It can be the most disappointing thing to witness a visitor reach your checkout page without making a purchase. This may be a concern for you too, so consider your checkout page flow.
If you dig deeper, you may find that there are many points where you can understand why people leave without swiping their cards! Your goal should ideally be to optimize every step so that visitors find it as convenient as possible.
If that sounds challenging, an effective WooCommerce checkout manager can be helpful as it can identify and fill all those gaps..
The purpose of this article is to show you how to set up a perfect WooCommerce checkout manager and optimize your WooCommerce checkout process.
What does an ideal WooCommerce checkout manager mean?
Though the checkout page is the most important stage, the WooCommerce checkout manager is more than that. It begins when your visitor adds a product to their cart and concludes when they complete the purchase process.
You have to take care of the entire checkout flow and not just focus on optimizing only the checkout page.
So what does this checkout flow include?
- Cart options
- Check out page
- Thank You page
Look into the entire flow. While doing so, make sure to eliminate every potential challenge your visitor could encounter. That’s your ideal checkout manager. Because getting your target audience’s attention may not be a big challenge but making them stay definitely is.
First, let’s look at the different cart options you can choose from.
Cart options for your WooCommerce store
Side cart, skip cart, menu cart, floating cart…there are many options. Based on what you sell, you may want to try some of the below WooCommerce cart options.
Side cart
The side cart opens up a sidebar whenever users need to review their cart. It doesn’t take users to another page, instead, it allows customers to check their cart items from the current page.
This cart type is beneficial for the majority of stores where the products purchased in an order are limited. Digital products, clothing, accessories and stationery stores can take advantage of the side cart.
Skip cart
If you wish to take your visitors directly to the checkout page without fiddling with the review cart option, this is what you need.
Skip cart enables them to complete the transaction swiftly, significantly reducing the cart abandonment rate. That said, it is obvious that this cart type should be used for high-ticket services like digital products, subscriptions, one-on-one coaching sessions, or downloadables.
Ajax add to cart
The ajax add to cart option allows you to add single or multiple products to the cart and review them without having to reload the cart page every time. This greatly aids in expediting your customer’s purchase.
Ajax add to cart is a great option for groceries where visitors tend to purchase multiple products.
Update variations in the cart
Here, if users want to change product variations or quantity, they don’t need to go back to the product page/shopping page. They can update the product variations based on attributes directly from the cart.
Electronics, cosmetics, health and fitness and grocery stores will gain from this cart type.
We recommend WooCommerce Update Variations in Cart plugin for this cart type. No configuration and no coding is required..
Different types of checkout optimization options
The transition between your product page & payment page is probably the most important determinant of your sales. This is dependent on the type of checkout option you select.
Now, this selection is never random. To ensure you make the right choice, keep in mind these three important factors:
- Your store/product type
- The convenience of your visitors
- The store analytics (marketing strategy)
Here are some of the check-out flow options that you can explore!
Direct checkout
This is what we were talking about when we mentioned the skip cart option. Direct checkout allows visitors to bypass the cart page and go straight to the checkout page.
The only disadvantage that visitors may encounter is that they do not have the opportunity to review their cart prior to making a payment. However, you could alleviate this concern by enabling the side cart option on your WooCommerce store.
One-click checkout
Just like the direct checkout option, the visitors can directly complete their purchase with just one click. The customer’s data and payment details get pre-filled based on their purchase history.
Even though visitors have an instant checkout and a smooth transition, the process may be disrupted if they do not intend to continue with the same data/payment method.
One-page checkout
As the name implies, the entire checkout process is summarized on a single page using this checkout type.
The product information, cart icon, payment details and checkout form are all on the same page. Hence, the person doesn’t get diverted from the purchase as they don’t shuffle between the tabs. This checkout option is best suitable for high-ticket products/services, digital products or any store that sells an exclusive line of products.
One of the disadvantages is that the page becomes too heavy due to lot of elements on the same page. This checkout is also not suitable for FMCG stores.
We recommend Cashier and WooCommerce One Page Checkout plugins to set up one page checkout on your website.
Multi-step checkout
A multi-step checkout has several pages and steps for the visitor to cross to get to the checkout page. The visitor must navigate through numerous pages and stages to reach the checkout page in a multi-step checkout. It informs the customer of each before-and-after phase in great detail. It’s definitely time-consuming, but clients appreciate being able to examine their choices at each stage.
It’s an excellent checkout option for WooCommerce stores in the fashion, retail, and electronics industries.
