Monthly Archives: August 2023

2023 Checkout Optimization Tips to Increase your Revenue through Our Shopify Website Development Services

If you run an ecommerce store, you know how important it is to optimize your checkout process. The checkout is the final step before a customer completes their purchase, and it can make or break your conversion rate. A poorly designed or complicated checkout can cause customers to abandon their carts, while a smooth and user-friendly checkout can boost your sales and revenue.

In this blog post, we will share some checkout optimization tips that can help you increase your ecommerce revenue.

Before we go further ahead, let us discover how Shopify in association with Embitel will help you achieve the following steps in getting sales and conversions.

Shopify is a popular e-commerce platform that allows you to create and manage your own online store. If you need help with setting up, designing, or optimizing your Shopify website, you can hire professional Shopify website development services. These services can provide you with expert advice, custom solutions, and ongoing support for your Shopify website. Whether you want to sell products, services, or subscriptions, Embitel helps you to implement Shopify website development services and achieve your goals and grow your business.

1. Reduce the number of steps

One of the most common reasons why customers abandon their carts is that the checkout process is too long or confusing. According to a study by Baymard Institute, the average checkout process has 14.88 form fields, which is twice as many as necessary. A long checkout process can frustrate customers and make them lose interest in completing their purchase.

To optimize your checkout process, you should aim to reduce the number of steps and form fields as much as possible. Ideally, you should have a single-page checkout that allows customers to enter all the necessary information on one screen. This can reduce friction and increase convenience for your customers.

If you can’t have a single-page checkout, you should at least minimize the number of pages and clicks required to complete the purchase. You can do this by using progress indicators, clear labels, and logical grouping of form fields. You should also avoid asking for unnecessary or redundant information that does not affect the order fulfillment or payment.

2. Offer multiple payment options

Another way to optimize your checkout process is to offer multiple payment options for your customers. Different customers may have different preferences or limitations when it comes to paying online, so you should cater to their needs and expectations.

According to a report by Worldpay, the most popular payment methods for online shopping in 2020 were credit cards (53%), digital wallets (24%), debit cards (12%), bank transfers (7%), and cash on delivery (3%). However, these preferences may vary depending on the country, region, or industry of your ecommerce store.

To optimize your checkout process, you should offer at least the most common and widely accepted payment methods for your target market. You should also consider adding alternative payment methods that are popular or emerging in your niche, such as PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Amazon Pay, Klarna, Afterpay, etc.

Offering multiple payment options can increase customer satisfaction and trust, as well as reduce cart abandonment rates. However, you should also make sure that your payment options are secure and compliant with the relevant regulations and standards.

3. Provide free or discounted shipping

Shipping costs are another major factor that influences customer behavior and conversion rates. According to a survey by Statista, 63% of online shoppers in the US said that free shipping was the most important option during checkout, while 50% said that they would cancel their purchase if shipping costs were too high.

To optimize your checkout process, you should provide free or discounted shipping for your customers whenever possible. Free shipping is a powerful incentive that can increase customer loyalty and retention, as well as encourage repeat purchases and referrals.

If you can’t afford to offer free shipping for all orders, you can set a minimum order value or threshold that qualifies for free shipping. This can also increase your average order value and revenue per customer.

Alternatively, you can offer discounted or flat-rate shipping for your customers. This can reduce the sticker shock and uncertainty that customers may feel when they see the final price of their order. You should also display the shipping costs clearly and early in the checkout process, so that customers don’t feel surprised or deceived at the last moment.

4. Use trust signals and social proof

Trust is essential for any online transaction, especially when it involves personal or financial information. Customers want to feel safe and confident when they shop online, and they look for signs that indicate that your ecommerce store is legitimate, reliable, and secure.

To optimize your checkout process, you should use trust signals and social proof throughout your website and especially on your checkout page. Trust signals are elements that convey credibility and authority, such as logos of security certificates, payment providers, industry associations, awards, etc. Social proof are elements that show customer satisfaction and validation, such as testimonials, reviews, ratings, endorsements, etc.

Using trust signals and social proof can increase customer trust and confidence in your ecommerce store, as well as reduce anxiety and hesitation during the checkout process. They can also influence customer perception and behavior by showing them that other people have had positive experiences with your brand and products.

5. Enable guest checkout

One of the biggest mistakes that ecommerce stores make is forcing customers to create an account before they can complete their purchase. While having an account can provide benefits for both customers and merchants, such as faster checkout, order tracking, personalized recommendations, etc., it can also create a barrier and a hassle for customers who just want to buy something quickly and easily.

