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Market Data / Supplier Selection / Event Presentations / User Experience Benchmarking / Best Practice / Template Files / Trends & Innovation Ecommerce Best Practice Compendium 170+ tips and recommendations to improve your conversion rates Report licensed by SDL This is a complimentary copy of the Econsultancy Ecommerce Best Practice Compendium In order to download the original report, please visit the Econsultancy website: http://econsultancy.com/reports/ecommerce-best-practice-compendium Ecommerce Best Practice Compendium Published November 2012 All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher Copyright © Econsultancy.com Ltd 2013 Econsultancy London 4th Floor, Farringdon Point 29-35 Farringdon Road London EC1M 3jf United Kingdom Telephone: +44 (0)20 7269 1450 http://econsultancy.com help@econsultancy.com Econsultancy New York Ste 307, 350 7th Avenue New York, NY 10001 United States Telephone: +1 212 971 0630 Contents About Econsultancy 1.1 About the author Introduction Site search and navigation 3.1 Drop-down menus 3.1.1 3.1.2 3.1.3 3.1.4 3.1.5 3.2 Usability issues with drop-downs How customers activate drop-down menus Mega drop-down menus 10 Examples of drop-down menus 11 Tips for improving drop-down usability 17 Site search 19 3.2.1 3.2.2 3.2.3 3.2.4 Why retailers need site search? 19 Search box design and placement 19 Site search results pages 26 Learning from site search data 37 Product pages 42 4.1 Video 42 4.1.1 Why your product pages need video 42 4.2 Consumer reviews: examples and best practices 48 4.2.1 4.2.2 4.2.3 4.2.4 4.2.5 4.3 4.4 Why you need customer reviews 48 The SEO benefits of reviews 49 Bad reviews are valuable too 50 How to attract reviews from customers 51 How to present reviews and ratings 53 Calls to action 56 Product page copywriting 62 4.4.1 Why product page copy matters 62 4.4.2 What are the ingredients of great product page copy? 62 4.4.3 Five examples of great product page copy 64 4.5 Reserve and collect 68 4.5.1 Why offer reserve and collect? .68 4.5.2 Tips for improving reserve and collect services 69 4.6 Examples of great product pages 75 Ecommerce Best Practice Compendium 170+ tips and recommendations to improve your conversion rates All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher Copyright © Econsultancy.com Ltd 2013 The checkout process 83 5.1 The issue of registration 83 5.1.1 5.1.2 5.1.3 5.1.4 5.2 Checkout abandonment .91 5.2.1 5.2.2 5.2.3 5.2.4 5.3 Example: HMV’s checkout registration issues 83 Consumers hate registration: the stats 85 Approaches to registration 86 Conclusion 90 Deciding whether to shop on an ecommerce site 91 Reasons for abandoning sites soon after arriving 91 Postcodes 93 Avoid the dreaded error message 95 Why should you enclose the checkout process? 96 5.3.1 5.3.2 5.3.3 5.3.4 What is an enclosed checkout process? 96 Reasons for enclosing the checkout 96 Examples from retailers 97 Conclusion 100 Ecommerce Best Practice Compendium 170+ tips and recommendations to improve your conversion rates All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher Copyright © Econsultancy.com Ltd 2013 About Econsultancy Econsultancy is a global independent community-based publisher, focused on best practice digital marketing and ecommerce, and used by over 400,000 internet professionals every month Our hub has 190,000+ members worldwide from clients, agencies and suppliers alike with over 90% member retention rate We help our members build their internal capabilities via a combination of research reports and how-to guides, training and development, consultancy, faceto-face conferences, forums and professional networking For the last ten years, our resources have helped members learn, make better decisions, build business cases, find the best suppliers, accelerate their careers and lead the way in best practice and innovation Econsultancy has offices in London, New York, Singapore and Sydney and we are a leading provider of digital marketing training and consultancy We are providing consultancy and custom training in the Middle East, and extensively across Europe and Asia We trained over 5,000 marketers and ran over 200 public training courses in 2011 Join Econsultancy today to learn what’s happening in digital marketing – and what works Call us to find out more on +44 (0)20 7269 1450 (London) or +1 212 971 0630 (New York) You can also contact us online Other related Econsultancy reports How the Internet Can Save the High Street http://econsultancy.com/reports/how-the-internet-can-save-the-high-street Ecommerce Platforms Buyer’s Guide http://econsultancy.com/reports/ecommerce-platforms-buyers-guide The Multichannel Retail Survey http://econsultancy.com/reports/the-multichannel-retail-survey Product Pages: A Best Practice Guide http://econsultancy.com/uk/reports/product-pages-a-best-practice-guide Checkout Optimization Guide: 70 ways to increase conversion rates http://econsultancy.com/uk/reports/checkout-optimization-guide 1.1 About the author Graham Charlton is Editor of the Econsultancy blog, which has more than 400,000 monthly unique users He writes about all aspects of digital marketing, including mobile, ecommerce and SEO and has also written and contributed to Best Practice Guides on mobile marketing, ecommerce and multichannel retail You can connect with Graham on Twitter (@gcharlton) or LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/graham-charlton) Ecommerce Best Practice Compendium 170+ tips and recommendations to improve your conversion rates All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher Copyright © Econsultancy.com Ltd 2013 Introduction This report is based on our in-depth articles on ecommerce best practice, and forms a valuable guide to improving the ecommerce user experience for visitors, and maximising conversion rates for