Magento is a highly regarded eCommerce platform known for its ability to facilitate the development of online stores with minimal hassle. It is worth noting that approximately 12% of all online retailers worldwide utilize Magento for their businesses.
However, improving the checkout rate on your Magento store requires more than simply clicking the “publish” button for your latest product. Experiencing a sense of disappointment upon witnessing a zero on your checkout counter is a natural reaction. However, the positive aspect to embrace is that there is perpetually space for growth and enhancement.
We have compiled a series of Magento optimization tips to help you enhance your conversion rates on the checkout pages.
In addition to the tips we provide, it is also beneficial to consider employing Magento development services. These services encompass a range of solutions and expertise dedicated to optimizing and enhancing the functionality of your Magento-based online store. You can further improve your store’s performance and success by leveraging the skills of professional developers and agencies specializing in Magento development.
1. Use Static Content
Checkout pages on Magento 2 sites often need faster load speeds due to the large number of static resources they need to load. Such circumstances can lead to an adverse user experience, potentially discouraging customers from finalizing their purchases.
By default, a Magento 2 site has to load over 300 JavaScript files, totaling approximately 3 MB. The checkout pages face longer load times, particularly as they cannot benefit from caching mechanisms.
Although Magento 2 is a powerful platform, its automatic JS bundling may not be suitable for all scenarios. To address this, it is possible to manually establish an Advanced JavaScript Bundling configuration and leverage a dependable Content Delivery Network (CDN). Adopting this approach can greatly enhance the performance of your checkout pages, resulting in quicker loading times and a more seamless checkout experience for your customers.
2. Optimize Magento Load Speed
Sluggish loading speed often contributes to elevated bounce rates on websites, including eCommerce platforms. It’s important to note that load speed affects not only your Magento 2 checkout but your entire site as well.
Based on a study conducted by Google, it has been found that around 90% of visitors are inclined to abandon a webpage if its loading time exceeds five seconds. Therefore, it’s crucial to take action to improve the load speed of your checkout pages. Here are some simple steps you can take:
Remove unnecessary checkout modules and third-party scripts: Review your checkout modules and eliminate any that are not essential. Additionally, assess the third-party scripts used on your checkout page and consider removing those not crucial to its functionality.
Compress image and asset sizes: Optimize the size of your images and other assets on the checkout page. Efficient compression techniques, while maintaining high quality, can considerably diminish load times.
Optimize cookies: Evaluate the cookies used on your website, including those specific to the checkout process. Minimize the number and size of cookies to improve load speed.
Set up a content delivery network (CDN): Implementing a CDN allows you to distribute your website’s content across multiple servers worldwide. This helps reduce the distance between your server and customers, leading to faster load times.
Websites that exhibit faster load speeds often achieve superior performance in search engines, particularly Google. This is due to Google’s Core Web Vitals algorithm, which utilizes load speed as a metric to assess website user experience. Enhancing the load speed of your checkout page can result in increased user satisfaction, decreased bounce rates, and improved rankings on search engines.
3. Create a Faster Checkout Process
As per a study conducted by Forrester, a well-crafted user experience has the potential to boost conversion rates by up to 400%. One effective strategy to enhance conversion rates involves reducing the click depth required to access the checkout page.
By streamlining the design of the user experience, the number of steps to reach the checkout page is minimized. This approach effectively reduces the click count between the front, product, and checkout pages.
Through the reduction of clicks needed to reach the checkout page, the user experience is significantly improved. A key strategy is eliminating unnecessary pages between the product and checkout pages, aligning to streamline the user journey.
4. Remove Unnecessary Assets From the Checkout Page
The primary objective of your Magento 2 one-page checkout page is to facilitate seamless transactions for your customers. When it comes to third-party extensions, it is advisable to exclude them from the checkout page to ensure a streamlined experience.
While visuals and branding elements such as full-size product pictures, illustrations, and animated GIFs can enhance the overall aesthetics of your website, incorporating them on the checkout page can have a detrimental effect on load speed. The negative impact on load speed outweighs any potential benefits. Hence, it is recommended to prioritize a fast and efficient checkout process over including extra assets on the checkout page.
5. Optimize Magento Site for Mobile Usability
In the past six months, 80% of smartphone users have purchased online using mobile devices. Failure to optimize your Magento 2 store for mobile users can result in missed opportunities for business growth.
While designing a responsive user interface for mobile is crucial, maintaining optimal performance poses a separate challenge. To ensure mobile optimization for your Magento 2 store, consider implementing the following strategies:
Lazy loading content: Load content gradually as users scroll, improving page load times and overall performance.
Minimizing page file size: Compress images and optimize code to reduce the size of web pages, enhancing loading speed.
Utilizing HTTP/2: Take advantage of the improved efficiency and multiplexing capabilities of the HTTP/2 protocol to enhance performance.
Avoiding JavaScript bundling: Reduce the reliance on bundled JavaScript files, as it can increase load times. Instead, prioritize loading essential scripts first and defer non-critical ones.
Optimizing for the first byte: Improve server response time and reduce latency for mobile users, ensuring a smooth and responsive browsing experience.
6. Implement One-click Checkout
Optimizing the user experience is effortlessly achievable by implementing Magento 2’s one-page checkout. By incorporating third-party Magento extensions like the one-step checkout for Magento 2, you can streamline the checkout process and enhance its speed and efficiency.
Reducing the number of clicks between the one-page checkout and the payment page is crucial as it minimizes the load time on your server. Additionally, this helps prevent potential loss of interest from highly motivated customers who may become disengaged if they experience prolonged waiting times.
7. Payment Methods
Offering a one-step checkout for Magento 2 doesn’t mean you have to compromise on payment methods. While adding alternative payment options may not directly impact conversions, it can give your website a competitive advantage over rivals with limited choices.
Digital checkout solutions like Apple Pay and PayPal account for approximately 29.8% of eCommerce transactions.
Fortunately, the majority of secure payment gateways currently offer support for digital wallets, simplifying the process of integrating these options into your checkout procedure.
However, paying attention to your customer’s preferred payment methods is important. This allows you to identify which methods can be removed from your website, helping to reduce the load on your servers and optimize performance.
Conclusion
Improving checkout conversion for Magento or Magento 2 stores has a variety of solutions. Each website has its customer persona and specific strategies that must be prioritized based on its target audience.
Nevertheless, the strategies compiled here can be applied to virtually any type of Magento store. The effectiveness of these strategies will largely depend on your overall marketing approach and the quality of your products. Following these tips can accelerate your progress toward achieving your goals.