How to Increase Mobile Conversion: 8 Ways to Optimize Your Checkout

As the number of smartphone owners is growing, mobile shopping is becoming increasingly popular all over the world. According to a report, mobile browsing will soon reach 80% of the global Internet usage. At the same time, mobile eCommerce should make three-quarters of the entire online sales by 2021.
 
The message for entrepreneurs who build their businesses online is clear – optimize your website for mobile experience or you will end up losing the race against more agile competitors. However, most companies concentrate only on simplicity and navigation, forgetting to optimize the checkout process.
 
You should avoid this mistake by implementing state of the art checkout tactics. In this post, we will show you eight ways to increase mobile conversions through checkout optimization. Let’s begin!
 

Learn How Your Customers Behave

 
The first thing you should do is exploring how your customers behave online. John Cahill, a mobile optimization specialist at Resumes Planet, says that mobile user experience is not the same as laptop shopping, so it’s critical to figure out a few basic points:
 

• Page load speed has to be lightning fast
• Website structure should be intuitive, leading customers where you want
• Avoid pre-purchasing registration procedures
• Ensure a simple and effortless checkout procedure

 

Make It a Thumb-Friendly Experience

 
Although highly practical, mobile devices are often difficult to use due to the size of the screen and website features. A study of the effect of thumb sizes on mobile phone convenience reveals that users who have larger thumb circumference tend to be dissatisfied with the key size and space between keys.
 
A user who makes several mistakes browsing your eCommerce website will get angry very quickly, so he’ll end up visiting another site. This means you ought to create a website layout that allows easy shopping regardless of the user’s thumb size. Do it by designing bigger and wider buttons that make it a lot less difficult to find and tap on the screen.
 
Besides that, it is necessary to plan layout features cleverly. The most important elements of a shopping site are the “Buy Now” button and the shopping cart, so you want them to be in the lower half of the screen to ensure thumb accessibility.
 
On the other side, you should save the upper half for less important website elements such as product images or basic information. Users will be able to see it immediately, but they don’t have to tap on it, so it’s reasonable to leave it out of thumbs’ reach.
 

Mind the Content

 
Some people believe that mobile checkouts don’t have anything in common with content creation, but it’s actually the other way around. Quality content is essential because it explains the pros and benefits of your products, so it has to be written flawlessly.
 
First of all, you need to make sure that product descriptions are 100% accurate and error-free. Spelling or grammar mistakes will jeopardize your professional credibility, while incorrect product information can totally ruin your business.
 
There are dozens of valuable online tools you can use to eliminate content writing mistakes. For instance, apps like Grammarly or Hemingway will detect all pain points, suggest corrections, and even evaluate the overall readability of the text.
 
Content architecture is another thing to remember here. Today’s users often scan posts instead of reading them, so you need to design the structure that allows readers to figure out everything at a glance. Numbers, listicles, and bulletins are a convenient solution because they make the content look simpler and more transparent.
 
A vast majority of clients will enjoy your products or services, but each company is facing a fair share of demanding consumers. That’s where client policies step in to help and protect you from angry customers. Not too many people will read it, but it’s another piece of content that you need to write in order to avoid major issues.
 

Improve The Registration Process

 
Customer registration is one of the biggest issues in mobile eCommerce because it slows down the purchasing process and often chases consumers away. Although boring, the procedure is necessary because it gives you the chance to send new offers to the existing customers, while they can go back and buy more items from your site without further disturbances.
 
The main question now is how to encourage customers to complete the registration. Fortunately, there are some ways to make the issue less painful:
 

• Guest checkout: This solution is not ideal because you don’t receive buyers’ personal data, but at least you know that they completed their purchases before leaving your site.
• Simplify registration: The second option is to ensure a smooth and simple registration. A case study shows that shorter forms are more effective in getting visitors to actually complete the registration. Reduce the number of entry fields and ask only for the information that really means something to your business.

