EBizInsider

One of the concerns I hear most often from online merchants is the problem of Shopping Cart Abandonment. They wonder how they can lower the percentage of shoppers that leave their carts before checking out. In a study conducted by Marketing Sherpa this year, nearly 60% of online shoppers abandon the cart during the checkout process.

These are worrisome numbers and they come from a variety of causes. But this problem is important. You know how much effort is involved and money spent to get shoppers to your site in the first place. If you’ve gotten them all the way to the point where they’re in the process of buying, it is essential that you keep your customers focused and purchasing. Here are a few questions to help you examine your own site:

Is shopping your site quick and simple?

Navigation really isn’t much of a concern anymore; online shoppers have become more accustomed to the online shopping experience and are now familiar with following required steps. That said, try and spare your customer from the annoying ritual of having to fill out page after page of information. Many online merchants require customers to log in or create an account before they can even get into the checkout process. Instead of requiring your customers to create an account, offer it to them for a quicker checkout process in the future. This will give them the option of creating the account or continuing quickly through the process.

Have you shown your customers that your checkout is secure?

Place graphics prominently that will reassure your customers that their information is safe. Although your checkout URL is secure, your customers might not ever look there. Keeping a graphic or two in the design of the checkout can go a long way in making your customers comfortable with entering their information.

Do your customers know your policies?

Add links in your checkout process to pages that explain your returns, refunds, warranty and shipping policies. This will ensure that if your customers have a question they can find the answer. In addition, adding a toll free number can be a big plus. Customers can call for help, and the number can also help in other areas of the sales process, especially if you have well-trained customer service reps available to answer questions and offer advice on additional items.

Do you provide all pricing details before the checkout?

Too often, customers may not know the final cost of shipping until they are ready to complete the order and then see a charge they are unwilling to pay. This can be a very big concern. One way to eliminate this is explain your shipping charges prior to customers going into the checkout flow. Another solution is to give them the opportunity to calculate the cost on the shopping cart level prior to entering the checkout process. This could help to reduce the number of unhappy customers leaving the cart once they see how much shipping will cost. If you offer shipping promotions, make sure you advertise them throughout your site. If a customer notices a promotion for Free Shipping over a certain purchase amount, this can encourage your customer to not only add more items to the cart, but the free shipping makes them more likely to complete the order.

There is no single solution to the shopping cart abandonment problem, but simply put, the more customers know going through the shopping process, the more likely they are to complete it. These little updates can help. If you have tried something that works for you, please let me know. I would like to see how other merchants are dealing with this problem and what is working or not working for them.

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