How to Increase Checkout Conversion in OpenCart
What makes your E-Commerce site succeed? For some stores it’s the design that lures customers into purchasing more, for others it’s smart conversion tactics and content. Whatever you’re focusing on, the checkout process is considered the end of the funnel and hence a part where you need to focus twice as much.
The reasons why customers abandon your store’s checkout process are quite a lot. The top two factors that destroy your conversion rates are hidden shipping costs and the necessity for account creation.
Fortunately, OpenCart has already addressed that situation by allowing Guest Checkout. But there’s always something we can do to make things better.
In this article, we will focus on the structure, layout, and user friendliness of your checkout.
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10% of customers abandon their checkout because the process is too long. (Source)
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29% don’t like that they have to register before they make a purchase. (Source)
Let’s view the top OpenCart extensions that help reduce the cart abandonment rate and increase your conversion rates.
For this information, we are using data from the OpenCart Marketplace.
Ajax Quick Checkout
Price: $44.99
Rating: 4 / 5
Sales: 3,931
With stats like these, Dreamvention take the top of the checkout extensions chart in the OpenCart Marketplace.
A difficult checkout process is a killer for your conversion rates. The way Ajax Quick Checkout resolves that is by making the entire OpenCart checkout into a responsive, single-step process.
Main Features:
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Add & Remove Customer Info Fields (Drag-n-Drop). Simpler layout arrangement.
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Social Login with Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn & Yahoo! Let users sign up with a couple of clicks before purchasing and save them another password to remember.
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Analytics for Tracking Customer Behavior on Checkout. Track the main causes of dropouts and take action.
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A/B Testing for Checkout Optimization. Start testing and optimizing your checkout design, flow and layout with different versions.
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Compatible with All Popular Payment & Shipping Methods. Versatile enough for all OpenCart setups.
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Set Minimum Order Value. A way to push customers to spend more in your store. Use with caution as it can have a negative effect.
You can switch between 4 modes and checkout layouts.
Ajax Quick Checkout allows you to test and customize the entire checkout experience of your customers.
Based on the data in the Analytics, you can either add or remove fields, rearrange elements and try out different layouts until you get optimal conversion rates.
Ajax Quick Checkout Lite
Price: FREE
Downloads: 43,144
Ajax Quick Checkout Lite is the free version of the checkout module presented above. It’s a free OpenCart extension that does what Ajax Quick Checkout does best - improve the customer’s checkout experience, but with lesser features.
Main Features:
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Add & Remove Customer Info Fields (Drag-n-Drop). Select and drag the customer fields you want to have in the checkout process.
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Analytics for Tracking Customer Behavior on Checkout. Track your customers’ behavior on the checkout and work on the weak points.
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A/B Testing for Checkout Optimization. Try out different versions and see which one has the highest conversion rates.
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Compatible with All Popular Payment & Shipping Methods. Versatile enough for all OpenCart setups.
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Set Minimum Order Value. A way to push customers to spend more in your store. Use with caution as it can have a negative effect.
Of course, there are a few differences between the paid and the free version.
In the Lite version, you need to make the different layouts and checkout versions by yourself. They are not predefined.
The Social Login feature needs to be installed additionally if you want your customers to signup with their social accounts from Facebook, Google+, etc.
Apart from that, Ajax Quick Checkout Lite is a sufficient solution for OpenCart store owners who are starting with a smaller budget and want to get things rolling faster with a better checkout.
Best Checkout
Price: $40.00
Rating: 5 / 5
Sales: 291
Best Checkout have taken the 3-step approach to the OpenCart checkout. Xtensions use a method that lets users finish the checkout in small and easy chunks which requires a small amount of effort, step-by-step.
The sidebars are used to set the secondary details like vouchers, coupons and comments, while the center is dedicated to the customer information.
Main Features:
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Show & Hide Customer Information Fields. Customize the checkout length and size by selecting only the info fields you want.
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Enhanced Custom Fields. More control and additional settings for the custom fields.
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Custom Validation Rules. Custom validation for customer information (e.g. phone number must be between 3 and 32 digits).
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Set Address Pattern. Configure default address values.
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Tooltips on All Fields. Helper texts on all customer information fields.
Each of the three steps balances the amount of information and requirements for customers so they are not overloaded with the actions they need to take.
Customers can focus on the main actions they need to take instead of being overwhelmed by too much fields in one place.
The checkout is fully responsive and scalable across all devices. The intuitive interface guides customers and lets them confirm their order as quickly as possible.
Quick Checkout
Price: $39.95
Rating: 4 / 5
Sales: 2,676
MarketInSG are the next strong contenders on the OpenCart checkout scene. Their take on the single-page checkout comes with something slightly different.
Main Features:
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Add / Remove Customer Info Fields. Select the customer info fields you want to use.
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Compatible with All Payment / Shipping Modules and OpenCart Themes. Suitable for any OpenCart setup.
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Arrange Fields. Setup the layout of different fields and elements.
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Set Predefined Field Values. Configure default values for the customer info fields.
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Required / Optional Fields. Choose whether fields will be required or optional for the checkout.
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Customize Payment / Shipping Icons. Customize your payment and shipping icons to match your store design.
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Select Newsletter Status. Select whether customers will be automatically subscribed on checkout or not.
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Post Code Based Shipping. Automatic shipping calculation upon entering post code.
Quick Checkout gives your OpenCart store the core of a single-page checkout as well as a lot of nice-to-have features:
Additional Features:
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Survey Questions (How Did You Find Us?). Track your most successful customer acquisition channels.
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Loading Screen. Page loaders engage customers while waiting and remove the sense that the page is not loading fast enough.
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Countdown Timer. An additional incentive for customers to finish their checkout faster (Example: same day shipping).
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Automatic Shipping Calculation (Upon Entering Address). Faster shipping estimation based on location with Ajax loading.
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Delivery Time & Date Field. Indicates when the order will be delivered so customers know when to expect it.
The “How Did You Find Us?” survey question can be a huge asset, especially when it’s required.
Customers will have to give you an answer in order to continue, and this will give you data about which channels are most beneficial for your OpenCart store.
The loading screen and automatic shipping calculation help create a more interactive feel since the checkout reacts instantly with the customer’s actions.
When you are ready to continue, the checkout gives you the payment details step.
SuperQuickCheckout
Price: $24.99
Sales: 78
The idea behind SuperQuickCheckout is to make an order by skipping the checkout process entirely.
Here is how it works. A customer adds a product to the cart. Upon hitting the “Checkout” button, SuperQuickCheckout appears and allows them to finish their order by just filling out the two Phone and Email fields.
You may be asking: what happens to all the customer information and their payment & shipping details?
That’s where the store admin comes into action. You obtain this info by contacting the customer for their details using the phone or email they provided.
After that, you use the OpenCart admin panel to complete their order manually and send it out.
SuperQuickCheckout aims to improve your customer’s shopping experience by bringing down their actions to a minimum. This way, users make their order as fast as possible without any obstacles that may hurt your conversion rates.
Time to get started...
The checkout process in an E-Commerce store is what separates visitors from customers. Even if you’ve done all you can on your website in terms of design, conversion optimization, SEO, user experience, visitors might still give up if your checkout is not done right. These are the hottest checkout extensions on the OpenCart marketplace so far, so view their demos and choose the one you find the most fitting for you and your customer base.
