If you don’t finalize the transaction, there isn’t any purchase worth mentioning, right? Based on that assumption we can also say that the Checkout step of the buying process is the most important one. While remembering that the whole website needs to function properly to take the user through a great experience and then convince them to buy, one must make sure that checkout is flawless.
For a customer with an account, things may appear one way, while for a guest the whole UX might be perceived differently. Why? And what is the difference between having an account and being a guest? We’ll tell you all about it in this article.
To guest or not to guest? That is the question
While having a customer account can prove to be beneficial in some cases, certain signs show that cart abandonment can be influenced by the mandatory create account factor. Taking this into consideration let’s see how a guest checkout is a good option.
What is checkout? At the end of the buying process, the user is directed to a page where they need to either make an account then pay for the products in the cart, or skip this process and just type the delivery address and whatever form of payment the website allows. This step is called a checkout. Checking out as a guest doesn’t involve creating an account and taking the extra time to fill in certain fields.
Users don’t like to feel pressured into giving their data and taking an additional step in the website’s checkout process. Considering that, there are many people inclined to buy online without creating an account.
If the brand doesn’t sell products or services that require recurring orders, it is common practice to complete checkout as a guest. These are the businesses that benefit from these types of clients, consumer guests, and drop by once a year or whenever they need that particular product.
This is also a great way of increasing conversion whenever users are on a mobile device or they are first-time users. Until a client becomes a loyal customer, being a guest at the checkout website is beneficial both for the business and for the user. These users are not being asked to commit to a brand for the first time and that is somehow comforting for some of them.
What problems can arise from being a guest at checkout?
Well, between all these great things, there are still some disadvantages, both for users and the business.
When buying as a guest, you have limited options for tracking your order and following your orders’ history. For example, there are limited ways of tracking best buy guest orders without an account.
For companies, a guest checkout translates into less information from that user. Without that information, there are restricted ways of optimizing the marketing experience for that user. At Helix Solutions, we help you implement the whole system of guest checkout for your website along with any other solutions for your eCommerce business. See here what management solutions we have for your benefit and our clients.
Easy, peasy customer checkout easy
Now, let’s talk a bit about the advantages and disadvantages of having a customer account and making a purchase this way.
While completing checkout as a guest doesn’t require any level of commitment to the brand, registering as a customer will give the user more opportunities inside the website. When using the option of registered customer checkout, the user also has the advantage of following their order and its status, seeing previous orders, leaving reviews, entering a loyalty program, and having a customized experience of the website, depending on what that particular brand has to offer.
In some cases, some websites have the option to save the billing or shipping information so the customer doesn’t need to add them every time they order. That is also a time-saving operation that will benefit the client and the company.
Whenever a user will want to have a repeat purchase they can use the order tracker to just rerun the same order or a different one with some changed elements. This is another time-saving operation that runs in favor of the client. The information the user is submitting when creating an account is used for marketing purposes, creating offers, and showing the user personalized content.
Are there any disadvantages to having an account?
It can be tiring to remember usernames and passwords for many accounts, therefore many people opt out of making an account and checking out as customers. Another disadvantage refers to the lengthy process of creating an account and the information a user will have to give to finish creating that account. But other than that, once it’s created the checkout is easy.
What should you do?
At Helix Solutions we offer our expert advice as well as implement different eCommerce systems that benefit merchants. But for this case, let us tell you what are the criteria you should think about when deciding what is best for your business.
- Do you sell products or services that need order refilling often or are they seasonal? Some businesses just don’t warrant creating a customer account.
- Will this improve the functionality and UX of your eCommerce website?
- Do you want to make it easier for your customers to order again?
Knowing all that, we must tell you that at Helix Solutions we are committed to developing your eCommerce store using the right tools for your business. See here what are our services and how we can be of service.
