Methods That Lowered Your Abandoned Carts %?

[olimits7]

Hi,

I've been doing some research online about "abandoned carts" on websites. I'm sure we all heard the below reasons why carts are abandoned:

- High shipping prices (72%)
- Comparison shopping or browsing (61%)
- Changed mind (56%)
- Saving items for later purchase (51%)
- Total cost of items is too high (43%)
- Checkout process is too long (41%)
- Site requires registration before purchase (34%)
- Site is unstable or unreliable (31%)
- Checkout process is confusing (27%)

My question is to the people who were able to lower their abandoned carts percentage; what methods did you use that worked on your website?

Thank you,

olimits7

[lorax]

Where did you get the data from?

[olimits7]

I just did a search on google and it came up.

[bwnbwn]

- High shipping prices (72%) -----------This is a biggie and all shipping charges need to be presented to the buyer before they have to type in all there info the see the shipping rates. This is a biggie!
- Comparison shopping or browsing (61%)--Beyond your control
- Changed mind (56%) --------------------Beyond your control but you can change your cart steps to see were this may be a cause of the mind change.
- Saving items for later purchase (51%)--Don't offer this feature
- Total cost of items is too high (43%)--This is your call and can't be answered by anybody but your own operating cost, but I will add if you research the items you sell and are above all others well then you might have a problem.
- Checkout process is too long (41%) --Very important the less steps the better I have a streamlined checkout and feel this has helped.
-Site requires registration before purchase (34%) --answered above but I feel this is higher than 34%
- Site is unstable or unreliable (31%) -Goes without saying
- Checkout process is confusing (27%) -Goes without saying if a customer can't figure it out and you getting calls on the checkout process you need to fix it. 27% nope it is more like 99%

Bottom line if you are having a high rate of abandoned cart then you need to look at everthing. Some are in your control so are beyond your control those that are within you control fix them one at a time and see what works to bring the % down.

[rachel123]

a few things that really helped my conversion rate:

1. On every page, with the Items in your cart/subtotal, shipping cost is also displayed in real time.

2. Using simple cookies to store a cart for 3 days; if customer comes back from the same computer their cart will still be there.

3. Streamlined checkout - this made a HUGE difference; simplify the steps and don't EVER, if you can help it, make the customer check out at your site and then go to a different site to pay.

4. I don't require a registration. If it is a one time purchase and I am forced to register, I may look elsewhere, so I don't force that on my customers either.

And of course, having the best price is always a big advantage. Also, make sure your product descriptions are accurate and descriptive. If someone is looking for Widget model 01234XY in size 3, and your site says "Series 01200 Widgets" - and the specifics are buried somewhere, the customer may not be confident enough that he/she is getting the right thing and may look elsewhere...

[olimits7]

Hi,

I was thinking of adding the following two you mentioned to my site too:

1. On every page, with the Items in your cart/subtotal, shipping cost is also displayed in real time.

4. I don't require a registration. If it is a one time purchase and I am forced to register, I may look elsewhere, so I don't force that on my customers either.

The other two ideas you mentioned (#2,#3) I have setup on my website already.

I'm also in the process of adding a "real-time inventory status" system to the website; which I think should help too.

olimits7

[buckworks]

- Saving items for later purchase (51%)--Don't offer this feature

As someone who shops online, I seriously disagree with "don't offer this feature."

If your shopping cart remembers my selections from previous browsing, you'll have a much better chance to sell me something when I come back than if I have to start over.

[arieng]

I'm in the process of implementing one of those new-fangled "Abandoned Cart Retention" programs. There are lots of different strategies, but the gist is that you contact the visitor (usually through automated email) a certain number of days (anywhere from 1-30, depends on your sales cycle) after the cart is abandoned. It is basically a reminder, with the cart contents and maybe an small FAQ for completing an order.

There's been enough hype about these programs to warrant testing it out, but I'm skeptical. I'll try to come back with some results after a month or so.

