Ecommerce platforms and Checkouts
Don't make life hard for people who want to give you money
The first thing to think about with Ecommerce platforms is that they should be a simple and efficient way of allowing people to pay online.
If you make them difficult for people to use they will simply leave! Your Ecommerce platform, or checkout system should
have as few steps in it as possible.
Also only ask what is absolutely necessary. The more information you ask for the more likely it is for your users to drop out. If the
information isn't relevant to the transaction then don't ask for it.
Tell your users what is happening all the time
During any step-by-step process it should be incredibly transparent to the user not only where they are in the process but also how
long they have left before the end of it. Giving your users good information makes them feel secure and secure people are happier to
perform transactions than insecure people.
Test and refine your checkout process
This is arguable the most important part of your entire site, so you should measure its performance constantly.
Add a good tracking system to your Ecommerce platforms and ensure that you are monitoring where users are having
issues and dealing with them quickly and efficiently. Many companies have seen their bottom line disappear online
after falling foul of badly architected checkout process's. Use the data from your tracking to refine the checkout,
then start again. It can always get better.