Monroe receives $149k more for Liquid Fuels funding

PennDOT announced that $11.7 million in additional Liquid Fuels funds have been distributed to certified municipalities for road and bridge maintenance in 2019.The 2.4 percent increase over last year’s Liquid Fuels funds elevates the 2019 total to $500.7 million, which was distributed on March 1. Locally, Monroe County saw a 2.3 percent allocation increase, amounting to an additional $149,404.42. Pike’s 2.4 percent increase [...]

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Your Top 10 Rights As A Taxpayer: The Taxpayer Bill of Rights

Were you aware that the IRS also has a Bill of Rights for your benefit? Find out your ten fundamental rights known as the Taxpayer Bill of Rights.

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IRS2Go: 101 All About the Internal Revenue Service App

Did you know that the IRS has a free smartphone app to help taxpayers handle basic tax-related functions? Here are a few examples of its available services.

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Stash Review | Easy and Informed Investing

Are you new to the world of investing and looking for an app that will make things easy for you?

If so, then you might want to look at what Stash has to offer. 

With a number of investment strategies based on your goals, risk tolerance, and areas of interest, Stash offers a robust investing platform with a simplified user experience. 

Below, we’ll walk through the basics of how the platform to help you decide whether or not you should stash your money there.

About Stash

Launched in 2015 and headquartered in New York, Stash is a mobile investment app that features a brokerage account and a variety of exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

The Basics of Stash 

With the Stash app, you can start investing with as little as $5, and selecting investments is a breeze.

The app gives you access to at least 30 different themed investments. You can choose investments that suit your personal goals and risk tolerance. The app also allows you to purchase more investments, diversify, and track your progress.

Moreover, Stash has cost-friendly fees. You’ll need to pay just $1 month if you have up to $5,000 in your account or 0.25 percent a year if you have over $5,000 in your account.

What’s more, you won’t pay a dime for the first month of using Stash.

Summary

Here’s a quick look at Stash’s features and fees to give you an idea of what to expect from the investment platform:

Minimum Investment	$5
Fees	First month FREE; $1/month under $5k; 0.25%/year over $5k
Mobile Access	iOS App, Android App
Website Access	Yes
Accounts	Taxable Roth IRA Traditional IRA

Who Should Use Stash

Stash is a stellar investing app, but maybe not for everyone. Advanced traders, for instance, may be better suited using an online brokerage with active trading like Ally Invest or E*Trade.

This investment app is ideal for:

• Beginning investors: If you’re new to investing, Stash’s tools and resources can help you to hone your skills and simplify the investing jargon.
• Thematic/impact investors: With targeted investment options, you can invest with a purpose towards areas you’re passionate about.
• Investors who need guidance in choosing investments: Stash takes the guesswork out of investing, providing you with investments matched to your risk and goals.

What Makes Stash Unique

What sets Stash apart from its competitors is that it gives you total control over your investments. It allows you to choose various investments that make up your portfolio. If this is your first time investing, this may sound overwhelming.

However, Stash will guide you accordingly to ensure you make the right decisions, and the app also provides tips and tools to help you understand investing. However, Stash is not a robo-advisor.

Robo-advisors will not only advise you but also select investments for you. They’ll typically build investment portfolios for you based on your risk tolerance and income.

Stash, on the other hand, won’t create an investment portfolio for you. Instead, it offers you the foundation to construct your own investment portfolio.

You’re free to invest in anything that piques your interest.

How Stash Works

Stash has a lot to offer the new investor, making the process easy and helpful from step one of signing up.

Opening an Account

You’ll start by opening an account with Stash. You have to be 18 years or older to be eligible for an account. Beyond the age limit, Stash is flexible with its requirements.

You’ll need to provide your Social Security number and information to facilitate linking your bank account with your Stash account.

Assessing Risk Tolerance

Afterward, you’ll answer a couple of questions to help determine your risk tolerance. Your risk tolerance can be either conservative, moderate, or aggressive. Several factors are taken into consideration to derive your risk tolerance, including:

• Your age: The younger you are, the harder you’re likely to push the gas pedal. With age, risks become a bit more measured.
• Investment time horizon: How long you plan to invest to reach your goals will also impact the risk you take on.
• Investment goals: Are you looking to save for an education, secure your retirement, or just put your savings or tax refund to work?

Stash will offer you a selection of investment themes based on your risk tolerance.

Once you have provided the required information, which should take no more than a few minutes, you can start investing.

Account Verification

When you link your bank account with your Stash account, Stash will deposit some cash into your bank account to verify the account.

The account verification process usually takes no more than six business days. Once your account is set up, you can use the Stash Deposit screen to transfer money to and from your linked bank account.

With the Stash app, you can deposit or withdraw up to $10,000 per day.

You can’t link more than one bank account to your Stash account. Overall, Stash offers you hands-on control of investing. It also provides investing tips and guides to help you make informed decisions.

Start investing with Stash>>

Features and Fees of Stash 

Features 

Stash has loads of other valuable features and functionality that you need to know about. They include the following:

• Automated investments: This feature allows you to set up a regular deposit and fund your Stash account automatically.
• Stash Retire: With this feature, you can invest as little as $15 in Traditional and Roth Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs).
• Fractional shares: This functionality allows you to purchase a small fractional share of an individual stock.
• Smart-Save:  This functionality analyzes your income and spending patterns to determine when you have money to spare. Afterward, it automatically saves little amounts of extra cash into your Stash account, where it earns interest. You can also invest the money.
• Forecast tools:  Stash has a tool that can foretell the impact your investing and saving might have over time. It helps you see how your smart choices are impacting your future.
• Educational resources:  Stash has a wide range of educational materials that new investors would find valuable. The materials can be accessed from the app or via email.
• Security: This investing app utilizes 256-bit bank-grade encryption to ensure the safety of your personal information. It also uses SSL encryption to ensure the security of the information transmitted between the app and its servers.
• SIPC Coverage: The investments in your Stash account are covered by Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC). This is accomplished via the clearing agency used by Stash, Apex Clearing Corp. SIPC protection covers up to $500,000 of any brokerage. This amount includes a $250,000 cash limit.

