Tackling shopping cart abandonment

As the online retail market becomes more competitive, one of the most important elements for any e-commerce site is to convert as many visitors to sales as possible. Product and price will be important factors, along with the functionality and level of confidence provided by the site. However, once a visitor decides to buy, the shopping cart process can be vital and it’s important to review and address the abandonment rates that might be occurring.

Using an analytics product, such as Google Analytics, will enable e-commerce websites to track visitor paths through the checkout process and identify where users may abandon the site. Seeing this data is one thing, but interpreting the reasons why people may leave the site before completing the purchase can be harder to understand, so testing changes to the shopping cart process may be necessary to try to improve the completion rates.

Typical abandonment rates in Australia are reported to be around 50% and this can be for many reasons. However, online retailers need to review the checkout process to ensure that it’s simple for customers to follow and implement, without creating too many barriers or reasons for shoppers to leave the site. Typical reasons for shoppers to leave may be:

• Hidden delivery costs – not revealing the full purchase costs until a buyer is already in the checkout process can be a major frustration. Delivery options and costs should be clear and upfront.
• Forced registration – do customers have to register to buy or can they complete a simpler form to make a sale. Can they have the option and if registration is necessary, keep the required information to a minimum.
• Unsaved items – if shoppers are comparing products and final prices between a number of retailers, they may leave the site but then return later and expect to find their chosen items saved in the cart. If not, they may have to go through the whole process again and not bother.
• Too much information – try to keep the checkout stages simple (or clearly flagged in advance) so customers know what they have to do and what stage they are at. Information collected needs to be simple, with billing address ticked the same as delivery (if necessary) and checkout forms pre-filled if a user returns at a later date.
• Failed forms – if some fields are obligatory or need to be completed in a particular format, make it clear. Shoppers can get easily frustrated by forms not submitting correctly and having to go back to revise or re-enter information.
• No gift options – if your products are likely to be bought as gifts, are there options for gift wrapping or messages, and will the product be delivered in time?

In general, keeping the checkout process as clear, simple and as fast as possible is essential, but you may need to test this to get the best implementation. It can be best to go through the process yourself or get feedback from friends or actual customers. Maybe try the checkout process for competing retailers to see how these compare (although you might want to add to their abandonment rate!).

To find out more about tracking, testing and improving your shopping cart conversion rates, please contact us now.

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