UX Guidelines

Introduction

We know that the user experience at checkout is critical to retailers when meeting the evolving expectations of consumers – that’s why it’s important to consider the checkout treatment of the Pickup option in your checkout. The goal of implementation should be to highlight and suggest the Pickup option to customers, whilst maintaining a straightforward and easy to use checkout process.

Why is the User Experience for pickup important?

When creating a well designed and considerate Pickup experience, retailers benefit from:

• Increased Customer Satisfaction: A seamless and intuitive experience leads to happier customers, positive word-of-mouth, and improved brand loyalty
• Competitive Advantages: By offering a greater experience, retailers differentiate themselves from competition
• Operational Efficiency: A fluid Pickup experience can reduce customer service workload and shipping costs related to missed deliveries thanks to a reduction in potential errors
• Improved Conversion Rates: Reducing friction and difficulties throughout the Pickup process leads to higher conversion rates as well as fewer cart abandonments

Retailers who optimize their checkout user experience for Pickup see reduced customer friction and a greater return on investment, ultimately increasing revenue and customer loyalty.

The User Journey

The user journey for the Pickup experience typically consists of the following major steps:

1. Browsing & Add to Cart: Customers browse the PDP or PLP, selecting their desired products, and adding them to their cart.
2. Initiating Checkout: Customers proceed to the checkout process, where they are presented with their delivery options.
3. Selection of Pickup Option: If customers select Pickup, they are then prompted to search for and select their preferred Pickup location.
4. Provision of Additional Information: Depending on various requirements, customers may need to provide additional information e.g Personal Details.
5. Review & Confirmation: Customers review their order details, including their selected Pickup location, before confirming their order.
6. Order Processing: The order is processed, and customers are provided with updates on the order status and readiness.
7. Customer Pickup: Customers visit the selected Pickup location to retrieve their order, following provided instructions or signage.

Through proper understanding of this user journey, retailers can better empathize with each step of the experience, allowing optimization and creation of a seamless and thought out experience.

Pre-checkout

Ensuring the pre-checkout experience is smooth is a crucial step in encouraging users to select the Pickup option, as well as minimizing potential friction - Consider:

• Prominent Display of Pickup Option: The Pickup option should be visible and accessible on all devices and platforms, particularly during the browsing and cart stages. Consider user clear labeling, relevant iconography and banners to draw attention to the Pickup option
• Providing Clear Information: Offer detailed information around the Pickup process, such as available Pickup locations, estimated delivery times, and any related charges. Through transparency, this helps the user make informed decisions and sets firm expectations.
• Enable Location-Based Suggestions: Leveraging geolocation data to suggest nearby Pickup locations enhances the overall experience through simple convenience prior to checking out.
• Present Inventory Availability: Presenting visibility around the availability of inventory for Pickup both encourages users to select the Pickup option and pre-select their desired shipping method.

The Launch Experience

The Launch Experience is a critical phase for ensuring optimal user experience, ensuring a seamless transition as well as minimizing friction or abandonment.  Depending on your platform, varying levels of tweaks can be made, however the key considerations are consistent regardless:

• Seamlessly integrated within the Checkout Flow: The Pickup Option should integrate seamlessly within the existing checkout flow, minimizing the need for customers to navigate to separate pages or perform additional steps, reducing potential confusion and frustration.
• Clear Visibility around Delivery Options: Provide visibility towards the Pickup Option, as well as the ease of access to change between alternate forms of delivery that best suit the users choice without having their journey disrupted.
• Clear Instructions & Progression Indicators: Provide clear and concise instructions for selection and description of the Pickup option, alongside a sense of clear progression within the process to provide maximum transparency.
• Intuitive User Interface: Ensure that the interface for selecting Pickup is intuitive, accessible and easy to navigate through the usage of clear labeling, iconography and logical grouping of information to enable quick decision making.
• Consistency with Experience across Site: Ensure that the Launch Experience fits with the experience across the site through consistent designed pattern usage to reduce user learning curve, as well as ensuring relevant branding.

Search & Selection

Once customers have selected the Pickup option, they will need to search for and select their preferred Pickup location. This step is crucial for ensuring convenience and meeting customer expectations, which we can achieve through the following best practices:

• Clear & Comprehensive Pickup Point Information: Provision of detailed information around each available Pickup point, including address, operating hours, amenities, and any additional relevant details is made available to the user. This transparency ensures customers can make informed decisions to properly plan their Pickup experience.
• Intuitive Search: Through intuitive and clear search functionality, we enable users to quickly locate their desired Pickup point, whether by address, city, zip code or by proximity.
• Interactive Maps & Location Based Suggestions: The integration of interactive maps to display the locations of available Pickup points provides users with a visual representation (As well as an alternate list based view) to easily find their desired location
• Clear Confirmation & Next Steps: Upon selection of a Pickup point, clear confirmation of the chosen location and any other useful additional information is displayed, with the next steps in the process being either intuitively clear to the user, or otherwise outlined.

Post-selection

After the customer has selected their preferred Pickup point, it is essential to provide a smooth transition into the physical Pickup process. We can achieve this through best practices such as:

• Order Confirmation & Tracking
• Digital Receipts & Order History
• Real-Time Order Updates
• Feedback & Ratings

Various other considerations could be made dependant on circumstances, for example:

• Loyalty Program Integration
• Order Modification Options
• Customizable Order Communication Preferences

Implementation Best Practices

Visibility before Checkout

Create visibility for the Pickup Point solution before the checkout to educate regular pickup users that you cater for them, as well as intrigue new users towards the option - Don’t hide it away as a surprise for users at the end of experience. These are 3 ways you can achieve this:

1. Utilize banners that shout about the availability of Pick Up points:

By implementing banners, Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team saw an impressive 20% of customers choosing Pickup within their first two weeks live!

2. Create presence on the Product Page: Customers proceed to the checkout process, where they are presented with their delivery options.

Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team further improved their success with the solution through educating users in this step.

3. Include links within the footer to further educate users: If customers select Pickup, they are then prompted to search for and select their preferred Pickup location.

Implementing these suggestions saw Sandbanks gaining a 12% adoption for Pickup locations!

Checkout Prominence

Display pickup options prominently during checkout— Again, don't hide them away at the very end. Include pickup options above the fold (the visible part of the page on load), especially on mobile devices.

Use clear language and avoid jargon. Concisely explain why your customers should use the service, such as cheaper, better for the environment, secure, guaranteed delivery, etc.

Reference the previous section on ‘The Launch Experience’ for more information on this point.

Highlighting Benefits within Delivery Method Selection

Clearly present pickup options alongside other delivery methods in order to improve the ease of reading for users, alongside the use of clear language and avoiding jargon. Concisely explain how pickup works and why your customers should use the service, such as cost savings, environmental benefits, enhanced security, and guaranteed delivery. Make these benefits stand out to help customers make an informed choice.

‘Bee Inspired’ saw an increase of 14.78% adoption within only a month by implementing these suggestions!