How many people fill up a shopping cart in a store and then walk away from it?
You are probably wondering why anyone would do that with the exception of them maybe realizing they forgot their money or debit card at home or having to leave because of an emergency.
So what about those online that shop from home and fill shopping carts only for them to leave the site and not come back? You would think that they would buy their items after spending time shopping for them, but some people just don’t.
The good news is that there are ways you can reduce the number of abandoned shopping carts that happen on your ecommerce site. The following are the ways.
- Make The Shopping Cart Obvious
When the shopping cart stands out above all other types of navigation, otherwise customers could forget that there are products in the cart.
- Use Discount Codes
Provide discount codes on the site, through your social media sites, or in emails to your email list. Discount codes give individuals the opportunity to get exclusive discounts, which makes the more likely to buy their items. People love discounts and they are going to use them when they get them. If you put a time limit on the discount code, they are even more likely to complete the checkout process.
- Answer Questions Before They Ask
Some of the common questions people have when buying online include what their shipping options are, what the return policy is, how they can contact the company, and whether or not the transaction is going to be secure. People want to know that they are making the right purchase through policies that are visible. This gives them the reassurance needed to move forward. Make sure this information is easy to find.
You also want to include an “about us” section so that you can tell people who you are. Good information to put on that page includes how long you have been in business, how you came to be, and your commitment to the customer.
- Evaluate Everything
Analytics can be your best friend. You can look at information such as:
- How visitors found your website – This can give you an idea of where else to market.
- Which pages they viewed – Your most popular pages can be guides for improving other pages.
- What devices they are using to view your site – You always want to make sure your site appeals to visitors using any device.
- How long they hang out on the site – This can tell you how interesting your site is.
- How many visitors become customers – This gives a good idea of performance and how you can use the aforementioned items to improve this conversion.
This information can help you provide better products or services, improve customer service, and feed more details to your visitors so you can convert more from visitor to customer.
- Customer Support Options
Customer service is everything, so you want to be easily reachable for when customers have questions or concerns. While there may be a telephone number, form, and/or email address, you can also utilize live chat. Live chat allows customers to ask questions while they are shopping, giving you the opportunity to relieve any doubts before they complete the purchase.
- Provide A Good Mobile Experience
More and more people are shopping on mobile devices. Sites that don’t accommodate these devices well lose these customers and there are a lot of them. Some sites allow them to place items in their shopping carts, but then the cart may not cooperate well with their phone. If you make sure your site works well with all devices, then you are going to boost your sales.
- Testimonials Are Gold
Testimonials are important because they relay the experiences of others to potential customers. You can place them on product pages or even in the checkout area so that visitors are encouraged to buy. To get customers to leave reviews that you can sprinkle throughout the site, you can give them an incentive. Something such as “leave us a review and receive 10% off of your next purchase” encourages them to leave a review and come back and buy again with their newfound discount.
- Keep The Checkout Screen Clean
A clean checkout is one that has few distractions. You want people to buy the products they have put there, so you may not want to suggest additional items at this phase because that means clicking away from checkout. It may help to experiment with this. If you find that keeping suggested items out of the checkout makes more money than keeping them there, you may want to keep it clear of this distraction.
- Checkout Doesn’t Have To Be Hard
People like a simple checkout system. Autocompleting information, accepting PayPal, and fewer delivery options are a few of the ways you can make checkout easy. Having too many choices and too many forms to fill out can discourage the customer.
- You Have To Test The Waters
No two businesses are the same, so you will have to test what works for your business and what doesn’t. Think about works in the traditional retail environment and use that. Also consider how people want simplicity rather than complexity. If you have multiple things that you feel would be great ideas, try them out and see what works and what doesn’t.
Consider This
Think about what is going to make things easier for your customer and not necessarily what is going to make things easier on your end. When you make things easy for the people who may potentially spend their money with you, you are more likely to get that money. In other words, you could see a profound impact on your bottom line when fewer people are abandoning their shopping carts.
