Let’s be honest – as a business owner you, are doing something wrong. Now, this isn’t something to cry about, but it is important to acknowledge and understand. You can’t convert potential sales to real money unless you know why people are leaving their carts without making a purchase. So, what are some things you are doing that are causing people to abandon their carts?
Offer Long-Term Saving
Image via Flickr by the_english_guy
Whether someone wants to compare prices, they don’t have the money today, or they just wanted to get an idea of your products, many people leave their carts because they simply don’t plan to buy today. However, if you give customers a long-term cart, they are more likely to come back to you and purchase. A username and password can ensure that a customer’s cart is ready any time they are.
Guest Checkout is Important
Image via Flickr by Rob Enslin
Do you require customers to sign up if they purchase with you? This is antiquated thinking if you want conversion. Offer a guest checkout option. This will save the customer time and frustration, especially if they simply don’t feel like making an account. A lot of customers will come back and create an account later, anyway. Giving a variety of options is the best way to keep people on your website and get sales.
Capture Them Before They Walk Out the Door
Image via Flickr by dougward
Getting an email address from users is important. For instance, we offer a Cart Abandonment system that works to collect emails from users to get them back to the site. When you capture an email address of a potential customer before they leave their cart, you can send them emails to help get them re-engaged in the site. This will increase the number of people who come back and finish the purchase process.
Speed up to Make Money
Image via Flickr by Mihael.Mafy
Have you ever left a website because it simply loaded too slowly? When on the Internet, shoppers are not patient people. Make sure your website loads as quickly as possible. Product pages, cart, and checkout all need to be fast and simple for the best conversion rates. Optimizing your website and having a good database for your products can save loading time.
Make the Cart Visible
Image via Flickr by hospi-table
You need to make sure that your customers can always see their cart. Having a visible cart that shows the number of items in it helps remind people that they are actually shopping. Don’t make the cart overpower the page, but ensure that it can be seen from anywhere on the website.
Simplify the Purchase Process
Image via Flickr by garann
If you want to drive customers away, add extra pages and steps to your checkout process. They will leave in droves. However, if you want customers that follow through with their purchase, make the check out process as simple as possible. Get rid of any extra pages – the fewer clicks a customer has to make, the better it is for you.
Reassure Your Customers
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Are you sure your customers are comfortable with you and your website? Make sure that your policies, guarantees, and customer service information is immediately available and highly visible. This will help customers feel comfortable with purchasing from you. There are a lot of websites out there and there is always the possibility (and fear) of being scammed. Do everything you can to make sure your customers know you are legit.
Adjust Your Shipping and Handling
Image via Flickr by MIKI Yoshihito
Frequently, buyers will put things in their cart, start going through checkout, and then see the shipping cost. Those shipping prices can be brutal and no one likes to pay them. Take a look at your shipping options and prices. Consider changing how you do shipping. Cut the shipping if at all possible. Many people will even pay a little more for the product if they don’t have to pay shipping.
With a few simple changes to your website, you can increase conversions. On top of that, you will make your customers happy, which in turn will help your word of mouth marketing.
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By Jon Correll
Jon,
What do you recommend for capturing email that works in conjunction with a guest checkout option?
Would that be a lightbox exit pop offering a reason to give the email address?