Avoid Shopping Cart Abandonment
By Sunil Lukose on Sun (5/11/08) in Featured Stories | 0 Comments
When you look at analytics data for your website, do you notice customers dropping out from the shopping cart page before completing checkout? Have you invested time and money but the conversion rate is still lacking? This is a problem throughout e-commerce. However, there are steps you can take to keep those shoppers with you to the purchase. This article will emphasize how to increase user conversions by modifying the shopping cart page.
First, if you don’t have analytics, I highly recommend you install Google Analytics to follow consumer behavior on your website. Google Analytics is free software and some sort of analytics software is a must for every merchant. You can learn more about Google Analytics at http://www.google.com/analytics/.
Identifying the Problems
The largest percentage of abandonment occurs at the shopping cart. According to Marketing Sherpa report, the average shopping cart abandonment rate in 2006 was 59.8% and 52.1% in 2007. This means that more than half of all customers adding items to the cart leave the cart page.
The top three reasons why consumers abandoned the cart according to Forrester research study titled “Rethinking the Significance of Cart Abandonment”:
1. I didn’t want to pay the shipping charges [57%]
2. The total cost of purchase was more than I thought it would be [48%]
3. I used the shopping cart for research [41%]
Shipping Charges
If you offer flat rate shipping or free shipping, display it prominently on your website for consumers to see. Do not hide shipping information on policy pages, display it in a visible area like header or next to the Buy button. Don’t expect your customer to search for shipping information; make it easy for them to find. If you are unable to determine actual shipping costs then providing estimates is a good idea. If you charge tax, or if you are offering free shipping based on condition, display that information. Don’t deceive your customers. If you offer free shipping over X amount, display it properly on the page. Let them know that free shipping only kicks in at a certain point. This also encourages customers to add more products to save on shipping, which in turn results in increased order size.
If you cannot display shipping information on product level, it is crucial that shipping and tax be calculated on the shopping cart page. If you only need a zip code to display this information then do not ask buyers for their address. Buyers usually resist providing information until they decide to purchase.
Other shipping-related tips to increase conversions:
1. Display estimated delivery dates for the shipping methods on your web pages and/or cart page.
2. Do not tell customers late in the process that shipping and handling charges would be added. No one likes surprises when it comes to spending money.
3. Avoid charging handling fees for products because buyers do not like hidden fees and charges. Instead, add handling costs to the price or the shipping charges.
Cost of Purchase
Online customers expect their final cost for products to be less than brick-and-mortar stores. The Forrester Research survey which I mentioned above showed that 19% of customers abandon the cart because they didn’t want to wait for the product and 18% purchased the products offline. This suggests that if consumers can buy easily and cheaply offline, they will. To stay competitive do your homework and offer competitive pricing or some other value that consumers can’t resist. If you don’t, you will lose out to the brick-and-mortar stores.
Shopping Cart for Research
41% of surveyors used shopping carts to research about the product and it’s pricing. We can’t stop consumers from researching the product, but we can take steps to encourage people to buy. Present shipping and tax information on the product pages. If the product is shipped free then highlight that information clearly on the product page. If it has special shipping requirements, display them on the product page. Disclose as much information as you can on the product page so consumers don’t have to add a product to the cart just to check total cost.
A customer using your site for research is still likely to return later to purchase some of the products they previously added to the shopping cart. Save the cart information so customers can go directly to the cart page and complete their purchase. Offer features like “wishlists” or “saved shopping cart,” which save lists of products in which customers have shown an interest. The wishlist can be used for comparison rather than using the cart. You also benefit when users register to use this feature.
Page Loads
Error-free fast-loading shopping carts have shown to increase conversion. Keep your shopping cart and checkout pages simple, error free, distraction free and fast-loading. To carry your company branding, a smart designer can carry over the logo and color scheme and make it look like your web site but light weight. Emphasize the steps the customer needs in order to complete checkout or to add more products.
If you use a secure cart, make sure there are no security error messages which might cause users to panic and abandon the cart. Secure http calls are slower than a regular http call because of the data encryption technology used. If your shopping cart is not holding user-sensitive data then the cart doesn’t have to be secure. Also, avoid distracting pop-ups which open dynamically on the cart page and don’t add scripts that disable right click. Most consumers use the context menu to navigate and disabling it will frustrate more than help.
Payment Methods
Display all payment methods that you accept including alternate payment methods like PayPal and Bill Me Later. These latter methods have been shown to satisfy the first time buyer who is not feeling fully secure providing credit card information. From a user’s perspective PayPal is a good way to make secure payments to multiple vendors using single account information and without disclosing credit card information to all merchants. For merchants, PayPal service charges are much lower than credit card charges.
Other Tips to Decrease Abandonment
Call to Action Buttons – Call to Action buttons must be worded properly to describe what they do. They should be placed in visible areas for users to finish conversion. Make the button look and feel as if it is clickable. Also, make buttons leading to checkout larger and bolder than buttons simply directing customers back to the site.
Product Availability – Display product availability on product pages, not on the cart page. The longer you wait, the more frustrated your customers become. If requested quantities are not available then add the available quantity and alert consumers with a user-friendly error message displaying what happened.
Display Product Information – Including pictures and other options like size, color etc. Have a link for users to go back to product pages by clicking name and image.
Make Editing Products Easier – It’s much easier to provide a removable link rather than to have the customer figure out that they have to add quantity as zero and then hit update.
Contact Information – Display contact information clearly on the shopping cart page. Encourage customers to call if they have any queries regarding checkout.
Policies – Provide links to policy
pages like shipping, privacy,
returns, etc. on the cart page. Do not
try to hide these links as most consumers want to know this information before they finish the purchase.
Secure Icons – Display security and privacy
information
to increase
consumer confidence in your website. Keep these icons visible but subtle because too much emphasis on secure
icons can backfire, too.
Registration – Should always be optional and simple. Still, ask users if they wish to register somewhere after their shipping and billing information is complete.
Links Back to Store – Make it easy for customers to add more products to
the cart.
Related Cross-sells – Cross-sell products related to the products already in the cart. Don’t confuse consumers with irrelevant cross sells.
Discounts – If you purchase X product, product Y gets 10% off. This helps conversions. Also, offer coupons
by providing them incentives to
finish checkout.
Summing Up
The bad news is that more than half of all shoppers will abandon the shopping cart and not make the purchase. The good news is that there are many steps you can take to increase your sales and decrease your frustration. Try them!
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