One of the many things that can turn off a potential customer is a lousy checkout page. So, if you want to turn those visits into sales, then you should take some time thinking about having a perfectly suitable and terrific shopping cart page made for your site.
However, that is something easier said than done. Thus, here are some things that you need to consider and tell your developer in order to make your shopping cart page more appealing and be able to convert visits to cash.
Color Theory in Action
One of the things you need to consider when designing your shopping cart page is the color, since black and whites don't cut it anymore except in very special circumstances. Here, you would want something that reflects you and your product or your company. This way, you are able to maintain the identity of your company and be able to imprint into the mind of your visitors your brand's colors.
Another reason why color is so important it has been proven by studies that colors may have an effect on website visitors. Accordingly, a red colored "buy now" button works well at encouraging women to press it and make a purchase, while blue or greens works well for men. An explanation given is that women are more attracted and have the tendency to react to red colored objects, while men tend to be more reactive to colors at the other end of the spectrum.
This is quite important to know. For example, if your site is targeted at selling wrist watches for men, then you shouldn't be placing red buttons on your checkout page, and the opposite is true if your products are women's items.
Positioning of Buttons
Many online businessmen, when designing their sites, commit the grave mistake of button overkill – that is placing to many "buy now" buttons in their checkout pages, believing that the more the visitor sees these buttons, the more likely they will make a purchase. This is not at all true, according to research. They say that it actually turns potential buyers off, and increases not the chances of a sale but rather the chances of a customer clicking the "X" button on the top right corner of the page.
The psychology behind this is that nobody wants being annoyed. Remember those annoying people who keep on calling your phone and offering discounts on this and that? You don't want to give your customers that kind of experience now, do you? A good thing to remember here is that "less is more."
On a more scientific note, how your call to action buttons is placed requires some kinetic understanding of how the human mind works. When we read, we read from left to right and top going down (in most countries and culture, that is). Taking this into consideration, a group of experts have deduced that placing the "buy now" button in certain strategic places or parts of your checkout page can actually increase your chances of making a sale.
So, where are those strategic places? Accordingly, they are on the lower right side of a right-sided page (that is majority of the contents is one the right side) and on the bottom left side of a left-sided page. Other areas that have been found to work well are opposite a brand logo and the right side of the product's picture. Now, your web developer may already know that, but you can also ask him or her just to make sure.
Keep Other Buttons Functional
"Buy now" buttons are not the only buttons that should be working in your checkout page. You should also make sure that your customers have the option to go back to the top of the page after they are done reading, or even to previous page. Giving them this lessens the chances of them leaving. Moreover, give them the option of being able to cancel orders and remove items from cart. They may have a made a mistake in clicking something, and you should be understandable about that.
In summary, the main reason why you need to make sure that your checkout page has great visuals is to make site visitors make purchase. Given the effects of colors and visuals on many people, you may just have a chance of increasing your profits by talking to your developer about the great color tips and visual arrangements mentioned above.