Cost

You can start investing with $5. And as a new investor, you won’t pay any fees in your first month.

Afterward, you will need to pay $1 per month if your investments fall below $5,000 and 0.25 percent per year if your investments are over $5,000.

You won’t pay any commission for stock trades, nor will you pay bank transfer fees for deposits or withdrawals. The costs of investing with Stash are reasonable but may not be as low as comparable robo-advisors.

Pros and Cons of Investing with Stash

Like any platform, Stash comes with its share of both pros and cons, which you should consider carefully as you make your decision on where to invest.

Pros of Stash

• A variety of investment options: Stash gives you the opportunity to invest in numerous investment themes, which it picks from among thousands of ETFs. It also suggests some individual stocks for you to choose from. Most robo-advisors create investment portfolios using a selection of between 6 and 12 ETFs only.
• Educational content: Stash is committed to ensuring that new investors understand what they’re doing and can invest with confidence. It achieves that by providing loads of educational materials.
• Competitive prices on larger accounts: You need to pay only 0.25 percent per year on account balances of at least $5,000.
• Low minimum deposit:  Stash allows you to open an account with as little as $5.

Cons of Stash

• Slow trading execution: If you place an order today, it could end up being executed tomorrow. This can be frustrating if you are looking to trade your account actively.
• Expensive for small accounts: The $1 per month charged on accounts below $5,000 is quite high compared to the 0.25 percent Betterment charges per year.

Bottom Line

Stash believes that investing should be accessible and straightforward.

As such, it offers a simple start-up process that could take less than 5 minutes, and you need only $5 to start investing. That makes Stash one of our ideal investment apps for beginner investors.

The fact that one can diversify their portfolio with as little as $5 is a significant advantage to the very small investors.

Stash may not work well for you if you are an active investor that prefers an active role in the investment process, or if you are looking for tax-advantaged assets.

If you are new to investing, however, you can’t go wrong with the app.

Learn more about Stash>>

The post Stash Review | Easy and Informed Investing appeared first on Good Financial Cents®.

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Women Have Lower Credit Scores Than Men. Here’s How to Close the Gap

We talk about the gender wage gap, but what about the gender credit-score gap?

The median credit score for men is 22 points higher than for women, according to a Federal Reserve analysis.

In an ideal world, society would shift toward gender equality, like, yesterday, and make it possible to effortlessly close this gap.

Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen, so you’ve got to take control. Not to be cliche or anything, but knowledge is power, and understanding why women have lower credit scores — and exactly how to increase yours — is the first step to closing this gap.

But here’s at least a little bit of good news: Managing your credit score might not be as difficult as you’d expect. Free services make the process fairly straightforward. I’ve used Credit Sesame for my free credit score and personalized recommendations to better manage it.

Why Women Have Lower Credit Scores Than Men

The Federal Reserve analysis looked at more than 8,000 VantageScore 2.0 credit scores from single men and women (because singles tend to make more independent decisions and lean on one income).

For those aged 31 to 40, men’s credit scores averaged 828, while women’s averaged 806. (Note: On the VantageScore 2.0 scoring model, the scale runs from 501 to 990, unlike FICO and later VantageScore models, which run 300 to 850.)

No, women don’t have a lower credit score because they’re bad with money or like to go shopping when they’re sad. Puhlease give that a break.

Rather, the credit score gap can be attributed to, in part, the gender wage gap.

Looking at incomes within this same demographic, men make, on average, nearly $3,500 more per year than women, according to the 2017 Census Bureau American Community Survey. That means women have $3,500 less to cover the same expenses men face.

This could lead to more debt, higher credit-utilization rates or more bills in collections… which is exactly what seems to happen.

The Federal Reserve found that women’s median debt owed is $11,000 more than men’s. They also have higher credit-utilization rates and higher rates of late payments. Credit utilization and payment history together make up 65% of your credit score.

“The credit-score gaps reflect the fact that single women have more intensive use of credit and have experienced more difficulties repaying their debt in the past,” the Federal Reserve concludes.

Why Your Credit Score Matters — and How to Manage It

Looking to take out a loan, secure a mortgage, open a credit card, apply for insurance or even sign up for a new cell phone plan?

Your credit score can affect all those decisions.

You might be thinking 22 points won’t make that big a difference. But it can.

Just a few points’ difference in your credit score can drastically change the interest rates on your mortgage, which will result in you paying hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars more over time.

This can turn into an endless cycle, which is why it’s time we need to close the credit score gap — even if we do have to fight harder. (’Cause, ya know, change takes time. *eye roll*)

You can start by checking your credit score for free with Credit Sesame. It takes less than two minutes to sign up, and, once verified, you’ll immediately see your score for free.

To find out exactly what’s holding you back, you’ll want to tap into your credit report card — also free. Credit Sesame takes each factor that affects your score and gives you a grade.

For example, I currently have a “D” in the account-mix category because I only have two accounts open. I also have a “B” in credit usage, because my credit utilization rate is approaching the recommended 30% limit right now.

The best part is Credit Sesame offers actionable tips. For me, it’s to open another credit card; that’ll pump up my account mix and alleviate some of the debt on my single card. It even gives me an option where my approval odds are “very good.”

Doing this could increase my credit score 11 points — if not more.

Heck, that simple moves gets me halfway toward closing this darn gap.

So if you’re ready to close the gender credit-score gap, too, access your credit score and credit report card for free from Credit Sesame.