According to a study by Baymard Institute, 34% of online shoppers in the US said that they abandoned their carts because they were asked to create an account. This means that you could be losing a significant amount of potential revenue by requiring customers to register before they can checkout.

To optimize your checkout process, you should enable guest checkout for your customers. Guest checkout allows customers to complete their purchase without creating an account or providing any extra information. It can reduce friction and frustration for your customers, as well as increase conversion rates and sales.

You can still encourage customers to create an account after they have completed their purchase, by highlighting the benefits and incentives of doing so. You can also make it easy for them to create an account by using the information they have already provided during the checkout process.

Conclusion

Optimizing your checkout process is one of the most effective ways to increase your ecommerce revenue. By following these tips, you can create a smooth and user-friendly checkout experience that can boost your conversion rates and customer satisfaction.

If you need help with optimizing your checkout process or any other aspect of your ecommerce store, feel free to contact us at sales@embitel.com. We are a team of ecommerce experts who can help you grow your online business and accomplish your objectives.

What Makes Shopify One of the Best-Converting Checkout? How Embitel will help you achieve this?

Shopify is a leading e-commerce platform that supports over 1.7 million online stores across the globe today. One of the top reasons why Shopify is preferred is that it has the world’s best-converting checkout.

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But what makes Shopify’s checkout so effective? Here are some of the features that help Shopify’s checkout boost conversions and sales:

Shopify’s checkout is designed to optimize conversions by reducing friction, increasing trust, and providing flexibility. Following are some of the features that make Shopify’s checkout one of the world’s best converting:

• One-page checkout: it is streamlined to fit on a single page, minimizing the number of steps and clicks required to complete a purchase. This reduces the chances of cart abandonment and improves the customer satisfaction.
• Dynamic checkout buttons: Allows customers to choose from multiple payment options, including Shopify Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, and more. These dynamic checkout buttons enable customers to skip the cart page and go directly to the payment method of their choice, saving time and hassle.
• Customization and branding: It can be customized to match the look and feel of the store, creating a consistent and professional image. Shopify’s checkout also supports custom domains, logos, colors, fonts, and languages, allowing merchants to tailor the checkout to their brand identity and target audience.
• Security and trust: It is secure and compliant with the highest industry standards, such as PCI DSS Level 1 and SSL encryption. Shopify’s checkout also displays trust badges, such as Verified by Visa and Mastercard SecureCode, to reassure customers that their transactions are safe and protected.
• Upselling and cross-selling: Shopify’s checkout enables merchants to increase their average order value by offering upselling and cross-selling opportunities. Shopify’s checkout can display product recommendations, discounts, free shipping thresholds, and more, to encourage customers to add more items to their cart or upgrade their purchase.

Besides its amazing checkout, Shopify also offers many other features that make it a great choice for online sellers. Some of these features are:

• Easy to use: Shopify is simple to understand and use . You can create and manage your online store with just a few clicks, without any coding or technical skills required.
• Attractive and professional: It has hundreds of stunning and customizable themes that suit any niche or industry. You can also use Shopify’s drag-and-drop builder to create your own unique design or hire a Shopify expert to help you with your store.
• Powerful and scalable: Sho can handle any amount of traffic or sales, thanks to its reliable and fast cloud infrastructure. You can also upgrade your plan or add apps from the Shopify app store to enhance your store’s functionality and performance.
• Supportive and helpful: Shopify has a dedicated and friendly support team that is available 24/7 via phone, email, or chat. You can also access a wealth of resources, such as guides, tutorials, blogs, podcasts, webinars, forums, and more, to help you grow your business.

To implement this and reap the benefits of Shopify offerings to the fullest, you need a trusted partner with expertise to help you in achieving your goals. Embitel is a certified Shopify partner with a proficient team that supports with end-to-end assistance in all services. To reach out to our team or get free demo, email us at sales@embitel.com

Catalog Price Rules in Magento 2 to Revive Sales, Retain Customers

As an e-commerce brand, enhancing conversion rates and customer retention while reducing cart abandonment are your life goals. The sure shot way to achieve these long-term goals is to be able to deliver a consistent and personalized experience to your shoppers across your e-commerce website and mobile app!

Personalized and relevant pricing and promotional marketing strategies play a strong role in elevating the customer experience quotient. This, effectively, increases customer retention and drives more sales.

Magento 2 e-commerce platform offers you a plethora of options to create multiple promotional pricing rules, that align with your customers’ needs and interests.

With Magento 2, you can offer products at discounted prices to your customers based on a set of defined conditions. This provides a highly flexible solution to enhance your shopper’s online experience.