online retailers It contains hundreds of tips and examples from ecommerce sites on improving search and navigation, making product pages more effective, and reducing checkout abandonment rates This advice all comes with a caveat: though we can make recommendations, and there is much to be said for following existing best practice in this area, the best approach to web design and customer experience will vary depending on the type of website and the customer base Therefore, we would recommend that online retailers test different design approaches to find the combination that delivers the best results for them This report is split into three broad areas: Site search and navigation The report looks at best practices for ecommerce navigation and site search, including the effective use of drop-down menus, and how retailers can improve site search Product pages This section has plenty of useful tips on how to use video, copywriting and reviews more effectively, and also looks at some examples of great product pages from online retailers The checkout process Once retailers have persuaded the customer to add items to their baskets and head for the checkout, it’s vital that the process is as frictionless as possible to minimise abandonment rates This section outlines the common reasons for checkout abandonment, and looks in detail at how retailers can avoid some of the common obstacles which deter shoppers Ecommerce Best Practice Compendium 170+ tips and recommendations to improve your conversion rates All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher Copyright © Econsultancy.com Ltd 2013 Site search and navigation One of the most important design considerations for ecommerce websites is making it easy for shoppers to navigate and find the products or the information they are looking for Users should be able to find products quickly, and with a minimum of cognitive effort This guide will look at navigation and site search, and I think it is important to make the distinction between the two Site navigation is the way that users can find their way around a website by clicking on links, while site search is when users type keywords, or sometimes product codes, into the search box In general, site search has higher conversion rates, as typing a product name or code into the box indicates that the visitor may have done their research already, and arrived at the site with a clear idea of what they want to purchase We have researched best practice in this area, and will show you examples of different approaches to site search and navigation, retailers who we think are doing this well, and mistakes to avoid 3.1 Drop-down menus Drop-down menus are a valuable navigational tool for ecommerce and other sites There can be usability issues with some menus, but a well-designed drop-down will help customers to navigate more quickly and effectively Drop-down menus are now almost ubiquitous on online retail sites and, used well, they enable shoppers to take a shortcut to the product category or sub-category they are looking for, while also providing a chance to promote certain products or offers From a design perspective, the use of drop-down menus also allows a ‘busy’ layout to be tidied up, with all of the sub-categories hidden away awaiting a click or mouse-over However, they can be fiddly to use when not implemented well, and are frequently a pain when viewed on a mobile screen Ecommerce Best Practice Compendium 170+ tips and recommendations to improve your conversion rates All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher Copyright © Econsultancy.com Ltd 2013 3.1.1 Usability issues with drop-downs There are some potential usability hazards with drop-down menus, such as losing the menu altogether by moving the cursor out of the menu area To minimise this risk, avoid drop-down menus with more than two levels, as in this example from Best Buy Since the menu and sub-menus are activated, then the cursor hovers over the menu, it is very easy for customers to hover outside of one of the columns and lose the whole menu It also makes the menu almost impossible to use on a mobile device Making users scroll within drop-down menus should be avoided, as this can be a fiddly process which creates more work for the user, and increases the risk of losing the menu altogether 3.1.2 How customers activate drop-down menus Another consideration is the action that users need to take to activate drop-down menus Users could either click on the navigation bar to activate the navigation menu below, or else the menu could appear when users mouse over the category One advantage of the clickable option is that the menu remains in place whether the cursor remains in the area or not This therefore removes one potential source of frustration Ecommerce Best Practice Compendium 170+ tips and recommendations to improve your conversion rates All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher Copyright © Econsultancy.com Ltd 2013 The fact that users have to click to activate the menu needs to be indicated, as shown in this example from Google However, the majority of retailers use the hover option, which is one argument against the clickable drop-down If users hover and no menu appears, they may assume that there isn’t one It also removes the option of clicking on the navigation bar and heading straight for the category page The problem of losing the menu due to misplacement of the cursor can be solved by delaying the disappearance of the menu by a second or two Microsoft’s UK site used to take this approach with its drop-down menus, though it has since redesigned and opted for the clickable drop-down If you move the cursor outside of the menu area, it doesn’t instantly disappear, but instead users are given a second or two to return to the menu before it vanishes This is an excellent solution to the