Optimize your mobile checkout to help turn shoppers into buyers

These days, more and more shopping takes place on a smartphone. In fact, experts predict that over 40% of e-commerce sales will occur on a mobile device by 2024.1

As consumers shift to mobile shopping, your mobile checkout experience will play an increasingly critical role in helping customers convert. But a frustrating mobile checkout experience can easily cause customers to abandon their orders. Recent data shows that mobile shoppers have a lower order completion rate than desktop users (8.5% vs. 13.5%).2

Let's dig into what we believe to be the mobile checkout best practices, so you can deliver a better mobile checkout experience and help reduce cart abandonment.

What is mobile checkout?

Mobile checkout is the entire process of making a purchase through a mobile app or mobile website.

Your mobile checkout process includes everything from how people add items to their cart to how they enter their shipping information to how they select their payment method.

Why is it important to optimize mobile checkout?

A streamlined, user-friendly mobile checkout experience allows customers to easily complete transactions on their smartphones.

By optimizing your site, you can create a frictionless shopping experience that can turn a first-time buyer into a repeat customer. Follow along to get started.

Mobile conversion optimization

Mobile conversion optimization is the process of making it quick and efficient to check out on your mobile app or website. One way to calculate your success is to measure your mobile conversion rate, or the rate at which people convert using their smartphone compared to when using the same pages on their desktop.

Monitor changes in rate whenever you make a change to your product page or UX elements to know if the changes are generating sales or costing you customers.

One way PayPal can help increase conversion rates with a mobile device is by reducing the number of form fields required, creating a frictionless checkout experience.

Eliminate distractions in your mobile checkout process

Since phones let customers shop from anywhere, you should make it simple for them to complete their purchases. Smartphones only have a few square inches of real estate, which means you need to make every pixel work as hard as possible.

Look at your mobile checkout UX throughout the entire shopping journey. Eliminate any extra elements or steps from your mobile checkout page design that might get in the way, create confusion, or distract the user from clicking the Pay button.

You can also use options like PayPal mobile express checkout to let people buy with one click.

Reduce shopping cart abandonment on mobile

Cart abandonment occurs when a customer gets frustrated, distracted, or changes their mind, leaving your site without completing their order. Here are a few tips to help you reduce your mobile shipping cart abandonment rate so you can generate more revenue.

Display the most important product information

Give your customers confidence by showing a summary of their shopping cart. The mobile checkout page should display important details like the product name, size, color, and model number, in addition to the same image you used on the product page. Make sure you also list the quantity ordered, the price per item, and the total price of their order. Finally, provide an estimated delivery date.

This gives users more control over their cart activity, so they can make changes if necessary. You’ll not only help them avoid frustration, but you can also save time and money by potentially curbing the need for returns or refunds.

Use the guest checkout

Sometimes a customer simply wants to make a purchase from your website with no intention of becoming a repeat customer. If you require them to create an account, they may decide to take their business elsewhere just to avoid the hassle.

By using guest checkout, you can let the customer check out on their terms. While you can still promote the benefits of creating an account, guest checkout ensures you can get the sale even if the customer isn't interested in whatever incentives you have to offer.

Insert a save cart for later option

A customer on their phone might be shopping while riding the bus, waiting for a meeting to start, or standing in line. That means they might not be ready to buy at that exact moment. Add an option to save a cart for later, so customers can go back to their cart on their phone or desktop to complete their order later.

Keep payments secure

A major concern of mobile shoppers is security. One way you can help your customers feel more secure is by only asking for the information needed to complete their purchase. You can also let returning customers create a login profile, so they only have to enter their information once.

With PayPal, mobile customers who use PayPal One Touch can check out in just a couple of clicks, allowing them to skip the hassle of entering their payment and potentially exposing their credit card number to prying eyes nearby. In addition, protection for PayPal payments can help both businesses and customers detect fraud and manage disputes.

Optimizing your mobile checkout process is not a one-time task but an ongoing process. The more time and care you put into your mobile checkout, the better you'll be able to create an efficient checkout path that helps reduce cart abandonment. Check out these tips to take your checkout experience to the next level.

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