You’ve spent plenty on getting your web site set up and driving traffic to it. You’ve got a well laid out and streamlined web site, but you aren’t happy with your conversion rate. You’re seeing plenty of activity in part of the ordering funnel, but you are seeing plenty of abandoned shopping carts. What the heck is going on, you ask? Well it’s likely that you’ve run into one of those folks who just doesn’t feel comfortable with your checkout process for some reason. You aren’t alone – studies have shown as many as 45-90% of all shopping carts are abandoned. Well, that’s great you say. But what can I do about this? Glad you asked.
Before you can fix a potential problem, it’s important to know why people are leaving your shopping process near the end. Here are the top five reasons, along with ways you can help solve these issues.
1. Customers are turned of by the high cost of shipping & handling
This is the number one reason people bail out. While you may not think this has anything to do with your shopping cart, it certainly can. You need to make sure that your shopping cart is set up so that it combines the shipping cost when shipping multiple items. If a customer orders 6 items for you, but your cart adds a single item shipping charge for each item, it’s understandable that most will leave, isn’t it?
2. Customers can’t find all the information they need to complete the purchase, or the functionality isn’t there
Be sure to provide a help link from all pages within your shopping cart. Include a FAQ link as well. Do you think your customers are going to spend 20 minutes trying to figure out how to update their cart, or how to add an item? Nope, they are going to go elsewhere. If you can do it, consider offering an 800 help line for customers to call during the ordering process. Or, perhaps a live chat function. There are many quality services available today such as RealChat, ProvideSupport, and ParaChat. It all comes down to making the process as easy as possible for your customers. Having a way for them to obtain assistance throughout the process only makes good sense.
3. Customers are uncomfortable about having to register
Resist the temptation of requiring customers to provide upfront information prior to them making a purchase. If your customer can’t easily add their items to the shopping cart and give their information later, this will inevitably chase people away. Most don’t want you having their information until they know the order will be going through. Let people shop, then require the information only as they are finalizing their purchases.
4. Customers are not sure how to add items and finalize their purchase
Many customers will make a number of decisions during the buying process. They need the flexibility to be able to add, delete and update their orders, without causing the entire order to be wiped out. If your cart is set up in a way that leads to a customer having to re-enter all of the items they want if they delete or add an item, they are going to bail out. Make sure you make the entire process as seamless as possible. Allow changes and provide an easy way for your customer to finalize their order and check out.
5. Customers are afraid to finalize their order
Be sure that you are in compliance with all laws pertaining to data security. You must ensure that any page where you accept credit card numbers or other personal data is secure with SSL type technology. Customers should be reassured that their data is safe and they should be able to see a small lock in their browser bar. All URLS in your shopping cart should start with https:// and not http://. Go out of your way to have a link to a page that outlines what you do to ensure your customers data is safe. Provide a link to your privacy policy as well. When you reassure your customers from the get go, they are much more likely to buy from you.
