Mobile e-commerce best practices to improve your online sales

Online shopping has its own set of benefits and challenges.

When it comes to an e-commerce platform, checkout is one of the most important components.

E-commerce developers put a lot of effort into testing and researching how to enhance the user experience for the portal and the interface.

However, even when following mobile e-commerce best practices, the situation won’t always work to your benefit.

Most of the time, two out of three online shoppers will demonstrate a habit of abandoning an online shopping cart. When it comes to mobile shopping carts, the conversion rate is a 70% drop compared to a website e-commerce portal.

This makes the entire situation even more problematic.

So the question becomes: mobile phone app users are more than simply browsing when it comes to e-commerce.

Then why is there such a huge difference? Read on to understand more.

Top Reasons Why Easy Checkout is an Important Mobile Commerce Tool

User Experience (UX) is an integral part of understanding the scope of digital marketing.

Today, 71% of smartphone owners prefer using their phones to do online shopping. They simply download the app of their favorite online shopping destination and start shopping.

However, out of these regular shoppers, 40% tend to shift to a competitor’s portal after a single bad experience.

Remember that customers today are extremely choosy and finicky. Even though they may seem loyal to your brand, chances are they won’t think twice before switching over to your competitors if they experience:

•  Inadequate product quality
•  Bad shipment delivery experience
•  Poorly designed mobile interface
•  Complicated checkout process

Note that most of these actions happen during the e-commerce checkout session – whether it’s a mobile shopping cart or a website e-commerce browser.

If you’re facing repeated shopping cart abandonment, you need to re-examine your interface and make needed corrections. Something is lacking in your online shopping portal that’s turning your users off.

And they’re leaving at the end moment without completing their shopping.

The answer here is simple. Your mobile e-commerce site needs improvement – as soon as possible.

The pace of the digital arena has become rapid, dynamic and volatile. It’s evolving too fast.

Consumers are finding it difficult to visit retail stores during their hectic schedule. E-commerce shopping allows consumers to shop sitting in an office or at home and operate for 24 hours. Also, product delivery is made door-step which eradicates the transportation trouble. Trends have shown that products available online are low in price as compared to retail stores. Moreover, customers are given discounts and bundling offers which propel the product sales. These features have attracted huge consumers group towards online shopping. – Grand View Research

One of the most important aspects of the user experience as far as mobile e-commerce best practices are concerned is providing an awesome checkout experience. This is the most important gateway.

And you must have foolproof strategies in place to keep up with your customers’ expectations.

Even though the e-commerce market has grown by more than $2.8 billion by 2018, the percentage of people abandoning their shopping cart has also increased on a quarterly basis.

It doesn’t matter which industry you cater to, the issue of cart abandonment rates is pretty alarming across numerous industries.

More than 75% of online shoppers tend to abandon their shopping cart at the last moment before they make a purchase. The key reasons can include:

• Users suddenly realize there are additional delivery charges attached to the item;
• The checkout experience is an unsatisfactory one;
• Payment options are limited;
• There are no options for a guest checkout;
• Shoppers decide they no longer need the product.

So what is the best way out? As a marketer, how can you handle this situation and make it work to your advantage?

Simply follow the mobile e-commerce best practices and improve the checkout experience for your customers.

Top 10 Mobile E-Commerce Best Practices

If you follow these recommendations, you’ll notice a steep rise in your conversion rate. I wish the process was simple, but in reality, it requires a lot of planning, strategies and the studying of customer behavior.

Most users complain that they confront recurring issues during the checkout process that mobile e-commerce companies fail to address.

So consider taking a survey, conducting a study of what your competitors are doing, and follow the market trends.

With a streamlined system, you can create an easy gateway for your mobile shopping users.

here are some additional tips for ways you can improve your checkout process and provide a better purchase experience for your customers.

1. Improve the mobile shopping experience

Even though traffic from mobile devices is much higher than from desktop, the mobile conversion rate is much lower.

In fact, 88% of consumers complain that they go through a bad experience using the mobile interface for online shopping. A few noted reasons include:

• • Complicated app interface;
  • Products are not visible properly;
  • Navigation is complicated or does not work well;
  • Slow or improper checkout process;
  • Security concerns.

Review your payment process, run multivariate testing and see how you can improve the results.

