Top features of a successful mobile checkout

E-commerce is full of secrets. You could offer the best products or create the most lucrative marketing campaigns.

Still, the overall success largely depends on how your website works. That’s why we love to share website tips, like for optimizing your e-commerce checkout. Among general checkout tips, special attention needs to be paid to mobile commerce peculiarities. So let’s move on and discover some useful tips for creating a successful mobile checkout.

Mobile e-commerce: the near victory!

According to Statista, the share of US mobile e-commerce will reach 53.9% in the year 2021, which means the final victory of mobile. Are you going to celebrate it or fear it? It all depends on how ready your mobile checkout is to receive guests.

Well, you do not have to wait for 2021, because the same index will reach 39.6% in 2018. Already almost half of your users want to buy from their smartphone — and they will either love or leave your e-commerce website.

Peculiarities of mobile shopping

To provide good mobile user experiences, we need to walk in our customers’ shoes. Let’s see what makes the mobile shopping processes special. All this should be considered in checkout optimization:

• Mobile shoppers often have a weak Internet connection or limited data packages
• It is particularly hard for them to type in a lot of text
• They won’t appreciate a lot of scrolling
• They need to use their fingers for all the actions they take  during your checkout
• Some mobile screens may be especially small
• Various distractions can easily take users’ attention away
• Users are often in a hurry and need quick results

Successful mobile checkout features

Minimalism and the highest level

Checkout is not the place for cross-selling, advertisements, animation, and things like that. All these extra elements both distract users and reduce speed, so they need to be avoided. And, of course, your checkout forms should only be asking for the information that is really necessary.

Checkout steps with progress indication

Even if you have cut down all unnecessary form fields, your checkout may still look too lengthy for a mobile screen. Mobile users will have to scroll down it, which might intimidate users.

After all, in the whole shopping process, the checkout is the only page where they have to type something in. This will be easier for them if the checkout is divided into multiple pages.

You need to to show users where they are in the process and how much is left. This is achieved by progress indicators.

Buttons for all the necessary steps

All call-to-actions, including those leading to the next checkout step, should be presented as buttons, not links. Buttons are much more noticeable and convenient to click. Colors and contrasts are necessary for making the buttons stand out visually.

Large buttons, fields, and fonts

To provide good user experiences, all buttons and data input fields should be large enough for human fingers. Fonts should be easily read from a small screen without zooming in.

Trust signs

When shopping from a phone, users need to be assured of their safety. Thanks to SSL certificates, you will have the “safety” lock and the green HTTPS domain name shown to users. You could also add signs like “PCI compliance,” as well as offer the possibility to pay via famous payment providers.

Express checkout option

Since mobile users are often pressed for time, offering an express checkout option is a must. You can offer both the express checkout and sign-in options to your users. Additionally, sign-ins via Facebook or other social media are great ideas.

And, of course, as mentioned above, the names of famous payment providers can attract users, so offer them the options to pay with PayPal, Google Wallet, Stripe, or other services.

Accordion menus instead of external links

When users are at the checkout, they may need to go back for some information on your website (shipping, return policy, FAQ, etc.). To avoid distracting them from completing the checkout process, you may present this information in the form of an accordion menu. They will open with a click and then collapse.

Inline editing for product attributes

Users often need to edit the product characteristics that they have chosen by mistake or have changed their mind about — for example, size, color, or quantity. Instead of sending them back, you can offer them inline editing right on the checkout page.

The right input formats

Make sure you help users enter the information in the right format for each field. They do not have to switch, for example, from text to digits — the keyboard should change automatically.

Address finders

To free your users from the need to type a lot, you can use address finder tools. They will autocomplete the address fields on the basis of what a user has started to type. A country, a city, a street, a postal code, a shipping company name or other uses hints to let the “artificial mind” do the rest of the work. You can also offer them an opportunity to tick a box, allowing them to use their address for future purchases.

No autocorrect for name fields

For some types of information, typing help has the opposite effect. It’s better to disable autocorrect when it comes to first or last names, because it may only annoy your users.

Helpful hints to avoid errors

When a user has filled out a form, pressed the final button, and they are confronted with an error, it is sad — especially if the previously entered data disappears, and they have to type on their mobiles again.

Be kinder to your users! Let them know immediately if fields have been filled out incorrectly. Floating hints, placeholders, red or green color, real-time validation, and other tricks can be very helpful for correct form filling.

Final thoughts

Happy shopping to your mobile users, and let them enjoy your checkout! If you need help with optimizing your mobile checkout or creating one from scratch, entrust it to our web development team. We have plenty of experience with e-commerce, and will happily use it for your benefit!