Carson Kohler (carson@thepennyhoarder.com) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. The Penny Hoarder data journalist Alex Mahadevan contributed reporting to this article.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

The Penny Hoarder Promise: We provide accurate, reliable information. Here’s why you can trust us and how we make money.

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The 22 Key Elements of a High Quality Website

Have you ever wondered what makes a great website? You know things like content, videos, and images are all important, but there has to be more to it, right?

There is! For example, 79% of people scan web pages, so if you don’t know how to make your page optimally scannable, it won’t do well.

Another key factor of a quality website is credibility. Without a credible website, you’ll struggle to get more customers and increase conversions. Plus, credibility shows you’re trustworthy. If you’re offering something without a trusted name or brand behind it, people will be hesitant to buy what you’re selling.

Why? Well, with so many other options available on the market, it’s too easy for people to find what they’re looking for somewhere else.

This goes for ecommerce stores, blogs, or any business that has a website. If a visitor sees a red flag on your website, they will leave. It’s that simple.

Some of you may not even realize you have components on your site that drive people away. Even if you don’t necessarily have elements driving people away, you can always add more components to improve your credibility. And that’s just the tip of it… there are a ton of small things you need to do in order to create a high quality website.

Here are the top 22 key elements of a high quality website that you should be sure to consider:

1. Relevance and context

Developing well written and informative content for the user is one of the biggest key factors in creating a high quality website.

Quality content is original, purposeful, and correctly optimized information that people and search engines are driven to read, view, and share.

According to SearchMetrics, Google’s algorithm recognizes high quality, relevant content, and rewards it with higher rankings.

Focus on creating only the best high quality content that you can. It will help you rank better and delight your customers.

2. Content length

Focus on developing longer content. The ideal blog post length from and SEO perspective is between 2,000 and 2,450+ words long.

However, the ideal blog post length from a readers perspective is only 1,600 words long.

Sites with more words in the copy occupy higher ranking positions but it is important to find a balance between SEO and user readability.

The perfect blend will vary depending on your niche, competition, and audience.

3. Grammar and spelling

Ask yourself this question:  Why would a search engine show a page of content with grammar and spelling errors higher in the rankings when other pages of error free content exist?

The answer: They won’t!

Grammar and spelling mistakes make you look bad in the eyes of your customer, and the search engines may even penalize you for it. Always read your copy at least 2 times before you publish it or hire an editor to proofread and edit your post if you need help.

Flawless copy makes your website look professional and will earn you better rankings.

4. Readability

Readability is the ease in which text can be read and understood.

Use shorter sentences, paragraphs, and active web forms. Remove all clutter, unnecessary words and limit the use of adverbs and adjectives.

Use the Flesch reading ease formula to determine the readability of your text before publishing.

5. Formatting

79% of users always scan web pages, according to a Nielsen study.

Not only that but visitors are less likely to read a post with poor formatting. High quality content is easier to read, and suitable for scanning and skimming.

Use H1, H2, H3, etc. tags, number lists, and bullet points to break down your content.

Keep sentences and paragraphs short. Use bold and italics to highlight important parts so that they are highly visible as people scan.

6. Images and video

Include images or videos in every piece of content that you publish.

Web pages with images and videos are more engaging for visitors and rank better in Google too (according to SearchMetrics).

Keep in mind that web pages in top rankings have an average of 7 images on their page so be sure to use at least a few.

7. Expertise

High quality pages and websites need enough expertise to be authoritative and trustworthy on their topic.

The expertise of the author is a critical factor for any content to be considered high quality.

People want to read posts from experts that can dig into a topic and explain it. Focus on writing detailed, well-researched posts and give examples to support your points.

8. Social media shares

High quality websites have social media buttons present on their pages.

Place your social media sharing icons visibly on the page and include call-to-action for people to share.

9. Internal and external links

Linking to valuable internal and external resources not only delights your readers but will also help you rank better.

9 out of 10 sites at position 1 in SERPS have at least one internal self-referencing link.

Focus on building a nice internal link architecture. The URL that you link to and the anchor text need to be relevant to your content.

Never link to unrelated pages or you may be penalized by Google and it leads to poor user experience overall.

10. Quality of comments

Content with a high number of comments is perceived as high quality.

On the other hand, spammy unrelated comments might hurt your rankings and make you look bad in the eyes of your visitors.

Make sure you moderate your comments and leave thoughtful responses to engage your users to do the same.

Quality comments help you rank better and engages your readers with the content.

11. Limit advertisements

While advertisements may be a nice form of income for you, they aren’t popular with your visitors.

How much do you rely on ads to make a profit?

If it’s just a small percentage, I recommend getting rid of them altogether.

If you’re an ecommerce site or have a website that makes money from other revenue streams, ads aren’t always necessary.

But say you run a blog and ads are your primary income. In that case, you’ll need to keep them as limited as possible.

Take a look at the types of ads people dislike the most:

Take these numbers into consideration.

Avoid popup ads, and use minimal banner ads.

Although 43% of customers still dislike banners, it’s not as high of a number compared to some other options.

12. Customer service that’s easily accessible

If someone visiting your site has a question or problem, they shouldn’t have to hunt for customer service options.

This should be readily available.

When customer service is unreachable, it makes the visitor feel uneasy.

Especially if it’s during normal business hours.

Note how Apple Support gives customers a variety of ways to reach customer service:

They even have a recommended option.

People love to have choices.

Not everyone wants to pick up the phone.

It’s great when companies have customer service available via online chat.

If you can swing it, give it a try.

13. All your contact information

This should go without saying, but you’d be surprised how often I can’t find contact information on websites.

When I see that, I think it’s sketchy.

What are they trying to hide by withholding their phone number?

Make sure your site has:

• physical address
• email address
• phone number
• links to social pages (Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn)

Failure to do so will make your page appear untrustworthy.

