Checkout is an important step in customers' journey not only in Magento but in eCommerce in general. Some customers don't even reach it. While others abandon their shopping carts and leave the checkout just when they're about to finalize their order.
There are multiple reasons why this happens, but the most common so far is the long and complex checkout process.
Magento provides you only with basic functionality which is not enough to maintain a fast and seamless checkout process. That is why merchants start looking for some Magento 2 Cart Extensions to improve that process.
One of such trendy extensions is Magento 2 One Step Checkout.
However, is it really that convenient and useful when it comes to customer experience?
In this article, we’ll review Magento one step checkout to learn its benefits and drawbacks as well as define if it is better than a multi-step checkout.
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Before we define the advantages and disadvantages of Magento 2 one step checkout we should figure out what kinds of the checkout are there in Magento.
What is Magento One Step Checkout?
One step checkout in Magento is the checkout that contains all of the order information within one page: shipping/billing addresses, order total, product details, payment methods and shipping options.
What is Multi Step Checkout in Magento?
Magento multi step checkout is the checkout that is divided into steps, where each step requires customers to add some information about an order. Usually, it has from 3 to 5 steps, but in Magento it is a 2-step checkout.
Both types of checkout have their benefits. However, both also have drawbacks. That is why there are always a lot of discussions around them.
Is Magento 2 one step checkout really better than multi step checkout?
Let’s find out by analyzing the key features defining a successful checkout.
Length
Magento one step checkout is considered to be faster from the customers' perspective since they don’t have to do any extra steps. All information is there, in front of them, and the only thing that separates them from finalizing their order is just one step.
However, all of the order-related information is cluttered on the page. Though it is a one step checkout in Magento 2, all of the information there makes checkout intimidating. Overall, customers get confused about the data they need to provide.
Correspondingly, it makes one step checkout longer, since customers still fill out the information gradually, cautious not to make any mistakes.
So, perhaps it’s better to structure your checkout as a few-step process where customers need to fill out first shipping and then billing information?
Layout
When you have a multi-step checkout you can divide checkout options into a few steps. Having only a particular kind of information on each step you can organize the layout to be “cleaner”. It makes it less intimidating for the customers to fill out since the information is more structured.
One step checkout in Magento, on the contrary, has a page stuffed with forms where customers can see shipping options next to the gift wrap section or payment method card details.
It’s a little too much. Not speaking about the scrolling down. Magento one step checkout gathers all of the information on one page. Sometimes, the page is too long which only makes checkout longer and less appealing.
Website Speed
Website speed is important since it influences a lot of things in your store, sales in particular. And if your speed up Magento 2 and make your website run fast, cluttered checkout can spoil that.
Customers will have a great experience navigating your catalog and adding products to their shopping carts. However, if your checkout page takes long to load, all your efforts can go in vain.
Magento 2 One Step Checkout has everything on one page, so it takes some time to load all of the forms and custom blocks. So, while it is predetermined to provide faster checkout, it can actually discourage customers from placing their orders because of the long page loading time.
Analytics
Any improvements you make on your Magento 2 store have one goal - to satisfy your customers, drive more customers, and sell more to customers. Correspondingly, you use different tools to get the desired results, and the most important of them is Analytics.
Google Analytics (GA) allows you to literally follow every step of your customers and gather useful information about things that need optimization. A multi step checkout allows you to leverage GA and learn at what step of the checkout process customers bounce off.
Want to track how many customers add their shipping/payment information on checkout and finish it successfully? Add Magento 2 Google Tag Manager to your store and get in-depth data reports on customers' behaviour.
Maybe there is some kind of information that makes them drop off, or perhaps the form is too complicated to fill out.
One Step Checkout in Magento doesn’t allow it. It could be one simple phrase or the whole checkout page that causes customers to leave. You miss out on optimization since it will be harder to learn how to cut down the bounce rate on the one step checkout page.
Mobile Responsiveness
One of the most common mistakes merchants make when starting an online store is ignoring mobile users.
Magento 2 One Step Checkout could be a nightmare for them to load, scroll and fill out. In general, it can take the same time it would have taken to complete a regular multi step checkout. However, the last will be more structured, organized, and with less fuss and confusion compared to the cluttered data of one step checkout.
User Experience
It is hard to tell about the overall user experience since Magento 2 One Step Checkout is great for some users, and confusing and intimidating for others. While it may be faster in terms of the number of steps required to complete checkout, it is cluttered and takes time to complete all of the forms.
No matter how hard you try to make the layout of one step checkout to satisfy customers' needs, the page will still be stuffed with the order information. Moreover, you won’t know what makes customers to bounce off since you don’t have multiple steps to check this.
So, we’ve concluded that Magento 2 One Step Checkout might not be as good as it is described to be, and what's more, it may even cause more trouble than it's worth.
Nevertheless, what is the alternative?
Checkout Extension Better Than One Step Checkout
Magento 2 provides you with a great 2-step checkout experience. So why don't you just use it with a little shaping?
As we’ve already specified, Magento 2 default checkout is not the best fit for customer experience, but you can make it as such with Better Magento Checkout Extension.
It allows you to eliminate the distraction on the checkout page by removing the footer and header, reduce the number of clicks by defining default shipping and payment methods. Besides, you can create the most appealing payment, by adding icons to payment methods in Magento 2.
If you always look at things critically from your customers' perspective, you’ll be able to provide the best experience for them, reduce cart abandonment, and improve conversion rates altogether.
Keep that in mind whether it is a Magento 2 one step checkout or a multi step checkout.
