Forum Moderators: buckworks
Is there any difference noted between this drop-off rate compared with a two-step process like PayPal where after submitting the order a request for payment has to be sent?
BTW, did you see the ad during the Super Bowl that gave 65% shopping cart abandonment as the current rate?
I'm personally very happy when people decide to interact with one of my sites in any way. I also ask neutral parties to test the shopping carts, just to be sure everything is OK. It's hard to test yourself when you already know how it's supposed to work!
Have you ever seen a site that won't tell you the price until you put their product in the cart? I have seen several, and that thick-headed methodology most surely pushes the cart abandonment stats up.
I won't even put the product in on those.
I am wondering because regular remote credit card processing is 7-9%, not bad with no startup or monthly fees, yet there is a shopping cart available for PayPal now that looks very nice, and is good for a small site just starting out. I can also do a very easy secure order form for PayPal or ProPay, but don't want to suggest something that will result in lower sales.
>>BTW, did you see the ad during the Super Bowl
Ummm..no, LOL. The only part of football games I've ever taken part in is kitchen related - doing up snacks and beverages for the fans.
I once had a neighbor who told a story that she gave her husband a raw potato instead of an apple while he was watching a game, and swore up and down that he ate the whole thing without ever noticing the difference.
I never have tried that (yet), but will volunteer for KP anytime because it's fun just listening to the fans. I still can't figure out who's jumping on who.
Edited by: Marcia
That "will" is a tough word.
In the absence of hard numbers, you only have informed hunches to go on. Yes, sales might be mariginally lower. But I'd bet chargebacks and returns are a LOT lower -- making it perhaps more attractive to the small business.
I don't see anyway to guarantee a particular outcome. I think you'd have to serve it up as a well informed experiment.
That's a good point about returns.
I think a lot could depend on type of product, and how many products on the site.
It depends on the particular type of site, but at this point I'm partial to Mals Ecommerce because of the capability of choosing different payment methods -ProPay, regular credit card processing, or PayPal.
Also, for the small sites I've been doing, it's handier (for me) to have it remote - simpler for me to code and set up. A "normal" larger ecommerce site will be different.
physics, I'm sold on PayPal for myself, personally. I've been using it for client billing and it's working wonderfully.
The problem is, shipping charges vary by size, weight, destination, and method of delivery. This must be calculated for each order.
I have done exactly what Xoc has described. Too many sites make you jump through all the hoops short of entering your card # (some don't until after) just to find out what the charges would be. IMO, this is the main reason for all the reports you read about full shopping carts being abandoned at checkout.
The sites that "get it" are the ones that offer the calc'ing right on the product info page, so you can get a bottom line with one more click. All you have to do is select your zip, and your delivery options are listed with costs for each. Too few and far between are these setups.
Paypal, from a consumer standpoint, I am very leery of using. You have nowhere near the protection of a normal credit card purchase. I would have made several ebay purchases had the seller offered more than just a paypal option. Paypal accounts seem to be a major target for hackers as well. I'll stick with my VISA, thanky.
The particular market I'm dealing with makes extensive use of PayPal themselves, and is 100% comfortable with it.
I figured it out for clients originally, and came up with a breaking point - under a certain amount, it's a monthly loss/expense to use regular cc transactions.
I'm set up to do regular credit card processing through a third-party processor I've done business with for over a year now, for 6% with no monthly and no set-up - zero charges other than a percentage of sales. But in my particular case, right now, it's more convenient and cost-effective this way. I sent out a bill Sunday night, and had the payment by Monday morning.
The amount of billing I do this way, as opposed to the checks sent by mail, doesn't warrant anything else. There's also a difference in what's available for services, as opposed to products.
It depends on the particular business.
I totally agree. I have some clients whose abandoned cart rate runs under 40%. But there's no surprise, no sticker shock, when the total comes on screen. All the information was givern up front.
On the other hand, I've seen way too many sites where I need to put an item in a cart just to find out the price!
[ebsure.com ]
Some of the articles are better than others. This first article claims that around 45% of abandoned carts are due to shipping costs. That is a fairly high percentage. Obviously there will be a decent percentage of abandoned carts where the customer had no real intention of buying in the first place as Air mentioned. I know I have done this many times for many reasons. People would also abandon carts because they are confused by the forms that need to be filled out. Many carts I have seen are way to complicated and it is understandable why people would abandon them. There are also many other factors (buyer's remorse, lost connection, distractions, etc.) so the 45% lost for shipping charges seems like a very large portion of the legitimate abandonments. Has anybody here played with the idea of offering free shipping and slightly raising the prices of the products to compensate? I would be interested to see if most shoppers would be enticed by the free shipping and not notice that they are paying more for the products.
1)If at all possible include shipping costs, and make this policy very clear from the start, and repeat it often.
2) Make sure a toll free telephone number is posted on every selling page, and more importantly at every stage of the checkout process.
3) Be up front and pro-active about your return policy.
4) Be clear about security and privacy issues.
Even though their are clear similarities, what works with bricks, doesnt always work clicks.
Hope this helps.
