Checkout Conversion Rates

[quikshop]

I'm looking for ideas on improving the default Actinic V8 add to basket and checkout process for our martial arts website. At the moment we've got a one-page checkout page which since its implimentation has helped conversion rates, but the add to basket confirmation page or alternatively going straight to the standard shopping basket page is quite a drag factor - the drop out rate at this point is too high.

Has anyone tried anything different with the add to basket / confirmation / shopping basket pages which has helped improve their conversion rates?

[grantglendinnin]

Out of interest, who's your web host? Your site is very slooooooooooow.

I randomly just noticed you are also having the £ sign issue on your checkout - see here.

IMHO the most irritating thing on your entire site was 'How did you find out about us?' being mandatory to complete checkout. If I was a genuine buyer, I'd drop out and look elsewhere.

Never looked at WorldPay before...are all online WorldPay transactions this way > ie. the usual PSP route where Actinic bounces to PSP site - RBS WorldPay then bounces you again to the 'secure' site. There are far too many bounce pages on the WorldPay side of things for my liking - RBS isn't in anyones good books at the moment - how this psychologically affects online buyers making payments is another story. Just more food for thought...

[Golf Tee Warehouse]

At the moment we've got a one-page checkout page which since its implimentation has helped conversion rates

In what way does this single page checkout differ from the standard actinic checkout, when I tried it out you still had to click on 'Next' at each stage as you do normally, the only difference was that some script appeared to update the current page to show the next page of details instead actually changing to a different page, but unless I missed something I couldn't personally see how it was improved, although if we have seen a noticeable increase in conversion rates perhaps others find it more user friendly.

[rmorrow]

Never looked at WorldPay before...are all online WorldPay transactions this way > ie. the usual PSP route where Actinic bounces to PSP site - RBS WorldPay then bounces you again to the 'secure' site. There are far too many bounce pages on the WorldPay side of things for my liking - RBS isn't in anyones good books at the moment - how this psychologically affects online buyers making payments is another story. Just more food for thought...

The additional bounce page appeared after Worldpay rebranded to RBS and changed the host for the PSP pages. There's a fix for this here: http://community.actinic.com/showpos...4&postcount=15

[grantglendinnin]

The additional bounce page appeared after Worldpay rebranded to RBS and changed the host for the PSP pages. There's a fix for this here: http://community.actinic.com/showpos...4&postcount=15

Great stuff, David - ensure you make these changes, the PSP is horrible the way it is.

[quikshop]

Thanks guys, some really good feedback there, I appreciate your time.

a) I wasn't aware of an issue with the RBSWorldpay payment page, the recommended fix has worked fine on that.

b) The compulsory question has been made non-compulsory. I have to agree and didn't give it much thought, having to answer a question rather than volunteering the information is irritating.

c) The £ symbol issue, I've contacted Teclan about that so hopefully they can provide a simple fix.

Yes, the speed of the site is an issue and that will be sorted out in the coming weeks with a move to a dedicated server.

I've also removed the add to basket confirmation page and reduced the bounce to 0 so the customer goes and stays at the basket.


When I look at the shopping basket page, the SAVE and RETRIEVE buttons are fairly ambiguous and I suspect rarely used. Has anyone removed these for the sake of clarity and to make the other action buttons more prominent?

[wesleythorne]

In what way does this single page checkout differ from the standard actinic checkout, when I tried it out you still had to click on 'Next' at each stage as you do normally, the only difference was that some script appeared to update the current page to show the next page of details instead actually changing to a different page, but unless I missed something I couldn't personally see how it was improved, although if we have seen a noticeable increase in conversion rates perhaps others find it more user friendly.

This is the Techlan plugin, not sure what it is supposed to do as you say you still have to click next a few times and it is not all info on one page.

[Mark H]

We took the save and retrieve buttons out (v7) and replaced the others to be clearer ( eg "continue shopping" rather than just "continue", which some thought meant continue through checkout.)

[Golf Tee Warehouse]

We took the save and retrieve buttons out (v7) and replaced the others to be clearer ( eg "continue shopping" rather than just "continue", which some thought meant continue through checkout.)

We did exactly the same with our v9 store.

[quikshop]

We took the save and retrieve buttons out (v7) and replaced the others to be clearer ( eg "continue shopping" rather than just "continue", which some thought meant continue through checkout.)

Did it have the effect you wanted? Has anyone included product images on the shopping basket page, and how did that work for you - was it easy to implement?

Re: the Teclan checkout page feature, almost all of the feedback we've had about using it has been positive. Yes you still have to click Next to move through the sections but those who have commented have found it tidy and easy to follow.

The only true way of course to compare with the default checkout process would be split-testing which is not easy with Actinic.

Anecdotally its been a positive change re: conversion rate.

[Mark H]

I can't say whether it improved sales as we implemented it at the same time as a major site redesign, so lots of other factors at work at the same time. I can't see any reason not to do it as I think the default buttons are confusing to the average person.

We implemented thumbnails in the shopping cart, but I can't remember how we did it

I do remember it took about half a day to get it working, and the biggest pain was producing resized images for the thumbnails (if you search the forum you will probably come across the answer, plus how to automatically resize existing images, however we were not in a position to do the latter). Again, I can't say whether it improved sales, as done again as part of the site redesign.

[quikshop]

I can't say whether it improved sales as we implemented it at the same time as a major site redesign, so lots of other factors at work at the same time. I can't see any reason not to do it as I think the default buttons are confusing to the average person.

We implemented thumbnails in the shopping cart, but I can't remember how we did it

I do remember it took about half a day to get it working, and the biggest pain was producing resized images for the thumbnails (if you search the forum you will probably come across the answer, plus how to automatically resize existing images, however we were not in a position to do the latter). Again, I can't say whether it improved sales, as done again as part of the site redesign.

I appreciate your answer, you've a stunning website by the way. Slightly unusual but very effective.

We'll make some changes to the shopping basket page and I'll post the results back here after enough time to test the impact.

[leehack]

We did the progress bar, thumbnails in the cart and altered the buttons on this site - www.atlanticshopping.co.uk - results were very positive also. A lot of people report good results from clearing the checkout pages of the items you see on most pages so as to focus people in, getting rid of nav and marketing lists etc. I've never been a fan of that personally but hard to argue against hard stats I guess.

One of the hardest things IMO is once you have made a change and see a positive result, have you got the bottle to change back to confirm that the change is responsible. I've never met one person willing to do that, so although results are often from a sound foundation, never 100% exact IMO.

[grantglendinnin]

We did the progress bar, thumbnails in the cart and altered the buttons on this site - www.atlanticshopping.co.uk - results were very positive also.

As always, ace work

One day I'll find a use to buy from atlantic shopping.

[Mark H]

I appreciate your answer, you've a stunning website by the way. Slightly unusual but very effective.

Thank you

It's not a "real" actinic website, but we've had some fun with it......