Asking Additional Information on Checkout

Sales drop due to asking for one piece of addtional infomation.

[lgn1]

The items we ship are time sensitive. They must arrive before a certain date, to meet the customers event date.

In the past we had a small number of customers order to soon before the event date.

To provide customer service, we added a text field asking for customers event date. We clearly indicate that this field is optional and is only provided to provide better customer service and to flag rush orders for better handling.

To my surprize, I have found a 20% increase in abandonment when asked for this information. I considered it a statistical fluke, but now with a couple months worth of data, it appears to be very real.

I can't understand,how asking for one piece of additional information, and a piece of information which is designed to improve customer service, would have such a negative impact.

Anybody else have a similiar expericnce.

[trillianjedi]

Anybody else have a similiar expericnce.

Not me, no. So forgive me for replying given that I have no direct experience of this, but I was curious to ask if you first tried a paragraph to state something along the lines of:-

We ship in X days

Alternatively, I wonder if a guaranteed shipment date would be a more positive means of getting the information you require?

In other words, you word it something like:-

Please enter your guaranteed delivery date

At which point if user inputted date is less than x days away, they get a screen to say you cannot guarantee to meet the deadline, but they have the option to proceed anyway.

My line of thinking here is that a lot of people do not like to give out other peoples personal details (such as a birthday). You already have the shippee's delivery address - how does a customer of yours know that you're not going to put the recipient onto a mailing list for event-related products around about the time of the event date?

Like I say, I have no direct experience, so take this with a pinch of salt, it's just my gut feeling....

TJ

[lgn1]

The event date is optional, and is what would be considered rather public information, unlike a birthday, the event date would not be repeated, or if it was; on a very irregular basis.

After entering the shipping information, including the event date (is they so choose), then they are given a list of shipping options and dates.

So the customers action, has me really stumped.

[ddent]

Why don't you call a few and ask? :)

[longen]

They do say that when you're closed the deal - stop talking, otherwise you'll lose the deal.

Also, don't make the customer think - when i start thinking i usually start asking myself if i really need to buy this stupid toy.

[ddent]

longen, I was talking about calling customers that *didn't* buy. I.e. that were perhaps put off by the question.

But a very valid point regardless.

Daniel

[longen]

Hi ddent - i was actually referring back to msg #1

[Rosalind]

It could be to do with the increased complexity of the ordering page, as well as privacy concerns. Optional or not, it means extra reading and perhaps scrolling, and they may just leave to find another shop that's simpler to deal with.

[createErrorMsg]

To provide customer service, we added a text field asking for customers event date. ...
To my surprize, I have found a 20% increase in abandonment when asked for this information.

If people are abandoning the sale when you ask for this peice of information that is not strictly necessary to the sale, itself, why not wait until after the sale is done to ask for the information? In other words, if people were completing the transaction without giving you that information, and it's merely information that you want in order to better serve those who DO complete the transaction, move that field into a follow-up form that comes on screen after the sale is complete. Something like...

"Thank you for shopping at Widgets-R-Us. Your order is currently being processed. Because many of the items we ship are time sensetive, we may be able to provide better service if we know the exact date of your planned event. If you would like for us to ensure that your order arrives in the most timely manner, please enter your event date below."

By then they've already given you some private information, so the decision to trust you has already been made. Throw in a privacy statement to calm fears of information being sold to third parties and I would think most of your customers would not only fill out the event date form, but would probably feel better about the transaction, altogether.

[netguy]

We always provide a 'Comments' area at the end of the checkout process, but are not asking a specific request for input.

lgn1, since they are purchasing a particular event, is it possible that the customer feels that 'you' should already know the event date based on their purchase? (Or are there several event dates they can use for the same purchase?)

Many online purchases are impulse buys. As has been alluded to by others, if a customer has to think too much about the purchase, he/she may elect to move on.

Timing is also important. I have a client that has to custom build products before shipment. On each product page I have 'Usually Ships: Same Day.' When he started getting overwhelmed, he asked me to change it to 'Usually Ships: Within 4 days.' Sales virtually stopped.

Now I have it at '1-2 days,' which has helped, but it is amazing how seemingly minor nuances can make such a difference in e-commerce success (or failure).

Steve

[lgn1]

Im thinking of moving this information to the thank you page. I may even move, asking for the email address to the thank you page also. If they were concerned about anything, I think they be most worried about the email address, and not the event date.