It doesn’t matter how much your customers intend to buy if everything falls apart at checkout. Customers could have a cart full of items, but if checkout is impossibly slow or inefficient, they are likely to walk out. You can eliminate this possibility by optimizing the checkout experience.
Speed up the Checkout Process
For brick-and-mortar stores this starts with prompt service. The ability to automatically open another register when needed will help the checkout process run smoothly. You can do this by shunning traditional cash registers in favor of using POS enabled tablets. It also helps to use a POS based in the cloud. The larger and busier your store is the more it will benefit from these changes. Adding lanyard scanners to your business model will eliminate the need for a clunky credit card machine at each register.
Another way to speed up the checkout process is to accept payments from a customer’s mobile device. You can choose to use a mobile-friendly POS or even create an app your customers can use to pay.
Don’t think that if you have an online business you are immune to the pitfalls of a bad checkout experience. It has been proven that a complicated checkout process will cause some customers to avoid completing the transaction. When your payment processing rate drops, you will know this is happening to you. It often occurs when customers are required to create an account with your site before completing their purchase. It can even be an issue if your site directs them to another page for credit card processing. Many customers distrust this, feeling they may be falling for a scam.
To combine online and offline business, consider allowing customers to order online but pick up in store. This eliminates the need to pay for shipping, something many customers aren’t able or willing to do.
Improving the checkout experience doesn’t have to be daunting. There are several options you can choose that show customers you are committed to their needs. When your customers feel like you can give them what they want, they are more likely to give your business their hard earned money.
