Shopping Cart Abandonment Part II

Last week we discussed some tactics that can be applied to retrieve online shoppers that dropped out because they were in an orientation phase. In today’s blog entry we’ll discuss the second and most harmful category of shopping cart abandoners: the frustrated dropouts .

These frustrated individuals are the most costly type of dropouts because they consist out of people that actually decided to make a purchase from you, only to be stopped by a procedural problem. Furthermore, with frustrated dropouts we really do mean frustrated ; it can be very annoying not to be able to finish your purchase, and this may lead to negative publicity for your business.

Once they’re in the checkout process, every aspect of your website should be directed at providing a quick, smooth and comfortable path to the end. In practice, many mistakes are made in this point. Your customers can get frustrated with your checkout process for three reasons : effort, confusion, or anxiety.

Required registration

For many sites you have to make a registration in order to make a purchase. Although email addresses are valuable, this method is not to be recommended. Firstly it constitutes an extra obstacle to making an online purchase, and secondly it is very frustrating if you’re a recurring customer and you’ve forgot your password. Therefore, always allow for the option to make a purchase as a guest.

Too much personal info

Many websites demand too much info from their potential buyers. This is very annoying and unnecessary, so only ask for the essentials that are necessary to complete the sale. Even if you make the most answers optional, just looking at such a form can take away the positive energy of an online buyer.

Too many/too few pages

It is important to find a balance between too many and too few checkout pages. Too few pages will result in an overwhelming amount of info on one page, while too many pages will give your online buyer the impression of sitting in a never ending funnel.

Calls to action

Once they are in your checkout process, your calls-to-action should be geared towards nothing else than completing the checkout. Sometimes confusing calls-to-actions about other deals are thrown in between, this is a bad idea.

Banners

In principle the same counts for banners, the checkout process is simply not a place for them. Successful banners or calls-to-actions in the checkout process will lead to your sales being aborted!

Progress indicator

This is a very useful feature to have installed in your checkout process pages. Let your visitors know how many steps they have to take to the finish; a known wait is always shorter than an unknown one.

Unnecessary coupon codes

Many online shops make use of coupon codes to promote their products, but having this code visible to everyone at the check-out process can result in people abandoning to go looking for it. Therefore, the option should only be offered to those offered a promotion. If you do offer a coupon code, make sure that it can be copied.

Return policy

Always clearly state your return policy from the outset. When deciding on your return policy, remember that the increase in sales of a royal policy can easily offset the costs of the returned products.

Security

We all know not everybody feels comfortably entering their billing info at a site whose owner they do not know. Therefore it is important to provide your site with security-reflecting elements, like an ssl connection, a trust seal, and a live chat to offer support where needed.

Back links

It’s important for your website visitors to have the feeling that they can go back in the checkout process, so make sure to add back links in order to avoid that cornered feeling.

Customer testimonials

These are a great way to improve the legitimacy of your website. If someone else bought from the site and was satisfied, it means your site delivers. Do make your testimonials sound genuine and legit.

These are the main points of improvement for most checkout processes. You have to keep in mind that online shoppers are an extremely sensitive group to market, so give them space and make things as easy and straightforward as possible for them.

Truly yours,

The Userlike Team