Many businesses nowadays have an e-commerce part of their website. It makes it so much easier to sell your products to your customers. But it is not always a perfect thing. You will sometimes encounter customers who close their tab with their shopping cart having products to buy. Marketing experts call this shopping cart abandonment, and you don’t want it to happen. That is mostly from how frustrating it is to miss out on a sale that was almost there. There are several ways to avoid that fate for your website.
Have A Fresh Eyes Look At Your Site
Many businesses are happy with their websites, especially those that built theirs in-house. But there might be flaws that they don’t see. It is a good idea to have some fresh eyes look at your website. A digital marketing agency can provide a proper perspective on your setup.
If you didn’t have a marketing team look over the site when it launched, an evaluation now would be a good idea. They could give suggestions on what changes to make to the design and content on the site. Implementing these changes can mean an overhaul of your website, but it can be worth it.
Be Clear About Costs From The Beginning
One primary reason for shopping cart abandonment is the shock at seeing the final prices when the final receipt comes in. Many people assume that they will be paying only as much as they put into their shopping cart. It is an unpleasant surprise to see the additional fees and shipping costs added.
For example, a customer thinks they will only pay $100, but they suddenly get a bill for $120. That is because of shipping and additional costs. It would generally be understandable, but many online shoppers are in it for the deals. The additional fees may not seem like much, but they can be enough for a customer to back off from a purchase.
If you want to stop that from happening, you should be more honest about fees and costs. It can be a much better approach to bundle in the taxes and a part of the shipping cost into the product price. That allows you to reduce the amounts that you will add and create less of a surprise for the buyer.
Make Checkout As Quick As Possible
While many customers buy from the comfort of their homes, this doesn’t mean that they tolerate any delays. Instant gratification is what buyers want. That is good for you since impulse buys can generate quite a bit of revenue for you.
To ensure that you make the purchase as quickly as possible, you should allow some things. First, let people buy with guest accounts. They’ll still need to input their payment info and shipping address, but the customer knows these are necessary. What they don’t feel is essential is the requirement of an account to buy anything. If your site stops a person from buying just to ask for them to sign-up, then you may see a loss. Customers do not want anyone to disrupt their shopping.
Another delay that you want to avoid is a complicated checkout process. If you can do the checkout in one click, then make it so. The fewer hoops that people have to jump through, the quicker they will be paying for their purchase, and another sale happens.
Re-engage With Those You Lost
Websites collect data on everyone that visits them. That can allow you to follow up on those that you lost. It can be easy when the customer has an account that will let you contact them. But don’t try to bring back everyone. Only choose those that have a high chance of completing their purchase.
An excellent example of this is customers who have dozens of items in their shopping cart. That means that they liked your products and store enough to buy multiple items. Maybe all they need is a little push.
With targets in mind, you now need to convince them to come back and complete their purchase. The obvious solution is to offer a discount or free shipping. But you don’t have to be that generous. Sometimes, you only need to tell them the stock is running out from an item they have in their shopping cart. The fear of losing their chance at it can encourage them to complete their purchase.
Customers abandoning their shopping cart can be depressing. Knowing what is causing these problems and fixing them can make you feel better and let you see bigger profits in the future.
