3 Opportunities for Frictionless Ecommerce Experiences

3 Opportunities for Frictionless Ecommerce Experiences The more hoops online shoppers have to jump through to make a purchase, the more likely they are to abandon shopping carts. One survey shows 35 percent of customers who recently abandoned a cart did so because the website required them to create an account, and 27 percent cited a “long/complicated checkout process.” In other words, online merchants who facilitate frictionless ecommerce experiences gain a competitive edge in the marketplace. Modern ecommerce means meeting customers where they already are and eliminating transaction hurdles whenever possible. Luckily, opportunities for frictionless ecommerce experiences are all around us. Consider implementing these three examples into your sales funnel to reduce cart abandonment rates and provide shoppers with a streamlined experience from start to finish. One-Click Buying Amazon once had a patent on the 1-Click buying button. Other brands either had to license this technology from the ecommerce giant or live without it. Barnes Noble faced a lawsuit for utilizing a similar abbreviated checkout process in the late ‘90s. The patent’s expiration leaves room for other online sellers to implement similar technology. Its premise is simple: Consumers only have to input their information once for the store to “remember” them, shaving time and effort off future purchases and compelling them to buy quickly and easily. Let’s say you want to open a furniture store online. Even if it takes a while to offer customers one-click checkout, you can still avoid some of the major pitfalls leading to cart abandonment in the short term. For example, allowing consumers to check out as a guestâ€"rather than requiring them to create an account up frontâ€"tends to make the process less daunting, especially for those shopping for new furniture on mobile devices.  Mobile Apps While having a highly usable website is a must for modern ecommerce brands, a lot of buying is starting to take place outside the web browser alone. Mobile applications are a perfect example of frictionless ecommerce because they save consumers the hassle of re-entering their payment information every time they want to check out. All they have to do after their initial visit is open the app, make their selections and confirm the purchase. Everyone from rideshare companies to music stores, cafes, television providers and more are taking advantage of this convenient model.  Social Media Social media is great for connecting directly with customers, posting relevant content and driving traffic to your blog and website. But the arrival of buy buttons makes social media platforms a site for actually completing ecommerce transactions. If a customer sees something they like in a Facebook shop, they can check out without having to transition from the app to a brand’s separate website. Every step you can eliminate gives buyers one less chance to reconsider their purchase or bail on the process out of impatience. The integration of “Buy Now” buttons also breathes new life into content marketing strategies, as sellers can integrate them into blog posts as well as social media. This strategy targets buyers when they’re most interested in learning more about a product and obtaining it for themselves, increasing the likelihood they’ll go through with the transaction. Watching an informative how-to video or reading an engaging long-form blog post serves as the gateway to buying a product for themselvesâ€"all without leaving the comfort of their current platform. Taking advantage of these three opportunities for frictionless ecommerce experiences will empower you to give consumers an ideal shopping experience; smooth, speedy and secure. Mobile applications, integrated buy buttons and one-click buying have the potential to reduce shopping cart abandonment and boosting overall sales.