Use Cases
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Getting customers to throw items into their shopping carts is only half the battle. Closing the sale and making sure that the products don’t get lost in shopping cart limbo is just as important as attracting the right customers.
For ecommerce, trust is everything. Customers trust that your ecommerce store is securely handling their payment information and that they’ll get the product they are paying for. The moment you lose your customer’s trust, the harder it will be to close the sale.
Make sure you’re protecting your revenue by instilling greater trust in your checkout process and reducing cart abandonment with these 5 checkout elements.
1. Showcase SSL certificates on your site.
Displaying Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificates on your online store is one of the easiest ways to tell customers that your site is secure. The Secure Socket Layer protocol provides secure and encrypted communication between a website and internet browser. These security badges are often placed on payment pages and login forms to give customers peace of mind and signal to them that their sensitive information is being handled properly.
A study by Baymard Institute on checkout usability revealed that the perceived sense of security of a website is important to a majority of users. In fact, just adding visual clues like borders and security icons to a credit form field may be enough to make customers feel more comfortable handing over this sensitive information.
2. Be GDPR compliant.
If you’re dealing with customers in the European Union, you’re well aware of the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ruling around personal data management. Being GDPR compliant signals to your customers that you’re handling their data securely. Customers can easily request to see how their personal data is being processed, request for their data to be “forgotten”, and have the right to be notified if their data is comprised.
3. Ensure proper Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance.
Businesses accepting card payments on their ecommerce site must adhere to strict PCI rules. The Payment Card Industry Standards help protect users by ensuring that the companies who accept, process, store or transmit credit card information are doing so in a secure manner. The standards showcase a clear benchmark of operational and technical requirements that businesses need to follow to ensure proper data security.
PCI compliance comes in the form of a tiered system where businesses are assigned a merchant level based on their transaction volume.
- Level 1: Merchants processing over 6 million card transactions per year.
- Level 2: Merchants processing 1 to 6 million transactions per year.
- Level 3: Merchants handling 20,000 to 1 million transactions per year.
- Level 4: Merchants handling fewer than 20,000 transactions per year.
4. Offer personalized shopping experiences.
Ecommerce personalization focuses specifically on building native shopping experiences for your customers based on their geographical location.
By building online shopping experiences to fit the unique needs and expectations of your customer, you reduce the uncertainty of browsing and shopping ecommerce sites. Visitors will load your web pages in their native language and display the appropriate currency, payment methods, and overall look and feel to more closely align with their preferences.
For online shoppers, displaying these personalized commerce pages helps cut down on the knee-jerk reactions that often occur when customers get hit with surprise taxes or find out they have to pay more for a product because the price displayed doesn’t correctly reflect their local currency. By setting clear expectations about what your customers can expect and not deviating from them, you can foster greater trust in their checkout experience.
5. Cut out third-party redirects.
Forcing customers to finish their purchase on a third-party site is hurting your conversion rates. Not only do your third-party redirects force customers to navigate an additional step in the checkout process, but it is often a confusing experience for your customer since it gives the appearance that they are giving their money to a completely different business.
With a popup checkout, customers can buy directly from the product page without having to leave your site. Completing transactions from the product pages takes the hassle from the checkout experience.
Remember to delight your customers.
The fact that your customers are now shopping virtually and not in a physical store shouldn’t be an excuse for you to not go out of your way to create “delightful” shopping experiences for them. Establishing clear expectations for your customers and building a relationship of trust is key.
To recap, to foster this sense of security and trust in your shoppers you need to:
- Utilize visual cues like SSL badges to communicate how secure your site is.
- Adhere to all international regulations like GDPR.
- Ensure that you’re PCI Compliant to protect transaction data.
- Reduce uncertainty when shopping by offering personalized ecommerce experiences.
- Streamline checkout by allowing customers to buy on-site.
Looking for more tips to elevate your digital business? Download our ebook, What You Need To Know About Selling Online.
