How to Increase Mobile Conversions with These Checkout Optimisation Tips

28/08/2018 By appnova Reading Time: 4 minutes

Did you know that more people worldwide own a mobile phone than a toothbrush? That’s right, a toothbrush! It may sound a bit ridiculous, but technology and the ability to access the internet is something users see as crucial today. In fact, across the globe, more than half of all internet traffic generated in 2018 has been from mobile devices. With more users accessing and interacting with content on mobile devices, it makes sense that businesses are shifting their attention to mobile optimisation as well.

Additionally, eCommerce sales are expected to reach US$2.8 trillion by the end of this year, and US$4.5 trillion by 2021. Within eCommerce, fashion eCommerce is one of the fastest growing markets, bringing in US$481.2 billion this year alone. To help keep your business on the fast track, we’ll cover 5 ways your brand can increase mobile conversions with checkout optimisation methods.

Let’s get started!

1: Improve Your Page Load Time

Page load time plays a major role in whether or not users stay on your website. 47% of consumers expect web pages to load in two seconds or less, and 40% of users will abandon the page overall if it takes three or more seconds to load. When users want information, they want it now. One of the best ways to approach your eCommerce conversion optimisation is to improve your page load time, and one of the best ways to do this is by minimising your website’s HTTP requests.

HTTP requests are just another way of saying that a web browser (aka Chrome, Safari, Firefox… etc. ) is requesting a server for the files to show your website’s content to a user, and large file sizes complicate this process. with imagery being the most frequent culprit. You can still have high-quality imagery on your web page, but be sure to optimise your website for that imagery to decrease page load time.

One way to do this is to express your images’ width and height in pixels in your code so browsers can reserve that area for your imagery even before the pictures load — if a browser doesn’t know the dimensions of the image, it can’t reserve that area beforehand and will have to do so while the page is loading. Another way to help decrease your HTTP requests is by removing unnecessary files from your web page. Don’t worry too much about having too many file requests, though, as the average number per web page is 99+.

2: Create a Seamless Checkout Process

It may seem obvious, but you would be surprised at how many companies still haven’t integrated a digital wallet into their website. A very good way to increase your brand’s mobile eCommerce conversion rate is to create a seamless checkout process with either PayPal, Apple Pay, Chase Pay or another digital wallet. These kinds of integrations are important for conversion rate optimisation because these eWallets help users along the sales funnel — it’s one less step they have to worry about on their checkout journey.

3: Ensure User Safety

In order to increase your mobile conversions, you need to gain your audience’s trust. That’s why digital wallet integration plays such an important role in increasing mobile conversions; users trust money transfer systems like Apple Pay and PayPal. The last thing you want is to alienate a user because they feel your website is too dodgy. It’s very simple, users want to know their personal information is safe and that the checkout process is secure.

Of all consumers who have left the checkout process, 17% of them note that the reason they left was because they had “concerns about payment security.” If you haven’t integrated a digital wallet or third party money transfer system into your website, your brand needs to go the extra mile to make your users feel secure by adding trust badges to your store. It may seem like a small addition, but adding these badges will undoubtedly increase your checkout conversion rate because users will feel secure in their purchase.

4: Integrate Your Social Accounts

As this article on increasing sales on Shopify states, social media plays a large role in eCommerce because you can generate a lot of qualified leads from your social media accounts. Posting content, attracting users to your brand and engaging with your audience on social media are some of the best marketing hacks your company can use today.

With adults spending around 2 hours a day on social platforms, and the fact that it’s free, social is definitely the way to go. Keep in mind that eCommerce conversion rate by industry can vary on social media, so you may want to do some competitor research to see how they’re leveraging their social channels. Once you have a good idea for how you can generate qualified leads, start posting!

5: Allow Guest Users

One of the main reasons why users abandoned the checkout process was because they needed to create an account. Paul Boag of Shopify said it best when he wrote, “[u]sers didn’t come to your site to create an account, they came to buy something.” It may sound a bit harsh, but it’s the truth. Every eCommerce agency will give you the same advice and tell you to keep it simple.

Creating a seamless user experience means allowing your customers to proceed to checkout as guest users. While you may be vying for their email addresses to stay in touch, choose the right moment to ask. Instead of prompting them to create an account prior to their purchase, ask users to do so after the fact. That way, it’s a win-win situation; you made a sale, they bought the product, you got their email, and they get to stay updated with what else your brand has to offer.

Tip Recap

Starting with liking and sharing products your users are interested in, they can now easily complete an entire checkout process from their phones and other mobile devices. The tips we covered today are some best practices any brand can use to increase their mobile conversions. Let’s go over them again: