June 23, 2022
5 Tips to Improve the WooCommerce Checkout Process

When it comes to ecommerce, conversions and sales matter most.

Anything that deters potential customers from clicking on the "Place Order" button costs you money. 80% of customers are abandoning their carts which costs ecommerce businesses over $18 billion in lost sales revenue annually.

Customers abandon shopping carts for various reasons, ranging from high shipping fees, slow delivery, and complicated checkouts. To combat them, we’ll show you how to improve checkout processes to encourage customers to convert.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

Benefits of Improving the WooCommerce Checkout Process

Besides the lost revenue from abandoned carts, improving the WooCommerce checkout process also brings:

  • A better customer experience. 70% of customers agree that a speedy checkout process affects their willingness to buy from an online retailer.
  • Higher conversions. According to a study by the Baymard Institute, the conversion rate of a large ecommerce store could increase by up to 35% by adopting an optimized checkout process.
  • Repeat purchases. Happy customers are more likely to make repeat purchases.

How To Improve the Checkout Process

1. Optimize your website for mobile.

2. Implement single-page checkout.

3. Ensure the checkout process is secure.

4. Reduce the number of required form fields.

5. Consider checkout flow design.

Proper implementation of these tips will lead to more sales on your WooCommerce website. Let’s see what they’re about.

1. Optimize Your Website for Mobile

Today, 58% of internet users access the internet via their mobile devices and are shopping on them. Insider Intelligence predicts that mobile commerce will account for 43% of all ecommerce sales by 2024.

In that sense, it’s best to upgrade your mobile checkout experience to avoid losing sales.

To start, optimize your mobile ecommerce site for page load speed. It affects multiple aspects: conversion, sales, SEO, and user experience.

For instance, a website that loads in one second has 3x more conversions than one that loads in five seconds, and up to 5x more conversions than one that loads in 10 seconds.

Here are some ways to increase page load speed for your ecommerce website:

  • Use plugins like WP Rocket, Smush, and Imagify to compress heavy files that slow down the website. Compressing images keeps file sizes low while retaining image quality.
  • Minimize unnecessary files. Delete plugins you don't need.
  • Implement website caching.
  • Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) for quicker delivery of static files like images.

You can sign up for a CDN separately, but Nexcess WooCommerce hosting comes with a free built-in Edge CDN powered by Cloudflare.

2. Implement Single-Page Checkout

One of the best ways to increase conversions is to make the checkout process as seamless as possible. That’s why Amazon’s one-click checkout gave it an edge over competitors until the patent expired in 2017.

With the average American making 12 monthly impulse purchases and spending up to $3,000 on these purchases annually, Amazon’s seamless checkout resulted in billions of dollars in sales.

Amazon’s patented click and pay technology was eventually licensed to other ecommerce retailers and payment solutions like PayPal, Apple Pay, and Stripe.

If you want to implement single-page checkout on your WooCommerce store, check out these plugins to help you out.

3. Ensure the Checkout Process Is Secure

With different frauds and scams happening today, consumers consider security a top priority for online stores.

Online shoppers feel uneasy about sharing their payment information — 87% admitted they check to see whether a shop is legitimate before purchasing.

Improve the checkout process by giving customers a reason to trust your store. Here are some ways to do so:

  • Install an SSL certificate. Some hosting plans don’t include SSL certificates, so you may have to buy one. Nexcess plans come with a free SSL certificate.
  • Use trust signals like security badges, and add testimonials and reviews.
Improve the checkout process by introducing trust signals.

  • Use secure and payment card industry (PCI)-compliant payment options. When choosing payment methods, find out which regions your customers are in to determine which payment methods to offer.

4. Reduce the Number of Required Form Fields

When a website visitor is ready to buy something, they've already made up their minds. Don't give them a chance to rethink the decision.

If you can't implement one-click checkouts, reducing the number of steps improves the checkout process. The Baymard Institute found that websites with fewer form fields have a higher performance rate during checkout.

Here are some things you can try:

  • Implement autofill for address and credit card data. These items take the longest to type out and are the information you need to ship out an item.
  • Don’t ask users to create accounts. You can also implement a social sign-in option. It’s a more accessible alternative to user account creation that enables users to log in using their social media accounts. You can also provide a guest checkout option or let them create an account after making a purchase.
Improve the checkout process by offering a social sign-in option.

  • Introduce default billing/shipping addresses for returning users so they don't have to keep inputting their information.

5. Consider Checkout Flow Design

If customers are to buy, they have to navigate to the checkout page — and they can't do that if your website doesn’t optimize for design.

Here are some ideas to implement:

  • Use responsive WooCommerce themes.
  • Make buttons larger and more clickable, which also helps the mobile version of your site.
  • Ensure call-to-actions are displayed prominently on the checkout page and that headers and footers are distraction-free.
Nike’s online store has prominent checkout buttons and a distraction-free header and footer.

  • Use a progress bar or progress indicator so the customer knows what step they're at. For example:
Use a progress indicator in your WooCommerce checkout process.

Final Thoughts — 5 Tips To Improve the WooCommerce Checkout Process

The main goal of any ecommerce store is to get customers to the end of the checkout process. Customers abandon carts for so many reasons, which translates to lost sales.

Follow these five tips to improve the checkout process, and you’ll soon see increased conversions, sales, and revenue.

Just remember to back up your checkout process improvement efforts with reliable hosting. Sign up for a Nexcess WooCommerce hosting plan today.

Maddy Osman
Maddy Osman

Maddy Osman is a WordPress expert, WordCamp US speaker, bestselling author, and the Founder and SEO Content Strategist at The Blogsmith. She has a B.A. in Marketing from the University of Iowa and is a WordCamp Denver organizer while also operating The Blogsmith, an SEO content agency for B2B tech companies that works with clients like HubSpot, Automattic, and Sprout Social. Learn more about The Blogsmith's process and get in touch to talk content strategy: www.TheBlogsmith.com

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