Tips To Stop Customers Abandoning Their Carts At Checkout
Thursday, 18 February 2010 01:00
It is important to understand that abandoned shopping carts aren’t necessarily negative. Customers put items into carts for many reasons: It may be competitors checking out your site, consumers comparing prices and policies, or novice shoppers who find your site too difficult to use. Or customers may check a site and then order by telephone. You get window shoppers online as much as in the high street, maybe more so as it’s easier.
Follow these tips to encourage consumers to complete their purchase and buy again.
1. Trust
Although it varies hugely, some people are highly nervous when shopping online, particularly at the stores where they don’t recognise the brand. So provide your contact details throughout the site, including a telephone number and physical address. Promote confidence by responding fast to emails, and answering the telephone quickly and professionally.
2. Simplicity
Ease of use is one of the key requirements of all users of computer systems, so use common conventions such as “About us” and “Contact us” pages and don’t try to be too clever. Avoid distractions during the checkout, and get there via as few screens as possible. Don’t force people to create accounts BEFORE buying. Some won’t want to, and you will be throwing that business away.
3. Delivery costs
Display P&P early on. You increase the chances of losing a sale if the customer is surprised by your postage at the end. Positively, to justify the postage charge, a customer may buy more than one product.
4. Terms and conditions
Especially be clear on your guarantee and returns policy. A rock solid guarantee goes a long way to persuading people to buy. You have to obey the Distance Selling Regulations anyway so at least make a big point of offering a no-quibble 7 day return, it costs nothing and will add to confidence.
5. Data security
State clearly how customer data will be stored and used. Use an SSL certificate on your site so when people start checking out, the “padlock” and “https:”appear. Use a Payment Service Provider, such as Actinic Payments or Worldpay, to provide a higher level of assurance. All mainstream PSPs are now level 1 PCI DSS certified (this is the banking industry security standard). Consider enrolling in one of the programmes to reassure buyers such as ISIS (Internet Shopping is Safe).
6. Alternative payment/ ordering methods
Even if you are a web-only retailer you should provide alternative ways of ordering such as by telephone. A few people will take advantage of the facility and it inspires confidence. When it comes to payments, obviously you should take card payments, but adding PayPal can increase orders by up to 10%. New methods such as Payoffline (where people make a physical payment at a retail outlet near them before receiving the goods) may also increase your conversion by a few percentage points.
7. Manage expectations
In an e-store you need to make sure that customers know exactly what they’re getting and when. Amazon tells you that a book “normally ships in 2-3 days”, so you aren’t too upset if it takes four days. If you offer “24 hour delivery” then when does the 24 hours start? You need to be clear about any time cut-offs, e.g. “Orders received by 4pm normally ship the same day”. If possible, over-deliver on the standard that you have set yourself.
8. Customer service
Encourage repeat business by going out of your way to meet customer needs. A happy customer will tell their friends, but an unhappy one will tell everybody who’ll listen including moaning about you on social sites.
9. Load speed
Use images effectively, not for the sake of it. Ensure that you don’t use over-complex technology which adds nothing but cost, and slows the site down unnecessarily. There’s nothing more off-putting than a slow loading site.
10. Measurement
Measure everything using a package such as Google Analytics. If there is something wrong with your site, this will help to pinpoint it. The internet allows you to try things out, measure the impact and then adjust as necessary. If you don’t do this, you will miss out on a lot of business.
Written by Chris Barling, CEO of ecommerce & EPOS supplier, Actinic. Originally published on FreshBusinessthinking.com.