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Practical guide: Conversion optimization for your shopping cart

The shopping cart is an essential part of the sales funnel of your e-commerce store. It offers an overview of their desired goods or services, promotions and they can continue with the checkout. How can you persuade visitors to proceed with the checkout flow? We give you 6 quick tips for a better shopping cart:

1. Structure of the shopping cart

There are 3 important factors to take into account to improve conversions through the shopping cart:

Speed
Clarity
Simplicity

The shopping cart should not give visitors the feeling that they are stuck in a long queue. You don't expect any delays at an e-commerce store. The longer a visitor remains in the shopping cart, the higher the exit percentage. A visitor should be able to swiftly see his shopping cart and proceed to the checkout as smooth as possible.

Clarity is created by presenting enough information or a detailed overview above the fold. Scrolling for important information is then no longer necessary.

Simplicity indicates that the shopping cart should be very obvious. The design must be clear and structured. Making mistakes should be nearly impossible in the shopping cart.

2. Details and summary of the product

The shopping cart must be a clear summary of the products, quantities, and extras. These "extras" are gifts, types of shipment or additional included items. What does a customer get from a successful order?

The following is a necessity:

Images
Product name
Quantities
Size
Colour
USPs

3. Show the payment methods

Show as many payment options as possible in the shopping cart! Visitors could cancel their purchases if their favorite payment method is not available. This will not only increase the conversion rate but it also reassures potential customers with trusted and reliable payment methods. The more payment options you offer, the greater the chance that a visitor will go to the checkout.

PHPro tip: add the known icons of the different payment methods below the summary in color.

4. Trust badges

Reliable e-commerce stores with trustworthy elements generally have a higher conversion rate. To achieve this feeling of trustworthiness, implement a trust badge. A trust badge can be easily added to an online store by using reviews or trust labels. They are trusted by visitors or leads.

5. Contact information and customer service

Visitors often want to know that there is a legitimate company behind an online store. A phone number, address, and chat are obvious hints that a webshop is a real business. Furthermore, a lead can easily be guided through your checkout.

6. Coupon available

Visitors are often seduced by marketing campaigns. For example, a visitor wants to use a discount code for a sale. For this, a lead must first know how much discount he or she will get or wether his or her coupon can be used effectively on the e-commerce store.

The presence of a discount code field somewhere in the shopping cart is extremely important. In the shopping cart, a visitor can try his discount code and thus be tempted to proceed to the checkout process.

Next: Increase the conversion in your checkout

Most e-commerce stores are unique. For a conversion rate optimization (CRO) process, individual research is extremely important to make correct decisions. For example, you can carry out A/B tests, ask your visitors for feedback or set up polls to effectively increase your conversion rate. Use these CRO methods as well as our practical tips to ensure the results on your specific e-commerce platform!

Do you want an e-commerce expert to audit your cart?