3 Steps to Reduce Mobile Checkout Friction
More information = less friction, and less friction = more conversions.
More information = less friction, and less friction = more conversions.
Consumers who open email on mobile devices – now about one-third of mobile opens – are less likely to click than those who open on a desktop. Low expectations of, and poor experiences with mobile site usability are to blame. Usability, Jakob Nielsen tells us, is “life or death” for low-commitment mobile experiences.
Usability is particularly important at the point of conversion. The customer has made a decision to purchase/download/register. Now the fun begins, particularly for those with touchscreens, which ABI predicts will be on 97 percent of smartphones by 2016.As more text entry is required, more friction is created in the checkout process. To eliminate friction and ensure a quicker, easier mobile checkout, drive to account creation.
One day, we hope that all our critical information is stored securely and available on any device, but we’re not there yet. In the meantime, encourage customers to provide their address, payment, and contact preferences upfront for easy retrieval at checkout.
Here are three steps to capture customer data across channels.
Starbucks understands the Nielsen dictum “killing time is the killer app” as it encourages registration on phones while users are waiting for their lattes via store signage. The mobile form is very user-friendly, with small amounts of information on each page and lots of white space. Starbucks fails, however, when requiring a password with six to 15 characters, one uppercase, one lower case, and a digit. Seriously, Starbucks, for my coffee card? You know I’m typing on a touchscreen, right?
To reduce friction at checkout, cross-promote and cross-capture. Capture information and promote account creation across channels. Promote email subscription on your Facebook tabs, drive to account promotions via Twitter, and encourage account creation for mobile users killing time. Because more information = less friction, and less friction = more conversions.
Mobile checkout image on home page via Shutterstock.