5 Checkout Page Optimization Tips to Tackle Festive RTOs

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“Did you know at least 30% of all products ordered online are returned to the origin?”

Several factors contribute to the high rate of return orders, such as incorrect shipping information, no COD, no UPI payment during the time of delivery, and so on. It is essential to reduce the number of returns for your eCommerce store as it directly impacts the profitability and sustainability of your business. One of the key strategies that work well for bringing down RTOs and boosting conversions is checkout page optimization.

Checkout page optimization can increase your eCommerce store conversions by 35.62%. Most of the time people go through the entire process of selecting their favourite products only to abandon their carts at the last moment. There can be many reasons behind this like-

1. Mandatory account creation.
2. Extra shipping charges.
3. Slow website loading speed.
4. Non-satisfactory return policies
5. The expected delivery is too long.
6. Non-deliverability in certain Pincode areas.
7. Fewer payment options
8. Declined credit card, etc.

In this blog in collaboration with Adyogi, we will discuss 5 such strategies that will optimize your buyer’s checkout experience and ultimately improve your eCommerce conversions. These strategies are flexible and can be applied by any eCommerce business of any given scale can apply to overcome the said challenges.

5 Check-out Page Optimization Tips for Better RTO

To tackle the multiple RTO-related issues, brands can use checkout optimization to make their eCommerce checkout process faster and easier to navigate. The amount of effort put into the creation of an e-commerce website is significant, the checkout page should be organized, designed, and structured so that it has a substantial effect on customer contentment and the probability of them returning to the website. To address the triggers for customers leaving the payment page, and to examine the normal checkout process, let’s inspect tips for checkout page optimization.

1.      Offer Guest check-out option to avoid dropouts

Registration of customers on your website is essential for data collection and retargeting of audiences. However, you cannot lose out on potential customers with compulsory registration terms – the process is usually a frustrating task that customers might not be willing to do. Those who are only interested in buying something once may turn the other way if asked for too much information. Therefore, opt for a guest checkout integration on your website.

At the checkout page, you can also provide assistance while filling out the address. Manual filling out an address can be a very long and monotonous process which might even discourage your customer from going forward with the purchase. Use auto-fills or drop-down lists to make address filling much more effortless.

2.      Provide assistance with the check-out process

Make the process as easy and understandable as possible. Add a completion bar at each stage of the process to allow transparency- the clearer the number of stages in the process is, the more likely your customer will go through with it. You can also provide images, visuals, and video tutorials to guide your customer through the process. Ensure all the options, discounts, offers, etc. are clearly visible on the checkout page. You can also provide a list of frequently asked questions to help your customers.

3.       Offer multiple payment options

There can be a considerable amount of dropouts if there aren’t enough payment options available to buyers besides credit and debit cards. In fact, 3 out of every 4 orders are likely to get lost due to the absence of the Cash on Delivery (COD) option. If your business can not offer COD, make sure you remind the user of the ‘No COD available’ policy across their journey. Which begins right from the ads on Social media platforms till the end of the purchase funnel.

Offering various payment options to your customers will make conversions more likely. Some highly used payment options are:

• Cash on Delivery
• Debit/credit cards
• Internet banking
• UPI payment options
• Digital wallets

4. Hygiene Checklist for Checkout Page

• The checkout page is the most crucial page for your conversions and should not have any distractions in the form of external links other than “to initiate payment” or to “close the browser”.
• Avoid sections like About us, Home Page, Products, Menu button on the top left, etc – the fewer distractions better the chances for the user converting into a buyer.
• There should be no header or footer on the checkout page and the brand logo should not be clickable.

5. Make your check-out process/design/flow user-friendly

The check-out process must be very fast and seamless. You can direct the customer to the checkout page from the product page by adding a “buy now” CTA that will direct them instantly to the checkout page. Make sure that your checkout page is mobile-friendly because most of your customers are going to be mobile users. You can also use indicators and progress bars to show the progress of the process, which will motivate your customers. Remember to provide a 24/7 responsive customer service bot.

Moving beyond checkout page optimization

• There are ways to RTOs even before the order is placed. Target audience based on purchasing capacity and in tier 1 and 2 cities by running discounts on prepaid orders.
• Checking the customer information like their address and pin code and making calls to the customer in order to qualify the order and dispatch them can help reduce RTOs.
• RTO can be managed by giving customers the entire tracking details and updates of their package. And providing them with the contact number of the delivery boy at the time of delivery.

To sum up…

Checkout page optimization is crucial to ensure customer satisfaction and reduced festive season RTOs. The above 5 steps can help you reduce the number of cart abandoners and increase revenues this festive season.

If you are running digital Ads for your eCommerce store and want to optimize the revenue generated from your campaigns, investing in performance marketing can prove to be your best bet.

Get in touch with our performance marketing partner, AdYogi, and make the best use of their top-class automation features like real-time catalogue configuration, pre-defined category smart Ads, stop-loss for products, and expert assistance to scale your eCommerce store.

And if seeking seamless payments, look no further than Simpl. Its one-click checkout promises speed, trust and convenience in a single payment experience. Simpl is trusted by over 26000 merchants and millions of users. These numbers are expected to only rise with time.