When it comes to your business website, you absolutely need to have a way for customers to make a purchase. After all, you started your site to make money. If customers do not have a way to pay you, you might as well just shut your site down. Many business websites use a shopping cart feature to process transactions.
A shopping cart on your site functions just like a shopping cart in the real world. Customers can add selected items to the cart, and when they are ready to complete their transaction, they can check out, just like they would if they were shopping in a store.
However, even if you have a shopping cart feature on your site, can you be sure it is optimized for your customers? One of the biggest design mistakes a business website can make, aside from not having some method of check out, is to have an ill designed shopping cart feature. If a visitor cannot figure out how to use the shopping function, or if the shopping cart does not entice the visitor to actually make a purchase, then your business could be losing customers.
Aside from functioning properly, there are some “must haves” when it comes to designing a shopping cart.
1. Coupons or Discount Codes
Having a section where customers can use coupons or discount codes is a great way to allow customers to save money. But, coupons and discounts are also a great way to keep a customer coming back to your site. If they know that you will offer them discounts over your competition, they are more likely to check back at your site more often.
2. Product Pictures
You may also consider having actual pictures of the items in a customer’s shopping cart next to the text label. This can actually help to entice a customer to purchase more from your site. As they glance over their items, they may realize that there is something else they need.
For example, if you are selling kitchen supplies, and someone purchases a set of steak knives, having a picture of the knives beside the item label may remind them that they also needed to pick up that paring knife they have been forgetting about.
3. Security is Key
Finally, remember to emphasize security in your shopping cart. Just like you would never give your credit card information to a total stranger on the street, you would not do it in the virtual world either. You may consider linking with various verification companies that will place a seal on your shopping cart page, letting customers know that you have been examined and verified by reputable financial security companies.
Trust is one of the most important things you can offer on your site, and once it is gone, it is gone for good. Make sure your customers know that any financial transaction they make is going to be 100% secure, and chances are, you will have repeat business.