Is Your Online Store’s Checkout Ready for the Festive Season? Here are 5 Optimization Tips With Online Financing

The festive season is upon us and, as Christmas season rolls around, shoppers turn to online stores to grab last-minute Christmas gifts, holiday supplies, and great deals. As festive season sales rise year-in and year-out, you must optimize your online store to handle the influx of traffic. You should also ensure that your checkout page is optimized to increase sales during the period. From online financing to shipping discounts, we discuss 5 checkout page optimization tips to improve your sales during the holidays.

1. Provide Consumers With Online Financing

Online financing refers to integrations that provide consumers with financing options when shopping eCommerce platforms. ChargeAfter is a leading provider of online financing solutions that can push sales at checkout, improving your profit returns during the festive season. When eCommerce businesses partner with ChargeAfter, they can give their consumers access to a comprehensive network of trustworthy lenders. These lenders offer zero-interest repayment options and consumers do not require credit checks to receive financing. Shoppers browsing eCommerce stores with online financing capabilities are more likely to purchase as they understand the benefits of using these features. For those that are unaware of the power of online financing, there are opportunities to upsell the feature at checkout to attract consumer attention and land a sale. Integrating online financing from ChargeAfter is a critical step to optimizing your checkout page for the busy festive shopping season. 

2. Offer Guest Checkout to Bypass Sign Ups

Encouraging consumers to sign up is a great marketing strategy as they become warm leads to target with emails, newsletters, and product announcements. That said, festive shoppers are more likely browsing than deciding to become brand loyal customers and eCommerce platforms should provide easy user experiences for these shoppers to make purchases. One such strategy is offering guest checkout for consumers that do not wish to sign up to buy. Shoppers that use this feature can quickly fly through the checkout process, saving them time and saving you money as you minimize cart abandonment rates during the holiday season.

3. Offer More Shipping Services

Many eCommerce businesses fall into the trap of sticking with one shipping partner. The best online platforms understand that global consumers seek shipping options to facilitate their unique shopping behaviors. For example, some shoppers want express shipping during the festive season and are willing to pay more as they wish to ensure gifts will arrive in time for Christmas. Other shoppers are in less of a rush and are willing to forego express shipping in favor of saving costs during the holidays. Therefore, you should offer both types of shipping at checkout and consider additional shipping facilities to save your business money. Dropshipping, for example, is a popular shipping strategy that can help eCommerce platforms save money during the holidays. 

4. Make Checkout Mobile Friendly

If your website is not mobile-friendly, then you will lose customers during the festive season. The checkout experience on mobile must be simple, quick, and seamless as many shoppers use their mobile devices to browse for Christmas gifts and supplies. Chat with your marketing team and invest in a mobile-friendly website if you haven’t already to avoid losing customers over the holidays. 

5. Sell More With Cross-Selling

Cross-selling refers to a checkout strategy whereby you showcase related products to a customer’s purchase during the checkout process. Customers shopping for a printer, for example, can be shown inks that work with their chosen printer. If offered at a slight discount, shoppers are more likely to add the additional items to their carts and purchase larger orders. This will improve your average order values during the festive season, leading to a more profitable holiday period for your business. 

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