How Magento 2 Catalog Price Rules are a Game-changer for E-commerce Brands

As per Statista, about 93% of Shoppers in the US use a coupon or discount code throughout the year.

54% of shoppers, in a survey specified that they will purchase products left in shopping carts, if offered a discount.

More than 70% of online shoppers in US say that discounts have the biggest effect on purchase decisions during the holidays.

So, what does that mean?

Everyone likes a good deal and if you are able to delight your customer with a relevant promo you got a loyal customer!

Satisfied customers are more likely to leave positive reviews, recommend your store to others, and become brand advocates.

In this article, we will give you an overview of some best practices for creating effective dynamic and custom cart pricing and promotional rules using Magento 2 e-commerce platform. We will touch upon some

How Do I Create a Price Rule in Magento 2?

Here is a quick step-by-step guide on setting up Magento 2 catalog price rules for your e-commerce website via the admin panel:

What are the Different Types of Cart & Catalog Pricing Rules I Can Implement on Magento2?

Now going back to the steps e) and f) in the above table, let’s discuss the different custom pricing and promotional rules programs that you can specify and generate using Magento 2:

1. Custom Customer Attributes/ Cart Price Rules

So, What are cart price rules on Magento 2? The Cart Price Rule is a versatile feature that allows e-commerce store admins to create special pricing rules for their customers.

By defining specific conditions in the configuration, store admins can offer discounts on certain products or entire orders through coupon codes.

Cart Price Rules are a default feature available with Magento 2, but they contain a very limited set of default attributes/standard conditions that can be used. However, there is a workaround to extend the attributes based on which you can add endless customizations to your pricing rules.

All you have to do is select the “Custom Customer Attributes” option and specify the custom pricing rules based on your business requirement.

This feature allows store admins to set pricing rules and coupons based on key customer attributes like Customer ID. This enables them to offer personalized discounts to specific customers or groups based on their preferences or past interactions.

For instance, admins can extend discounts to customers who had a bad prior delivery experience, creating a highly granular and targeted approach to enhance customer satisfaction.
 

 

With the flexibility to define specific coupons and rules per customer or customer attributes, Magento 2’s Cart Price Rule ensures a delightful shopping experience for customers, increasing loyalty and driving repeat business.

The feature empowers admins to tailor promotions, build stronger customer relationships and ultimately boost sales performance.

2. Catalog Price Rule in Magento 2

Catalog Price Rule: A catalogue price rule in Magento 2 enables you to offer products at discounted prices to your customers based on set of conditions – that can be applied to selected or all products base don your requirements. The key differentiator of catalogue price rule in Magento 2 is that you can trigger discount on selected products programmatically without the customer having to use any discount coupon code.

What is difference between Cart price Rule and Catalog price Rule in Magento 2?

Purpose: Catalog Price Rules in Magento 2, are applied at the product level and affect the displayed product prices in the catalog.

Application: These rules are used to set discounts on products based on specific conditions, such as product attributes, categories, customer groups, or time periods.

Effect: When you implement Catalog Price Rule in Magento 2, customers will see discounted prices when browsing the product catalog. The actual discounted price is displayed, encouraging customers to make a purchase.

Cart Price Rule:

Purpose: Cart Price Rules are applied during the checkout process and affect the total order amount in the shopping cart.

Application: These rules are used to set discounts on the entire cart based on various conditions, such as order total, shipping address, payment method, or coupon codes.

Effect: When a Cart Price Rule is applied, customers can avail discounts on their entire order during checkout by entering a valid coupon code or meeting the specified conditions.

In summary, Catalog Price Rules apply discounts to individual products in the catalog, affecting the displayed prices, while Cart Price Rules apply discounts to the entire cart during checkout, affecting the final order amount. Both types of rules are valuable tools for e-commerce store owners to offer enticing discounts and enhance the overall shopping experience for their customers.

3. Promos Allowing Cross Platform Onboarding / API-based Customer-Specific Coupon

The API-based Customer Specific Coupon Generation in Magento 2 enables e-commerce store admins to offer personalized discounts to customers based on their onboarding platform. Here are the steps to implement this feature:

• Cross-Platform Discounts: Admins can offer one-time discounts using coupon codes to customers from a different onboarding platform when they purchase from the e-commerce platform.
• CRM Auto-generates Coupon Codes: When a new customer is onboarded on the CRM system, the CRM automatically generates a unique coupon code “per customer.”
• REST API Provisioning: The CRM then populates these one-time-use coupon codes into Magento using a REST API. This ensures seamless integration and hassle-free coupon provisioning.
• Validation and Category Selection: Customers are validated based on whether they belong to the “Loan Discount” scheme, making them eligible for the specific coupon. Additionally, customers can choose a specific category on which they can avail the discounts.
• Backend Management: Each coupon code is unique to the customer and is stored in a separate table. There is no need to define multiple one-time-use coupons via the frontend, as the API request automatically generates and stores them in the backend.
• Cart Price Rule Validator: The Cart Price Rule validator ensures that each “customer-specific coupon” can only be used once, preventing misuse and enhancing security.