 
Both of these solutions represent a convenient tactic to round up the customer journey. They will be encouraged to sign up, but it won’t take them too much time and jeopardize their shopping experience. It’s a win-win situation as both sides get what they want in the easiest way possible.
 
Pay Attention to Website Security
 
Although eCommerce stores operate for more than a decade now, there are still a lot of people who don’t really trust the process that much. However, it’s easy to check whether a website is safe or not, so you better fulfill the requirements of contemporary online sales.
 
If you do the job properly, you won’t have to worry about website security, but you do need to make your customers feel safe while shopping. According to the report, almost 20% of Internet users still don’t shop online because of security concerns, while almost 30% shop online but worry about it.
 
The easiest way to keep visitors notified about website security is to add a safety icon or certificate. Common options in this field include security companies such as VeriSign or GeoTrust. Besides that, you can add customer testimonials on your website to convince other users that your website is credible.
 
Additionally, you should offer customers to pay for products or services using well-known platforms like PayPal or Visa. People who notice these payment options will know that you are a reliable eCommerce company, which will impact the conversion rate of your mobile site.
 

Don’t Let Anything Interfere with the Checkout Procedure

 
An average mobile shopper can get distracted rather quickly. With countless options available at any given moment, they can switch to the next best thing out there never looking back again. In such circumstances, you need to do your best to keep them concentrated on the webpage content.
 
You should start by eliminating each feature that doesn’t directly concern the checkout procedure, including additional information, FAQ sections, refund policies, and all other elements that users might want to read while shopping.
 
To avoid unnecessary confusion and possible bounces, you should add details such as drop down menus that don’t encourage customers to leave the page. Doing so, you will provide shoppers with all the information they need and still keep them engaged in the buying process.
 

Be Quick and Don’t Be Afraid to Show It

 
You’ve probably figured out by now that mobile shopping is all about making things faster and more comfortable. In the sea of similar products, the winner is not the company that offers the best items but rather the eCommerce store that serves customers most efficiently.
 
For this reason, it is essential to introduce the fastest checkout possible. Mobile optimization is crucial because 40% of people abandon a website that takes more than three seconds to load. Fortunately, there are numerous online pageload speed tests to help you optimize the website. These tools give you several inputs:
 

• A general performance grade
• Load time
• Website speed comparisons
• Location-based speed
• Requests

 
You also receive suggestions on how to improve and make your website much faster than it is at the moment.
 
Another solution is to show consumers how long it takes to conduct the purchase. Use a progress bar to keep them informed about it, designing a step-by-step process with clear checkout milestones. Label each section to ensure easier understanding and it will be super easy to know the exact position in the checkout line.
 

Don’t Forget Auto-Completion Features

 
The last tactic on our list is getting increasingly popular among online retailers. Auto-complete options allow customers to buy things quickly and effortlessly, taking the minimum amount of time. This option is widespread in the PC universe, but now it’s also becoming very important in mobile eCommerce as well. If you allow users to automatically fill in information like email addresses or phone numbers, you will save a lot of time and make the shopping experience much more comfortable.
 
Besides that, you should also design address finders as another way to optimize the checkout procedure. As much as your layout might be simple, entering personal data on a smartphone is always a daunting task.
 
Address finders give customers the possibility to enter the postcode and home number, while the system recognizes and displays the rest of the information by itself. You should adopt this service as soon as possible to get the foot in the door and beat your competitors in the long run.
 

Conclusion

Mobile shopping is becoming the most productive eCommerce sales channel, so you better prepare your website for the new way of doing business. In this post, we showed you eight ways to increase mobile conversions through checkout optimization. Make sure to follow our suggestions – it could earn you a bunch of new customers very soon!
 
Author’s bio:
Warren’s lifestyle is full of hiking adventures. When he’s not busy with his guitar or enjoying the sunny day outside, he excels at blogging skills and scrolls through social media. You can meet him on Twitter and Facebook.