WooCommerce Checkout Page Optimization - Complete Guide

October 10, 2022,
WooCommerce Checkout Page Optimization - Complete Guide
Running an online store can be a hassle, but worrying about increasing conversion rates and generating sales can be daunting for even the most experienced professionals. The complete process of attaining a customer and going through a sale depends on the user experience. Each and every step of the sales cycle is important, but the most critical aspect is widely considered to be the checkout page. One issue that is faced by several merchants is that the default WooCommecre checkout page is plain and bland. Therefore, having a plugin such as edit checkout fields WooCommerce can really help out in optimizing the checkout page.

Why optimize the WooCommerce checkout page?

One of the most crucial pages for any WooCommerce store is the checkout page. It's where you close the sale and convert visitors into customers. Even though it might seem intuitive, recent surveys reveal that close to 70% of customers abandon their carts while checking out. The length and complexity of the checkout page are some of the primary causes. You must make sure that the WooCommerce checkout is optimized given how challenging it is to draw visitors to your website. By doing this, you will improve the purchasing experience for clients and raise your conversion rates. To improve the checkout experience, you must reduce distractions and eliminate unnecessary friction. Now that we know how vital it is, let’s dig deep into ways to improve and optimize the checkout page.

Customize the Checkout Fileds

Let’s begin with the basic steps. The first and might be the most effective step is to customize and edit your checkout fields or the page. Consumers may find the standard WooCommerce checkout page to be a bit cumbersome to complete. Therefore, you can go over and beyond to delete or edit a few extraneous checkout fields here and there. You may also add more extensible fields and rearrange your fields in a way that makes them easier to fill out. The best approach for this is to utilize a plugin. In my experience, the best one is the WooCommerce add custom field to checkout plugin. The WooCommerce conditional checkout fields plugin lets you edit, delete, arrange, add, or apply conditions to the checkout fields. Moreover, You can change labels, rearrange the position of checkout fields, add validation to fields, or add custom CSS classes.

Create Multi-Step Checkout Forms

The next right step is to categorize your checkout page into multiple steps, to divide and conquer (pun intended). Research shows that multi-step checkout forms can increase conversion rates by 300%. Multi-step checkout page offers a clean and simpler checkout page layout. You can divide the checkout into one, two, or three different sections:
  • Billing Section
  • Shipping Section
  • Additional Information Section
You can decide which fields you want in what sections and can add, edit, hide, or delete fields depending on your requirements.

Enable Guest Checkouts

You are missing out if your store does not have a guest checkout option. If you want to lower your cart abandonment rate, you must provide a guest checkout option. Nobody likes to proceed all the way to the checkout page only to discover that they must create an account in order to complete their transaction. As It just adds more friction and complexity to the entire eCommerce checkout page.

Enable Google Address Autocomplete

No customer wants to keep typing again and again. Out of all the fields, filling the multiple address fields can be a hassle for users and they might just abandon at the sight of extra work. Therefore, it is important to make it easier for customers. The best and most efficient way to do this is to enable Google Address autocomplete. Plugins such as WooCommerce autocomplete address allow your customers to autofill their addresses. The user types the first few characters of their address and a list of potential address suggestions appears to choose from. This makes the checkout process fast, frictionless, and easy.

Hide Unnecessary Fields

Multiple checkout form fields cause about 26% of customers to leave their potential purchase. According to research by the Baymard Institute, there are 14.88 superfluous fields in a typical checkout sequence. When faced with a large number of form fields and options, customers are frequently irritated and perplexed as they attempt to complete the checkout process. Your visitor will feel less overwhelmed and have a higher probability of becoming a buyer if you display fewer form fields to them. According to a survey by the Baymard Institute of the biggest merchants, the ideal number of form fields for physical objects is between 6 and 8. Anything you can do to cut down on the number of fields improves the likelihood that they will become customers. Nearly 18–20 fields make up a typical WooCommerce checkout page. You can hide the following checkout fields:
  • Hide the “Company Name” field
  • Hide the phone number field
  • Hide the second street address field

Allow Multiple Payment Options

Lack of payment choices causes 6% of users to abandon their carts. Another 4% of customers give up when their credit card is rejected. Consumers now have more payment options than ever and desire more choices when making purchases in a mobile-first digital world (both offline and online). If you only offer the conventional options (VISA, MasterCard), you are losing out on customers who choose to use other cards or payment methods instead of these two.

Highlight Customer Reviews

Many of your website's visitors aren't yet prepared to make a purchase. They are 'window shoppers,' only looking about or comparing prices. Therefore, once they arrive at the checkout page, they will undoubtedly leave. Although you can't persuade everyone, you can influence some of them by providing some social proof. Customer reviews are perfect proof of this. The best example of a company employing consumer reviews is Amazon. When you try to buy something on Amazon, reviews are displayed beautifully.

Display Details on the Checkout Page

Some products are intricate, call for a lot of information, or have pages full of images. However, you occasionally need to provide more information at checkout even with all the additional data. You may need to advise clients about your return policy if you sell dangerously hot sauces or both. Getting these last-minute reminders in is undoubtedly crucial, but complicating the checkout process by including diversions is a bad idea. Links that direct a customer away from the checkout page have the potential to scupper a sale. Including links to content that opens in a new browser, a tab is an ideal method to provide crucial, last-minute information while maintaining the checkout flow. This prevents customers from potentially abandoning their shopping cart if they need to examine your return policy, frequently asked questions, or safety warnings before making a purchase (hey, ghost peppers are really really spicy!).

Display the Users’ Currency

Making your products accessible to customers worldwide is another crucial concern for every eCommerce company. While it is possible to use the American dollar or the Euro as your business currency, it is preferable to allow customers to view prices in their own currency. This makes adding a currency conversion feature to your store a great WooCommerce checkout optimization strategy. This way, when your customers utilize your items, they are fully aware of the price they are paying. They'll have a better shopping experience because they won't have to open another tab to change the currency values. This is especially useful when your customers are nearly finished with their purchases so they can confirm that the amount they are paying in their local currency is comfortable for them. The ideal way to accomplish this is by utilizing a multi-currency plugin, thus we advise you to read over our list of the top currency switcher plugins for WooCommerce.

Send Cart Abandonment Emails

One of the most successful marketing strategies is still email marketing, which returns $32 on every dollar spent. eCommerce is unquestionably one industry where email marketing can be utilized to its maximum potential. Almost every major store employs the strategy of sending cart abandonment emails. Why? Since it is effective! According to a GetElastic survey, more than one in three people who click back to the website after opening an email about an abandoned cart make a purchase. Every single email sent in response to a cart abandonment brings in $5.

Optimize the WooCommerce Checkout Page for More Leads

Not every default configuration will be suitable for every store, just like anything else in eCommerce. For the greatest outcomes, it's critical that you optimize your checkout page based on your products, company, and audience and by using plugins such as the add custom field checkout WooCommerce.