14. Reviews and testimonials

Showcasing customer testimonials on your website helps generate social proof.

This is especially true if you can get a testimonial from an expert in your industry.

You should also have a place on your site where customers can leave reviews.

While good reviews are obviously what you’re looking for, some unfavorable comments may actually boost your credibility as well.

If all customer feedback on your website is positive, it may appear fake.

Even if some people didn’t have the best experience with your business, allowing them to leave a review for others to read will establish trust.

It also helps prove you’re an actual business and not a scam.

Interact with the customers who left a review on your site.

This will help build credibility as well.

15. Security badges

What kind of security measures are you taking to protect users who visit your website?

Showcase those badges on each page.

Studies show that people trust the Norton AntiVirus seal the most compared to other badges.

If you use Norton, proudly display that badge on your site.

If you’re looking for services to improve your site security, Norton may not be a bad place to start based on this information.

16. Validation from other media sources

Have you been featured in a magazine, newspaper, or on a website?

Any positive press about your company should be proudly displayed on your site.

If established media sources have verified your business, it will increase your legitimacy in the eyes of anyone who visits your website.

Find a good spot on your page to add any videos, screenshots, or links to all those stories.

17. Awards and achievements

Your website is a great place to show off any awards or achievements.

Whether it’s local, regional, or national, anything helps.

Even if you won an award a couple of years ago, put it up on your website.

Showcasing awards from the past shows you’ve been credible for a while.

It establishes your company’s history over time.

Companies that have been in business for longer periods tend to be well established and appear more credible than those that just started.

If you’ve been operating since 1950, don’t be afraid to plaster that fact on your website.

18. Ease of navigation

Customers shouldn’t struggle to find what they’re looking for on your website.

The menu options should be limited so it’s not too overwhelming.

Adding a search bar so your readers can look for something specific is a great way to improve your navigation as well.

All of this helps enhance the user experience, which helps with your credibility score.

19. Page loading speed

The faster your page loads, the higher your conversion rates will be.

It’s that simple.

Don’t try to find the cheapest web hosting service on the market. You get what you pay for.

It’s worth it to pay a little extra to avoid technical glitches and always have fast loading times.

20. Clearly state all policies

Don’t assume website visitors know your company policies.

All of these should be clearly stated on your website.

This will help you from a legal perspective as well in case there is a dispute.

Make sure things such as your return policy or money back guarantee are outlined in detail.

If you’re an ecommerce business, consumers may be hesitant to shop if they don’t think you stand behind your product.

21. Be upfront about your prices

Don’t try to sneak hidden fees past your customers.

It’s shady.

Let’s look at the top reasons for shopping cart abandonment:

Don’t wait until the last minute to tell customers you’re charging them tax, shipping, or other fees.

You should have all your prices clearly listed on the website.

Adding extra costs in the shopping cart could make the customer think you’re trying to sneak one by them.

It’s just not good business practice.

You also shouldn’t say things like “Contact us for pricing.”

Why wouldn’t you just list your prices?

What are you trying to hide?

Those are questions that will go through the customer’s mind if you do that.

22. Secure the checkout process

Refer back to that graph we just looked at regarding shopping cart abandonment.

Note 18% of those respondents said they didn’t trust the website with their credit card information.

In addition to adding security badges to your page, you have to make sure your checkout procedure is secure.

Look at this example from Dick’s Sporting Goods:

The secure link will make their customers feel comfortable about entering their personal information, including a credit card number.

Conclusion

I wish I could tell you that if you just picked a few of the key elements above, you’d have a great website. But the reality is, you won’t.

It’s a total package type of thing, and you need to work on all of the elements listed above.

Sure, implementing a few of them is better than implementing none, but the goal is to make your website so great that people would want to come back and buy from you.

If your site looks incomplete or untrustworthy, it can drastically impact your traffic and conversions.

Make sure you do your best to create a high quality website by using as many of the 22 key elements that I described above.

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Checkout Process Design For High Conversion Rates

Ecommerce websites live and die by their conversions.

For those of you who have a high volume of traffic to your website, that’s great news. But traffic alone doesn’t generate sales.

It doesn’t matter how much traffic you are generating or how cool your site looks if you can’t make a sale. The number of sales you get will impact how well your business does.

Is your website traffic translating to conversions?

There are certain metrics you can use to measure this. Look at your bounce rates. Analyze your shopping cart abandonment rates.

If your website visitors aren’t converting, your ecommerce site won’t make money.

Don’t get me wrong: the products you’re selling might be amazing. That’s not necessarily the issue here.

The design of your website and the checkout process might be what’s hurting you.

For the most part, simple website designs have higher conversion rates. This same concept needs to be applied to your checkout process.

Here’s the thing though. People often neglect the checkout process.

Your customers make their final purchasing decisions before they get to checkout.

So why bother, right?

That’s being incredibly short-sighted.

Shopping cart abandonment is a real problem for ecommerce stores.

In fact a study found that a whopping 69.23% of ecommerce shopping carts are abandoned.

To put this into perspective, for every 100 customers who start the checkout process, 69 don’t finish.

Customers expect their shopping experience to be seamless, easy, and without friction.

If your checkout process does not meet these expectations, your conversion rates will dive, and your revenue will head south.

Is it a massive problem? Absolutely.

These numbers shouldn’t sit right with any business owner. That’s too many lost sales and potential lifelong customers.

If someone starts the checkout process, it stands to reason they have a strong purchase intent.

So, why do so many shoppers fail to complete their purchases?

Take a look at this chart:

Out of all the reasons why shoppers abandon their carts, a majority are related to the checkout phase.

Does this apply to all businesses? Not necessarily.

Don’t get me wrong. All businesses—no matter how upscale—suffer from shopping cart abandonment.

You can’t do anything about a user who is just browsing. They may just want to save their favorite items in the cart for future reference.