This Customer-Specific Cart Price Rule in Magento 2 creates a seamless and personalized shopping experience for customers. This feature streamlines the coupon generation process, eliminating the need for manual front-end entries, and smoothens overall shopping experience.

Additionally, this pricing rule also offers you a chance to upsell and cross-sell your e-commerce product offerings to your new/existing customers.

4. Chosen Seller/Dealer-Based Discount Rulesx


 

With this price rule, admins of e-commerce store on Magento 2 can create personalized discount coupons for customers purchasing from selected dealers or sellers. It allows admins to set specific Cart Price Rules and Coupons that are applicable only to a particular Dealer ID or based on multiple conditions like categories or attributes mapped to specific Dealer IDs.

Customers can avail these exclusive coupons only if the items they choose belong to the designated Dealer ID or meet the predefined conditions. With the flexibility to configure various combinations of conditions and cart item actions, the feature caters to the unique needs of each dealer and their target customers.

It ensures that discounts apply only to items belonging to the specific dealer in multi-item cart checkout scenarios, ensuring fairness and accuracy in discount allocation.

This feature serves as a powerful tool for dealers who want to distribute discount coupons to potential buyers through the online platform. It creates a win-win situation for e-commerce retailers and shoppers alike.

Store admins can effectively manage pricing rules and tailor discounts to specific dealers, driving business growth and customer retention. On the other hand, shoppers enjoy personalized offers, making their shopping experience more enjoyable and liable to repeat purchases.

5. Lightning Deals

As the name suggests, Lightning Deals as a pricing rule in Magento 2 empowers e-commerce store admins to offer limited-time discounts on select products.

Admins can configure the start date and duration of the Lightning Deals, making them available for a short period.

A new validator is added to ensure that the deal type is indeed Lightning, and that the deal is still valid at the time of checkout. This guarantees that shoppers can avail of the time-sensitive discounts, adding value to their purchases and incentivizing them to complete their transactions promptly.

These deals act as cart price rules that are only valid for a limited time, creating a sense of urgency and encouraging shoppers to make quick purchase decisions.

This promotional strategy is quite common, especially during holiday season /festival-specific sales to boost sales.

6. Payment or Product Category specific Discount

Sometimes, stores can offer an exciting feature to provide discounts or EMI schemes to e-commerce customers based on selected payment methods. These special offerings are made available through certain Cards and Payment Mechanisms, as provided by the Payment Gateway Provider.

The availability of EMIs, schemes, and PG-specific discounts is dependent on the product category and its price.

To ensure a hassle-free experience for shoppers, the store can integrate with Payment Provider APIs, Javascript SDKs, and libraries. This integration allows the admin to display the available EMI options for a specific product directly on the Product Display Page (PDP).

Moreover, an “admin control” feature can be provided that empowers the store owner to disable specific schemes from being visible on the PDP page, if necessary. It gives the store full control over which offerings are presented to their customers.

It’s important to note that these schemes, though offered via the Payment Gateway, can be viewed by the customer while selecting the product on the PDP page, rather than during the checkout or payment process.

This way, customers can easily see and take advantage of the available discounts and EMI options while making their product choices. It enhances transparency and encourages customers to make informed purchase decisions, boosting their overall shopping experience.

Conclusion

So, we have discussed how a strategically defined and well-placed pricing and promotional rule is a game-changer for the retailer as well as the shopper.

If you are keen to leverage and implement such strategic and custom pricing rules to revive sales and boost your customer experience quotient, get in touch with our team ( drop a mail sales@embitel.com)

About the Author:

Alok Dubey,

Alok is our Chief Architect with Digital Commerce Business Unit. A curious, rational, analytical, and methodical individual, Alok brings an incredible passion for developing and delivering innovative industry-focused solutions.

Beyond technology, he is a fervent explorer, always seeking new avenues of knowledge. Alok’s passions extend to trekking, hiking, backpacking, and embarking on thrilling long drives.