New Checkout Process

[cbarling]

See Bruce's comment/promise at http://community.actinic.com/showthr...7&goto=newpost

Chris

[Sadcase]

Much improved

No demo atm but I normally have a test site running at http://dead.test.actinic.co.uk/

It won't always be perfect because I mess around with bits of it, but the checkout should always be ok.

I admit from the outset that I'm not a power user or a developer; but my own personal view is that the checkout has been immeasurably improved in version 10.

It is far more logical, obvious, and quick. I like the pre-confirmation summary; quite a few orders I've had have have had to be changed because the customer hasn't realised that they'd entered the wrong quantity, or added the wrong item; but having the confirmation before commitment of the order makes people more inclined to double-check everything before sending the order.

People have given me many comments along the lines of "Why can't it work more like Amazon?" I always say to them that Amazon will have a dedicated team of web designers and developers, who are on call 24/7. They will have their own servers, and will have a IT and web budget which will surely be in the millions. We, however, are a small charity - whose online orders only amount to around ten a day. Sure, it would be great to have it working like Amazon but, as we don't have the big budget of Amazon, we have the best site that our budget allows.

For our customers, the v10 checkout will offer a far better online experience than our heavily-tweaked v9 site. And they are the ones this update is aimed at. So I would like to say to the team: "Job well done!"

This is just my own, personal, humble opinion.

[plantsforshade]

It was a fresh install of V10 Beta, I then imported a V9 snapshot.
I have uploded the site in test mode to: www[dot]golfteewarehouse[dot]co [dot]uk/acatalog/test/.

The PSP is Actinic Payments.

I have attached a copy of the PSP bounce page I am referring to, I assume this is what you are calling a PSP bounce page, and displays for around 1 second.

Do you want me to raise this on the getsatisfaction V10 Beta site.

We have our site on V10 uploaded in test mode and we have no bounce page with sagepay. Goes straight from the order confirmation to the psp.


Nigel

[Golf Tee Warehouse]

Perhaps I am an isolated case.
I will uninstall V10 beta and try again to see if the problem persists.

[brucet]

Mark, many thanks for the comments, I'm glad you like the new checkout.

[Darren B]

OK i have been having issues with GC so have completely uninstalled V10 and started over with the default site. Now i can see what its suppose to look like i do like what i see. I take my hat off to Ben he was right when he said it was a sexy new checkout (well really the credit goes to the guys that wrote the thing)

Now im guessing if i upgrade to V10 the checkout is going to be a big issue so have decided i will reset these pages to factory default and then restyle them rather than try and fix the broken layout.

[Golf Tee Warehouse]

Now im guessing if i upgrade to V10 the checkout is going to be a big issue so have decided i will reset these pages to factory default and then restyle them rather than try and fix the broken layout.

I have come to the same conclusion as the upgrade of the sanpshot produced a horrible looking checkout, but a clean install looks good and with a bit of restyling should look very nice.

The PSP bounce problem goes away when I start again with a fresh install but comes back as soon as I import my V9 snapshot.

[brucet]

I think it would be worth reading why-good-checkout-design-is-more-important-than-trustmarks

Thanks Jo. I've read quite a few like that, but I will certainly take a look at that one as well. Econsultancy's stuff is usually pretty good in my experience.

Bruce

[Mike Hughes]

To me the bottom line question we have to ask about the third page (Confirm details / choose payment) is whether it is a) absolutely necessary or b) will increase conversions. If there isn't a yes to either of these questions then it shouldn't be there.

The way I see it. This page is a bit like sticking up a nice big sign saying "OK. You've given us everything we need to know but will you take another look just to make sure and are you really sure you want to order these things? If not, why not click the nice big cancel button below."

From our perspective, it's nice to get the customer to check everything again and make sure there are no mistakes, but the checkout process should be viewed from the customers perspective, not ours.

I think this is just another page that isn't really necessary and should be avoided if we can. Yes, most customers will want to buy, and they'll often put up with all kind of silliness in checkouts, but you have to consider the customer who's buying on impulse, who's buying as a present and isn't 100% sure it's the right thing, who's in a hurry as they have a meeting to go to, who's struggled through your odd internal search to find what they're after, who's already half mad at you for not telling them what the shipping charge will be up front, who's using a slow connection and is already extremely frustrated, who's worried about whether they can really afford it, who's worried that they could probably get it cheaper elsewhere, who's using a mobile and got mad because they couldn't see the 'seperate shipping address' form after ticking the box, etc, etc. For all these people, and many more, this page is just giving them another reason and opportunity to abandon the cart there and then.

Mike

[Darren B]

I think this is just another page that isn't really necessary and should be avoided if we can. Yes, most customers will want to buy, and they'll often put up with all kind of silliness in checkouts, but you have to consider the customer who's buying on impulse, who's buying as a present and isn't 100% sure it's the right thing, who's in a hurry as they have a meeting to go to, who's struggled through your odd internal search to find what they're after, who's already half mad at you for not telling them what the shipping charge will be up front, who's using a slow connection and is already extremely frustrated, who's worried about whether they can really afford it, who's worried that they could probably get it cheaper elsewhere, who's using a mobile and got mad because they couldn't see the 'seperate shipping address' form after ticking the box, etc, etc. For all these people, and many more, this page is just giving them another reason and opportunity to abandon the cart there and then.

Mike

And breath

but you have made alot of a valid points there Mike, i have not ventured past the address pages yet, but will do once i get around other problems im having.

[Mike Hughes]

I know. I did give a lot of examples.

The thing we have to remember is that the analysis and stats seem to show that each 'typical' checkout page requesting necessary info gets something like a 15% drop out rate.

That doesn't mean you should lump everything on one page because although there'll just be the one stage, you'll probably make it so cumbersome that the drop out rate will still be huge, just all in one go.

What it does mean though, is that you should avoid additional pages that add little purpose from the customers perspective.

Mike

[Mike Hughes]

New topic on the checkout.

Does anyone know if trigger for the receipt email has been changed from the customer getting to the receipt page? I know this was under consideration, not sure if Actinic were able to include it or not.

Mike

[Darren B]

New topic on the checkout.

Does anyone know if trigger for the receipt email has been changed from the customer getting to the receipt page? I know this was under consideration, not sure if Actinic were able to include it or not.

Mike

This is a very good question as Paypal screws up GA - 80% of my customers never return to the site when using paypal

[leehack]

What it does mean though, is that you should avoid additional pages that add little purpose from the customers perspective.

I think this is the difficulty though Mike, i really like a last confirmation page when i do an order, mainly because i think i do most transactions on auto pilot and its a place for me to ensure i have added the right address and to make sure that the delivery method i chose is correct etc.

I think this page compliments a compressed 2-page process. When there are a number of different things being asked of you on a page, i think it's great to go to one page and confirm the lot at once.

This is the crux on generic software, does the majority side with you or me, because that's what the software has to cater for, because the infrastructure does not allow the choice in this area.

[leehack]

New topic on the checkout.

Does anyone know if trigger for the receipt email has been changed from the customer getting to the receipt page? I know this was under consideration, not sure if Actinic were able to include it or not.

Mike

+1 for me..