problem, which removes a potential source of frustration for web users If a menu is activated by the cursor moving over the target area though, it should be easy to close After all, the user may not have intended to open the menu Ecommerce Best Practice Compendium 170+ tips and recommendations to improve your conversion rates All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher Copyright © Econsultancy.com Ltd 2013 In this example from O2, hovering over the data allowance button opens a hovercard explaining the package, but this then obscures part of the comparison table, and it can only be closed by clicking the X This isn’t ideal as it means more work for the user A user-friendly alternative would be to close the menu when users click elsewhere on the page 3.1.3 Mega drop-down menus Large drop-downs can display large numbers of links to sections of the site, and allow users to jump straight to the category or sub-category they are looking for This means customers reach product pages more easily and quickly The design of large drop-downs should be tested though, as it is possible to overwhelm users with too many links Pros and cons of mega drop-down menus Pros Visitors can reach lower levels of navigation quickly, and with a smaller number of clicks If well designed, the drop-down can offer a variety of paths to the same product depending on how the customer wants to shop e.g by brand or by product type Drop-downs can be used to filter and therefore narrow the customer’s product selection, saving them extra clicks They enable retailers to intelligently merchandise the menus by offering the most popular categories at the top and on the left of the drop-down, where they are most visible Mega drop-downs work well with horizontal navigation bars Microsoft eye-tracking research strongly supports using horizontal navigation across the top of a web page, while Jakob Nielsen backs this up with his ‘F-shaped reading pattern’, whereby users start by reading across the top line and then look down the page a little and read across again and then continue down the left side Ecommerce Best Practice Compendium 170+ tips and recommendations to improve your conversion rates All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher Copyright © Econsultancy.com Ltd 2013 5.1.3 Approaches to registration Online retailers want customers to register with them, as this provides useful information for marketing emails, as well as making subsequent purchases easier with stored address and payment details Amazon is the prime example here Its saved address and card details, as well as one-click purchase options make it almost too easy for repeat customers, as well as mobile shoppers Also, asking customers to register only requires one or two additional pieces of information on top of the details required to make a purchase It’s just a case of setting a password, and perhaps a few preferences Paul Rouke, MD of usability firm PRWD, explains this very well: “What I find most fascinating is the responses I get from people when I ask them ‘what additional information you expect you will need to provide if you create an account compared to a guest checkout option?’.” “When they then actually start to break down the type of information they need to provide to checkout using either option, they are left with just one piece of additional information: choosing a password.” The key therefore, is in the presentation of the registration option Retailers, understandably, want to extract some useful information from customers which will help them to personalise future marketing communications However, this should not override the importance of providing a smooth checkout experience for shoppers Also, in many cases, simply by removing the barrier of registration, companies can persuade customers to provide much of this information during the payment process Here are the most common approaches to registration: Compulsory registration before purchase This approach is used by HMV, as well as plenty of well-known retailers, including Tesco, Curry’s, Play.com, Amazon, TopShop and others It could be argued that all of these sites could improve their abandonment rates by removing this barrier, and adding a guest checkout option Of the sites mentioned, at least Play.com outlines the benefits of registration and attempts to reassure customers: Ecommerce Best Practice Compendium 170+ tips and recommendations to improve your conversion rates All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher Copyright © Econsultancy.com Ltd 2013 Optional registration before purchase Why not give customers the choice? This is a good option as it offers the benefits of registration to customers but avoids the drawbacks i.e it doesn’t form a barrier to purchase If the benefits are explained to customers, then some may still choose to register House of Fraser’s recently revamped site provides a range of choices to customers, and explains each clearly A neat approach Compulsory registration during checkout ASOS has a minimalist pre-checkout page, with no option to register before checkout, just a simple continue button This login screen was the result of lengthy split testing, and presents no barriers at all for new customers Ecommerce Best Practice Compendium 170+ tips and recommendations to improve your conversion rates All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher Copyright © Econsultancy.com Ltd 2013 Customers have to create an account during the checkout, but once they are ‘in the door’ it seems less of a chore However, we would question the need for customers to enter date of birth during checkout, or at least make it optional and explain why this question is asked It does seem to be an unnecessary extra barrier Ecommerce Best Practice Compendium 170+ tips and recommendations to improve your conversion rates