5 Ways to Simplify Mobile Checkout Experience

The checkout is one of the most important parts of any eCommerce site experience. Where all your hard work towards customer acquisition pays off and converts to revenue. This is particularly true on mobile devices, where cart abandonment rates are highest, meaning the checkout experience on mobile is all the more important.

When it comes to mobile eCommerce, shoppers are having a harder time converting and it all comes back to how easy it is to get through the mobile checkout experience. Before we get into how you can improve and simplify your checkout for mobile devices, we’ll take a look at what makes a great mobile checkout experience.

What makes a great mobile checkout experience?

A simple and clutter-free checkout experience is key on mobile devices. You should aim to create a streamlined mobile checkout experience that allows customers to easily move from shopping and browsing products to the end of the checkout as efficiently as possible.

Checkout pages should be functional yet clean. This can be achieved by eliminating distractions or any elements that could send customers away to other pages or sites during the checkout process.

Simplicity is also a big factor in creating a great mobile checkout experience. Mobile shoppers don’t want to spend the time filling in complicated forms or lengthy multi-step checkouts, so keep the steps required to checkout to a minimum.

How to Simplify Your Mobile Checkout Experience

1. Enable a ‘Guest Checkout’ option

Allowing customers to check out as a guest is vital to ensuring your mobile checkout experience results in conversions.

“Over 60% of users on mobile checkout as a guest” – MoovWeb

Customers checking out on mobile are usually in a hurry and want to get through the checkout process as quickly as possible. With 25% of abandoned carts resulting from required registration. This forces users to create an account becomes one of the biggest points of friction in mobile checkout experience.

We understand that capturing customer information is important for marketing purposes but don’t fall into the trap that will ultimately cost you customers. Instead, as well as offering a guest checkout option, you could give your customers the option to register quickly using a social login like Google or Facebook.

2. Select “same as billing address” by default

Typically, mobile users will have the same billing and shipping address, so the “same as” option helps reduce friction and saves them time. By selecting the “same as billing address” option by default, customers can avoid re-typing their address. Which can be particularly cumbersome on mobile.

Studies have found that on sites that use the “same as” selection as default, more than 90% of users keep the selection.

3. Reduce emphasis on promotion & discounts

Many eCommerce sites use discounts and coupon codes to boost sales and encourage customer loyalty. However, this tactic can actually hurt your checkout completion rates, as the ‘promo code’ field often encourages customers to leave your site in search of a discount code – with many not returning to complete their purchase.

“More than 25% of shoppers abandon the checkout process to look for a coupon.”

A/B tests have been carried out across a variety of e-commerce sites, with results showing that a closed promo code field resulted in higher conversion rates, as distractions have been eliminated. Collapsing the promo code entry field removes the distraction without getting rid of the popular sales tactic.

Magento’s Mobile eCommerce Optimization Initiative found an 8.04% increase in Revenue Per Visitor (RPV) from mobile checkouts with a collapsed discount and coupon field.

4. Use appropriate data input fields

The majority of mobile checkout friction comes from entering information on small screens. This process can be made easier for users by customising the input format to match the contents of the fields being filled in.

For general text fields like name and address, your basic keyboard is fine. However, not all fields will require text. So simplify the data input process for your customers by providing a numeric keypad for fields like phone number and payment card numbers.

It can also be helpful to customise the keyboard for any email input fields to include the ‘@’ and full stop keys, to make inputting this data a smoother process for users.

Tip: Clearly indicate required fields with an asterisk.

Studies show that where required versus optional fields aren’t denoted, 75% of users experienced usability issues with “field is required” validation errors. Make sure each required field is clearly labelled to prevent these errors and simplify the user experience.

5. Offer alternative payment methods

Offer a range of payment methods to your customers. Mobile conversion rates are proven to be higher when retailers offer alternative payment options like PayPal or Apple Pay. Often, users will have their PayPal details saved or are simply required to use their fingerprint or Face ID to authenticate payments through Apple Pay, making the payment process much quicker than typing in long numbers.

“When available, over 23% of smartphone users checkout with and alternative payment method.”

Tip: Display payment security or verification badges within your mobile checkout flow. Payment security concerns are often a reason that users don’t complete a purchase.

Summary

Optimising your mobile checkout can be done in many ways. From removing distractions to streamlining data input. The end goal is to get customers to complete their purchase, so make it as easy as possible for them using our 5 ways to simplify your mobile checkout experience.

We create bespoke eCommerce websites that convert and drive sales. If you’d like to achieve eCommerce success, speak with our team of experts to see how we can help. 

Contact us today – we’re always happy to discuss your needs!