part 6 > Shopping cart development: how to get customers to pull out (And Use) the credit card

Build it and they will come... but will they buy?

When planning eCommerce shopping cart development, it's sometimes easier to talk about "what not to do". Most of us who've shopped online have a list a mile long of things that drive us crazy. Sometimes we're patient or having a particularly good day and nothing bothers us. But other days, we'd just as soon never shop again than spend thirty seconds "registering for an account". Stay on your customers' shopping lists by following an eCommerce shopping cart development process that puts customers first.

Interested in working with a professional web development company? Contact us to find out how we can build your eCommerce shopping cart system.

eCommerce shopping cart development: think like a buyer

Experience can be the best teacher for effective shopping cart development. Just remember the sites you've visited, and visited again, even though you might have gotten a lower price elsewhere. What kept you coming back?

Ease of checkout is one of the most important pieces of good shopping cart development, and can include a number of things:

• A clearly defined call to action. Think in action words - "buy now" and "add to cart" buttons make it easy for customers to do just that.
• A clearly defined purchase policy. Remember those business rules you established? Don't hide them from your customers. Answer the important questions - What will it cost to ship? Can I return it? When will I get it? - so customers will feel confident purchasing. The best shopping cart development in the world won't win customers if they aren't comfortable buying from you.
• A simple checkout process. This one is so important to shopping cart development that it deserves its own heading...

Good shopping cart development makes it all but impossible for a visitor to get to checkout and then say no

If you've enticed your visitors to checkout with good product organization, tempting descriptions and reassuring purchase policies, you're almost there. Now convert that visitor into a customer by making the process simple and secure.

• Provide a concise order summary. Make it clear to customers what they have chosen and how much it costs.
• Keep your customers' options open. Provide the opportunity to keep shopping, and be sure the cart items are still there when the customer returns. Allow customers to update quantities, delete items, even return to a product's description page.
• Upsell but don't oversell. Checkout is an appropriate time to suggest complementary products, but be careful not to bog customers down with additional advertising or force them to decline offer after offer before submitting their order. Sometimes simple is better for effective shopping cart development.
• Collect marketing information later. The only thing you should require your customers to do at checkout is check out. For better customer service, you can ask customers to create an account but this should be as easy as providing a name and e-mail address. Good shopping cart development focuses on the sale.
• Make required information clear. A tiny asterisk (*) can go a long way toward facilitating checkout. Tell your customers up front how much information they need to provide.
• Make checkout foolproof. Good shopping cart development takes into account human error. Instead of relying on a customer to enter a two-letter state abbreviation, provide a list from which to choose. Pre-populate credit card options, expiration dates and shipping choices, too.
• Complete information for your customer. Shopping cart development should take returning customers into account. Remember their shipping and billing information and save them a step during checkout.

The easier it is to check out, the more likely your visitor will do it. And do it again. Remember, part of good shopping cart development and eCommerce web site planning is not getting that initial sale, but getting the one after it. Read more about closing the sale and avoiding "cart abandonment" with effective shopping cart development.

Are your customers getting to checkout but leaving before they hit the order button? Contact us for professional eCommerce shopping cart consulting and development.

Next > Web site marketing: getting your site out there