With that said, there are varying reasons why shoppers do not complete a purchase and there are things that you can do to improve those numbers.

Here are 20 tips to improve your checkout process, reduce abandon rates, and boost your website checkout conversions.

1. Add multiple checkout buttons

For website visitors to make a purchase, they need to be able to navigate to your checkout page.

Once someone decides to buy, they’ll add the items they want to their shopping cart. In a perfect world, you want them to continue shopping so they spend more money.

But if the checkout buttons aren’t clearly labeled, the customer may ultimately leave the items in the cart without buying them.

This could be why your shopping cart abandonment rates are so high. Instead, include checkout buttons on both the top and bottom of the screen.

Check out this example from the Champs Sports website:

Positioning the checkout buttons in two places ensures the visitor will see and have access to both buttons.

The word “checkout” will stay in their line of vision, regardless of where they’re looking on the screen.

I also want you to notice that the location of the shopping cart on the right side of the screen allows the customer to continue shopping on the left.

This increases the likelihood that the average order amount will be higher and conversion rates remain high as well.

You can implement the same strategy on your ecommerce page to drive sales.

2. Secure the checkout process

Security needs to be a top priority for your ecommerce site. If your pages appear untrustworthy, people won’t want to buy anything.

In the past five years alone, 46% of people in the United States have been affected by credit card fraud.

There’s a high probability that nearly half of your website visitors have experienced this. Even if they haven’t personally fallen victims to fraud, I’m sure they know at least one person who has.

This puts people on high alert.

If your checkout process isn’t secure, people won’t feel safe entering their credit card information, which is ultimately what you need to make money.

All pages of the checkout process must be secure. It’s also in your best interest to include security badges, such as Norton, McAfee, or whatever else you’re using to protect your customers.

3. Reduce the number of form fields

A website visitor is ready to buy something. They’ve already made up their mind.

Don’t give them a chance to change their mind and abandon the cart. If your checkout process is long and complicated, you won’t have high conversion rates.

But if you can simplify the process by eliminating unneeded steps, you’ll make more money.

Ask yourself what information you really need from the customer to complete the purchase. Do you need the customer’s name?

Yes, but you don’t have to ask for it several times.

If a name is required to process the payment method or shipping information, don’t make them type those details twice.

Research shows that websites with fewer form fields have a higher performance rate during checkout:

Only ask for information required to complete the transaction.

If the customer’s shipping and billing addresses are the same, they should be able to check off a box indicating that—instead of having to type their address twice, for shipping and billing.

That alone shaves an extra step off the process and significantly reduces the number of form fields.

The hoop theory article I wrote a while back also explains why getting your visitors to make small micro-commitments typically increases conversion rates…as in a two-step checkout process.

You can leverage this on your checkout page by requesting your customers’ name and email info on the first page and credit card details on the second page.

This typically will boost your conversion rate by 10%. It’s worked well on Crazy Egg, and when I ran that test on Timothy Sykes, he saw a 12% increase in conversion rate.

The reason it works is because people feel that they have already given you their name and email address, so they might as well give you the rest of their details. Plus, if they don’t complete the checkout process, you can email them and try to get them back to your site. You can even entice them with coupons or just create a remarketing campaign to get their attention.

4. Offer a guest checkout option

I get it. You want to learn as much information about your customers as possible.

In a perfect world, everyone who visits your site will create a customer profile. This allows you to monitor their browsing behavior and suggest items to them based on this behavior and their purchase history.

Customer profiles allow you to segment your audience based on the customers’ locations and make it easier for you to add subscribers to your ecommerce email list.

When a customer is browsing from their customer profile, they can also place repeat orders with just a couple of clicks.

Customers can save their payment information to their accounts, which reduces the number of steps in the checkout process and makes it easier for them to convert.

If you’re encouraging customers to create a profile, I’m all for it.

But there is a big difference between encouraging and forcing. Does a website visitor need to have a customer profile to convert? Absolutely not.

Forcing people to create a profile could be hurting your conversions.

Need proof? This is the second most common reason for shopping cart abandonment:

Over 48% of online retailers also said a guest checkout was the most important factor to increasing shopping cart conversion rates on their websites.

This was the second highest response on the list, trailing only behind free shipping.

The lesson. People want to buy something. Let them give you their money.

Don’t prioritize your content marketing strategy over actual sales.

It’s always a good idea to follow the lead of the companies that have had major success in a particular space.

Here’s an example of how a global giant Walmart implemented this strategy:

Creating a customer profile is not necessary to complete a purchase, so don’t make it so. Otherwise it will turn some customers away.

However one way to encourage your customer is to provide incentives for them if they create an account.

Notice how Walmart requires you to create an account to use a promo code in the screenshot above.

You can reward them with a coupon code or credit towards their next purchase:

Guess what? Most people will jump on that offer.

That’s a much more effective approach than forcing them to create an account.

5. Make it easy to shop from mobile devices

It’s no secret that we’re living in a mobile world. Ecommerce brands need to recognize this if they want to succeed.

In fact, 62% of people who own a smartphone used their devices to make purchases online within the last six months alone.

It’s estimated that in the next three years, mobile retail sales will control 54% of the ecommerce market share in the United States.

Why is this the case?

It’s because technology has made it more convenient to shop from mobile devices.

People aren’t walking around with laptops in their pockets all day. But phones are seemingly always within an arm’s reach, if they’re not already glued to the consumers’ hands.

If someone visits your ecommerce site from a mobile phone, they need to have a great experience.

If your site isn’t optimized for mobile devices, there’s a slim chance you’ll be able to generate conversions.

The design of your mobile site can be the difference between customers buying something or bouncing and buying from your competitors instead.

But 74% of mobile users are more likely to revisit websites that are mobile-friendly.

If your site is properly optimized, it will increase the chances of your website visitors not only converting but also coming back and buying again in the future.

