The Red-Headed Step-Child
in Your Web Sales Process
… and How to Turn it
Into a Powerhouse of Profits
in 8 Easy Steps!
Dear Business Builder,
Welcome back to In the ‘Net Trenches. And TGIF!
Today, we’re going to talk about the most forgotten page in the e-commerce process … the shopping cart.
You might be surprised to learn that nearly 60% of your potential customers will ultimately abandon your shopping cart. And quite frankly, an abandoned cart equals a lost order. So, it stands to reason if you can decrease cart abandons you’ll incrementally increase sales and instantly bring in more revenue.
Three of the most common reasons
potential customers abandon your shopping cart…
- They’re just looking – Your potential customers often add items to your shopping cart to determine the total cost of buying. This includes determining the product cost, tax and shipping and handling. They then abandon the cart to seek additional information, comparison shop or hopefully order by phone. Oftentimes, those same prospects will need additional time to make a buying decision and some will ultimately return.
- Safety and Security – Today’s web consumers are skeptical. Many understand just how easy it is to throw a page up on the web and to start accepting credit cards or sign-up for a PayPal account. They fear identity theft and credit card fraud so they hesitate to provide personal and credit card information to a vendor they don’t know. Lack of trust and confidence is one of the biggest reasons for shopping cart abandonment yet one of the easiest to address.
- Checkout process is confusing – Your potential customer is set on buying and has credit card in hand. They hit the cart and the process is so confusing, cumbersome or complicated they can’t figure out how to complete the order. They click away in frustration and “poof” they are gone.
In fact, according to a shopping cart abandonment study done by Forrester Research in October 2005 – a full 57% of study participants indicated they had abandoned carts because they didn’t want to pay the shipping charge. And 48% indicated they abandoned because the total cost of the purchase was more than they thought it would be.
Abandonment rates are already high to begin with and it seems the odds might be stacked against you. But you don’t have to take these statistics lying down… take hope because a few small changes can make a big improvement.
Eight ways to significantly improve your
cart abandonment rate…
- Reveal shipping and sales tax on your product landing page: By revealing all the costs associated with buying on your product landing page you’ll greatly reduce your shopping cart abandons. Web shoppers usually expect to pay less for a product online than in a traditional retail setting – by providing these costs ahead of time they’re able to make a buying decision before they ever hit the cart. Plus, they’ve been programmed by the big e-tailers not to pay shipping. Consider adding free shipping (or building the cost of shipping into your total product cost) as an incentive to overcome that objection.
- Recap what your customers are ordering: Before completing the order, your customers are going to want to confirm what they’re ordering. Provide as much detail as possible in the cart about the product they’ve ordered including a full description, any bonus materials or discounts they may have been promised and include a thumbnail of the product if possible.
- Give potential customers a sense of security: Add security seals that indicate a safe and secure order process. These security seals placed above the fold in your prospects’ immediate field of vision go a long in reducing order anxiety and increasing credibility. Some security seals to consider include GeoTrust, Authorize.net, HackerSafe, ScanAlert or VeriSign. And don’t discount the value of joining the online division of the Better Business Bureau and proudly displaying their logo.
- Give them a guarantee: Prominently displaying your guarantee and refund policy in an above the fold position on your shopping cart as well as all product landing pages is a must. You’ll immediately relieve your potential customers risk with a liberal return policy … and you may be pleasantly surprised how few people actually take you up on it. According to my good friend and avid split tester Michel Fortin, putting the word guarantee in red increases cart conversions.
- Let potential customers know how long it will take for delivery: We live in an instantaneous world … we want it now. And if we can’t have it now, we want to know how long it’s going to take to get it. Provide a standard delivery time or an estimated shipping date. Promising an order will be shipped within the next 24 hours will surely boost your cart conversions. Also, offer multiple options for faster shipping. And don’t forget to let your international customers know you’ll ship to them too.
- Give them multiple ways to order: Prominently display an 800# for ordering with a customer service rep. (even consider including a photo of a friendly rep on the phone) in case your prospect prefers not to order online. Be sure to include e-mail access to customer service. For an added sense of security and the appearance of a brick-and-mortar presence include your physical street address. If you must use a third party mailbox, avoid a PO Box and opt for a box in a UPS Store or Mailboxes, etc. which will carry a physical street address.
- Offer multiple payment options: Offering customers as many payment options as possible will satisfy multiple needs and cut cart abandons. Accept all the various credit cards and consider offering PayPal. Make it clear on the cart that orders can be accepted online, by phone, by mail and by fax with clear instructions on how to do so.
- Don’t make your potential customers jump through hoops: Here are just a few more quick words of wisdom: Fewer steps in the checkout process are optimum – The more you ask a person to click the more chance to lose the sale. Offer a clear and concise call to action – Include big and obvious order buttons with instructions that indicate what happens next. Number the steps in the process to easily demonstrate what the customer should do next. Avoid making customers complete both shipping and billing address information – Offer an easy to find button or link that auto-fills billing information if it’s the same as shipping. And last but not least ensure customer friendly error processing – explain the error and what ever you do, don’t make them start over by deleting the information in the cart before they’ve had the opportunity to fix it.
Measuring shopping cart abandon rates is a fairly simple equation. The two numbers you need are (1) the number of customers that complete a purchase and (2) the number of customers who put something in the cart and then leave without purchasing.
In order to measure these two numbers, you’ll need a decent web analytics program … check out Google analytics as a good (and free) way to start. But if your goal is to substantially increase your website sales, you’ll want to invest in a full web analytics program such a ClickTracks, WebTrends or Omniture.
Implement these 8 easy changes to your shopping cart, and change it from the red-headed step child in your web sales process … to the powerhouse conversion tool that has the ability to skyrocket your bottom line profits!
Hope that helped and have a great weekend!
Until next week,
Julie McManus
Editor, In the ‘Net Trenches
THE TOTAL PACKAGE
And Web Media Goddess
P.S. Are you in the ‘net trenches? Do you need help? Send
me an e-mail to AskJulie@MakepeaceTotalPackage.com and
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Comment by Stacy Fox — June 8, 2007 @ 11:42 am
I\’ve abandoned shopping carts because I don\’t like my payment options. I like to pay by paypal, especially if I don\’t know the source. Even if I do know the source, it\’s easiest for me to pay by paypal because all my payment information is already stored.
Give your customers the ability to pay by the means they\’re most comfortable with.