The cart page is the most important page of your Shopify store. It’s the last chance you have to convince a customer that they want to buy from you. If your cart page isn’t optimized for conversion, then it will be very difficult to generate more revenue for your business.
In this blog post, we’re going to go over 10 actionable strategies that will help increase conversions on your cart page and make more money from your Shopify store.
Shopify cart page optimization strategies
These are optimization best practices you can apply to your Shopify cart page to maximize conversion rates and ensure people get to the checkout.
1. Use trust badges
Seals and trust badges are one of the most effective ways to increase conversion rates on a Shopify cart page is through trust badges and seals. In fact, 48% of people say that trust badges reassure them that a site is secure and trustworthy. These are like virtual stamps or approval symbols that show potential customers that your website has been vetted by an outside party as being legitimate, safe, secure, etc. This type of “social proof” helps convince people not to leave their credit/debit card information unprotected as they’re buying from you online.
Look how our client’s website has trust badges placed in the footer of their website to build trust and authority. You can enable this directly in your Shopify store settings.
2. Leverage social proof
Social proof is one of the most effective ways to increase conversion rates on a Shopify cart page. Social proof works by leveraging people’s innate desire for approval, validation, and confirmation from other people in their networks or circles who are similar to them (in terms of demographics, interests, or behaviors). If you have some social media followers/fans already, make sure they can see that your store has been liked/followed/shared on Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube!
There are many different strategies that help with increasing conversion rates through using trust badges and social proof effectively. You should also be aware that there are certain types of seals out there that may not work well with all kinds of products. You can also add reviews like Beardbrand does here.
3. Allow customers to edit their order
Sometimes customers need to edit theirs before checking out. For instance, if they want to change the size of their clothing or remember something else that they needed to buy. It’s extremely frustrating for customers when they are forced to abandon their shopping carts because you can’t allow them to edit their order before checking out (or your website crashes). When this happens, these people generally don’t come back and purchase from you again.
Continuing with the Beardbrand example, when you add a product to your cart, you can edit the quantity.
It is also very frustrating when people go through the process of adding items into their carts then proceed with the checkout but cannot find any way on your site to allow them to remove items from their carts! This means either having no option at all– which makes shoppers think there might be hidden costs involved after getting to the checkout.
4. Link to your refund and privacy policies
Not only is it important to provide shoppers with information about how refunds or exchanges work on your site, but you also need to include the link in a prominent place within your shopping cart pages. This means either having no option at all– which makes shoppers think there might be hidden costs involved after getting to the checkout.
For illustration, when you are on the Shopify cart page of Australia Luxe Collective, there is a terms of service link you can click before checking out.
People want this information upfront so they know what type of delivery options are available for them, as well as how long it will take their items to arrive. If possible, try not hiding this info too much by adding links that require people to click away from your website just so they can find out more details about each method of transport (i.e., couriers).
5. Upsell and cross-sell
Upselling and cross-selling is an easy way for e-commerce brands to drive more revenue without acquiring extra customers. It’s not about simply offering an extra product for people to purchase after they buy something, but rather suggesting items that are related or complementary to the item(s) someone is looking at.
For example, if you were buying a pair of pants online and there was also another pair available in your cart, it would be wise to show these two together so customers can get more value out of their order by choosing both options.
Another way brands can upsell is by mentioning complementary products when showing off specific items. For instance, if you have some socks on sale then maybe try showing what kind of shoes go well with them just before asking shoppers whether they want to add this particular sock onto their cart page too! By doing this, you’re creating a better user experience and increasing your average order value (AOV).
Pangaia pulls this off perfectly (no pun intended). When you add a product to cart, there is a “Complete the Look” section that recommends other clothing items.
Read our article on the best Shopify upselling apps that add this functionality to your shop in the click of a button.
6. Display taxes and shipping fees
61% of customers abandon their cart when shipping costs and taxes are too high or unexpected. To help people smoothly convert during the checkout process, it’s essential to display the exact amount they are paying for taxes and shipping. This way there are no surprises that can catch them off guard and enticed to look elsewhere. Since you require each customer’s shipping information, you can display this on the checkout page like Fashion Nova does below.
7. Increase your Shopify store’s speed
According to a recent Statistic, almost 40% of people abandon their cart if the page takes more than four seconds to load. To keep your customers happy and increase conversions you need to decrease loading time as much as possible.
Enter the URL of your store into Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool to get a performance report.
Click “Analyze” and it will generate a report with your page speed and recommend improvements.
You can use Shopify speed optimization apps that will help improve your site’s performance by compressing images or minifying CSS/JavaScript files. These are just some of the ways for speeding up an e-commerce website without having a dedicated in-house development team.
8. Use an SSL certificate
All Shopify stores come equipped with a secure socket layer certificate or SSL for short. This is important for a couple of different reasons. Firstly, it creates trust with the customer. Most consumers associate the green lock on their browser tab with security. Because, after all, that’s what it’s for. Secondly, you need an SSL to be PCI compliant and legally accept online orders. That’s not to mention that browsers like Google Chrome won’t open websites without an SSL either.
9. Offer a money-back guarantee
If your product is good and you believe in it, why not offer a money-back guarantee? If customers aren’t satisfied with their purchase for any reason they can return the item within X number of days. This will increase conversions as well as customer satisfaction! It’s also worth noting that Shopify Plus now offers this feature on all plans. So there’s no need to use third-party apps like Refunds Manager anymore!
Look at Fitbit’s checkout page for example.
There are two notifications in the top bar of importance:
- “45 day money back guarantee on devices and accessories.”
- 1 year limited warranty on devices and accessories.”
Both of these are guarantees that make the customer more comfortable making a purchase because they can both get their money back or a product replacement if needed.
10. Enable alternate payment methods
Most people will purchase from your Shopify store using debit, credit, or PayPal. However, alternative payment methods are on the rise. These include Apple Pay, Google Pay, and cryptocurrencies. Being able to accept these payment methods increases conversion rates as more people can shop from your store. You can see on Fashion Nova’s checkout page that they accept Amazon Pay along regular methods like PayPal and debit/credit.
Final thoughts on Shopify cart page optimization
It’s crucial for Shopify brands to optimize each step of the sales funnel and that includes the cart page. Once customers add products to their cart, it must be effortless to get to the checkout page or you’ll lose conversions. Let’s recap what you can do to optimize the Shopify cart page in particular:
- Use trust badges.
- Leverage social proof like reviews and star ratings.
- Allow customers to edit their orders.
- Add links to your refund and privacy policies.
- Upsell and cross-sell relevant products.
- Display taxes and shipping fees upfront.
- Increase your store’s page speed.
- Use an SSL certificate.
- Offer a money-back guarantee.
- Enable alternate payment methods.
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