You may be thinking this is obvious, but let me explain.

There are multiple elements to mobile-friendliness.

I’ve seen mobile storefronts that are vastly different from their desktop versions.

If there’s no alignment between the two interfaces, shoppers will think they’re in the wrong place.

The result? They bounce.

As we’ve seen before, most people first go to the desktop site to browse, get reviews, and make their decisions.

Ensure your mobile store is familiar to those who’ve gone through that process.

The other element of a mobile-friendly checkout is speed.

Shoppers of all kinds—mobile or not—want instant gratification.

They’re not as concerned with buying your product as much as they are with owning it.

If you take that away from them, whether by having a slow site or asking for much information, they’ll walk away.

The desire to own the product doesn’t go away. Your customers will simply go to your competitor. That’s bad for business.

Another important consideration is browsing behavior.

Mobile browsing is unique in many ways.

Here’s how you can optimize the mobile checkout process with user behavior in mind:

• To navigate, users use their fingers, not a mouse: This means you should place all key elements on your page within reach of the thumb.
• Typing and clicking are trickier on mobile: You need to have bigger and wider easy-to-click buttons. A larger font size also helps with improving accuracy of text input.
• Fingers are less precise than a mouse, so the process is more error-prone: It’s crucial you make it easy to detect and correct errors.

Bonus Tip: To test the speed and mobile-friendliness of your website. You can use Google’s mobile friendly test. Make immediate adjustment if it’s not up to par.

You could even consider creating a mobile app for a checkout process to minimize friction even further.

Touch of Modern is a great example of a successful retail mobile application:

You can learn a lot about getting high conversions from their business model.

They get between 150,000 and 200,000 new downloads every month. More than half of their customers are repeat shoppers. Nearly two-thirds of their total sales come from their mobile application.

Those numbers are incredible.

The reason why this app is so successful is because they use daily flash sales and store all their customers’ data on the app, making the checkout process lightning fast.

Customers don’t have to re-input all of their credit card information and shipping addresses every time they want to buy something.

The reduced friction results in high conversions.

6. Focus on your top benefits

Besides the product, what else does the customer get when they buy something from your website? There are certain things you can do to add the perceived value of the purchase.

Here’s what I mean.

As I’ve mentioned, not everyone comes to your website with the intention of buying something. But while they are browsing, something might catch their attention.

They may want to buy it, but they want to make sure they aren’t stuck with it if they change their mind later. That’s why you should clearly state your return policy.

Take a look at this example from Lululemon:

When you’re browsing on their website, you can clearly see at all times they offer free shipping and free returns. Their customers know they can get the item delivered free and send it back without any problems.

Obviously, you don’t want items to be returned. Don’t worry, they probably won’t be. In fact, according to the National Retail Federation, about 8% of all purchases get returned.

But just giving your customers the peace of mind can be enough to drive the sale.

In addition to your shipping and return policies, make sure you highlight any other features your company offers. Some things to consider:

• warranty information
• secure checkout
• social proof of the product
• any differentiating features.

One of these elements can turn a “window shopper” into a paying customer.

7. Learn how to use images

Believe it or not, pictures can help improve your conversion rates. Instead of just listing your products, show the customer what they’re buying.

While you may have an image or two of your products on your ecommerce shopping page, make sure that image shows up in the shopping cart.

Why?

This can help remind the consumer what they’re buying and reinforce their decision. Plus, it’s much more appealing than just reading some text on a page.

Here’s an example from the REI website:

The consumer gets reminded of exactly what they added to their cart. This could also help avoid any confusion or mix-ups down the road if they selected the wrong color, size, etc.

When they see a visual confirmation of the product they want, psychologically they’ll feel more comfortable about completing the purchase.

Faces also help improve your conversion rates.

According to a recent case study, conversions jumped from 3.7% to 5.5% when an animated picture of a phone was replaced with the face of a customer service representative.

Include images of people on your website. They could be wearing your product, using your product, or be beside your product.

Check out this example from the Macy’s homepage:

Notice it shows a person, and that person is looking at the promotional information and the CTA button.

We’ve already established consumers are drawn to faces. In this case, you’d look at the model’s face and then follow his gaze directly toward the text.

This is a great method for increasing conversions.

8. Allow customers to see what’s in their carts as they shop

The whole shopping cart concept is a bit strange.

Think about it.

You browse through products and funnel different items to a page you don’t actually see.

It’s not until the end of the browsing process that you go to your cart to view your items.

Most ecommerce stores do nothing to improve this aspect.

It’s not uncommon for people to forget what they placed in their carts and be surprised by the total price.

Incidentally, these are also common reasons for shopping cart abandonment:

Based on the responses in the graphic above, here are some suggestions for improving the shopping cart experience:

• show customers what’s already in their carts every time they add new items;
• communicate the total price of their items every step of the way;
• have a “save to cart” feature for those who are not ready to check out;
• have your own comparison charts against competitors within product pages;
• list shipping costs as early as possible in the checkout process.

9. Give your customers lots of payment options

Ultimately, the most important aspect of a checkout procedure is the payment step.

Without the payment step, transactions can’t happen.

According to research, 54% of people feel having a variety of payment options is important when checking out online:

Some payment options may be more beneficial to your company than others.

I completely understand this.

One credit card company may charge higher transaction fees than others, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t accept that method of payment.

Recognize your customers have preferences. Certain payment options may give them better reward points or bonus miles over others.

If they want something but can’t buy it with their favorite card, they’ll just buy it from a different retailer instead.

You should accept newer and unconventional types of payment as well. In addition to accepting all major credit cards and debit cards, you need to accept as many payment methods as possible, including alternative forms of payment:

Let’s not get carried away here. In 2019, it’s probably not necessary to accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

But in addition to all major credit cards, you need to accept alternatives such as Apple Pay and PayPal.

