eCommerce websites share one major problem, regardless of the niche or how successful your site is. Shopping cart abandonment. It is not uncommon for customers to go through the entire purchase process only to close out the window at the last moment, cancelling the transaction. So how can eCommerce business owners reduce the frequency of customers just walking away from the sale?
First, you need to understand why people typically abandon their shopping carts. Here are some of the most popular reasons why this happens.
- Shipping costs and sales tax increased the amount beyond what they thought.
- Customers are window-shopping to compare final prices before committing to a purchase.
- Customers shy away from eCommerce websites that limited payment options.
- The eCommerce website is not mobile friendly and they cannot view all of the information clearly enough to complete a transaction.
- Lack of a guest checkout. Many customers during the holidays don’t want to create an account and be bothered, so they look around until they find one that does. Even if it costs a little more.
So how can you overcome some of the above-mentioned problems? Here are a couple of things you could try to help overcome these obstacles and help your customers complete the sale.
- Provide incentives for free-shipping, such as offering free-shipping on orders over a specific amount, offering flat rate shipping costs or discount codes to bring the total purchase price down to balance the cost of shipping.
- Increase the number of safe payment solutions you provide. For example, you can add the new Apple Pay system to your site. This makes it easier for mobile phone users to shop on your website.
- Make Your Site More Mobile Friendly. This kind of goes hand in hand with the new Apple Pay feature you could add to your site. The more mobile friendly your website is, the more mobile phone users will use your site. If you add the Apple Pay feature, you will provide customers with a worry-free solution that benefits everyone.
These are not the only things that could cause people to abandon their shopping carts however. Here are a couple more common problems that cause customers to walk away from a sale, and ideas that you could implement to remedy these problems.
Make Forms Easier To Use And Understand
One of the biggest concerns customers have about making a purchase from an eCommerce website is the amount of information they must provide. Asking your customers for their phone number and email address is enough to turn them away. So how can you avoid this? Simple. Explain why you need the information.
Simply saying that you need the phone number and or email address for any questions that may arise in regards to their order or shipping is enough to eliminate some of their hesitation. Customers think that all eCommerce websites will mass market them after the sale is complete. Ironically, they’re not wrong, but this also makes them avoid eCommerce websites that request a lot of, what they feel is, unnecessary information.
Provide Payment Security on Your eCommerce Website
Credit card and identity theft have become major concerns over the last 10 years, and people are leery about handing out a ton of information. This includes their payment information. If you are not providing them with popular, secure payment options, they will walk away. Adding a big-name payment provider, such as PayPal to your website, can help ease worry.
Customers can log in directly to PayPal, a company they trust, to complete the transaction. The fact that PayPal also provides them with buyers protection gives them peace of mind. It is also a good idea to get an SSL certificate and protecting your site. Case in point, simple adding Verisign to your website instantly builds so much trust and confidence, that eCommerce websites typically see a 25 to 30% increase in conversation rates once they added it to their site.
Show the Benefits of the Purchase
Customers get buyer’s remorse, that is just a side effect of shopping. Unfortunately for eCommerce businesses’, a customer can sit at the checkout for hours if they wanted to. In a store, you have to sit in line and before long, it is your turn to check out. You don’t have much time to debate whether you want to make the purchase or not. That is not the case with an online purchase. If you’re shopping cart has a way of showing them the amount of money they have saved purchasing sale items or compared to the average price point, it can be enough motivation to help them finish the sale.
Conclusion
It is human nature to try and receive the best deal possible, and putting it them in terms of how much they are saving, verse how cheap the item is, is another, more eye-catching way, to get the same point across.
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