[olimits7]

I also just added a "recently viewed products" page to my shopping cart; I think this has helped a bit with lowering the % too...

[Essex_boy]

High shipping prices- Always charge a shippin cost but make lower than the real price, i build shipping costs into the product cost, I do make a one off per order charge for packing though.

Its $2.50 per order and $1 shipping world wide, I know that helps sales

[rachel123]

but the gist is that you contact the visitor (usually through automated email) a certain number of days (anywhere from 1-30, depends on your sales cycle) after the cart is abandoned. It is basically a reminder, with the cart contents and maybe an small FAQ for completing an order.

Yes I've seen those too. The only thing that makes me nervous about them is this:

Even if they abandon on the last step of the checkout, many people don't think they've actually 'sent' you any of their information until they click the "Finalize Order" button. If you require registration, that's one thing (and a bad thing IMHO), but I worry that if I implemented this for just casual shoppers, I'd get a lot of "HOW did you get my email" questions. Privacy is a big deal for a lot of folks...

[ergophobe]

I'm surprised that "unclear pricing" isn't on the list. 90% of my abandonements are on sites where you have to add an item to the cart to see the price. It's sort of like "high shipping" but often the shipping isn't that high and in fact I'm not in buying mode. I just want to know the price.

Couldn't that merchant lower the abandonement rate by making the pricing more clear? Yes, but what would happen to overall conversions? Maybe she has tested and found that getting me to go halfway makes me a lot more likely to go all the way. Many of us would not exist at all if that effect weren't so powerful ;-)

If I get 8% to add items to the cart and only half of those buy, isn't that better than getting 2% to add items to the cart and 100% of those buy?

So I think the first question you need to ask is not how to lower abandonments, but whether or not you even want to lower abandonements. In other words, your goal is to increase purchases, not reduce abanondements.

[2clean]

Make things clear. Put yourself in the eyes of the consumer. Assume that the customer does not trust you. Make every effort to show that you are who you say you are and do not take it for granted that a great design equals the trust to transact.

[jsinger]

No one has mentioned prominently displaying toll free telephone number and other contact info, certainly not a PO box. That increases trust. Also enables customer to phone if there is some checkout failure.

The goal isn't an ultra high conversion rate which you can achieve only with free shipping and the lowest prices, virtually guaranteeing that you will lose money on the sale.

[Gomvents]

the toll-free number always always improves conversion rates, even when very few people call. one of my sites does about 100 sales a day and only gets about 2 or 3 calls a day, 4 or 5 live chats.

[JohnRoy]

make sure your product descriptions are accurate and descriptive

On some site, once we worked on this issue, the abandon rate went down 25%

@ergophobe:
So I think the first question you need to ask is not how to lower abandonments, but whether or not you even want to lower abandonements. In other words, your goal is to increase purchases, not reduce abanondements.
- Well said! Unless your cart is charged per click... who cares if they abandon?

[johnnie]

Including the shipping fees in the item price and saying 'free shipping!' is a gimmick that tends to work.

[dickbaker]

Johnnie, I have "free shipping" and "$X.XX including free shipping" and "price includes free 2-3 day shipping" all over the place. But I still get calls on my toll-free line from customers asking if the price includes shipping.

One phenomenon I noticed, but didn't give much thought to at the time, was that the abandonment rate was very low right before Christmas, sometimes as low as 20%. It was almost as though people were glad to find anyplace that had the item they wanted in stock. Now that the holiday rush is over, the abandonment rate is much higher. I suspect a number of people are going all the way to the cart to find out what the final price is, no matter how many times I repeat that the advertised price is all-inclusive.

[Whitey]

I saw another snippet out there on the web , claiming to be based on Forrester Research :

According to Forrester Research, the top reasons sited for cart abandonment are as follows:

* 57% - Didn’t want to pay shipping costs
* 48% - Total cost of purchase was more than expected
* 41% - Used the shopping cart for research
* 19% - Didn’t want to wait for the product
* 18% - Purchased offline instead
* 15% - Checkout process was too complicated
* 12% - Other reasons

How does this compare with your your purchasing funnel ?