You don’t want your customers to leave your site without buying anything because you don’t accept the payment method they want to use.

Even if they have the options you accept, they still may go to one of your competitors instead so they can use their favorite method of payment.

The days of accepting only Visa and Mastercard are over. It’s time for you to adapt and add these other payment options to your checkout process.

I want to show you an example of this. Here’s a screenshot from the Nike website:

If you look at the bottom right corner of the screenshot above, you’ll see they allow their customers to check out using PayPal.

This could appeal to people who have a high PayPal balance and who want to use it for purchases. Accepting PayPal can also help eliminate concerns from customers who may be worried about their credit card information getting stolen.

The reason why I used this example from Nike is because it also highlights another concept I mentioned earlier.

Although they encourage customers to create a profile, they allow them to continue the checkout as guests. Even under the guest checkout area, it shows all the benefits of becoming a member.

To join, all you need to do is check off a box and proceed.

Another quick point about your payment methods. I recommend asking for payment as the last step of the checkout procedure.

By now, the customer has already invested some time into providing other information, so they’ll be more likely to continue. Asking for their payment first could drive them away.

10. Include trust elements throughout your whole funnel

You probably already know that placing seals like TRUSTe or VeriSign Secured can help boost your conversion rate. But did you know that in most cases you won’t see a lift if you place those badges just on your checkout page?

If people don’t feel secure when they first visit your site, they’ll bounce right off it before clicking through to your checkout page.

You can combat this by placing security seals throughout your whole funnel. So, from your front end pages to your product pages to even your checkout page… you are more likely to boost your conversion rate if you use the secure seals on more than just your checkout page.

I myself haven’t seen a big boost from adding them to my checkout page only, but I have seen nice lifts when I added them to the whole site. Before you do this, however, there are a few things that you need to know:

1. It’s rare that security seals boost conversion rates by more than 10%.
2. If you can’t afford a TRUSTe or VeriSign seal, creating your own free generic version typically provides the same conversion boost.
3. This tactic works better in spammy industries like finance or health.

11. Frequently asked questions

No matter what, a good percentage of your visitors will have doubts in their minds when they are on your checkout page. For this reason, you won’t be able to convert 100% of your visitors. But if you can address their doubts, you can increase your conversion rate.

By using Qualaroo on your checkout page, you can ask people questions like:

What else can we place on this page to convince you to buy?

You’ll get a lot of responses from people telling you why they are worried about completing the purchase. You can then take this data to create a list of frequently asked questions with corresponding answers and place it on your checkout page.

When using this tactic on your checkout page, test placing the FAQ section towards the top of the page or below the page because placement can affect your conversion rate.

12. Help your visitors through live chat

When most companies test out using live chat, they aren’t seeing an increase in conversion rate because of two main reasons:

1. They don’t have someone on the chat 24/7, so people are leaving with their questions unanswered.
2. They are placing it on every page of their site, which can distract visitors.

If you want to test live chat, you need to make sure someone is there 24 hours a day. If you can’t put someone there, test a service like Chatter Lime as they provide you with someone who will respond to each chat request.

In addition to that, test having the chat only on your checkout page. That’s the page that typically brings up the most questions and uncertainty. Plus, if you add it to your homepage, people will focus their energy on typing in questions instead of reading your marketing copy, which could have persuaded them to buy.

13. Social proof

Adding corporate logos or testimonials from your current/past customers can help reassure your potential customers that you are offering a good product or service. This may not seem that important, but there is a lot of crap being sold on the web… and people are buying it.

This is leading to terrible online shopping experience for people and to buyer’s remorse. By placing social proof on your checkout page, you can increase the number of buyers going through your checkout page.

If you are going to use logos of companies who are buying from you, make sure you use logos of companies of all sizes, from big to small… this way you won’t neglect any customer segment.

In addition, if you are using testimonials, make sure you follow the steps in this blog post. Placing weak testimonials that don’t contain a person’s full name, location or even picture can hurt your conversions. So, if you are going to use them, make sure you do it the right way.

14. Let shoppers know their shipping costs early in the checkout process.

You can do this by introducing a shipping calculator to provide an estimate of the additional costs to be covered.

Here’s an example:

15. Offer free shipping

Here’s a common mentality I see from ecommerce sites all the time. If it costs you money to ship your products, that means you should charge your customers for shipping, right?

Wrong.

While this may sound like a reasonable justification to you, your customers don’t see it that way.

In fact, shipping costs play a major role in why shopping carts are abandoned in the United States:

Do not charge your customers for shipping.

But you still need to make sure you’re turning a profit, even if you’re offering free shipping.

You’re better off raising the prices of your items so that the shipping costs are built into the base prices. Psychologically, this won’t impact your conversions.

That’s because customers won’t be surprised when they see additional charges when they check out. If your product is listed for $50 on the site, that’s what they expect to pay. But if the costs add up to $70 with taxes and shipping, it’ll hurt your conversions.

I’m not expecting you to be unrealistic here. Don’t ship your customers a piano overnight for free.

All I’m saying is you shouldn’t charge for standard ground shipping. If a customer wants the delivery to be expedited, you can let them pay an additional charge.

While this may not be feasible for everyone, it’s wise to find ways you can reduce costs for customers.

Many businesses offer free shipping once shoppers reach a certain price threshold.

Like this example from Fashion Nova:

As customers add new items to their carts, they’re reminded of how much more they need to spend to meet the threshold.

Very clever.

16. Set up default billing/shipping address for returning customers

Most people hate filling out this information.

It’s time-consuming and repetitive, especially if you’re a returning customer.

This is necessary info, so people will do it anyway.

But there’s a lot of resistance.

What can you do?

In addition to eliminating unnecessary form fields, you can set up the form so that it auto-fills the information for returning customers.

