One Page Checkout = Lower Conversion Rates?

[Vetofunk]

Hi,

We switched to a one-page checkout about a month ago as it seemed that was the way to go. Less pages to go through; having everyone on one page. We designed it very well, easy visible steps down the whole page, required the same information as before...well the conversion rate has dropped 3% since the change.

Before we had the following pages after the cart:

1/ Login or New Customer page
2/ Billing/Shipping Address Page
3/ Billing information page which also had the "Order Now" button.

So from 3 pages to 1.

I talked to another business owner friend who recently did the same thing, as soon as they moved to a one-page checkout, the conversion rate for the entire checkout process dropped.

Anyone else have this same problem?

We are going to test out going back to the old checkout process, but wanted to see other people's take on this.

Thanks!

[wige]

I really think that this can depend on a few elements. One is the type of product. If you are selling a low cost impulse item, soliciting small donations, etc. you might benefit from a streamlined one page checkout. However, many businesses seem to get better conversions through multi-page systems. Personally, I think there are two reasons. First, on each page you get another opportunity to reinforce your security and privacy messages - by the time the user is entering their credit card information they have seen the security notices repeatedly. Another is that you get an investment. Each page feels like another step already taken, so when the customer gets to the credit card screen, well, they have already come this far so they might as well place the order. With a single page, it may feel like they are still on the first step, they haven't made that much of an investment in the purchase so they can just back out.

[CS-Cart]

I totally agree with wige. We had a great demand for such a feature and implemented it in our system, however, the results varied for different groups of customers - and that is why we allow to choose which way a checkout should work.

At the same time (speaking of numbers), 3% may not yet reflect a long-term effect.

May I ask how many daily visitors do you have?

[X-Cart]

Vetofunk, that is very interesting question actually. For some of our customers one-spep checkout is a MUST have in the store, however i am sure most customers do not have anything special against several steps. Several steps make shopping process more clear, and really, you have a feeling that some part of the process is complete already

I will try to find some more information on this question. Also hope other members will share ideas here.