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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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February 20th, 2007


TopTenWholesale Guide to Dropshipping

By Claudia Bruemmer

If you are one of the many wholesalers and retailers that do not have facilities to stock products in bulk, this info is for you. Even if you don’t have back office operations due to the expense of facilities and personnel, you can still have a thriving business by shipping products to customers via dropshipping.

How Dropshipping Works

A dropshipper is a company that has access to products from various manufacturers and the means to ship these products directly to customers on behalf of other merchants or wholesalers. This can make wholesaling and retailing easy — for a fee.

Usually dropshippers charge a one-time fee to become a reseller and then smaller monthly maintenance fees for hosting and maintaining the web site and back office operations. Some dropshippers will even build you a web site geared for online retail or wholesale sales as part of the initial package. Or, you can build your own.

The benefits to using dropshippers is that you don’t have to hassle with returns, and they don’t have to pay the costs associated with managing, storing or sending out merchandise. Some dropshippers will provide marketing support and web analytics in addition to creating and maintaining the web site for you.

Selecting a Dropshipper

Start by establishing your company goals and budgeting needs. If you start small, you can look for a less-expensive option. Larger firms might look for a dropshipper that handles thousands of transactions per day.

You need to investigate potential dropshippers thoroughly, paying attention to size and reliability, product fulfillment channels, and the brands provided for shipment. You can offer a large product line of name brand items, depending on what your dropshipper provides.

Below are some tips for those selecting a dropshipper:

• Ensure that the dropshipper will identify only the your business and contact information upon shipping the merchandise. This is important for developing your brand and customer loyalty.

• Shop for a dropshipper that offers bulk discounts.

• Inquire how long it takes for products to be shipped, contracting only with dropshippers that ship in 5 days or less.

• Ask whether the dropshipper requires minimum orders. It’s best to deal with one that doesn’t require minimums.

• Ask if there is a middleman in the process. It’s best to avoid dropship brokers, dealing directly with the firm making the shipments.

• Ask whether the dropshipper offers manufacturer warranties on all the products it sells. This is a must for sales and customer service.



• Determine whether or not the dropshipper cares about your success as a reseller by offering phone support and/or other means of support. Reputable dropshippers know that your profitability contributes to their own success and will provide the support you need.

You can conduct a search on TopTenWholesale.com, which lists the firms offering dropshipping programs. Alternatively, you can look into dropshipper directories, which can be purchased from various publishers. A search for “dropshipper directories” brought up many such resources. One firm advertises a large database of ecommerce wholesalers, light bulk wholesalers, volume wholesalers, liquidation wholesalers and import wholesalers, in addition to information from successful ebusiness owners and access to market research.

Dropshipper Fees

Most dropshippers charge a base price for the program and then a monthly maintenance fee. However, there are many business models for reseller clients.

If you want to become a reseller for electronics products like computers and digital cameras, the dropshipping license fees may start around $5,000 to become a reseller. In many cases, this will include the custom web site, hosting, maintenance and marketing support. Then your monthly fees would be around $50 or $60 per month for continued hosing, maintenance, and back office operations.

In some cases, resellers receive a fixed percentage of the sale price for each product sold, ensuring reseller revenue. Depending on the manufacturer, the fixed percentages can run anywhere from 5 to 95 percent. However, the reseller makes money regardless of sales price because the fixed percentage never changes. Some dropship agreements give the reseller a percentage of the manufacturers’ suggested retail price (MSRP). However, products are not always sold for MSRP in today’s market.

Caveat Emptor

In Latin, this means “let the buyer beware.” This is relevant when shopping for a dropshipper. There are always fly-by-night scam artists operating on the web. The deal that sounds too good to be true usually is. Some companies claim to offer name brands and then don’t deliver what’s advertised. Then you get stuck with angry, dissatisfied customers.

Avoid gray markets and foreign dropshippers because there are no safeguards once you’ve sent your money. The gray market involves new goods sold through distribution channels unauthorized by the manufacturer. These goods are not illegal but because they are sold outside the normal distribution channels, there is no recourse if the goods are damaged or defective.

Another way merchants get ripped off is through foreign dropshippers that promise but don’t deliver. Again, there is no recourse. The best line of defense is to research thoroughly and follow the tips suggested above.

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