Tips for preventing shopping cart abandonment

It's very probable that everybody has a clear mental representation of shopping carts (some empty, others with various items in them) scattered on the isles of supermarkets. It's a saddening image, but this happens very often.

By extension, the same phenomenon happens also to e-tailers. Many of the visitors never get to the finish line and don't check out any item whatsoever. They lose their interest in making a purchase at some point during the process, or they simply click the much dreaded upper-right X button just because something went wrong; another reason could be the fact that they had no intention, right from the start, to buy anything. Once this happens, many companies that rely on online sales find themselves completely defenseless when dealing with shopping cart abandonment.

What is Shopping Cart Abandonment?

Shopping cart abandonment is a reality of today's e-commerce. It is a concept that denominates the ratio between the number of people who go through all the steps of online purchasing and the number of the prospects who leave the e-tailers' sites at some point, without checking out. Sadly, the abandonment rate, as shown by many specialists in the field, is somewhere close to 60%.

Reasons for Shopping Cart Abandonment

Many explanations have been given trying to state why buyers abandon shopping carts. Most of the reasons are similar to the ones in the real-world shopping process. The top four reasons for shopping cart abandonment have been identified as:

• Impatience In today's world, where everybody is on the run and the governing principle of purchasing is "I want it NOW", there's little chance that a prospect will be willing to spend more than a few minutes in front of the computer screen in order to fill in an order form and wait for your site's pages to load. This is similar to choosing the shortest line in a supermarket.
• Confusion
  If it's not clear how to make a purchase and you leave your prospects on their own, assuming that "they'll figure it out", you're in for a huge disappointment. Also, if they are suddenly presented with some extra costs that they didn't expect, it's as if you were pointing to the door yourself.
• Caution
  This can easily translate into fear. Most Web shoppers are cautious about disclosing their personal information, especially when it comes to the credit card details. They will easily become suspicious if too much information is requested from them.
• Indecision
  As with real-life shopping, not any visitor is necessarily a customer. Most of them are "window-shopping", testing prices, added taxes and shipping fees, just to compare various e-tailers and see where and who can give them a better deal. It is possible that a visitor might return later on and make a purchase from your Web site.

Tips to Prevent Shopping Cart Abandonment

If you notice that your conversion rate has a downward evolution, it may be a sign that your shopping cart does not work properly. This should make you analyze and make you look for possible reasons why prospects fail to finalize their transactions and make your ROI (return on investment) go towards negative values. In any case, there are some measures that could be taken to reduce shopping cart abandonment, if not to eliminate it completely. The following suggestions are some steps to be taken in order to prevent this phenomenon:

• Check the number of steps required to make a purchase Keep this number as low as possible, preferably somewhere between one and seven. Make the process as short and easy as possible.
• Implement security measures for credit card transactions and make sure to communicate them to your customers This will make them feel more secure about performing transactions on your Web site. Reassure them that any personal information will be handled in the most secure way possible and that they will not become victims of any phishing activity.
• Be cautious about the registration process Many e-tailers lose at this game because they make their customers register before allowing them to place an order. Try to use the information they enter during the ordering process to register them. They don't even have to know it until the end, when they'll be prompted to enter an e-mail address and a password. You can even allow them to make purchases without registering, but do point out the benefits of spending some time to register: order tracking, personalized notifications for special discounts or preferred products, incentives, etc.
• Make tax and shipping information easy to notice Offer this information from the start. Customers should not have to navigate though the whole process in order to find out the final price of the item(s) they are about to purchase.
• Don't make them enter their address twice If the shipping address is the same as the billing one, provide an option (usually in the form of a checkbox) to automatically complete the second.
• Offer incentives It is common (and usually good) practice to offer free shipping for orders exceeding a certain value. Make this clear to your prospects. While they will be mesmerized by the idea of not paying for shipping, you will gain by having them trying to reach (and even surpass) the specified value by ordering more items.
• Allow them to choose the payment method If you can handle more than one payment method, let the customers know. Some feel more comfortable paying with plastic; others prefer cash on delivery, while others feel safer to pay by money order. Make it clear that you can handle everyone's preference.
• Show them you are a real company Make sure your contact information is as visible as possible. You will thus gain their confidence and allow them to call for information or even to place orders. Read more tips on how to improve website credibility.
• Let them know how far they've gone Use graphic indicators on each page so they know where they are. Online shoppers can get easily disoriented, so help them.
• Refrain from cross-selling until the last moment. Don't be pushy and don't try to sell some other items right from the start. Keep it until the customer is ready to place the order and suggest items that might be of interest. Give them a choice and give yourself a chance. You can take a further look on the proper circumstances for cross-selling
  
• Allow them to save their selections Provide a "save cart" function, along with a corresponding button, that will allow them to resume their shopping later without having to look again, for what they were interested in.
• Keep the customers focused Don't distract their attention with unnecessary flash movies or banners. There is no place for them on the order pages, unless they are directly related to the initial purchase.
• Make the "NEXT" and "CHECKOUT" buttons visible There are many case reports when customers have mistaken "delete" or "clear" buttons for the ones mentioned above. Place them in such a way so that they are completely visible. Use colors that are more prominent for them, even if they go somewhat against the whole theme of your Web site.
• Be consistent Use the same format (look and feel) for each page / step of the ordering process. Let the customers see that every step is part of a whole, and not just a bunch of "patches" stitched together in the attempt to achieve a goal.
• Handle errors constructively Make it sound like it's your fault, not your customers'. Try to use a tone that will determine them to check and re-enter the erroneous information; do not make them feel frustrated and leave your site.

Conclusion

Preventing shopping cart abandonment is quite at hand for most e-tailers. After all, it's only about putting themselves in their prospects' shoes. Although this might require a significant amount of finances and effort, it's worthwhile.

Always keep in mind that even the smallest detail can make the difference between a conversion and an abandoned shopping cart.

Get to know the reasons for which prospects leave your site, and make improvements accordingly. The benefits resulting from reducing shopping cart abandonment will undoubtedly be easy to notice.

• 5 tools to boost software sales in 2011
• Avangate Values Painting School
• Avangate Wins 5 - Let's See Who Won the iPad and the Kindle

• Affiliate Marketing (28)
• Avangate Updates (3)
• Internet Marketing (42)
• Software Business (73)
• Website Usability (20)