When GDP falls two quarters in succession, bankers of the world start playing their mathematical pianos to calculate how they should adjust interest rates and lending patterns. It is natural for markets to adjust themselves. What goes up must come down. One fact ecommerce business owners can bet their bottom dollar on is that the sector is forever changing. Agility is a prerequisite when you run a business in this space. You literally tango with fate.
As world economies slow down, consumers adjust their spending habits. Markets become more competitive, and price wars abate. How can you recession-proof your business to stay one step ahead in these market conditions?
According to the Digital 2022 Global Overview Report, published by Datareportal, ecommerce will continue to grow despite grappling with a recession. You might suffer from rising costs in social media ad spending, supply chain challenges, and more expensive utilities, but if you streamline operations, you can emerge from the dance as Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
What goes in must go out
You can have the best products in the world at the best prices, but it’s meaningless if they don’t sell,. All your marketing efforts, supply chain management, and customer service will go to waste if your checkout process fails to convert customers into money in the bank.
Research Institute Baymard reports that the average cart abandonment rate for ecommerce stores is 69,8%. It means that just three in ten shoppers complete their purchases. The losses quickly stack up, costing ecommerce businesses millions of pounds in missed sales opportunities.
Checkout optimisation
Checkout optimisation will increase your store’s conversion rates. It means more shoppers will leave having made a purchase. If you minimise distractions and build trust throughout your checkout flow, more shoppers will convert and become long-term, loyal supporters of your business.
Provide multiple shipping and payment options
It’s disconcerting finding the products you’re looking for only to realise the site does not deliver to your area, or accept your preferred payment method. It’s enough to encourage you to abandon your cart immediately and find another store that can. The more payment methods you accept, the higher your chances of converting shoppers. Commonly used payment methods include debit or credit cards, shopping apps like Paypal, digital wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay, and buy now pay later options.
Autofill
Life is too short to spend time filling out forms with the same information ad infinitum. Google also thought so and invented auto-fill. If you plug it into your site, it will automatically populate the shopper’s town, state, postal or zip code and the first line of their address. It goes a long way towards seamless checkout. It is up to twenty per cent faster than typing out the information and will avoid errors that cause hold-ups down the line.
Exit-Intent
This OptinMonster technology serves popups when shoppers head for the door. According to OptinMonsters, it can reduce cart abandonment significantly. But do yourself a favour, don’t install it on every page of your site. Just use it on your payment page because there is nothing more irritating than constant pop ups every time you move the cursor. Keep popup messages relevant. If you see somebody leaving your site, ask a relevant question, offer a voucher or helpful hints, upsell or down-sell products and create a sense of urgency.
One sure way of easing checkout problems is to offer guest checkout. The easier it is for people to purchase your products, the more you will sell. Don’t insist on drawn-out registration because you want to build your database for future marketing campaigns. If you miss out on selling to a customer the first time they visit your website, you’ll miss out on future sales regardless of how many emails you send. The point of checkout optimisation is to make it as seamless as possible. Get out of the way and deliver what your customers want when and where they want it.
Speaking about seamless payment pages. Did you know that Truevo offers flexible payment solutions across multiple channels in over 150 currencies? Speak to us if you want to receive payments faster with complete peace of mind. We’d love to take the first steps towards.
