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Consumers are used to storing their card details thanks to Amazon?s ?1-Click? payment system, so it?s not surprising that other brands such as Tesco, John Lewis, ASOS and Debenhams have followed suit. It means that shoppers can make a purchase simply by entering the three-digit security code on the back of the card, which massively shortens the checkout process.

Store card details for repeat purchases

ASOS, New Look and Topshop all accept PayPal, while H&M offers a range of different options including instalments or a monthly invoice. 

Stats published last year showed that alternative payment methods were used in 11% of online purchases in the UK, and e-business consultant Dan Barker recently found that adding PayPal and advertising it prominently prior to checkout increased new customer purchases on one website by 14%.

PayPal allows customers to make a payment just by entering a username and password, rather than finding their card and typing in all the required details. Similarly, not all consumers use credit or debit cards so you need to allow people to pay by whatever means they?re most comfortable with or have access to.

PayPal, although there are a few other options such as store cards.

Alternative payments

Topshop does a great job of keeping form filling to minimum ? the guest checkout consists of just two pages and all it requires is an address, payment, and ?confirmation details?, which is another sneaky way of forcing you to register an account.

Short forms

some sites can?t cope with this and display an error message or delete the data you?ve previously entered, which is a huge barrier to purchase and will undoubtedly cause some basket abandonment.

Let people use the back button

Assume same address for billing and delivery

retailers should also spell out the exact format they require from customers (i.e. does it need a space, capital letters, etc) to avoid the dreaded error message. Similarly, they should anticipate common user errors, such as using zero instead of the letter ?O?, or the number ?1? instead of the letter ?i? and vice versa. In the case of Belron, Craig Sullivan found that this was causing 2.5% of customers to abandon. To solve the problem, Belron?s forms now anticipates these errors so that users continue through the form, not even knowing they had made a mistake.

Postcode lookup tool

ASOS managed to halve its abandonment rate at the checkout stage overnight simply by removing any mention of registering.

forcing registration is attractive for retailers for two reasons: It means you collect lots of lovely customer data. Storing card details makes repeat purchases easier so customers are more likely to make impulse buys in future.

Allow guest registration

Seven user shortcuts that will help reduce checkout abandonment

Big brands like Coke continue to innovate in the digital space with its creative high engagement social media campaigns. Another big brand making waves is Starbucks and its integrated digital marketing approaches that drive phenomenal experiences for its customers, both online and in-store. There are also many ecommerce brands doing digital well like ASOS, which uses digital campaigns to build and engage its community of fashionistas and trendsetters.

You must be analytical with data, and also have had hands on experience with digital marketing channels like: SEO, SEM, email marketing, and social media marketing. Most importantly you need to be data driven and always be thinking about how you can use the ?test, measure and learn? methodology to progressively grow your performance metrics.

If you are keen to break into digital marketing, or are looking for a new challenge in this area, then be sure to check out our digital jobs board.

Site Search - I?d take a quick look at ?uplift in conversion where visits include use of site search? on the old site. I?d then compare ?volume of visits including site search? on the old site vs the new site. If the numbers looked good, I?d flip the odd tiny magnifying glass for a full ?search? box & monitor for any uplift.

noting: All of the product recommendations across the site appear to be ?complementary? products rather than ?alternatives?. There?s varioius research that shows visitors are far more likely to seek ?alternatives? from product pages & tests I?ve done myself have shown that to be true.

Take a look at the ?Add to bag? button. Note that it is the single most important feature on the entire site. Now note that it is the least prominent item on the entire page. The reason they?ve done that is that it?s faded out until you?ve selected a size & quantity, but I still think it?s madness to actively hide your ?add to bag? button.

No product video. Not essential, but becoming ?standard?.

No product reviews, or review functionality visible.

No visible product copy again. This isn?t always crucial, but I?d definitely test it if I was running the Jaeger site.

There?s a size guide there, fairly close to the ?size? area. This is pretty crucial. If you go through the stats for any large fashion site, you?ll see a good proportion of purchasing visits include a look at the size guide.

As David Moth said in his review of the site at the time, the product page contained a decent amount of product information, but the text size was tiny & the ?add to bag? button was a bit lost.

Multiple images. Again, this is important. In users tests - particularly on fashion sites (and even more so on women?s fashion sites, when both men & women are buying), purchasers always click through multiple images convincing themselves this is the right product to buy.

Very large images. That?s usually very good, especially for fashion sites, and the image quality is much better here (though the photographer is probably going mad over the gradienting in the background, and the floor not being level).

New product page: Here?s an example of a product page on the new Jaeger site:

Here?s an example of a product page on the new Jaeger site:

The ?filter? info is tough to spot. Moving a mouse over most of it doesn?t flick the cursor to a hand either. You may say ?who cares?? to this, but on other sites filtering acts as a sales optimisation tool as well as a handy function: when users filter, they are usually far more likely to buy; where filters are moved from being ?subtle? to ?prominent? and their use increases, that pattern often holds true.

New? - really useful for loyal customers who check back regularly. Lots of ecommerce sites miss the fact that these people exist. This is one of the reasons sites like ASOS, NastyGal, etc are so successful: people who like fashion check back regularly looking for updates.

I?d mentioned I?m never quite sure about AddThis - here?s why (from their privacy policy): Totally fine if you realise that?s what?s going on, but I?d be surprised if many people realise AddThis do that. 

Basket abandoment: No sign of SaleCycle or any of the other basket abandonment tools running. I abandoned a basket & did not get an email within a few hours.

Recommendations: Jaeger doesn?t seem to be using third-party product recommendation/personalisation technology. (Peerius, Predictive Intent, Barilliance, etc)

Retargeting: I didn?t pick up on any retargeting tags. A few years ago that would be fairly normal; today most sites use retargeting tools. (worth noting Google Analytics has a fantastic set of Retargeting tools - also not being used here).

Social plugins: Product pages use standard Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest widgets for sharing. It is also using ?AddThis?. I?m a bit less keen on AddThis, as it tracks lots of odd info that I?m never sure whether site owners realise it?s recording.