Reverse drop rate from checkout process
If you intend to make a e-commerce application make sure you adopt a simple checkout process, or you already run an e-commerce app pay attention to checkout process, assess and analyze the drop and dig into the root cause of it. Just when you are about to close a sale Unfriendly shopping carts kill your site’s ability to convert sales.
Studies have shown that the average online business website loses about 75 percent of its shoppers during the shopping cart stage of transaction, which is a huge loss in terms of business. Why they drop off and how this trend can be reversed by following simple steps -
1) State total price clearly – Be honest upfront and provide total price at the first step rather than inflating the price at the final step of checkout by adding Tax, VAT, shipping charges etc. Inflated price is real shocker for users and they feel cheated and they had assumed the price displayed before checking out is the final price. Afterall honesty is the best policy 
. Recently i dropped out from checkout process at Bigshoebazaar since shipping charges was introduced at the last stage and it inflated the price.
2) Simple Checkout process - Emphasis and hence design of shopping cart should be such that it should be easy for users to buy. Try to make your check out method a short, one page affair. Having them fill up too many pages with useless information will only drive them away.
3) Include Progress Indicators - Customers need to know where they are in the shopping process. This holds truer for e-commerce sites. Label the steps clearly to let the customers know where they are in the check out process. Some of them, especially those new to online shopping, want to check and double check their actions. Make it easy for them to navigate back and forth through the pages. It gives confidence while buying and merchant credibility is built.
-Hitesh, vcBytes.com
Ashutosh Saxena said,
Wrote on March 19, 2010 @ 3:19 am
Very true, I too have lost interest in completing the shopping at times if the cart-processing and billing is tedious or time-taking.
Pradeep Kumar Mishra said,
Wrote on March 21, 2010 @ 7:37 am
great points hitesh. I like checkout process of flipkart a lot coz it’s simple
Ashutosh Sandhal said,
Wrote on March 22, 2010 @ 2:12 am
you have pin pointed good loop holes for an online shopping site. I just hope online shopping sites do read this and take it seriously and implement your thoughts.
Manmeet Kalra said,
Wrote on March 23, 2010 @ 2:36 pm
Hitesh,
Great points!
To add to your points:
Customers have to be assured that the transaction is secure and they would not end up compromising their credit card information.This is another big reason for high shopping cart drop rates.