Then choose a payment vendor who can provide easy options and simple payment gateways. If you offer COD (Cash on Delivery), mention that up top. Offer your users a one-click payment experience.

2. Provide multiple payment options

You can improve your customers’ checkout experience immediately by offering multiple payment options.

Today, retailers have hundreds of payment options available to them. You can integrate digital wallets to your checkout, making the process highly flexible.

Consider offering the option of purchasing now and paying later by using Pay with Amazon. That allows you to make the purchase now and pay Amazon later.

It also allows you to avoid sharing your card details with the company. Add to this the rise of cryptocurrencies where you will get the option to pay with Bitcoin.

3. Find ways to increase stickiness

Improve your conversion rates by providing special coupon codes with attractive discounts. Customers are always looking for cheaper deals.

Armed with those coupons, the moment consumers see your brand is offering additional reductions on an already discounted item, they’re likely to grab the offer without any second thoughts.

For example, let’s say you’re selling a designer bag at a 30% discount. When your buyer goes to the checkout page, offer them an additional discount of 15% — if they make the payment within the next 15 minutes.

You’ve given them a flat discount of 45% — and you’re getting a confirmed checkout.

4. Erase distractions

The more your users have opportunities to get distracted, the higher the chances they’ll leave the checkout process without completing it. Unlike a website browser, a mobile app has a minimal scope of distractions.

However, people still might abandon your checkout cart, so keep the layout simple, and use subdued links that won’t distract them.

Remove all excess designs and links.

5. Highlight important product information

Often times, a customer might want to read the product information a second time before completing their purchase using the checkout page. At that point, the customer doesn’t want to go all the way back to the product description page and read about the product yet again.

You can have a small drop down link on the checkout page where the product details are mentioned. You can even have a shorter version of the product information as a part of the expanding menu.

6. Keep it uncomplicated

Your cart page should be the most uncomplicated page of your entire mobile app. Provide a limited display of information along with the cart details. Anything more will make the page overcrowded.

However, your checkout cart page should have certain features, including:

• Update cart
• Remove products
• Add more products
• Change products
• Update quantity

7. Check out Auto-complete functionality

Consumers definitely appreciate it when the cart on mobile app has an auto-complete function, a unique feature.

Auto-fill forms help visitors fill out the form details automatically while they’re checking out. Until they’re clearing their cache and cookies, all their data remains saved on the app after they fill the form.

A Few features to enrich the checkout page of your mobile e-commerce

Here are some features that will definitely boost the checkout page of your mobile e-commerce site.

8. Good font size

Your text fields and labels should be visible and readable without having to zoom. Users should be able to easily input the fields in a readable format. Therefore choose the font size wisely. Run a test on your app before you launch.

9. Call Us button

You can include a quick call button in a corner of the check out page. If any user has any doubts or questions and want an immediate answer, that quick call link will connect them with customer care, and they no longer need to abandon the checkout page, which is an integral part of mobile e-commerce best practices that bring business credibility.

10. Guest checkout option and Expandable Menus

A lot of mobile apps don’t offer a guest checkout option. That’s a mistake. Companies want to capture as much data from their customers as possible. This data is extremely valuable and gets stored by the companies to use it for future marketing purposes and to know their customer better.

However, all too often, the user doesn’t want to register with the app before they can order a particular item.

Therefore, you should provide them with both a sign-in option and a guest check-in option. This way, your user will have the freedom to choose and proceed with the checkout process.

Use expanding menus to add shipping details and a FAQs section. This way, with one single click the user will be able to read the shipping details and have their questions answered without having to exit the checkout page.

The current trend in e-commerce marketplace has stretched its wings in various directions today, in comparison to how it started. Today’s e-commerce marketplace is no more just an online platform where people can buy or sell things but much more, from being hyperlocal to infusing artificial intelligence to offering even intangible goods and services like GST compliance or short-term loans, e-commerce marketplace has evolved rapidly. – Rahul Garg,
founder & CEO at Moglix

Conclusion

When it comes to successful e-commerce, your main goal is a very simple one: getting your customers through the checkout process as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Add to that your need to ensure that they don’t abandon their mobile shopping cart.

Make it less complicated and more user-friendly so your customers will keep coming back to make a future purchase.

Because retaining existing customers is also part of your mobile e-commerce best practices.