Email address, name, billing address, and shipping address—all this information can be saved for future purchases.

Some stores use a tool that looks up addresses based on a postal code and auto-fills that info.

Here’s how it works.

You type in a zip code:

You’re prompted with a window like this:

You’re given address options based on your zip code so you don’t have to fill this yourself:

There’s also an address validation tool similar to this one.

When a shopper types in their address, they get asked if it’s the right one and are given other options.

This is useful for a few reasons.

First, it auto-fills with more accurate information.

Secondly, it reassures customers they have the right shipping info. This way, they’re not anxious about missing their shipment due to error.

There’s one thing you need to note.

Address validators aren’t always correct. It means customers should have the option to reject the suggestions and fill in their info themselves.

17. Satisfy your customers’ need for instant gratification.

Here’s what that means:

You want to give customers a sense that they’ll get what they want immediately.

This is an innate human need.

If you appeal to it, your customers will respond.

If you’re selling an information product, instant gratification is easy to provide. Your customers can have electronic access without delay.

But it’s trickier when you’re selling a product that has to be shipped.

My advice?

Take a page out of Amazon’s playbook.

They do this brilliantly.

Here’s what I mean:

If you know your items will be delivered to you in a couple of days, chances are you’ll be more likely to check out ASAP.

18. A/B test the elements of your checkout process

You can never truly be sure your checkout process is designed for the maximum number of conversions unless you put your theory to the test.

The best way to determine which elements are driving the highest conversions is through A/B testing.

If you’ve never run an A/B test before, the concept is very simple. You start by identifying one element of the page you want to test.

Then 50% of your site traffic will see version A, while the other 50% will see version B. Compare the conversion rates between the two variations to see which one yielded the best results.

When testing the checkout page, it makes sense to start with the “purchase/buy now” button, or whatever your final CTA button is that completes the transaction.

There are lots of potential tests you can run on this button:

• size
• color
• placement
• wording

Test only one element at a time.

For example, let’s say you test the conversion button at the bottom right side of the screen compared to the bottom left side of the screen.

Once you have conclusive results, you can implement that change and then move on to testing the wording of the button, e.g., “purchase” versus “buy.”

19. A data-driven approach to dealing with shopping cart abandonment

Want to find out the exact cause of your shopping cart abandonment?

Google Analytics is the tool to use.

It’s simple. I’ll give you a step-by-step play.

Step #1: Find the “Admin” tab so you can create a conversion goal:

This is so you can track the actions your web visitors take.

Click on “Goals”:

Step #2: Create a new goal and set it up to track a completed transaction.

In the first step of the goal setup, select an appropriate template.

While you’re tracking cart abandonment, your ultimate goal is to get customers to make a completed online payment.

Select that option:

It’s time to describe your goal.

Name your goal, and select “Destination” as the goal type.

The destination can be a thank-you page, which will help you track the number of completed purchases.

Next, you want to set the URL of your Destination.

As I mentioned, this could be any page that customers are directed to after their purchases.

The only reason someone would be on this page is if they completed a transaction, right?

Step #3: Map the path customers take leading up to complete a transaction.

This is what will help you determine where the pitfalls in your sales funnel are.

In the same “Goal details” section, switch the Funnel option to “ON.”

List all the steps that customers take leading up to the purchase. Name each step, and add the corresponding URL.

Like this:

If you have a one-page checkout, only include that page, of course.

Whatever steps customers take, include them all.

You may want to go through the process yourself to make sure.

Save your goal, and that’s it for the setup. Tracking will begin, and you’ll now have detailed data for each step of your funnel.

Step #4: Check your reports to analyze the data.

Here’s where to find them.

Under “Conversions,” click on “Goals.”

Pay special attention to “Funnel Visualization.”

You’ll see an illustration that looks something like this:

I just created this, so there’s no data. It will take some time for yours to show up as well.

This data will tell you where in your funnel customers are jumping ship. It will also tell you in how many sessions your goal was completed.

Useful, right?

You’ll have a complete view of the way customers move through your funnel. You can now make informed adjustments to decrease your shopping cart abandonment rate.

You should know this though: there’ll always be customers who drop out before completing a purchase.

That’s just the nature of the game.

You can optimize your process to reduce that percentage significantly.

But will the lost sales be lost forever?

Can they be salvaged?

They can, and I’ll tell you how.

20. The ultimate solution to recovering abandoned carts

I hate to bring up this depressing statistic again, but only 3 out of 10 shoppers complete their purchases.

There is, however, a simple follow-up step that can increase that number significantly.

Crazily enough, most businesses don’t take advantage of it.

I’m referring to cart abandonment emails.

This could be one email or a whole sequence. You decide.

The point of these emails is to recover lost sales. If a customer adds items to their cart and leaves without checking out, be sure to follow up via email.

Here’s a brilliant example from Vanity Planet:

Many things are going right in this email. It:

• offers a massive discount
• includes a free shipping offer
• uses personal and persuasive language
• provides a simple solution for returning to cart
• has a direct link to checkout

They made an irresistible offer.

Many people would go back to complete their purchases in a heartbeat.

When cart abandonment emails are done right, they’re hands down the most powerful solution to recapture lost sales.

I highly recommend you test this strategy and watch it make a difference.

Conclusion

Getting higher conversions for your ecommerce checkout process isn’t that difficult.

It just takes a little effort.

As you can see from everything I talked about in this guide, these methods aren’t really too extreme. They are also fairly easy to implement.

If you’re driving lots of traffic to your ecommerce site but those visitors aren’t converting, you need to analyze the design of your checkout process.

If you follow the tactics above, you should see a nice lift in your checkout page conversion rate. But just like with all forms of conversion optimization, you will have to A/B test everything.

Why? Because what works for one business won’t always work for another… even if they are in the same industry.

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