All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher Copyright © Econsultancy.com Ltd 2013 Optional registration during checkout House of Fraser offers customers the chance to create an account during the checkout process, but doesn’t insist on it It could perhaps more to explain the benefits and encourage more shoppers to register, but the key thing is that is doesn’t make it a barrier No registration at all This is the approach used by Comet From the basket page, customers are straight into entering delivery details, with no intermediate step Comet does take customers’ email addresses for order confirmation, but doesn’t even offer to create an account, though there is an unobtrusive login / register link at the top of the page With this approach, instead of spending time registering, they are selecting delivery options and beginning the purchase This means the checkout is shorter for customers, which should reduce abandonment rates Ecommerce Best Practice Compendium 170+ tips and recommendations to improve your conversion rates All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher Copyright © Econsultancy.com Ltd 2013 There are, however, some significant benefits (easy repeat purchases, personalisation etc.) to both customer and retailer from registration, and for this reason I think the option to sign up and create an account should still be provided at some point during the process 5.1.4 Conclusion The ASOS approach to checkout registration, and the results it has already delivered, show that online retailers can have their cake and eat it They can have the benefits from removing a potential barrier to purchase and still get customers to sign up for accounts Customers are essentially doing the same amount of work and entering the same information as before; it’s the presentation that makes the difference We also like House of Fraser’s approach, as it covers all bases and ensures that there is no barrier at all if customers don’t want it As for HMV and other retailers that still make customers register before checkout, they may benefit from trying out some of these alternatives After all, that’s what testing is for, and if a retailer can reduce abandonment, at anything like the rate that ASOS has, that would make a big difference to revenues Ecommerce Best Practice Compendium 170+ tips and recommendations to improve your conversion rates All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher Copyright © Econsultancy.com Ltd 2013 5.2 Checkout abandonment From security concerns to annoyances around hidden charges or high delivery costs, there are a number of possible reasons why not complete a purchase from an online retailer An Econsultancy survey of 2,000 UK consumers looked at the reasons why customers choose to abandon online purchases Of the 2,000 respondents, just 12.8% don’t shop online, while the other 87.2% shop at least several times per year 5.2.1 Deciding whether to shop on an ecommerce site An ecommerce site needs to convey trustworthiness to potential customers If you are Amazon or John Lewis, then you already have a brand that conveys this, but in the case of less well-known brands, what signs are customers looking for? 48% of respondents said ’trustmarks’ would help them to decide to shop at a particular site I have argued in the past that good design is more important, but ‘trustmarks’ can be effective for smaller retailers who may not be known to the customer ‘Clear contact details’ was cited by 46% of respondents, while 41% would use a site if recommended by friends or colleagues Design factors, such as a professional look to the site and good performance and load times also help to engender trust If you are shopping from a retailer you don’t know well, how would you decide whether to trust the website? 5.2.2 Reasons for abandoning sites soon after arriving We also asked customers why they would quickly abandon a site The main reasons were slow loading pages, poor design, expensive prices, and concerns about security Basket abandonment Basket abandonments have been separated from checkout abandonment in this survey, because though there are common issues, people tend to abandon baskets for different reasons than the payment process Some of the reasons given here, such as high delivery charges (74%) and high prices (49%) are nothing to with good basket design, and this is information that should be conveyed on product pages so customer not have to use the shopping basket to find out Ecommerce Best Practice Compendium 170+ tips and recommendations to improve your conversion rates All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher Copyright © Econsultancy.com Ltd 2013 Another key barrier to purchase is compulsory registration, something which would make 26% of respondents abandon the shopping basket Many retailers are now providing a guest checkout option, or optional registration once a payment has been made, but there are still a few that insist on it, including many mobile commerce sites After adding items to your basket, what would make you abandon your purchase? Checkout abandonment There is plenty that retailers can to optimise the checkout, including enclosing the process to concentrate the customer’s mind, and handling user errors effectively The main issue cited by respondents was hidden charges, for which there is really no excuse Retailers need to be upfront about total prices and delivery costs well before the checkout Customers aren’t going to continue with the purchase just because this information is revealed late in the process In fact, it’s likely to make them more annoyed Once you are in the checkout process, what would deter you from completing the purchase? Security concerns (58%) and technical problems (44%) also cause customers to abandon the checkout, followed by a long process (37%) and lack of contact details (33%) 