process short:


The whole checkout process has to be simple and straightforward. It should be short and should not acquire much time of your customers. Lengthy and time consuming checkout process is the sole reason behind 30% of shoppers quitting the shopping cart websites. Keep the registration process as short and simple as possible. This information is highly critical as it is about to stay with you for a strong customer database. Request only the basic information about your customers and stop threatening them with complex registration and checkout process. This will make the customers feel enthusiastic and reduce irritation.

Guide the user:

Always think in terms of the ultimate users. Make the process as flexible and easy to follow. It is not necessary for all the users to be experts in using e-Commerce websites. Your potential customer might even be the first time user of shopping cart websites. So guide them in a step by step manner such that they do not feel insecure and uncomfortable purchasing online. Respect their feelings and make them feel comfortable by giving options for them to recheck their shopping carts before clicking the order button and so on.

Add progress indicator:


Progress indicators are very important as they indicate the customers about the current stage of their shopping process. Through this indicator you can assure your customers that they are on the right track and can control their online shopping procedure at any particular stage.

Reduce confusion:
Certain users might be confused while progressing towards the checkout process. They might be puzzled after hitting some wrong buttons unknowingly. To avoid and reduce such confusions, do not disable ‘Back’ button. Give them the freedom to go back and check what they have done in the previous stage. Keep your checkout process petite, uncomplicated and straightforward to avoid chaos and frustration.

Transparent checkout process:
Transparency builds the trust and confidence of the customer before disclosing his personal details, banking details or details regarding his debit/credit cards. Do not levy any hidden charges as the customer might feel deceived and would never turn back to your site. Avoid unnecessary information and focus on designing a transparent checkout process.

Confirmation:


Converse with your customers on completing their orders. Put across a ‘Thank you’ note and inform them that they will receive a confirmation mail regarding the details of their purchase and the expected delivery date. This will certainly help them to retain their confidence on your site. Send the mail promptly as promised to the customer along with the details of their order, amount paid and the estimated date of delivery for them to make the necessary arrangements.

Online shopping will always facilitate the customers to have an unforgettable shopping experience with joy, simplicity, mutual trust and full of life with these unbreakable rules for e-Commerce checkout design.