Kicking off the holiday season will lead to more sales, fewer customer issues, and less cart abandonment—no matter how much you want to pretend it’s still summer.
So let’s take a look at some steps you can take to improve your checkout process before the holidays and how Amazon Pay can help.
Abandoned shopping carts mean lost customers and lost sales. And with a global cart abandonment rate of 79.19%,1 it’s time for your business to make addressing this issue a priority—especially during the busy holiday season.
While there are many reasons why people may leave your store without making a purchase, at the top of the list is a time-consuming checkout process. Customers expect shopping to be fast, easy and secure. Let’s look at some data.
Insights from the Baymard Institute
In 2022, the Baymard Institute, an independent research firm focused on e-commerce usability, conducted a study on optimizing the shopper experience. Findings from Amazon Pay revealed some interesting insights into how shoppers approach online checkout.
Researchers have found that e-commerce customers often think of their name as a single, unified entity. In fact, 42% of test subjects initially entered their full name in the “First Name” field and only realized their mistake when they noticed the separate “Middle” and “Last Name” fields. This seemingly small error added unnecessary friction to the checkout process as customers had to backtrack to correct the information.
This problem is even more pronounced on mobile devices, where shoppers may have to completely retype, delete, or copy and paste their name to get it into the correct fields.
The Baymard Institute’s recommendation is straightforward – use a single “Full Name” field instead. This simplifies the checkout flow and prevents customers from tripping over overly granular requests.
Names, extensions, and other optional form elements can also make checkout look more complicated. So reduce the number of fields along with their complexity as much as possible. If you don’t need any information, delete it.
If you’re using a block theme, you can edit the checkout field using the Site Editor. Go to Appearance → Editor. Then go to Template → WooCommerce → Page: Checkout. Here you can select the block you want to edit (eg the Shipping Address block) and quickly toggle the field on and off.
You can also use an extension like Checkout Field Editor for WooCommerce to remove, edit and add any fields.
Do you have code experience or work with a developer? Learn how to manually edit the WooCommerce payment field.
Take the time to walk through the checkout process and test it in different scenarios. For example, what happens if someone fills in a field incorrectly? Let’s say they entered the wrong email address. Are they notified? Is the problem clearly explained? Or do they have to go back, find out what they entered wrong, and even re-enter all their information?
Also test the checkout flow on all devices. How fast can someone move through the process on a mobile device?
One of the best ways to streamline things is to use a payment gateway to keep your customers on-site to pay. For example, Amazon Pay is designed to work seamlessly on mobile devices, providing seamless and efficient checkout for those shopping on smartphones and tablets. And because shoppers can use Amazon’s account and payment information, they don’t have to worry about re-entering it.
Identifying and correcting these types of bottlenecks can greatly improve cash flow.
Creating an account slows down the checkout process. And while it may seem tempting to completely remove account functionality, the better option is to enable it.
After all, there are lots of reasons why customers might want to create accounts – to track their order, store credit card information or shipping addresses, earn loyalty points and rewards, etc.
From your WordPress dashboard, go to WooCommerce → Settings. Click on Accounts and privacy tab at the top. Then select Allow guest payments.
Want to take things a step further? Amazon Pay allows customers to use their existing Amazon account information — such as credit card information and shipping addresses — so they don’t have to create an account. gold find their credit card.
The faster you get a customer to checkout, the less likely they are to abandon their cart. By making your checkout fast, easy and secure, you reduce the time it takes to shop and increase the chance that shoppers will complete their orders.
Nine percent1 of customers in the last three months left the checkout because the website did not offer the required payment option.
Alternative payment methods satisfy different customers, resulting in a smooth and hassle-free payment process, a positive impression and repeat business. In addition, it allows companies to reach customers around the world, expand their reach and customer base.
Diversifying payment methods can also mitigate the risks associated with payment processing. Relying solely on credit card payments can expose businesses to the risk of chargebacks or fraud. Offering alternative methods spreads this risk and provides additional layers of security.
Amazon Pay supports multiple currencies and languages, making it easy for merchants to sell internationally without the worry of complex currency conversions and translations. In addition, it boasts more than 300 million4 activates Amazon shoppers worldwide.
By adding Amazon Pay to your site, you can offer a recognizable payment solution and provide financing options that allow customers to complete larger purchases—like buy now, pay later (like Affirm), installment payments, and more—with little or no technical hassle.
Sending follow-up emails to people who abandon their shopping carts is an essential part of an effective e-commerce strategy to help you renew sales, engage customers and build long-term relationships.
Many shoppers abandon their carts due to distraction, unexpected shipping costs, or indecision. Follow-up emails target those who have already shown interest in your products, so it’s a more financially sound and effective marketing strategy than getting your products in front of people who don’t know your brand.
You can use tools like Mailchimp and AutomateWoo to quickly design branded, effective emails and send them automatically when someone abandons their cart. Add incentives like free shipping or coupon codes to emails.
And even if shoppers don’t complete their purchase right away, they can come back later or explore other items.
Amazon Pay’s simplified checkout addresses many of the above friction points. By allowing shoppers to make a payment in just three clicks using information already stored in their Amazon account, Amazon Pay can significantly reduce the time and steps required to complete a purchase.
This reduced friction translates directly into better sales. Studies show that Amazon Pay can increase conversion rates by up to 35%.2 compared to standard merchant payment flows.
In addition, Amazon Pay offers a secure payment method backed by Amazon’s innovative technology and risk management services – and 86%3 of Amazon Pay users expressed their confidence in the payment process.
By optimizing your checkout flow and leveraging the trust and familiarity of the Amazon brand, integrating Amazon Pay with WooCommerce is an effective way to reduce cart abandonment and increase your e-commerce sales.
Get ready and live in minutes right from your WordPress dashboard by following these steps:
- Sign up with Amazon Pay
- Download the Amazon Pay extension from WooCommerce.
- From your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins → Add New and upload the extension file.
- Activate the extension.
- Choose Connect to Amazon Paysign in to your Amazon Pay account and click “Transfer Access Keys”.
See the help page for more information.
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- Baymard Institute. “Cart Abandonment Rate Statistics.” Baymard Institute, www.baymard.com/lists/cart-abandonment-rate.
- Comscore’s own Amazon Pay study comparing Amazon Pay to checkout conversion rates at native US merchants over a 6-month period from October 2021 to March 2022, n=40.
- NPS Consumer Surveys: Conducted by Amazon Pay in 2022 among US consumers who used Amazon Pay within 1 month prior to survey start date, n=3855.
- Active customer accounts represent accounts that have placed a paid order within the previous twelve month period.
Latoya is a Partner Marketing Manager at Woo with experience in B2B tech marketing. In his spare time, he enjoys hiking his native island of Jamaica and traveling. She climbed to the top of the Blue Mountain three times.