23% cite security measures such as Verified by Visa It is now widespread on ecommerce sites, and retailers seem to implementing it more effectively than before – embedding it into branded pages, advising customers etc., but this process itself still presents a major barrier for some Remembering one more password can be an issue, one which means that customers have to go to the trouble of resetting the password Ecommerce Best Practice Compendium 170+ tips and recommendations to improve your conversion rates All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher Copyright © Econsultancy.com Ltd 2013 5.2.3 Postcodes One of the most common potential areas of friction within ecommerce checkouts is problems with postcode entry The trouble is, people will enter their postcodes in a number of different ways, in upper or lower case, with or without a space in the middle, or will some make common errors If websites are too rigid in their acceptance of postcodes and unclear in their error messages, then this can be a real source of frustration for potential customers The postcode problem Users can enter postcodes in several ways For example, some may leave a space in the middle, whole others will accidentally substitute zeros for the letter ‘O’, and so on Many sites account for this, and will accept postcodes with or without a space, which is how it should be done However, some don’t, and entering your postcode in the ‘wrong’ format will trigger an error message This happens on the Tesco Clothing website In this case, there was no space in the postcode: There are several problems here: The first is the fact that there is an error message These are to be avoided at all costs Error messages are annoying, especially if the customer hasn’t really done anything wrong Secondly, the checkout form does not specify the format the user needs to use This could be indicated with a simple sentence, or by splitting into two fields so that it’s clear a gap is needed The error message in this case does nothing to address the issue It doesn’t tell the user what they’ve done wrong, or how they can correct it People are left to guess the reason, which is not good enough Ecommerce Best Practice Compendium 170+ tips and recommendations to improve your conversion rates All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher Copyright © Econsultancy.com Ltd 2013 It’s possible that some users may think their postcode is incorrect, check it, re-enter and encounter the same error again Maybe they’ll figure it out in the end, or perhaps they’ll just abandon the process Either way, it’s an unnecessary barrier for shoppers It is not difficult to add or remove spaces from a postcode (or indeed a telephone number), so why blame the customer when you didn’t even tell them what you wanted in the first place? According to Lovehoney Head of E-commerce Matthew Curry: “It’s pretty easy to code around the spacing issue All postcodes have to have three alphanumerics after the space (whether it exists or not), so you can figure out what the outcode part of what’s been entered, and correctly format the input before passing it to whatever postcode validator you have.” “Remember though that some new addresses may not be in the database of your postcode validator, so always provide a manual override.” What should retailers do? The rule here is to let customers type in what they want and then use your ecommerce system to process it into a different format if necessary If the customer does make an error during checkout it must be made clear that an error has been detected and secondly, the location of the error on the form must be highlighted and the nature of the error indicated Other postcode issues This is not the only potential problem with postcode entry, though it is perhaps the most common, and also easiest to fix There are other possible issues around customers entering the letter ‘O’ when a zero was required, the number instead of the letter ‘i’ or shifted characters (i.e £ instead of 3, $ rather than 4) All of these issues can potentially produce error messages, and in many cases customers may be unaware of their mistake This frustration, often compounded by unclear error messages such as Tesco’s, can cause customers to abandon purchases For example, on Argos, if I type the letter O rather than a zero, it generates an error message This happens with or without a space in the postcode Ecommerce Best Practice Compendium 170+ tips and recommendations to improve your conversion rates All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher Copyright © Econsultancy.com Ltd 2013 Argos is the second biggest online retailer in the UK, so I wonder how many customers may be abandoning due to this common error These may seem small issues, but it can make a big difference to your sales With the O/zero issue, Belron’s Craig Sullivan realised this was causing 2.5% of customers to abandon and changed the checkout forms to anticipate this input error It’s a simple and elegant fix which avoids blaming the customer and makes the checkout process that little bit smoother 5.2.4 Avoid the dreaded error message The main point here is to avoid error messages as much as possible Users will enter information in different ways, and will make mistakes Many of these errors, like the ones described above, are common and easy to anticipate By accounting for these mistakes, ecommerce sites can avoid the user frustration that my cause abandonment Of course, customers will still find ways to make errors however much you account for them In this case, make sure your error messaging is polite and instructive This one (since removed) is instructive at least, but not so polite: The fewer error messages people see during the checkout process, the more likely it is that they will complete the purchase Ecommerce Best Practice Compendium 170+ tips and recommendations to improve your conversion rates All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher Copyright © Econsultancy.com Ltd 2013 5.3 Why should you enclose the checkout process? Enclosing or isolating the checkout process is one proven method of reducing abandonment, as it focuses the customer’s mind on the steps they need to take to complete a purchase 5.3.1 What is an enclosed checkout process? An enclosed checkout is one which is stripped down compared to the rest of the site, by removing the header and footer content, and any left hand navigation menus According to Dr Mike Baxter in Econsultancy’s Checkout Optimization guide: “In place of the header should be a company logo in the top left of the page – this can be linked to the home page as the only ‘escape route’ remaining out of checkout, or simply left as an image.” In addition, Dr Baxter advises that the footer during checkout should provide links to information about delivery, returns policies, contact options, and privacy and security Crucially, these links should be displayed in a pop up layer or lightbox over the checkout page so that customers can view the information without being taken out of the process 5.3.2 Reasons for enclosing the checkout When reviewing ecommerce websites, one of the areas we always look at is whether retailers have isolated the checkout This is the rationale behind it: By leaving out navigational elements, all unnecessary distractions are removed and this allows the shopper to focus purely on completing their purchase Thanks to the removal of these distractions, information which gives the visitor confidence in their purchase is made more prominent, such as delivery details and customer service contact details Security logos and messages are more visible, providing reassurances for the securityconscious shopper It is made absolutely clear to visitors where they are within the checkout process and how many steps they have left to complete their purchase Apart from the homepage link, customers can only head in one direction, towards the payment and order confirmation page Ecommerce Best Practice Compendium 170+ tips and recommendations to improve your conversion rates All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher Copyright © Econsultancy.com Ltd 2013 5.3.3 Examples from retailers Unenclosed checkouts This example from the Paperchase website shows a process which has not been enclosed The navigation menu and search box are still in place at the top of the page, providing plenty of potential distractions for shoppers: The foot of the page also retains the links from the footer, all of which could take customers away from the checkout: Ecommerce Best Practice Compendium 170+ tips and recommendations to improve your conversion rates All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher Copyright © Econsultancy.com Ltd 2013 Enclosed checkouts Tesco has removed the main navigation and site search options, but there are still 15 links on the page which will take customers away from the process River Island has successfully removed most distractions from the checkout, with the only links on the page showing delivery details, contact options, T&Cs and security info However, all of these links open up without warning in a new window, taking customers way from the checkout page Showing these in a lightbox over the page would have been a better option Ecommerce Best Practice Compendium 170+ tips and recommendations to improve your conversion rates All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher Copyright © Econsultancy.com Ltd 2013 The ASOS checkout is about as enclosed as you can get Apart from the logo which links back to the homepage, there are no links at all on the page: This is certainly free of distractions for shoppers, but perhaps some information on delivery and returns, as well as contact details, should be provided for customers that need this Finally, John Lewis provides an excellent all-round example: The process is enclosed, and the links for key information open up in a pop-up window which is easy to close and keeps the customer on the page Ecommerce Best Practice Compendium 170+ tips and recommendations to improve your conversion rates All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher Copyright © Econsultancy.com Ltd 2013 5.3.4 Conclusion For retailers yet to introduce an enclosed checkout process, I would recommend testing to see if this works for them in terms of reducing abandonment Full enclosure, as in the ASOS example, may not be suitable for every retailer, as they may find that customers need more hand-holding during the checkout By testing some of the variations used in this post, the results will tell you which version will deliver a better conversion rate If you have been testing this on your site, we’d like to hear about your experience and, of course, we’d love to see the data Please contact editor@econsultancy.com if you’d like to share your insights with us Ecommerce Best Practice Compendium 170+ tips and recommendations to improve your conversion rates All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher Copyright © Econsultancy.com Ltd 2013 ... http://econsultancy.com/reports/the-multichannel-retail-survey Product Pages: A Best Practice Guide http://econsultancy.com/uk/reports/product-pages-a -best- practice- guide Checkout Optimization Guide: 70 ways to increase... writes about all aspects of digital marketing, including mobile, ecommerce and SEO and has also written and contributed to Best Practice Guides on mobile marketing, ecommerce and multichannel... headings, supporting images and promotions for offers and best- selling products, which aids usability and helps drive sales Ecommerce Best Practice Compendium 170+ tips and recommendations to improve
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