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What’s the secret formula for a frictionless checkout experience? And why is it important?
Learning how to create an effective purchase flow leads to more and faster conversions.
When you make it a no-brainer to interact with your online shop or website, customers are guided quickly from their initial decision to the final purchase.
The best purchase flows are those that customers barely notice because they work so smoothly. When customers can complete their purchase without thinking about the process itself, you've created a successful purchase flow.
A good checkout experience doesn’t occur by accident. It has to be designed. There are several things to consider when optimizing for a seamless shopper experience but ultimately, you have to think like a customer.
In this article, I’ll lay out a simple guide to creating the perfect purchase flow that wins customers.
Get a sneak peek at different types of purchase flows and email automations that brands use when you sign up for Panoramata.
You’ll have access to creatives, email copy, email designs, landing pages, ads, and other assets brands use for their marketing.
Clarify the purpose of your purchase flow
In this case, purchase flow automatically defines the purpose for you: to influence website visitors to purchase.
To achieve that, you have to minimize friction. Make it simple and easy enough so your potential customer doesn’t see the process as a waste of time or get frustrated in any way during the checkout.
To turn the question on its head, what are things that add friction to the checkout process?
Anyone who has shopped online before has noticed these elements on the web and on mobile. These make or break the conversion.
Too many clicks
Multiple clicks increase the space between the customer and a successful cart checkout.
Make it your mission to minimize clicks. Case in point: Amazon does a one-click purchase process (and even patented it).
If one-click is too lofty of a goal, can you perhaps aim for a two-click checkout?
Alternatively, have a single button click that automatically fills up customer data, including payment details, so customers only have one additional click to complete the purchase.
Make the purchase easy and breezy and your shoppers will love you for it.
Not having everything on one page
Product pages should have everything your customers need, including the ability to choose variants easily (color, size, product type, etc).
Don’t forget to drop details about shipping, add-ons, cross-sells, and upsells on the page. They’re on their way to checking out so this is the best time to persuade them to add more things to their cart.
Make it simple and easy enough so your potential customer doesn’t see the process as a waste of time or get frustrated in any way during the checkout.
Free shipping options are also a great motivator to complete a checkout.
Find and remove or minimize friction points
First, some basics.
- Keep it simple: This includes everything from a page to checkout nodal or pop-up. The sign-up process up to everything that happens afterwards.
- Reduce the number of form fields to essential information only: Forms are essential but you don’t have to have 18 form fields..
- Enable guest checkout options: This is good for buyers who want to buy right away and don’t want to go through the sign-up process.
- Use smart defaults and auto-fill capabilities: If you can use auto-fill customer details (like return shoppers or shoppers within an ecosystem like Shop from Shopify). Use smart defaults and fall-back options for automation.
- Validate: Implement address validation, email validation, and phone number validation to prevent errors.
As an example: Instead of asking for "Address Line 1" and "Address Line 2," use a single "Address" field with smart validation that can parse different address formats. You can always use parsing to get the details in the format you seek later.
Maintain clear structure and hierarchy in your purchase flows
There’s no excuse to have pages that are confusing and outright hideous today.
Follow these fundamentals:
- Pages should have clear titles (H1), sub-titles (H2), and paragraphs (p).
- Use simple fonts and buttons. Your colors should be on-brand.
- Display a progress indicator showing checkout stages.
- Have clear call-to-action (CTA) buttons
- Always show price and shipping information prominently.
- Integrate visible security badges and trust signals.
For example, if it’s a product landing page, product images are critical.
However, your product image can’t be so overwhelming that your customers can’t find the “Buy now” button or other critical information such as those mentioned above (shipping costs, discount codes, and the buttons).
Eliminate distractions as much as possible
The cookie-consent banner (for GDPR and the like) shouldn’t appear on the purchase page.
The purchase pages also should not have anything distracting like:
- Links to social media profiles (because those take them away from the checkout page)
- A YouTube video (Why send them to YouTube when your primary goal is to drive a purchase?).
- Anything that says “Learn more” and then takes them away to another page on your website or store
Use ecosystems to your advantage
If you use Shopify, there’s “Shop” for instance.
Shop by Shopify is a part of Shopify’s ecosystem of thousands of customers which also enables better features for cart-to-home experiences, marketing automations, and performance tracking.
It allows you to engage directly with your customers and more.
The Shop feature from Shopify enables “Buy with Shop” that taps into a growing network of active, engaged, and verified customers within the Shopify Ecosystem.
These customers are “checkout-ready”—buyers early in the purchase funnel along with lead capture and sign-in.
Depending on the platform you choose, there could be ways to use features that enable access to an ecosystem or just better checkout flows or purchase flows.
Curious as to how various brands have purchase flows set up?
Sign up with Panoramata and take a peek at how different brands across industries and niches craft their purchase flows.
Want more ideas and inspiration? Check out our email swipe file with over 100 newsletter ideas you can use for your next campaign.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Why is a frictionless checkout experience important?
A smooth checkout process reduces cart abandonment and increases conversion rates by making it easy for customers to complete their purchases without frustration. The easier it is to check out, the more likely customers are to buy and return.
2. What are the biggest mistakes that create friction in checkout?
Common mistakes include too many clicks, long forms, mandatory account creation, and distractions like unnecessary links or videos. A confusing layout or lack of trust signals can also deter buyers from completing their purchase.
3. How can I simplify my checkout process?
Minimize the number of form fields, enable guest checkout, use auto-fill options, and ensure clear call-to-action buttons. Display shipping details and security badges upfront to build trust and keep customers focused on completing their purchase.