I think it will depend a lot also on the industry , marketing placement e.g. SERP's , competition and branding / trust. In the same industry we are observing variances of between 50 and 90% abandonment & sometimes prices are higher with the more expensive solutions. Obviously that's a huge number to play with.

[particleman]

This registration business has come up before. I have done several custom carts and have setted on presenting the login screen and next to that a 3 line create account form with username and password after pressing the checkout button. This has worked pretty well as far as I can tell since the user doesn't need to enter a huge amount of information. When the checkout process is complete the information is populated to the customer info table.

[chamco]

Something else that has been mentioned before is removing an option to enter a coupon code. that sometimes makes users abandon to search for a coupon, since they think they are getting a bad deal.

[chamco]

This is a thread that discusses coupon options: [webmasterworld.com...]

[annej]

From a women who loves buying clothing online. :)

I like to have my cart items saved as I look elsewhere then go to the item I liked best. If it's no longer in my cart I may just give up.

I want to see the final price before I even start the ordering process.

I don't like to sign up until I've ordered something once or twice and seen how it goes.

I'd get a lot of "HOW did you get my email"

I just got one of those emails about what's in my shopping cart. I was impressed until I realized I'd not put in my email. Can it be done just for people who have an account?

Also with clothing I want shipping free exchanges.

OH yes, I am much more likely to order if I can ask questions through an online chat.

Look at the Norstrom online store. They are tops in quality, tops in service and tops in terms of usability of their website. At least they are the best I've found.

[apauto]

3. Streamlined checkout - this made a HUGE difference; simplify the steps and don't EVER, if you can help it, make the customer check out at your site and then go to a different site to pay.

You mean this for PayPal or Google Checkouts?

Anyone here see more orders once they "integrated" the checkout process, and went away from PayPal or Google Checkout?

[ergophobe]

Personally, aside from a few trusted merchants, if I know I can pay with Paypal, I'm more likely to buy. But that's just me.

[Essex_boy]

Good comment about Paypal however I find I receive 2 orders to 5 against paypal. Payapl customers tend to be in my experience more demanding i.e they require greater hand holding which is fine if you have the time.

[rachel123]

I think it is fine to have PayPal as a second option - but you should also have your own merchant account and have the card processed securely right from your site. A customer who just wants to use a credit card and be done should not be forced to go to some other website to use it, let alone sign up for a payment service. It should be as quick and easy as possible.

[Sam_C]

Sometimes adding things to your cart is quicker than clicking here and there trying to find out about the shipping costs. For example, at the site where I buy my PC components there are 5 different shipping rates. All I really want to know is, what's the cheapest option and does my order qualify for free delivery..? If it doesn't, I'm going to go and look around to see if I can save a couple of quid elsewhere.

A while ago I received an automated email from GoDaddy offering a discount if I went back to my abandoned cart to complete my order. I thought that was a nice touch, but it's something your regular customers will soon get wise to.

[apauto]

Good comment about Paypal however I find I receive 2 orders to 5 against paypal.

Can you explain this? You receive 2 orders out of 5 that use PayPal?

[MisterT]

Have a really good "about" page...put up a picture of yourself or your office, prominently list your street address, phone number, etc... Also list testimonials from past customers, have a guarantee of some sort. Customers like to know about the company they are trusting their money to. You need to explain why they should trust you.

Basically I think the goal is to remove as many doubts as possible the customer might have and quickly answer their common questions, which might be: "is this business real", "can i trust this website", "do they care about customers", "will my stuff actually show up if I buy here", "why buy here", "is the price good", "how much is shipping, and is it free or at least reasonable", "is shopping here safe", etc...

[edited by: MisterT at 9:21 am (utc) on Feb. 6, 2009]