Shopping Cart Abandonment, Conversion Optimization Idea

Shopping Cart Price Comparison Widget for Conversion Optimization

[thejimster]

I'm trying to get creative and figure out a way to keep shoppers from leaving our shopping cart. One of the biggest reasons for shoppers leaving a cart is to look for better pricing elsewhere. In my industry, virtually everyone in competition has the exact same pricing, free shipping, etc. So, I had the idea of incorporating some sort of price comparison widget within the shopping cart that would actually show a number of my competitors and their equivalent, and sometimes higher prices.

I know that there will be specific issues to address in accomplishing this type of thing, like where the data will be pulled from, etc., but I'm curious if anyone here has ever seen something like this and could point me in a good direction. Thanks in advance.

[not2easy]

What makes people leave a shopping cart depends sometimes on how they got there. IF they need to go through the shopping cart to find out the shipping cost, that can sometimes change their minds.

If they get into the cart knowing the costs and then hit a box asking for the promo code/discount/coupon, etc. that can send them out to search for one where they get shifted to another bargain, a different merchant. IF you ask for a code and it is available at other sites, you should try to have that code shown right in the cart.

If you pull in data from other sites or databases and it is found to be inaccurate you may regret the effort.

[thejimster]

Our prices are clearly displayed throughout the site. None of the "add to cart to see your price" stuff.

We show promo codes within the cart itself already too.

I think we could pull data from something like Google Shopping, seeing how they already allow other 3rd party comparison shopping engines to submit feeds there. I don't know if this would be against any Google guidelines or anything either. Probably is...

[Kendo]

Ask yourself... do you purchase every item that you look at online?

Do you purchase every time you go window shopping online?

Your customers are just like you.

[thejimster]

Kendo, by no means do I believe that every shopper will buy. It's about converting that little extra by improving every possible aspect of the website. If our conversion percentage is 0.45% and it moves to 0.47%, we make a lot more money. If 34% of cart abandoners are leaving to make sure they are getting the best price, maybe I can get that to 33%. If I do that, then I've succeeded and made more money.

[onix33]

have you tried retargeting? I use an application that automatically sends emails to customers who abandon shopping cart. It`s very usufull... also you can use it to send live messages to clients.

[tangor]

If our conversion percentage is 0.45% and it moves to 0.47%, we make a lot more money.

This is true, however, I'd do all that outside the cart! Once the cart is active the user who will get cold feet gets it right there and goes away. There's not much more inducement possible at that time.

If you do try to show comparison pricing IN YOUR CART then you might likely increase your abandonment as the user goes off to see what they might have missed. Ordinary salesmanship 101 suggests the hard sell up front and seal the deal as rapidly as possible before the rube ... er... customer! has second thoughts! The last thing you want to do is remind the user/customer that there are other vendors out there!

On one customer's site we inserted this in the cart: "Complete your order in 15 minutes for an additional 1% off"

A countdown timer script was a lot easier to implement than other options, and saw a 9% increase in completions.

Might not work for everyone as this client is very high end, very specialized, is the manufacturer, and that additional discount could be up to $300.00... YMMV

However CALLS TO ACTION do just that --- so don't call attention to the competition IN THE CART!

[thejimster]

Interesting idea with the timer.

Sounds like we're in a similar position with high-end products. Our discounts are similar. Might give this a go.