Stop Shopping Cart Abandonment and Win The Sale Back

The New Sophisticated Shopper

First, you need to understand who is buying and who is leaving.  Customers are quickly becoming more sophisticated buyers, as technology advances.  According to Forrester Research, the typical abandoner is one that has been shopping online longer than non-abandoners.  Some customers will only purchase online if a promotion is offered or if the item they are interested in is re-marketed to them throughout the decision making cycle.

However, targeting sophisticated shoppers means more than just promotions and re-marketing; it means understanding that shoppers have more accessibility to competitors than ever before and finding ways to compete at the shopping cart level.  When someone is looking at a product on your online store, don’t dismiss the fact that they most likely are searching for a better deal from your competitors at the same time.  36% of consumers will not buy online unless free shipping is offered (ComScore).  Free shipping, promotions, and re-marketing are just the tipping point, but an easy-to-use shopping cart is an absolute must for ecommerce store owners.

Optimize Your Shopping Cart for a Smooth Checkout:

• Allow Guest Checkout

Simply by enabling guest checkout, you can see a tremendous increase in your conversion rates.  eConsultancy reported in 2011 that up to 26% of shopping cart abandonment was due to forced registration at checkout.  Instead of having a lengthy information page, have new customers register an account that asks for 3 items only:  a password, a contact name, and an email address.  This will give you the valuable information necessary for future marketing, and it will help the customer save time.

• Offer a “Same as Shipping” Button

Make the checkout process quicker for the customer by having a “Billing Address same as Shipping Address” button available.  Many times these two addresses are the same, and they will want the option of only typing their address once.  Make sure that there is an option to un-select this option and enter a different shipping address than the billing address, if needed.

• Remember the Back Button

If you don’t show a back button during the checkout process, customers will worry that they will have to start all over again. Most likely, they will close your page, and you’ll lose the sale.  People sometimes like to go back and make sure they have the right thing in their cart, or they may change their minds.  You wouldn’t want frustrate your customers by making it a negative experience.  Keep in mind that they might want to check out the next time they come back, so allow them to save their selections to return to it another time.

• Keep the Forms Short

Figure out the necessary information that you’ll need from your customers, and don’t require any extra information.  Ensure that you only take the information you need, and keep the steps in the checkout to a minimum.  Allow customers to pay by whatever means they are most comfortable with.  Remember credit card information for repeat customers, and allow returning shoppers to simply enter the 3 digit security code while checking out.

• Capture Shopper’s Email Address

Capture the customer’s email address while they are shopping.  The reason this step is so important is because returning customers are actually 9 times more likely to buy compared to new visitors.  By using email to re-market the products to the customer, you can nudge them to return and complete the sale.

Econsultancy surveyed 2000 consumers to find out why they are abandoning their shopping carts.  Here are their findings:

After adding items to your basket, what would make you abandon your purchase?

Once you are in the checkout process, what would deter you from completing the purchase?

In Conclusion

Building an irresistible checkout experience includes many different elements.  As long as you put your customers’ needs first and make it easy for them to purchase what they want, then you will be bound to make more sales and more happy customers.  After all, the happier your customers are, the easier it will be to win their sales.