How to Add e-Commerce Solutions to Boost Sales on Your Website with Power.io

Have you ever abandoned buying something online because the process of ordering was too confusing, or long? We’ve all been there, and this is a key factor holding small businesses back in growing online.

Of 1200 surveyed online, entering billing and personal data was a top reason for abandoning purchases online. Their chief concern, cited by 40% of customers, is that they don’t want their financial information to be stored on retailers’ databases. Furthermore some 58% said they've abandoned purchases due to the difficulty of managing accounts and passwords.

In another study, delivery costs were the top frustration of shopping online.

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Here are my top five tips for reducing friction and increasing conversion on your site by addressing things customers see as frustrating.

Tip 1: Promote Free Shipping

Shipping cost is the highest reason for customer frustration on an eCommerce site. To help minimize this you can build your shipping costs into the price of the products and offer free shipping. Then, make sure you promote this so your customers know there won’t be any unexpected additional costs when they get to your checkout screen. An easy way to do this is through a popup or notification bar on your site. By letting your visitors know about free shipping upfront, they will be more apt to shop and seeing a $0.00 total for shipping at checkout will give them a little extra push to complete their purchase. 

Tip 2: Offer Live Chat

Make it easy for your visitors to get hold of you. A visitor may just have a few questions while they are shopping or need support from a previous purchase. Either way, being able to respond to them in a short amount of time is imperative for customer experience. You can easily do this by adding a live chat to your site. Using apps like Facebook Messenger Chat provides an easy outlet for customers to get in touch with you, and these kinds of solutions are typically inexpensive when compared to other chat options. You may even be able to add messenger to your site for free. 

Tip 3: Add Flexible and Easy Payment Options

As internet security issues become more of a focus in everyday life, security concerns over stored payment information become more and more a barrier to getting a customer to purchase on your site. Using well-known encrypted payment providers like PayPal or Stripe help ease these concerns and make it easier for customers to purchase. If you can enable offline payment options, like check or cash, you will also give customers who are wary of entering their information online a way to pay that fits what they need, combined with the convenience of ordering online. 

You can use POWR to add an easy payment button directly on your Showit site! First, create your payment button with POWR. 

Once you’re ready, hit Publish and copy your embed code (It’s super easy and installs in minutes, you don’t need to know any code yourself). 

Tip 4: Payment Contact Forms

One of the top reasons customers get frustrated and ultimately abandon a purchase is that they are required to enter too much information. Let customers purchase without the need to create an account using a dynamic form for purchases. It is important to be as brief as possible when asking for information and always use encrypted payment methods. The form below uses trusted payment providers. If you have more than a few bits of information to collect, implement a multi-page form. It will make the form seem not as long to your customer and a nicely designed multi-step form can actually be fun to fill out. 

Want to add a payment form like this to your Showit site? You can! Just head here to start creating a free Payment Form. Easily set up subscriptions, one time payments, and donations directly on your site without having to redirect your visitors to a different cart! 

Tip 5: Communicate Frequently

Most of the top frustrations for eCommerce customers can be alleviated easily by one simple thing: communication. When there are delays in shipping or unexpected hangups, it is important to be upfront and transparent. If an item is on backorder you could use a popup or notification informing customers directly. Once someone orders from your site, following up with an email will give them confidence that their purchase was made correctly and their items are going to be shipped soon. Make it easy for them to get in touch with you by using a contact form or a live chat option on your site, as mentioned above. And always respond in a timely manner. If you are not going to be available during certain times or hours, make sure to list that online to avoid any confusion. 

Reducing friction by applying these five methods to your online store will help you convert more visitors into customers and make more sales! You can try all of these apps and more with POWR, a suite of 60+ apps designed to generate leads and increase conversions. Start designing now for free!

Powr is a platform with an array of widgets you can embed directly into your Showit site to help your website function well and achieve your business goals. This article has been written for Showit by Steph Strong, a marketing manager at powr.io. Steph has over 15 years of experience in online marketing including eCommerce, SaaS, and healthcare industries.

For more solutions to your website woes, head on over to Showit.co/help We are here for you!