The Internet plays a huge part in the way people do business these days. Online revenue has grown more than three times faster than your more traditional sales. This includes the floral business as well. In fact, one of the more popular online ecommerce shopping categories is flowers with approximately 90 percent of the US and Canada florists owning a website. Although flower lovers are still able to go to their neighborhood florist shops or pick up the phone to order a bouquet, checkout sites provide 24/7 store operation which is why most of the bigger companies are using them.
Your main goal with running a floral ecommerce site is to convert as many site visitors into paying customers as you can. One of the leading issues with losing potential customers is checkout problems. Having a smooth checkout operation on your business website is crucial and many small business owners have not learned the basics yet.
Tips to Enhance the Check Out Process of your Floral Ecommerce Site
1. Ask your family, friends and colleagues to browse around your ecommerce site and make a small purchase. Then have them give you feedback on how the checkout process went.
2. Make it simple for your customers to buy from you. Be sure your “buy now” button is visible and easy to locate. The navigation and flow of your checkout process should be smooth and straightforward.
3. Make sure you optimize your website for both desktop and mobile platforms. By utilizing the ‘responsive design’ technique, you will be tailoring your website for both platforms which will allow you to cater to both types of users.
4. Streamline or guide your users to the checkout and eliminate any type of redundant pages, obstacles or distractions that may slow down or even stop the checkout process.
By following these four tips you will increase your conversion rates of your floral site and make it easier for your customers to navigate and make a purchase. For more information on ecommerce services, please contact us.
I think it is very crucial for the check-out process to be user-friendly. Otherwise, there might be very minimal conversion from your site visits to your checkout purchases.
This is so true. I for one like things to be simple. When it gets too complicated then I can get easily flustered. You really want to make your site user friendly.
All checkout processes are not extremely smooth. I think that making this process difficult for a website visitor could simply mean less revenues for the business. If more than 80 percent of florists have websites, this may mean that there are many other businesses where the unsatisfied website visitor could go and make a purchase.
I buy a lot of things online and in general I can tell that it happens too often that the check-out process is complicated, with unnecessary steps that take too much time. The system should be tested and optimized long before launching your site officially. My favorite sites are the sites where you can make your order in a few minutes or less. It all seems to go smooth and that’s what I like.
Personally, I find checkout to be make or break. I often go to other sites when the checkout process is bad. These tips are very helpful.
The first point is actually the first thing that we have to do. I have in plenty of occasions seen people setting up some online shop, and then they may not have setup the payment correctly, and there is no way for the buyer to send the payment to you. So my advice is to always start with that step.
The checkout process, including the modes of payment, should actually be decided upon and finalized prior to the building up of your online shop. The details should already be smooth.
I have to add to this list:
5. Give customers reassurances about the security of your checkout process.
I have been known to bail on sites that don’t quite look legit. Most turned out to be on the up and up. I just didn’t feel comfortable giving them my credit card info. And I’m sure that I’m not alone.
I rarely even see a lot of florist shops in my area. All I see is a lot of online only sites. It kind of makes sense though cause you rarely see many people walking inside a florist shop.
As a customer, something I greatly appreciate in the check out process is being able to know exactly what the shipping and/or deliver costs and taxes will be. That way I know the total price I will have to pay.
My pet peeve are sites that make you register and go through the full check out, including adding credit card details, before you can actually see how much you’ll be paying when you hit the button to confirm your order.
So that is my suggestion; let the customer know how much he or she will actually have to pay.
Even now, in 2014, I still see websites that seem to be designed before 1980! I can’t believe that some businesses are just keeping potential customers away because they make it very hard for anyone to actually buy something!
Some sites look like they are made to keep you away instead of attracting you! Most websites still haven’t learned that an easy to follow navigation and always seeing the “buy now” button is extremely important for selling items! It’s just common sense to do these things but some people don’t see it!