Solutions from B&N and Amazon
Some sites, however, were able to offer separate checkout paths without confusing shoppers. The Web sites of both Barnes&Noble and Amazon effectively served both new and return customers by making only the new customer path prominent.
On Barnes&Noble, no new shopper clicked on the "sign in" link for return customers. Notice that the "Checkout Now" button, which is the beginning of the new customer checkout path, is much more prominent.
Barnes&Noble made the right decision by making the new customer checkout path more prominent than that of return customers. (This particularly makes sense for return customers, since by definition, they are more familiar with the site and more likely to see a less prominent link.)
In our tests, every shopper successfully checked out at Amazon. As with other sites we tested, customers filled in their email address right away. But in this case, filling in the empty field was the correct way to begin checkout. The Amazon form is successful for several reasons:
- The email address field is first, motivating customers to (correctly) begin filling out the form.
- The radio buttons, to choose between new and returning customers, appear between the email and password forms, distracting customers to read the radio button text before immediately filling out the next field.
- The radio buttons' text is well-worded. They mention "new customer" and "returning customer," much clearer than Gap's "new or unregistered user" and "registered user" fields.
- The "new customer" option states clearly that "You'll create a password later," helping new customers avoid mistakenly typing their email password into the password field.
- The password field is clearly described as being only for the "returning customer."
- The checkout form changes slightly for a return customer.
Amazon uses "cookies" to recognise its return customers and present them with a slightly modified checkout page.
For return customers, Amazon has already filled in the first field with the email address, and the radio button defaults to the "returning customer" option. All the return customer has to do is complete the only empty field -- the password -- and click "Sign in" to continue.
While Amazon does many things right with the beginning of its checkout, the most important takeaway is that the page is designed primarily to help new customers get through the page correctly. Of secondary importance is that return customers are served by the clever cookie-based change.
