They Just Left - 6 Tips to Combat Abandoned Carts

Time:2010-03-10 18:18:24 Source:Ezinearticles Author:Stuart Silverstein

Abandoned carts is one of the biggest challenges for e-commerce businesses. When a user puts something into a cart there is a clear intent that they wanted to buy something, yet something went wrong. The user didn't complete the transaction...but why? What happened? Is there any way to get them back? My answer is well.. yes.

First and foremost you need to measure where in the process they are dropping off and how bad the problem is. For companies that haven't addressed this issue it's usually between 50-80%. You can do this in Google Analytics by setting up a Goal, at each point of the checkout process. For information on goals, please visit Google Analytics. After you've figured out how many people are dropping off, here are a few things that usually are the reason WHY people are dropping off:

Are your shipping rates clear? Th number one reason for abandoned carts according to the Market Sherpa benchmark guide 2009 is unclear shipping rates. People are adding things to their cart only to realize that shipping is more than they thought. Solution: Make shipping rates clear everywhere on the site. Use simple shipping formulas and/or shipping calculators. If you have these, check your shipping rates and those of your competitors on your highest abandoned products.
Does your cart work?: Another issue is that the cart keeps breaking. Is there an issue with adding to cart and it doesn't? Did the developers do something that doesn't work? If you're not sure, test it. Do a customer survey and or user testing to see if anyone has issues. You will be very surprised sometimes how easy things break.
Is your shopping process long or complicated? A good practice to always look for ways to streamline your checkout. Too many steps or complicated processes can lose users. Shoot for no more than 3 pages (cart, login, checkout) Also give users feedback as to what step they're on.
Do you require sign-up? Another big reason for drop off according to Market Sherpa, is a mandatory sign up. With all of the identity theft going on, combined with the hundreds of accounts users have, many users don't want to sign up for a one time purchase. Many companies are greedy and want that user information to use for marketing purposes.. don't do it. You'll see a lift in conversion rates if you offer the alternative. Also you can offer incentives for people to sign up though... like package tracking, or special discounts, or even special products
Do you know shopper intent? A lot of sites have a high percentage of 'lookey-loos' that are there to browse and not buy. It is important to know percentages of these numbers in measuring abandoned carts, and to return on investment to upgrades. If you have a long shopping cycle, and you have a large percentage of abandoned carts, this probably means your product information isn't clear. On lower priced items, fixing the cart will yield higher conversion rates and ROI, so it's important to know this number
Do you have an email reminder? People get distracted, loose the page, etc, so a little reminder can capitalize on abandoned carts. Send an email reminder within 2 hours that says "Hey, just in case you forgot, your cart is going to expire and we don't want you to have to do the work again. 'Lifts of 10-35% are typical for this kind of email. Higher lifts are on emails with pictures of the products. Shipping costs and totals can also help.

In closing, abandoned carts are one of the first issues we look at in terms of conversion optimization as they can yield the highest ROI, and are often the most overlooked. I would advise optimizing the checkout process before working on any other part of the site. In most surveys to Marketers, this yields the highest ROI on any site upgrade, and it makes sense. You have a user who is ready to buy (and intent is there), you just lost them in completing the transaction.

Stuart Silverstein
Lead Dog || Fetch! Creative Marketing

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Stuart_Silverstein

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