When brands are looking to improve the experience that they offer to shoppers, they tend to start everywhere other than checkout.
This is largely due to three misconceptions.
The first has come about simply because of checkout's chronological spot in the shopping journey. Because it's the last step for shoppers, many brands have dismissed it as a focus and instead spent their time personalizing every shopper touch point that comes before it.
The second is that checkout has long been limited by the traditional e-commerce platforms, so many brands believe they must replatform to make the changes they want—which is way too costly and complex for many.
The final misconception brands have about checkout is that to successfully convert the largest number of shoppers, it needs to happen as quickly as possible.
Addressing checkout's misconceptions
Checkout is much bigger than the transactional nature that's come to define it. It's a process that can begin as early as the point of product discovery, and extend until a purchase is complete—or in some cases, beyond.
Checkout is actually the make-or-break point for shoppers, with nearly half (48%) of shoppers who initiate the checkout process abandoning it before completing their purchase. Not to mention, it's the final moment shoppers engage with the brand that will leave a lasting impression.
Because the shopping experience looks different for every shopper, checkout should look different, too. Shoppers should have their checkout experience personalized based on a variety of factors such as the device they're on, the items they're shopping for, whether or not they've shopped with the brand before, and more.
And thanks to the rapid rise of composable commerce — the idea that brands should bring best-in-breed individual solutions together for specific e-commerce experiences—brands don't have to completely overhaul their technology to make these tailored experiences happen.
There is so much power in checkout that has gone untapped. And as it becomes more accessible to brands, the personalized checkout experiences they offer shoppers will only continue to grow.
Here are five of the (perhaps more surprising ways) that brands can innovate checkout.
1. Create individual shopping experiences for individual shoppers
Brands have been pushing each of their shoppers through the same impersonalized checkout experience for years. While brands' checkout capabilities may have evolved over time from multi-page to one-step, or with the addition of new digital payment options, checkout remains the same for every individual, despite the many differences from shopper to shopper.
Brands already have all of the information they need to personalize checkout in the same way they personalize everything else, from targeted product recommendations and demographic-specific advertisements, to curated email and SMS communications.
These personalized experiences don't have to end at checkout. In fact, they shouldn't!
Checkout can incorporate as many different combinations of features — including different payment methods and shipping options, cross-sell and upsell, and subscription offerings — that brands can come up with to tailor it to each of their individual shoppers.
For some shoppers, like those checking out from Instagram, a speedy, one-click checkout may be the answer to this. But for others, such as those on a desktop, a multi-page process that allows them to use loyalty points and surf through additional product recommendations may be a better solution for brands to maximize revenue and profitability by not only converting shoppers, but also increasing their order size and fostering a longer term relationship in the process.
2. Enable purchases outside of traditional in-store and online shopping platforms
Some shoppers want to make purchases in the exact moment they're inspired to do so — which doesn't always happen on traditional online or in-store shopping channels.
Headless checkout, or the separation of the customer-facing presentation of a shopping platform from its back-end commerce functionality, enables brands to power checkout at any consumer touch point. This could be something as unconventional as riding a Peloton bike when a rider sees an apparel item on their instructor and wants to purchase it.
Brands are also engaging with shoppers on their own digital channels more than ever before, whether that's through email marketing campaigns, videos, online blog content or social media. Rather than directing shoppers away from these channels to go through a separate checkout process when they see a product they like, headless checkout enables brands to power a purchase right then and there.
Headless checkout can even be built into search engine results, so shoppers can discover an item and purchase it in the same step. Anywhere there's an opportunity for brands to market their product to customers, headless checkout can enable a purchase.
3. Provide extended opportunities for upselling and cross-selling
Brands have long integrated upselling and cross-selling features into product pages and throughout their marketing channels in hopes of increasing average order value. These recommendations for items shoppers may also like, or similar items that other customers may have purchased, rarely carry over into checkout.
Brands can bring these same capabilities to checkout, allowing shoppers to add products to their cart in the final moments before purchase—and even right after, giving shoppers one last chance to buy a similar or related product that they may still be thinking about after completing their order.
Omnichannel retailers can even recreate the experience of finding last-minute items in the checkout line for shoppers that choose to Buy Online, Pickup In Store, or opt for curbside pickup. Rather than having to go inside to purchase them, shoppers can add smaller ticket items like soda, candy or chapstick to their order while waiting for it to be brought out to them.
4. Capitalize on emerging technologies such as biometrics
Once brands realize the ability to tailor their checkout for individual shoppers, they quickly begin to see the virtually endless personalization opportunities available to them.
Biometric identification is now one of these opportunities.
With the rise of services like Apple Pay and Amazon One, consumers are becoming accustomed to a new sense of convenience in their shopping experiences. But brands don't have to depend only on these services to integrate the same type of biometric conveniences into their own checkout processes.
In fact, some biometric capabilities go beyond just facilitating a shopper's payment. Using biometric face and voice authentication brands can power the entire checkout process in seconds, autofilling everything from a shoppers' personal information to their payment and shipping details.
While this newer method of checkout might not yet be preferred by every shopper, the beauty of personalized checkout is that brands can offer it only to the ones who do.
5. Let shoppers pay in the way that suits them best
Shoppers have more payment options than ever. But that doesn't necessarily mean that they want to pay in a different way each time they checkout.
Rather than flooding their customers with credit, debit, digital wallets, Buy Now Pay Later, and every other payment method under the sun, brands can use their existing knowledge about each of their customers to automatically provide them with the top two or three payment methods that fit their unique shopping experience.
For example, a shopper making a purchase on social media may be more likely to prefer a digital wallet, compared to a shopper who's checking out on a desktop computer and doesn't need this option at all.
When brands fall victim to checkout misconceptions — thinking that it's too fragile of a process to make changes to, or that it needs to happen as quickly as possible for the best chance at conversion — they miss out on opportunities to provide shoppers with the payment flexibility that they now expect when making a purchase.
Just because checkout is the last step of the shopping journey doesn't mean it should be stripped of all its potential to drive revenue and profitability. What it really means is that checkout is the final opportunity that brands have to engage with their customers, and depending on how it's approached, this engagement could either make a customer for life, or drive them away for good.