Website - ecommerce check out

If your website has an active ecommerce application, it's wise to track the data  to ensure that your customers are not checking out, before they check out.

We've written about keeping your customers on site, and that your navigation and layout need to be easy to use or user friendly. As you know one click and you are gone. Well this applies to all areas of your website and once you have your customer going down the buying cycle, it's imperative that the transaction is easy, appears safe and notes all costs upfront ( back to that trust issue). Nothing worse than having your customer spend time only to be frustrated with additional requests, extra costs or not feeling that their credit card information is safe.

I came across an article in Entrepreneur Magazine discussing the issue of check and some tips from Greg Hintz of Yahoo shopping. These suggestion will assist in keeping your customers online and processing orders versus abandoning part way through the buying process. Greg's suggestions;

Show all costs up front - keep trust

Checkout must be easy - no logins, marketing requests, just close the sale

Discount codes - allow them to enter discounts early

Safe - ecommerce must appear and be secure

Some common sense thoughts. Greg has additional thoughts on this video link, click here.

As your digital agency we recommend that every section of your website be reviewed, analyzed and done so frequently. Your site is the hub of your business and it's critical to ensure that you are fully aware of the traction your site is getting. As noted above, you don't want your customer checking out without the sale.

Michael Bickerton, JBM Interactive Ltd, August 2010