Note: All of the options mentioned above have their share of pros and cons. You can still manage to make the most out of them by understanding which one will suit your WooCommerce store (as per your industry/niche/product type).
Best WooCommerce checkout manager plugin?
Cashier plugin is a complete package that offers you incredible WooCommerce checkout optimization features.
Everything that we discussed above from one-click checkout, direct checkout, side cart and a lot more enhancements are available with Cashier.
Cashier makes your visitor’s buying journey effortless with:
- Direct/one-click checkout options to complete the transaction faster with the Buy Now button.
- Side cart option to be able to review their shopping list right from the page they’re browsing on.
- Present better recommendations based on the customer’s buying history.
- Compatibility with WooCommerce Subscriptions.
- Enabling the Buy Now button storewide or for any specific product categories, as you like.
- Use the Buy Now links in emails, social media, blog posts and everywhere else you wish to promote & sell your products.
- Smartly increase the order value by displaying cart notices of free shipping.
- Allow users to empty their cart in one click.
- Track profits earned by entering the cost of goods for simple and variable products.
- Allow users to update product variations directly from the cart
Cashier is a total steal for its price!
Other popular WooCommerce checkout manager plugins
It is best not to tamper with too many settings on the checkout page. It has the potential to irritate customers at any time, increasing abandonment rates.
However, you can add and remove custom fields based on conditions wherever necessary, so that customers are left with minimum fields to fill and they check out faster. Here are our top picks:
WooCommerce Checkout Field Editor
The official WooCommerce Checkout Field Editor plugin. It lets you add, and remove necessary fields on your checkout page based on your requirements.
Core fields can also be moved around giving you more control over your checkout without touching the code.
Notable features:
- Supports nine custom field types.
- Edit three types of fields with this plugin – billing, shipping and additional fields section.
- Add seven different types of attributes (called ‘Columns’ by the plugin) like name, type, label…
- Use a custom field in the WooCommerce emails.
Pricing: $49
Get WooCommerce Checkout Field Editor plugin
Checkout Field Editor for WooCommerce (Checkout Manager)
If you’re looking for an advanced WooCommerce checkout field editor plugin with multiple customization options, this plugin by ThemeHigh is a good option to explore.
Notable features:
- Support for twenty-four custom checkout field types.
- Add new fields into the billing, shipping and additional sections.
- Display fields based on conditions like cart content and price, user roles, and product specifications.
- Display fields based on shipping options and payment methods.
- Rearrange the fields as per convenience.
- Add a custom class for styling the fields.
- Change address display format.
Pricing: $49
Checkout Manager for WooCommerce
This is a simple plugin that lets you make changes in the billing, shipping and other additional fields with options like add, delete and reorder the fields.
Notable features:
- Options to create and add two types of fields like text field and text area.
- Options to enable, disable, or mandate any field.
- Option to change the label name.
- Option to create a file-upload field, heading, date time picker, radio button and so on.
Get Checkout Manager for WooCommerce
Build customer relationships with custom thank you pages
As vital as it is to get your visitors to finish the purchase process efficiently, how you connect with them thereafter is equally important.
Optimizing the order complete page i.e. your WooCommerce thank you message page powerfully is the best way to answer your customers’ – what’s next?
This customer has paid for some of your products or services, thus they have a higher level of trust in you. So why not use their trust to help them discover new products that would benefit them and increase your sales?
StoreApps’ Custom Thank You Page for WooCommerce plugin helps you convert your thank you page into a powerful marketing tool. The plugin:
- Offers highly converting readymade custom thank you page templates.
- Shows upsell/cross-sell product recommendations on the page.
- Gives you the option to link your social media accounts.
- Provides page builders and themes to create an effective thank you page.
- Allows you to enable a thank you page for each product.
All these and many other features that you can use and set up yourself with absolutely no coding skills required!
Get StoreApps Custom Thank You Page plugin
Final words
With all the above information and awareness in hand, don’t let more money slip through the cracks by not optimizing your checkout process.
Cashier plugin is the best way to kickstart your WooCommerce checkout optimization journey if this is your first attempt. It has easy features and no coding required, which makes it a great, no-fail way to get started with your process.
FAQs
How to customize checkout page in WooCommerce without plugin?
To customize the checkout page in WooCommerce without a plugin, you can create a child theme and modify the checkout template file. You can also use custom CSS to style the checkout page. However, it is recommended to use a plugin for more advanced customization options and to avoid potential issues with theme updates.