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Curbing Shopping Cart Abandonment Jason Prescott in CB's Corner, Sales and Marketing February 27th, 2007

Curbing Shopping Cart Abandonment

By Claudia Bruemmer

 

Shopping cart abandonment rates have been estimated as high as 75 percent. Last fall, MarketingSherpa research found an average ecommerce shopping cart abandonment rate of 59.8 percent.

 

There will always be intrinsic and extrinsic factors that contribute to shopping cart abandonment. Some have to do with site usability, while others may depend on shopper intentions. Some shoppers simply change their mind or get buyer’s remorse before making a purchase no matter how well your conversion funnel is optimized.

 

The Anatomy of an Ecommerce Sale

 

While shoppers usually find your offerings through search engines, there are many other ways of navigating to your site, including links from banner ads, newsletters and contextual ads — some will even type your location directly into the browser.

 

Many times, prospects enter your site from a landing page, prompting marketers to perfect their landing pages. Another important element in the sales process is the strength of your conversion funnel in culminating the sale. While the landing page is critical for getting customers to enter your site, few marketers bother optimizing the conversion funnel that leads to the shopping cart.

 

Landing Page Versus Conversion Funnel

 

It is a good idea to optimize your landing pages, but the real test lies in getting customers to navigate your conversion funnel to the shopping cart upon leaving the landing page. MarketingSherpa suggests conducting multivariate tests of page elements in different combinations and then isolating the results of each variable. For instance, you might be testing the headlines or the background colors on copy leading to the “Click Here to Order” button. A simple change to one or more of these elements can result in a decrease in shopping cart abandonment as well as increases in conversion rates.

 

Simple changes in page design elements can result in increased conversions. It’s up to you to test the different combinations until you find the best result. For an example of how small changes can make a big difference, review the testing done by Marketing Experiments Journal in The Power of Small Changes Tested. Here you can learn how to conduct A/B Split Tests and Multivariate Tests on such web page elements as the headline, subscription form or logo.

 

In one test for an online publisher, a small change in a single sentence near the order button resulted in increasing the conversion rate from 1.58 percent to 1.77 percent, a 12 percent improvement. With a multivariate test, the researchers improved results with minor tweaks to the headline, page design and color.

 

Improving Your Conversion Funnel

 

There are a number of issues to address when optimizing your web site conversion funnel. Below are some tips that can help improve shopping cart abandonment.

 

1. Show checkout page progress: Let prospects know where they are in the checkout process. Number the steps and specify each task clearly. Let prospects review their place in the process, giving them the means to return to a previous step if necessary.

 

2. Link to the product: When an item is placed in the shopping cart, include a link to the product page. This gives shoppers the option to check on product features if they want to ensure they’re ordering the right product.

 

3. Product Thumbnails: Including product images can increase conversions by 10 percent.

 

4. Shipping costs: Provide shipping cost estimates while visitors browse. Shoppers need to know the total cost, and this can help cement the sale.

 

5. Show availability on product pages: Don’t make prospects wait until checkout to find out a product is out of stock. They may get frustrated and never come back.

 

6. Delivery estimate: Provide prospects with estimated delivery date information.

 

7. Make shopping cart changes easy: Make it easy to delete an item from the shopping cart. Customers will appreciate it when they can easily change quantities, colors, sizes, etc. Making such changes difficult results in shopping cart abandonment.

 

8. Explain errors clearly: Customers can inadvertently leave out information or incorrectly fill out a form during checkout. Provide clear error messages that tell them what needs to be corrected (i.e., enter your email address to process this form).

 

9. Offer other sales options: Some people don’t want to order online, offer a phone number or other options for making the sale, including a printable order form for fax or postal mail orders.

 

10. Make it easy for new customers: It’s twice as hard to sell new customers versus old customers. Therefore, don’t make it a requirement to register or login prior to purchase. You can later solicit more information with the email address. Offer an incentive for registering, e.g., a discount on the initial order for new customers.

 

11. Display third-party endorsements: It’s known to boost conversions when you post your VeriSign, Better Business Bureau and credit card logos near checkout.

 

12. Exit survey: If your prospects abandon the shopping cart, offer them an incentive to complete an exit survey. This can give clues as to why orders are not completed.

 

13. Email recovery program: Send email to shoppers who abandoned shopping carts, systematically plugging names into a crafted message that provides customers with the opportunity to revisit their cart. The emails should be sent three to six days after abandonment on Tuesday through 3 p.m. EST Friday only. Offer an incentive such as a $5 gift certificate on orders over $35. This has been known to increase sales conversions from 8 to 14 percent.

While the above tips can help you improve shopping cart abandonment, you need to test the changes you implement one by one, noting the improvements. This may take a little time and effort, but the improved conversion rates will make it worth your while.

 

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